As we speak, I have contacted most of the blogs and websites on my list with very mixed results. The vast majority of these bloggers and their staff have not responded at all. I have taken to mean that they are not interested or are too busy to write back.
Immediate Rejection
A few people have gotten back to me with blanket responses basically stating that they do not accept guest posts. This is much better than no response at all in my opinion. At least I have an answer, even if it’s a disappointing one.
Success (at a price)
The closest I’ve come to success with this is through two popular blogs that have replied to me positively with a few caveats. This would typically be good news except for the fact that they want to charge me money for both guest posts. One website is asking for a £300 fee and the other one wants £160.
Initially, I immediately dismissed this as I thought it was silly for me to pay them. After all, I am already willing to provide unpaid free content for their websites on a voluntary basis.
Two sides to every story
After some googling, I dug up a few opinions from a few different people about this particular facet of guest posting. In my research, I found that there is also an ethical dimension to all of this. Many argue that it is morally wrong to charge people money for doing this.
Nevertheless, I didn’t want to just wave this all away. In fact, I wondered to myself if paying these fees might be worth it over the long term if it will ultimately bring more web traffic to the website.
My logic here is that lots of businesses already spend (or reinvest) their money in advertising so how is this any different? Although, like most business owners, I would much prefer free methods of promotion for obvious reasons.
Seeing things from their point of view
I also tried to put myself in the shoes of these bloggers and webmasters. Furthermore, I thought about whether I too would employ this practice if my website ever became as successful as there’s.
This seems like another method of website monetization that most bloggers are on the look out for. If there is a great demand for something, is there really a huge problem doing this if someone is willing to pay you for it?
In the end, I decided against paying this as I didn’t think it was worth it after weighing up all my options. I will resume my search for a website that will let me guest post with them for free (hopefully).
Do you think it’s right for a blog or website to charge a contributor money for a free guest post? How much money do think is a reasonable amount to pay for something like this?
Related Posts:
Guest Posting Part 1 – Misconceptions & Experimentation
Guest Posting Part 2 – Progress & Organization
