Two years ago, guest posting was a relatively untapped marketplace.
You certainly can’t say that now.
Guest posting sounds simple in theory: Find a blog that fits your own site. Write a post. Get exposure.
But the past few years have changed the world of guest posting dramatically.
With the most recent Google updates, website owners and SEO professionals realized that they needed quality links.
But where should they look for these links? The days of easy link building are behind us which leaves heavy hitters – guest posts.
Suddenly the entire world is trying to get into the field of guest posting, and the influx of spammy posts, junk articles and terrible solicitations has soiled what was once a quality field.
Fortunately, like so many things online, it’s very possible to rise above the muck at the bottom of the market.
Guest Crew is a website dedicated to doing exactly that – bringing quality websites and quality guest posts together again.
Isn’t it time to leave the cesspools of the market behind? You certainly can, after all.
Solutions to Guest Posting
At its heart, guest posting should be simple. A well-written blog post is posted on a blogger’s website. Of course nothing in life is really this simple. Instead, there are plenty of places where the best laid plans can simply fall apart.
Often, as a blog owner with some standing in the search engines, you’re inundated with spammy emails asking you if you “want great article please?” You may have even reached the point where you’re so tired of junk requests that you stop looking at any possibilities altogether. And that’s a shame.
You, as a blog owner, wouldn’t mind taking a day or two off from posting. You’d like to feature some really great material with a different perspective than your own, but you’re frustrated with the nonsense that just keeps coming – often unsolicited.
On the flip side of that particular coin, there are hundreds of great authors and bloggers looking for opportunities to post their material on someone else’s blog. These are the real guest bloggers – they aren’t looking to get rich and they understand the way this market works. It requires building a relationship, sending real correspondence and following through on promises.
So why is it so hard for these two professionals to get together? You want blogs. The guest bloggers want to post on your site. What’s missing?
The answer to that is pretty straight forward, actually. What’s missing is a platform free of spam, junk and terrible material.
There are very few places online where legitimate blog owners and legitimate guest bloggers can meet up and find common ground. We believe we are the best of the bunch.
Why? Because we offer the cleanest, most professional means for true guest posting.
On Guest Crew, we offer a meeting ground and professional forum to facilitate exchanges between blog owners and guest bloggers. The forums offer opportunities for bloggers and blog owners to meet, share ideas and suggest material.
But there is more to Guest Crew than just chat. There is also an article gallery that holds articles just waiting to be published on your blog – you just need to choose one and clear it with the writer. Additionally, there is a feature where you can request guest posts using specific titles of your own. In essence, Guest Crew is bridging the gap that usually exists between writers and blog owners.
Guest Bloggers on Guest Crew
Prior to Guest Crew and similar forums, would-be guest bloggers had a hard road to walk. They had to find websites willing to accept guest posts and start a dialog or even write a full article and cross their fingers it would be accepted.
There were long waits between emails and more often than not, all of the efforts to contact a blog owner about a potential post would never be answered at all – lost in the spam and myriad of terrible articles sent over by others trying to jump into guest posting as if it were as simple as writing some words on a page.
Guest Crew eliminates many of these frustrations. As a guest poster, you’ll have many different opportunities to have your work posted on other sites:
- Connect with website owners in the forum to discuss guest blogging possibilities. This includes paid submissions and guest blogging on behalf of paying clients as well.
- Upload articles to the article gallery on Guest Crew where website owners can look them over and decide if your post is a good fit for a particular website. No more sending articles off and never seeing them again – monitor your articles while they wait for a good home.
- Write specific guest posts for website owners who have posted titles they are seeking in the title request section of the article galley. Contact the blog owner, discuss the article you’re going to write and know that the post you’ve created is just the sort of thing that the owner was seeking.
Perhaps the best feature of Guest Crew for writers is that you’re connecting with so many blog owners in a single location. Need exposure for a new project? You can easily find a dozen great possibilities in your niche for posting, and best of all, you’ll know that they are actively seeking posts as well.
There are two things that writers need to be aware of with Guest Crew, however, and for serious guest posters, these should come as excellent news.
1. All of the articles that are submitted to the article gallery are reviewed before they are allowed. This means that the copy / paste jobs and gibberish pieces that have made this field lose credibility aren’t going to be a hassle any more. Your post will shine and website owners will know that they can find great posts here. Guest Crew actively monitors articles submitted to the article gallery.
2. In order to submit an article to the article gallery, you have to be active on the forums and pay one coin. What are coins? They are a currency created for the website that can be either purchased or earned through promotions on the forum.
If you want to upload twenty articles, you’ll need to pay twenty coins to do it. This doesn’t mean you’re paying out of pocket if you’re active in the promotions on the forums, but it may mean paying $1 to upload articles available as guest posts. Again, this limits the non-legitimate material and makes the gallery more exclusive for those who are seriously committed to true guest posting.
It’s important to note that while the article gallery represents an exclusive opportunity for guest posting – especially for those who have posts ready and waiting for homes – it is not the only way to make connections and take advantage of the website. Meet, greet, write and find success easily.
Blog Owners on Guest Crew
As a blog owner, Guest Crew is designed primarily for your needs. You’ve likely been frustrated trying to find legitimate guest posts that are unique and of a suitable quality for your site. There’s no need to be frustrated any more – we have everything you need right here.
As a website owner, you have many different opportunities to find guest posts that are suitable for your blog.
Browse the article gallery or search specifically for posts that are to your liking. Contact the bloggers who created the posts and request more or just grab the posts that suit and use them on your blog. Best of all, you can browse with confidence since our article gallery is completely monitored and moderated – we only allow quality posts to be uploaded.
- Contact bloggers or make requests more directly in the forums. This is a great place to connect with writers and have conversations about what you’re seeking. You can also make a general appeal and pick up many different possibilities from the various writers who frequent the website looking for exactly this sort of opportunity.
- Request specific articles by posting the titles you prefer in the title request portion of the article gallery. Thinking about something your audience would love? Just post the title and then bloggers can pick up the possibilities and get the post written for you in a matter of days – or even hours!
- Blog owners have two levels of membership with Guest Crew. Every registered member is automatically granted a basic membership with most of the features available for use immediately. There is a premium member section, however, and premium members are able to take advantage of the material available as well as additional opportunities.
To become a premium member, you simply need to have 10 coins in your account and you’re automatically bumped up to the top level. To get coins, you can spend about $1 per coin or you can earn free coins by taking advantage of some of the special offers available through the forum. You never actually have to spend money on the site unless you want to.
What Sets Guest Crew Apart?
As you may be aware, there are other forums that cater to the needs of guest bloggers and website owners. While these are often strong websites, they don’t have nearly as many excellent features as Guest Crew.
- MyBlogGuest (http://myblogguest.com/) is the most established of the guest posting forums. It’s been around for years and has seen the tremendous rise in guest posters trying to sneak in simple posts for quick results. The forum is full of users, which is great, but the website design can be challenging to navigate and often the article gallery is full of posts that are grammatically correct, but not very insightful.
The site includes social media opportunities as well as options to request particular titles for blog posts, which means there are many different ways to bring blog owners and guest bloggers together. The size of the forum does, however, mean wading through the possibilities to find the hidden gems, which can be challenging at times with few restrictions on users and articles.
- Postjoint (http://www.postjoint.com/) is still developing, and the website design is clean, which is nice for users. The site gives blog owners and guest bloggers a chance to come together, but the website focuses on a pay-per-post model, which can be a great way to advertise on certain websites, but certainly not for everyone and not even the real goal behind true guest posting. While this may be a great way to buy marketing opportunities, we feel it is limited in its scope.
- GuestBlogIt (http://www.guestblogit.com/) has a very limited forum feature available, and the quality of the articles in the article gallery is somewhat questionable. A quick glance shows that one featured on the home page has a spelling mistake in the title of the article. This does not bode well for the quality of the material overall, although this may be a single incident. Regardless, this site isn’t very feature rich.
Guest Crew picks up where the competition leaves off
The many features you’ll find on Guest Crew include:
- Article request gallery. In this gallery, website and blog owners can request specific articles or article titles. Many guest bloggers can find articles or topics that suit their specialties and create the article specifically for your website. This means website owners are getting what amounts to custom content on order. Best of all, the article request gallery is free for all users.
- Moderated article gallery. Writers who have articles on hand are able to upload these pieces into the article gallery. The gallery includes a variety of topics and is easily searchable for website owners to find the pieces that best suit their needs. What makes Guest Crew’s article gallery stand out, however, is that the gallery is carefully moderated. This means the contents are more exclusive and are of a much higher quality than you can expect from other similar websites.
- Paid article uploads. To keep the quality high and consistent, would-be guest bloggers are required to pay $1 per upload when they put pieces out for blog owners. This makes it more complicated to spam the article gallery and guest bloggers must believe in their work to upload it. While writers can bear the $1 cost themselves, there is also an option to earn free credits through opportunities in the forum as well.
- Social media promotions. Not only are guest posts available through the many areas of the forum, but social media promotions are available as well. This area of the forum is free for all members and encourages other community members to share posts and help promote the posts of other members as well. Guest Crew also has a popular Facebook page which is an excellent starting place for social medial publication.
- Premium section. The premium section of Guest Crew includes special features and premium materials, but it’s not off limits for all but a few users. To take advantage of the premium section, members need only ten coins. These coins can be purchased for about $1 each, but they can also be gifted between members or even earned through special promotional opportunities as well.
- The credit system. The credits or coins on Guest Crew are very unique within the industry. The coin system controls all payments on the website, which makes the site more exclusive in the sense that it’s not bombarded by “nothing-to-lose” posters.
The credits are easily available for purchase, but you don’t have to spend about $1 per credit unless you want to. There are ways to earn credits through opportunities provided on the forum and members are also allowed to give or gift other members with coins as well.
Each upload to the article gallery costs one coin and you must maintain a minimum of ten coins to take advantage of the premium membership level on Guest Crew as well.
- Networking opportunities. Even if you never take advantage of the article gallery or the title request possibilities, you can still participate in the forums and meet others in your niche who may be interested in reciprocal guest posting or future marketing opportunities.