Travel Blog Advice » Guest Post

How Guest Posts Actually Help SEO

Anil P. — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:00:46 +0000

This is a guest post by Shannon O’Donnell who uses freelance SEO as a way to fund continued travels.

Some of the top advice you read all over the Internet for good SEO practice is the idea of guest posting on other sites. This advice is solid at every level and works not only for SEO and Google link juice, but also for your site’s visibility within your community. New bloggers don’t traditionally come with a built-in audience unless you’ve been active on social media before your site launched, so with that in mind, you need people to see your name, your message, and your brand.

That’s one of the more obvious strengths to guest posting, you build your brand and funnel new and relevant SEO to your website.

On the other side of this equation though, is that Google juice I mentioned–this is where a lot of people begin to go a bit gray in their understanding. Everyone tells you links help your website’s Page Rank. But what about search engine rankings? How do we go from Page Rank (PR) to relevant search engine traffic?

What you Need to Know about the Google Algorithm

Knowing which sites consistently provide value is the core magic of the Google search algorithm, and to properly understand how you should be leveraging your guest posts, let’s start at the Google algorithm. Google returns some of the most relevant and accurate search results of any of the search engines out there and the company hands-down dominates the search market. Bing is the runner up (and Bing’s search algorithm fully powers Yahoo too), so that’s really the only other game in town.

Google’s algorithm is complex and no one outside of Google (and likely only a few people there) know the exact components. The algorithm is a formula that takes into consideration dozens of factors about your website, gives them different weights within the formula, and then combines those components to form the basis of search results.

These are a handful of the things Google considers when evaluating a website or blog post:

The age of your domain
Frequent keywords used within the site and those keywords other sites use to reference the site.
The freshness of the content on the website and relevancy (is there enough content, are people staying on the page when they click onto your site from the search results?
Page Rank: i.e. a numeric value assigned to your site ranking its value to the world wide web, mostly based on incoming links from other websites.

Those are the core basic components of the Google search algorithm and should give you a general understanding of how your site is found and placed within the search engine pages by Google.

How Incoming Links Effect Your Page Rank

We’ve analyzed the algorithm, now let’s look at the incoming link your guest blog post will be sending to your website from the website you’re guest posting on.

Your site’s PR is nearly entirely dependent on a variety of incoming links from websites with a higher PR than yours (to find a site’s PR, a quick and easy option is Page Rank Checker). Websites with a PR 4 and higher (sometimes arguably PR 5 and higher is optimal) are great target guest posting sites. These websites with higher PR will lend you some of their PR juice through Google when they link to you.

Basically, when a website links to you it is giving you a vote of confidence from their domain – they are giving you some of the Google trust they’ve earned over time. Get enough of these votes, from a variety of sites and sources, and you’ll see your PR increase over time. Be forewarned though, Google only updates PR a couple times a year, so it may take time for incoming links to effect your officially shown PR.

How Incoming Links Effect Your Search Engine Results

Now we’ve come to the meat of the SEO reasons for guest posting, the keyword link juice (remember it’s about sharing audiences and spreading your message as much or more than for SEO). When you’re guest posting, you nearly always have the opportunity to include a personal bio either at the beginning or the end of the post. This bio is where you link back to your website, your projects, and your social media information. It’s also your main chance to send yourself a targeted, keyword link.

Traditionally, you’d link to your site with your blog’s name. That is one option, particularly if your site has a great keyword within the name. If it doesn’t though, consider alternative descriptions that target your site’s niche keyword.

Another option is to link to your site with its name, but then also build backlinks to a specific cornerstone piece of content on your site. If there is one invaluable resource you’ve put a lot of work into, include it! Add that to the bio, if you’re doing an honest bio and you’re writing related to your niche the site your guest posting for won’t mind a link back to your site that includes specific keywords.

As an example, let’s consider this fake bio as a perfect way to use guest posting to raise your site’s profile:

ìSuzie Q blogs about deep-sea trout fishing and wrote a wonderful, free resource for fish-loving travelers, the ultimate list of trout fishing travel tips. If you love trout fishing too, why not follow her on Twitter and Facebook?!î

In this bio example, Suzie Q is ensuring she now has relevant incoming links for keywords related to her niche. The link itself will help her siteís PR and the keywords within the link tell Google what her siteís about when itís calculating her place in the search engine results pages.

Interested in learning more about SEO and how to use it to build a better travel blog? Get Traffic Now is a free resource I co-authored with Andy Hayes that breaks down the complexities of SEO into a do-it-yourself handbook ideal for both new and established travel bloggers!

Shannon travels around the world using freelance SEO as a way to fund continued travels. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter for travel stories and advice, and feel free to ping her if you have any SEO travel questions!

[photos by: Nicolay Corboy (shaking hands), Daniel Morris (Google speaker), YAIAGIFT (authority sweatshirt)]

Gaining Links To Your Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 08:00:21 +0000

Ant Stone is a traveling freelance writer (or a writing freelance traveler, depending on how much sleep he gets). He’s the creator of struggling travel blog, Trail of Ants and When in Wellington, and he welcomes you to follow him around Wellington, New Zealand or on Twitter. You can also check out his previous guest post on Travel Blog Advice, How To Make The Most Out Of Your Link Page.

Links, links, links. For the self-contained blogger, gaining inbound links can be a tedious bore, or an exploration of new ideas. The fact is: if you want to increase the number of unique visitors to your website, you need to provide plenty of entry points.

Think of your blog as a home. It’s full of beautiful and interesting things, the corners need a bit of a clean but the windows are gleaming. Now think of inbound links as the threshold. A clear divide between the inside and outside of your home.

The aim of the blogging game, is to get people over the threshold and into your home (where they’ll nick all your best furniture, but hopefully comment on how nice your curtains are).

So how do we get them up to the threshold? We create an attractive garden path. How? We build it, with comments.

Are Comments Backlinks?

There’s a certain amount of, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” when it comes to link exchanges. They’re a good way to notch some backlinks, but you should be diversifying your link strategy.

Comment threads are undoubtedly one of the most popular ways to do this. Very few blogs go without comment threads, and very few comment authors don’t link out to their website.

Contrary to popular belief, simply leaving a boney little comment on a blog post isn’t very powerful in terms of direct search engine benefit. WordPress comment threads are mostly classified “nofollow” by default (“nofollow” is a value added to a hyperlink which tells Google’s search spiders to ignore that individual link.) Therefore, from a purely SEO (search engine optimisation) perspective, the link is a loss-leader.

The reason WordPress do this is simple: if they didn’t, hairy-backed spammers would flood your comment thread (more than they already do) in order to boost their own performance in the SERP (search engine results page). The I Follow campaign has made inroads on this issue, and raises some good argument, but in my opinion the “nofollow” filter does much more good than harm.

(Of course, as with everything Internet related, it’s all subject to opinion. Many people ardently believe “nofollow” is a myth, and that Google does in fact index these links. The jury’s still out for me.)

If you’re looking for fresh readers, comments are just about the easiest way to attract them. They can give readers a taste of your style, your beliefs, and your wit and wisdom. As a blog author, you should be making a concerted effort to leave high quality and relevant comments as these are the trail of crumbs which will lead readers up your garden path, and into your ‘home’.

But always ensure quality.

Leaving ten insightful comments on ten blogs is far more powerful than one hundred weak comments on one hundred blogs; because the aim of the comment-game is to secure click-throughs.

Simply stating: “That’s a great post” will earn you very little appeal, and for most blog readers it’s obvious that it’s a misguided attempt to draw readers in. Consider something more akin to: “That’s a great post. I really liked the way you covered the topic of INSERT TOPIC, I wrote a post about it last month called INSERT ANCHOR and LINK.”

This intrigues readers, and will often lead them to your website or blog, and increase the number of unique visitors, which will boost your reputation with Google.

Blog Directories

Blog directories are another solid and simple way to earn a high number of inbound links with a little legwork. Most link pages don’t pack much of a punch in terms of SEO benefit, but if you’re on a lot of them, then you get a ‘lot of little’ punches. Better than nothing? Yes.

If you’re struggling to attract links from these style of pages, but you’re running a decent blog (i.e. you’re not a spam merchant) then it’s perfectly acceptable to just ask outright. Every now and then someone will get on their high horse and curtail you for ever dreaming of asking them for a link but in my experience, bloggers are accepting and love to engage with new bloggers.

What’s A Good Link?

Reciprocal links (you link me, I’ll link you) are OK for your reputation with Google, but really, they’re just a drop in the iOcean. What you really want is full-on link fornication, and that comes in a number of ways.

Guest posts are a great way to achieve link love from the Big G, because they (should) include a link back to your website or blog. A link from the main body of a good domain is worth a lot (you don’t think I’m writing for Anil out of pure love, do you?), and this is a tactic you’ll hear a lot more of over the next 12 months as Google algorithms develop to combat shortcuts.

A popular feature among travel bloggers include posts which feature the author’s favorite blogs, or posts of the week. Scoring a spot on these is a good, quick way to score some link love, and the only way to achieve this is to create good, engaging content. Prove you’re worth the link, and the link will prove you’re worth it.

Similarly, incentivising web creators to include a link to your blog will do wonders. A good example of this is Gran Tourismo’s popular travel writing competition. They offer excellent prizes, which naturally attracts a healthy number of entrants. One of their primary goals is to attract traffic, which boosts exposure for their major sponsors.
Many of their entrants are good travel writers. Good writers’ blogs have built up natural respect, and tend to command good authority with Google, therefore one link from them is worth two in the bush.

Where Lara and Terry (Gran Tourismo’s editors) really score, is the high quality backlinks which stream in from within the premier zone of blogger’s sites (their pages and posts) as appose to crowded links pages which Google takes less notice of.

They make it a condition of entry for entrants to include those backlinks in the posts, and insist they tweet about it and leave a comment on their monthly competition thread.

Premium backlink + viral social media + regular comments. The result? Google begins to love their website, which gives them more exposure. The roiling SEO benefits created by the incentive will ensure their blog reaches, and remains in the upper echelons of the SERPs and the best part is, it’s so so simple to achieve. (Although, granted, a ¬£500 incentive does help to get things moving).

It’s a case of giving people a natural reason to like you. Talking of natural affinity, Google owns Blogger, and therefore they do seem to give more authority to their domains, so scoring an incoming link from this popular platform is conceivably better than say, a WordPress blog.

What’s A Bad Link?

If you put outbound links on your website or blog that lead to less credible websites (porn, spam, notorious text link ads etc.) then you’ll be given a clip round the ankles by Google, and slapped with a decrease in authority (i.e. you’ll be given the keys to that flat in Peckham).

A tumbling authority (which includes, but is not exclusive to PageRank) is like a spare pair of hiking boots in your backpack. You neither need, nor want it.

Also, don’t be a ‘link whore’ by accepting every random request for a link exchange. Make sure they’re relevant to the travel genre and that the link recipient is good quality. Linking out to a bad website is akin to walking into a Scottish pub in an England football shirt. No one will thank you for it (and you might get a good shoeing.)

I get a small number of submissions to the T-Bag Travel Blog Directory from companies looking to exploit the purity of the page. In my opinion, if a company wants me to endorse their product or service, I need to be assured that they’re a brand I want to be associated with, and naturally, writing is my job, so I might want paying for the privilege.

But equally important as link strategy, is a solid content strategy (something I’ve never mastered!) Content is unequivocally the key. If you build a website or blog that features genuine, high quality and engaging content and leave a good enough trail, then the readers will come pouring over the threshold and right into your front room.

What’s your link strategy? Do you even have one? What’s your incentive to leave comments on other blogs, and what’s worked for you in attracting them?

[photos by: Dunechaser (Link from Zelda), v1ctory_1s_m1ne (garden path), miss miah (bloggers love comments), Jimby K (silver links), Lloyd Doppler (woman grossed out)]

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Methods Travel Bloggers Can Use To Enhance Their Blog Feeds

Anil P. — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:00:46 +0000

This is a guest post by Todd Sullivan, the co-founder of Globetrooper, a website that helps people travel together and meet up anywhere around the globe. Todd also writes for the Globetrooper blog, which is called Notes of a Globetrooper.

Bloggers have a love-hate relationship with their blog feeds. On one hand, a feed provides a constant connection to readers (when you publish a new post, it enters your feed and subscribers receive it within minutes). But on the other hand, your feed is not your blog. Your feed strips out all formatting and negates all of those hours you spent aligning pixels and making your blog look unique (people who read feeds rarely leave their reader software to visit the blog).

With the advent of other information-sharing mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon, blog readers are slowly ditching their feed readers and increasing their visits to blog websites. This is of course a big win for us travel bloggers. But feeds are still hugely popular, and feed subscribers still make up a large percentage of blog readership.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a few tips to increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of your feeds.

Your Feed Doesn’t Have to Look Ugly

Have a look at the feeds of your favourite blogs. Images look particularly bad. They lose their alignment and often revert to their original size. You can insert HTML and inline style code into your feed, but be careful because you’re essentially reversing what makes feeds work so well. Keep it very simple; even the basics will make your feed look worth a million dollars compared to others.

If you’re using WordPress, I recommend the Feed Styler plugin. It allows you to apply styles to your feed. But again, keep it very simple to maintain compatibility across feed reading software. Check out the results of very minor adjustments to our feed (http://feeds.globetrooper.com/globetrooper).

Don’t Donate Your Feed to Feedburner

Most travel bloggers use Feedburner to activate feed analytics and to benefit from other value-add services. But, and this is very important, when you switch your feed to a URL like http://feeds.feedburner.com/globetrooper, you’ve giving up control of your feed. Feed subscribers are now subscribing to Feedburner, not Globetrooper. And once they subscribe, I lose all control of those feed subscriptions because I don’t own the feedburner.com domain.

But this is an easy fix. Feedburner lets you mask the feed with your own domain name using their MyBrand service (which is now free). For example, my Feedburner feed is now http://feeds.globetrooper.com/globetrooper. This means my feed subscribers see my domain name and I have full control of the feed (should I want to switch away from Feedburner or merge/manipulate feeds at a later stage). But you must do this as soon as possible. Once people subscribe to the Feedburner URL, it’s difficult to move them to a new URL.

Adding Sharing to Your Feed

Most of us travel bloggers spend an inordinate amount of time adding social sharing tools to our blogs (e.g. Facebook Like, Tweetmeme Retweet, Stumble, Digg, etc). But if many of our readers are reading our posts through feed readers, they won’t see that additional functionality.

If you’re using Feedburner, you can activate the FeedFlare service and choose from an array of sharing options. This is a handy solution, but the links are so inconspicuous that most people probably won’t notice them. But there’s another way. If you’re using WordPress, you can use a plugin called Feed Layout to add HTML and PHP code before and after your posts. For example, I added code to place a Retweet button at the top (and aligned right using Feed Styler) of my posts.

Accommodate Non-Techies with Email Subscriptions

Most people and most Internet users don’t know anything about blog feeds (most people are not blog/tech savvy). But that doesn’t mean they won’t love your content, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should neglect them.

Feedburner offers an easy way to implement email subscriptions on your blog (look under Publicize, then Email Subscriptions). You can add the email subscription widget anywhere on your blog. And it reads directly from your feed, so any improvements using Feed Styler and Feed Layout will apply to your emails. Try to add the widget somewhere prominent, because an email subscription is a highly valuable asset for bloggers.

If there’s anything else you’d like to talk about regarding blog feeds, don’t hesitate to email me at todd[at]globetrooper.com or leave a comment on this post.

[photos by: Daniel F. Pigatto (RSS listening to headphones), sweetapathy (man fixing tie), jasonstaten (girls sharing headphones), Mzelle Biscotte (email line)]

Why Your RSS Numbers Vary From Day To Day

How To Make The Most Out Of Your Link Page

Anil P. — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:00:56 +0000

Ant Stone is a traveling freelance writer (or a writing freelance traveller, depending on how much sleep he gets). He’s the creator of struggling travel blog, Trail of Ants and When in Wellington, and he welcomes you to follow him around Wellington, New Zealand or on Twitter.

Starting a travel blog is pretty simple: You buy a domain name; slip some money to a web host; and download WordPress. Then tip tap away until hoards of travelers instinctively flock to your website, bring down your web host, rip off your domain name and create lots of hard work. Right? Wrong.

Human instinct is powerless on the Internet.

This approach is akin to hitchhiking on the autobahn. You have everything you need, you know where you want to be, but everyone’s just whizzing carelessly by. Because lets face it, this is the Internet; you don’t just write stuff and shit happens.

As with Real Life™ business, you want people to visit and promote your blog, and the easiest way to achieve this is to score good inbound links. The reason links are important, is that it tells search engines like Google that X-number of quality site owners value your website’s content. Everyone else loves you, therefore Godly Google does.

The greater the perceived quality of the website domain that’s linking to yours, the easier the persuasion. Think about it as David Beckham endorsing your website, versus Dave from Peckham.

Creating a Travel Blog Directory

In the travel blog niche, this is most commonly achieved with a travel blog directory, often referred to as a resource list or blogroll. If you own or run a blog, you probably already have one, but are you using it effectively?

Bloggers need to know your links page has a good reputation, yet Google is famously snobby, and doesn’t like pages crowded with links. Its spiders (the things that crawl through the web looking for new content to index) look at these ubiquitous directories, shrug their spidery shoulders, and scurry on.

To convince the spiders to take notice, you need to apply the same SEO techniques to the blog directory, as you would your carefully crafted posts and pages.

The first step to appeasing Google, is to add some content to the links page: “This group of travel blogs features some of the finest examples of travel writing/photography/video on the Internet etc.”

Also, consider sprucing up this page with some tasteful imagery (not too much, as you need a quick load time), and consider engaging readers with a comment thread. Another good way of convincing Google that your links page is valuable, is to add small descriptions for each link:

Jimbo’s Travels: Discover some of the world’s best places to play frisbee with Jimbo, as he travels across Asia.

This is good place to include any keywords specific to your website.

Of course, if you’re just starting out and no one knows your site exists‚ and you’re yet to engage on any social media platforms‚ simply adding a bunch of travel blog links to your directory is a cheeky way of attracting the links’ recipients.

For example, if I link to Anil’s, How to Travel with Pets website, Anil will see this in his Google Analytics’ reports, and curiosity will almost always draw him in. I score a unique visitor, and hopefully I’ll wow him with my own brilliance, and he’ll add me to his own directory.

So you’ve given out a hundred links, which is great for everyone else, but not so great for yourself.

Promote your Travel Blog Directory

Travel bloggers are a tech-savvy community, and very easily approached. In my early blogging days, I kept quiet during the Great Link Rush. As a person, I prefer operating on the fringes.

I’m a natural observer‚ rather than an active participator‚ so I was reluctant to go all, “ME ME ME” against a predominantly American marketplace. Call it the English in me.

I saw little value in forcing my way onto dedicated link pages, because I knew they were smeared with mutual links, rather than well-researched and useful ones. I wanted to be useful, whereas Google didn’t much care.

I did create a links page, because it seemed a wonderfully blogtastic thing to do. Whenever I came across a website that made an impact, I quietly pasted it in there with a small description and went back to dunking my ginger-nut into my cup of tea. It was nice and cozy, but no one really noticed it (unless they were on it).

Then in April this year, something clicked. I was writing good content, but no one was reading it. I was completely off the radar of most relevant Google searches, new travel blogs (“harder, better, faster, stronger”) were appearing and I almost clicked the big red DELETE button and moved on with my life. But I couldn’t (could you?)

I supposed, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” (ME ME ME.) So I created a separate page, the whizz-bang T-Bag Travel Blog Directory. I knew straight away that the title had perverse connotations, but theorized this could work in my favor. It hasn’t, but there are a few things that have.

I looked at existing travel blog directories, and figured there was a better way. In this era of social media, it was obvious I needed to offer an option to incorporate Twitter and/or Facebook links (bloggers love this). I also needed people to be aware of the directory itself as a resource, not just a cheap link.

So I made it really easy for readers to tweet about it by giving them a one-click link, and for every submission to the T-Bag, I fire off a personalized and engaging tweet to my c.900 followers, which includes a hyperlink back (important) to the T-Bag Travel Blog Directory:

@JimbosTravels just bunged his baggy blog and quick-drying social media socks into the T-Bag Travel Blog Directory: http://bit.ly/aCBOxT

It couldn’t be any easier for genuine blog authors wanting to get listed, it just takes time to make people aware. The tweet also works because it begins a conversation, the conversation leads to more submissions, more submissions leads to more backlinks, more backlinks leads to a plethora of Google love which leads to more readers, which leads to… you get the picture.

Now people see the page as a resource. They respond well to the personal touch, and it opens up myriad channels to engage.

Don’t underestimate the power of your links page or blogroll; Make it relevant for Google, make it enticing for your readers, and make it engaging for your community. Over time, the spiders will stick around long enough to realize your good intentions.

Had you considered your links page to be such a powerful tool, or did you just see it as a bloggy thing to do? Have you come across a unique travel blog directory? And finally, would you like to hear more from me here at Travel Blog Advice?

[photos by: Profound Whatever (link), Bob Elderberry (woman hitchhiking), John 'K' (spiderwebs), comedy_nose (open mic)]

How To Manage And Make More Money From Text Link Ads On Your Travel Blog

STA Travelbuzz Linking Program

Anil P. — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:00:36 +0000

This is a guest post by Amar Hussain from GapYearEscape.com. He is a freelance writer currently traveling round the world documenting his experiences. GapYearEscape’s aim is to inform, inspire and entertain. Amar is currently a STA Explorer for STA Travelbuzz.

When I first heard about STA Travelbuzz I actually thought it was too good to be true. I remember thinking there has to be some sort of catch. What’s the deal here? I’ve been an STA Explorer for six months under the name Gap Year Go Getter. I still have both my kidneys and my soul is still my own (I think). Let me fill you in.

STA Travelbuzz is a tribe of travelers ranging from college graduates to career-gappers. It’s a friendly community centered on what we all know and love; travel.

You are probably wondering what a STA Explorer actually does. Nothing. If you have your own travel blog anyone can become an STA Explorer. It’s free and you continue blogging like you normally would. The writers over at STA Travelbuzz will then subscribe to your blog and post about individual posts on the Travelbuzz blog.

So as a travel blogger how does this help you? The perks to becoming an STA Explorer are enormous. The biggest perk of all is that you will become affiliated with one of the biggest global travel brands: STA Travel. Other perks include; a bigger online presence, increased readership and subscriber base and additional backlinks. The good people over at STA Travelbuzz also happen to be word of mouth, social media and viral marketing experts. You will be in good hands.

Finally, STA Travelbuzz is a great platform for launching a new or undiscovered websites into the blogosphere. There are some very talented writers and STA Explorers. Check out the STA Explorer section for undiscovered talent. If you want to know more or become a STA Explorer head over to STA Travelbuzz.

STA Travelbuzz basically writes posts about your travel blog posts and asks you to put a link or place a widget back to their site, but it’s not required. I haven’t tried the program myself but the links come from a PageRank 5 site which can be hard to come by. If you’ve tried or have any information about the program, I’d like to hear your thoughts as well.

[photos by: rubybgold]

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Dealing With Corporate Guest Posts

Anil P. — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:00:18 +0000

Lately my inbox has been full of requests from people wanting to submit guest posts. Only that these people are representing companies with a “team of writers” who want to provide “useful content” for foXnoMad and my other sites. You too may be seeing more of these types of requests in your inbox and there are a few things you should know about them.

It’s All About Links

Links are one of the most important ways to build Google PageRank and establish your blog on the Web. While some of these companies don’t outright say it, they want to embed several links within the body of these posts on specific keywords. So, you might see something in there like “…that’s where you can get cheap flights” or similar. There’s nothing wrong with building links but embedding keyword links and using a guest post as a cover doesn’t have your best interests in mind.

This is more so if you sell text links or do paid reviews on your blog. An embedded link is like giving away free advertising.

Poorly Written Quality

You’ll find that many of the PR companies who contact you are working for a team of travel sites. Many companies outsource the writing, typically very cheaply on sites like Elance.com. You can go on there yourself and see how many people are looking for 10 or 20 travel articles for very low rates. The content produced is generally poor and depending on your posting frequency, you don’t want to waste a day with something that’s just not that great.

Also, since I’ve got several travel blogs and sites, I’m often submitted guest posts for different sites that are very similar to one another. They aren’t original and the writer has likely never seen the blog they are writing for.

Some Signs To Look For

Not all guest posts written by companies are bad or simply out to get links, although many are. These aren’t links back to an original site, like you would in a guest post bio line, but to specific keywords as I mentioned above. Some of the signs to look out for are:

Not being addressed by your name in the email. My name easily found on my about page, and prominently on the sidebar of my main travel blog. If yours is too, any email from someone you don’t know that doesn’t address you by the first name should make you wonder. (By the way if you don’t have your name or picture on your site, consider that it’s one of the ways to build a successful travel blog.)
No distinct website. Many of the emails are from companies working on behalf of other travel sites, lots of them in fact. If you can’t quickly narrow down one website behind the guest post I’d say be weary.
Multiple Emails. If you’ve got more than one site, wait a day or two after getting an email for a corporate post. You’re likely to get one at any additional website email addresses you have.

In the guest post if there are any random keywords, going to multiple sites, and no single author you can pin down, you’re probably just providing a free link back, inside a mediocre post, to a few other travel websites.

Have A Policy

It’s important to have set policies around certain aspects of your travel blog, including guest posts. A set policy will save you time from having to filter through requests about guest posting, advertising, or anything else. My guest post policy is that I don’t allow links within a guest post unless I personally know the author. Otherwise, I give a 1-3 line bio with a link back to a travel blog and typically I add a link back to their site at the end of the post as well. I evaluate each guest post individually and don’t promise anything upfront.

Whatever you decide (even if it’s running corporate guest posts) have a policy and some set rules. It will save you a bit of headache in the long run.

I’m not against building links with other travel sites – it’s an important part of what I do – but I don’t think it’s worth a disingenuous guest post that will take up a valuable thing for my readers…time. Consider that time is the most important thing your readers have – so when you ask them for some, make it worthwhile. Besides, those same companies offering you guest posts would likely be willing to pay a bit for a text link if you just ask.

[photo by: thornside, mandiberg]

Dealing With Travel Blogger Burnout

Anil P. — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:27 +0000

Stephanie runs Twenty-Something Travel, a travel blog dedicated to assisting new or young travelers with the skills, resources and opportunities available to them for travel abroad. When not traveling the world she lives in Washington DC.

Taking up travel blogging is a lot like falling in love. At first it’s all exciting and new. Posting to your blog makes you feel euphoric and all of a sudden it’s all you can think about. You talk about it constantly until your friends beg you to shut-up.

Then, one day you wake up and the honeymoon is over. You start to notice all of your travel blog’s faults and resent the many hours you must spend with it. You don’t want to break up, but you are tired.

It was at almost exactly the 6-month mark that I hit the wall. I had worked incredibly hard during that time, and had achieved moderate success but I was getting seriously burnt out. I was starting to resent the amount of time I spent with my blog, and miss my social life. I had trips to plan, courses to take and I was stressed and overwhelmed.

Here is what I did to fix my ennui, and some steps you can take to fall in love with your travel blog all over again:

Line up some guest posters. Posting 4 times a week was getting to be too much for me but I felt like cutting back was letting my readers down. Instead I put up a simple call on twitter for guest posters and got an overwhelming response. I decided to start a series to feature one guest poster every week. Not only did it cut down on my responsibility level, it gave me a chance to showcase new authors and include different points of view on my blog. Everybody wins.
Take a new direction. If you mainly write destination pieces try your hand at something a little more philosophical. If you usually talk about yourself try interviewing someone new. Run a contest. Run a photo piece. Experimentation can make you look at your blog in a whole new light.
Write something non-travel related. Can’t possibly think of another single thing to say about travel? Sometimes it helps to stretch your writing muscles by writing on a new topic. See if you can guest blog somewhere unexpected. This will remind you that you love writing.
Do SOMETHING else. If you really can’t stand the thought of sitting down to write today, then don’t force yourself. Go outside and take a walk. Go to the movies. Read a novel. Just stop thinking about it for a few hours. Your blog will still be here when you get back.

Most important of all is to keep your eye on the big picture. Just because you don’t like blogging TODAY doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. Use your frustrations as an opportunity to re-asses what you love about blogging. That’s the path to a healthy, long-term relationship.

I’d also recommend taking a look at setting a weekly posting schedule, quick things to post on your travel blog, and selecting smart breaks from your travel blog to keep your mind (and travel blog) fresh. Thank you very much for the guest post Stephanie. You can follow Stephanie on Twitter @20sTravel and follow her blog at Twenty-Something Travel.

[photos by: MarkKelly, Gabriela Camerotti]

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