This is a paid review sponsored by Ann Smarty of MyBlogGuest.com
Just in case you‘re living inside a hollow cave, you probably aren‘t aware yet that guest posting is the most powerful FREE way to get a blog known. By far, it’s a very powerful tactic that can get your blog brand across a wide range of audience. In my free eBook called Blog Marketing for Fame (get your copy now!) I stressed so much how it made my blog grew that quick.
For today, Ann Smarty pinged me last week to do this review of her site called as MyBlogGuest. I‘ll drive straight into the site and will now discuss what it is all about and its functionalities. So basically MyBlogGuest is a forum where you can find guest posters and fellow bloggers. The idea behind it is to build a community of guest posters that will collaborate with each other. In the end, it should be a win-win situation for everyone.
Site‘s Design & Aesthetics
At first look, you actually wouldn‘t think it‘s a forum and for me the only time I realized it was a forum was when I already completed filling out my profile. The site‘s layout is very simple yet it doesn‘t look like an ancient website. The forum itself is small yet is very targeted to guest bloggers. I personally like it because being targeted, you get to squeeze every benefit from it and will no longer need to avoid forum lurkers who just annoy members.
Another unique part is the categories and tags page. While you can browse each thread to find out your interest, you can also benefit a lot by sorting the blogs by categories. For example, MelvinBlog Dot Com is inside the internet marketing category so all you have to do is to pick your niche/category and you would immediately see blogs which are talking on the same stuffs. It also works the same with tags where you can specify the tags that your blog uses.
Functionality and Benefits
As I’ve said I’m a fan of small yet tight communities. MyBlogGuest isn’t like other forums which are mostly cluttered. As I was browsing different topics (there are just mainly 5 topics), I noticed that the members are supportive of each other. Ann was also out there responding and collaborating with the members. There was even a “Help Needed” topic there where you can go out and request for social media votes.
Another thing Ann mentioned is that they would try to keep the quality as high as possible. The forum has made it easy to report people who violate the rules, or those who don’t follow the guidelines of guest posting. So if you go out there and try to game the system, then more likely you are gonna get banned.
Lastly there’s also another part w/c is called Blog Round Ups where Ann would feature the best guest posts arranged through the forum in her blog. Although I don’t think it’s a huge feature, it can still help you get traffic especially if your blog is just getting started.
The Bad & Ugly, Some Suggestions
Well not really bad and ugly, I just can’t figure out a good title, lols. The one thing I don’t like is the quality of blogs in there. In fact I’ve seen people requesting for guest posts on a blog with an Alexa 1 million rank but it’s understandable and it’s the inevitable part of this feature. But I would definitely love to have a sort kind of a filtering system where you can filter good blogs from average ones.
Actually there is, the Blog Power. By specifying your blog and some of your social media accounts, you are getting a certain rating for your blog. The higher, the better obviously. But I find it glitchy since Google PR and other stuffs don’t really determine the audience behind the blog. Another is the part where you link your social media account to the forum. Actually it’s not linking, it’s just inputting (w/c is obviously a flaw).
Since I’m not a social junkie, all of my social accounts power just combined for a mere 7 points. So what I basically did was just borrow the user name of the top users in those social networks. Look:
Obviously the built-in Blog Power isn’t really a reliable metric and even if they fix it, it is still not (metrics aren’t that precise in determining)
It’s also the anti-thesis for direct communication types of guest posting for bloggers. Since most bloggers do have a contact form, then why go through a third party in a forum? Besides, bloggers check their email more often than forums right? Anyways I don’t really see it changing the current procedures in guest posting. People will still contact other bloggers directly and stuffs like that.
Final Words
MyBlogGuest is a decent site and the fact that it’s not a make money program is one thing that I liked so much about it. Ann Smarty is a pretty reputable person in this industry and I know her intention is honest. As the forum grows bigger and bigger and more tweaks are implemented, I think the site can become a key player in the rapidly-growing guest blogging community. Of course it still depends on a lot of factors, mostly the users (both quantity and quality). If she can get large bloggers to thumbs it up then it’s going to get huge in no time.
Sign up now with MyBlogGuest and tell me your experience about them.
Melvin, thanks so mush for the review. That is exactly what I was looking for: an outside honest opinion.
To your suggestions / critique:
– The quality of the blogs: there is no way for me (as I see that) to filter the blogs by quality. I’ve been a newbie blogger myslef and I can imagine how I would feel if my blog wouldn’t accepted anywhere because it is new 🙂 In fact, there are quite a few really powerful blogs. After all, that’s up to the guest blogger to choose.
If you have any suggestions on how I can improve that, please let me know.
– Ranking system: this is definitely something to be improved but as for your comments:
There is no way to automatically rank blogs so that the rankings reflected the audience behind the blog and its actual “power”. o you think I should involve members into “ranking sites?”
– False data: there is the way to report those who give other people’s profile names. Any idea how this can be improved as well?
How bloggers communicate: I didn’t aim to change the process actually. There SHOULD be some additional interaction behind the blog scene. Because bloggers need to review the posts, edit them, improve them, etc. I meant to create the platform where they could meet and get into contact with each other. Not sure if the proces itself should be changed overall…
Thanks again, Ann
.-= Ann Smarty´s last blog ..6 Benefits of Guest Blogging + 9 Tips for Better Guest Blogging =-.
I already heard about this guest posting community back then but i still do not have time to focus join in it yet. But — it is surely a great idea to make guest posting community in first hand.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..New Domain Adding in Web Hosting Service by use Cpanel Addon Facility =-.
I heard about this somewhere else too. I have it bookmarked, when I get caught up on things, I’m going to check it out.
.-= Christopher Anderson´s last blog ..Happy Valentine’s: Make a Difference =-.
Pretty interesting concept. I think all the flaws you mentioned are just minor and will not really do harm on the forum’s main goal. I’m going to join now and will let you know what I think.
.-= Brook´s last blog ..Where To Get What You Need =-.
Timely for me as I am going to do a couple of guest posts this month and have it full blast next month. My only concern though is the scarcity of balance in one niche. I mean we can have a lot of make money online blogs there but very few aff.marketing blogs. Same with technology and other niches. Maybe that can improve as the forum gets bigger.
Great review!
.-= Breeme´s last blog ..Keeping Up with Hot Trends is the Easiest Way to Make Money =-.
I like the Idea. Hopefully I will use it some day.
.-= Agent Deepak´s last blog ..Interview with Jim the Net Fool Guy =-.
Ann Smarty, you done a great job. It’s long time I did not visit your site. Your gravatar just remind me that. Will check your new project out. Will try to be a part of this.
.-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Download free battery friendly GPS Logger application for Android =-.
You’re welcome Ann. Well in my honest opinion, Myblogguest would become more powerful if it can at least try to accomodate some (not a lot) of the big bloggers in certain niches. I mean the value of the forum/service itself strongly depends on it. I know you know what I mean, bloggers do guest postings to get traffic. If there are few high-traffic blogs out there, then the real potential would not be really harnessed.
The one part I really don’t like a lot is the one wherein you’ll input your social media accounts (look at the image in the post) (i.e.digg, stumbleupon, etc.). I think it has to be more than just inputting. Why not have a verification system so that it can be verified that, that account is really the owners account.
I really like your idea Ann and best of luck.
Minor or major, all of the small things contribute a lot to the development of any project. It’s up to Ann to consider it, after all its just my 2 cents.
Guest blogging is a way for bloggers to reach a new audience and increase their traffic and sales.Guest blogging can be done in 2 different ways, first when someone else writes a blog post to your blog and when you write a post for someone else.
When writing a post for someone else it is good to remember that the post should not be an advertisement of your own products, the post must be informative and interesting to read.You need to make a good impression with this post, your “business card”.If people like what they read they will not only visit your blog, they will send your post to social media sites and link to it from other sites as well.
.-= Tom @ marketing tips´s last blog ..How To Spice Up A Boring Blog =-.
I read your guest positng in david rislay and started following you…It works
.-= infopediaonlinehere´s last blog ..Google App Engine technologies, Google App Engine SDK, Google cloud computing google app engine =-.