Guest Post – The Value of the Little Guy: Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate “Smaller” Bloggers
By Jennifer Mattern
As a blogger you probably rely on other bloggers quite a bit — even more than you realize. Other bloggers visit and comment on your posts. They link to you (which both helps you rank well in search engines and sends direct traffic your way). They give you ideas for posts when you choose to continue or contribute to conversations started on those other blogs. You might even solicit help from other bloggers more actively by asking for interviews or asking them to publish your guest posts.
Let’s think about those more active forms of solicitation. Which bloggers in your niche should you target when you’re looking for exposure? Should you offer to write guest posts only for major blogs or should you consider writing for lesser-known blogs as well? Should you only interview “big” bloggers in your niche, or can the “small” bloggers add real value too? How about agreeing to interviews you’re asked to do? Should the size of the blogger matter?
Yes and no.
The Value of Smaller Bloggers
There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking exposure and relationships with bigger bloggers. However, assuming that you should only work with bloggers who are bigger than yourself (or on par) is a mistake. So is assuming that any of those “little guys” are just using you when they ask for that interview or guest post opportunity (in fact it’s hypocritical to say that unless you’ll also admit that you’re just using all of your readers who comment, link to, and spread the word about your blog every day).
Smaller bloggers are incredibly valuable, but only if you know how to put those relationships to good use. When you submit a guest post to a big blog in the niche for example, you expect a quick return — quick traffic from their readers. You have to be willing to take a different, and long tail, approach when working with smaller blogs. A smaller audience doesn’t mean that blogger is less influential (anyone who equates influence solely or mostly with audience size is stuck in a high school popularity contest with no real grasp of what that word truly means).
In fact, smaller audiences can sometimes be more targeted and have more influence over their particular audience. That means you can tailor a very specific guest post or interview style to a very specific group of readers — the ones you really want to appeal to. Larger blogs are often much broader — not a good thing when it comes to targeting an audience. Aim for quality over quantity any day (and bonus points if you happen to find both).
On top of sometimes-better targeting, smaller bloggers often do a fantastic job of promoting their interviews and guest posters. You can actually get more mileage from smaller bloggers than someone who has moved on to another dozen posts since yours went up. For example, quite a few months ago I was asked to write a post on a book marketing blog (I used to do some work in author PR). Whereas a larger blog would have it long since buried in the archives, this blogger continues to actively promote that post via social media tools (as well as posts from his other guest bloggers).
Small Today Doesn’t Equal Small Tomorrow
One of the most overlooked considerations in choosing bloggers to solicit for interviews and guest posts is that their blog will very likely grow. It doesn’t matter if they only get 100 readers a month now. Ask yourself instead about the potential of the individual blogger. Do they take it seriously? Do they have a good voice? Does their audience really listen to what they have to say?
That relatively unknown blogger could be the next big thing in your niche tomorrow. For example, someone in my network was contracted to write for a new blog in the freelance niche. He approached me asking for an interview. At that time I’d never heard of the blog. It was only a few months old. But size didn’t matter. I knew the writer. I respected the writer. I would have been a fool to turn down the offer just because the blog was new. Who was I to say it wouldn’t become a hotspot in the niche? As it turns out, it did. That blog was Freelance Switch. That interview still sends me traffic.
Are you willing to let ego get in the way of effective blog marketing and networking? If you feel a bit too big for your britches the next time some “small” blogger asks for a favor, take a step back and be honest. How many people have you used at some point to get to where you are today? Is doing someone a favor going to hurt your blog? As long as you can make the time and it won’t hurt you in some way, go ahead and do it! Give them that guest post. Let them interview you. If you want to be a blog junkie just looking for the next quick fix from a traffic surge, more power to you. But I know where the real ROI is — it’s in long-term, mutually beneficial relationships that you build with other bloggers. Remember that your network helped you get where you are today. The moment we, as bloggers, forget that and forget to pay it forward from time to time is the moment we should reconsider whether or not we should be a part of that blogging community in the first place.
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Jennifer Mattern is a freelance business writer and professional blogger. In addition to writing and blogging for clients she also manages several resources for freelance writers including two blogs: All Freelance Writing and The Query-Free Freelancer. You can follow Jennifer on Twitter @QueryFreeWriter.
This post is part of Jennifer’s Virtual Blog Tour. Check it out for more posts for freelance writers hosted at four awesome blogs.
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November 6th, 2009 at 7:31 am
[...] The Value of the Little Guy: Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate “Smaller” Bloggers – hosted by Ami Spencer at Write Out [...]
November 6th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Great points, Jennifer. It is important to remember that we are a blogging COMMUNITY. Thanks!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I think it’s important to note that no one should feel pressured to do everything for everyone just because they’re a part of a larger blogging community. If you really don’t think a blog fits your target, getting exposure on a blog is contrary to the image you want, etc, then it’s okay to say “no.” There are only so many hours in a day after all.
Something else that I didn’t touch on much in the post was the other side of interviews — who you should ask to take part in interviews as opposed to who you should accept interview requests from.
“Bigger” bloggers are often asked because people assume they’ll mention it and bring their own audience to read the interview. First, that doesn’t always happen. Something else I’ve noticed is that while some bigger bloggers are fantastic interviewees, many are not.
What they’ll do is basically give you nothing that their readers haven’t heard before, no matter what questions you ask them. They find a way to spin it to their same old message. A good interview (for your readers) is one where you ask questions they’ll want the answers to and where they can learn something new from the interviewee.
Never knock smaller bloggers when you’re looking for authoritative sources to interview. With less exposure in the blog community, what they’re saying will likely be new to more of your audience. On top of that, being new to blogging doesn’t mean they’re less of a source. In fact, many of the top folks in just about any industry you can think of aren’t active bloggers. That doesn’t mean they aren’t well-connected with plenty of influence and a huge audience of their own.
It all comes down to never making assumptions. Some “big” bloggers are complete flakes — taking what they can get from you but not giving much of value back. Some are fantastic. Some smaller bloggers won’t give you much exposure. Others will give you far more than you ever could have guessed. It’s your responsibility to put in the leg work up front to make those judgment calls as best you can.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by queryfreewriter: My guest post at Write Out Loud: Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate “Smaller” Bloggers – http://tinyurl.com/ycz3qwo…
November 6th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Mary – Thanks for the comment. You’re right that we all have a place in this community, no matter how big or small our blogs are!
Jenn – Thanks for the follow-up comments. All great points, as always. You gave us some important factors to consider as we build our blog community and promote ourselves and our businesses.
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