Got a guest post offer via Email...need help

[NedCugg]

So I have this site/blog which covers a few areas (info, updates etc, nothing special). It does have some authority status (again, nothing special) around 3K indexed pages (new articles/posts are immediately indexed on google) while some of them rank top for certain keywords... and about 12K page views per month.
In the last 2 month I got like 2 polite inquires to add a hyperlink to pages regarding topics that were posted in articles, but that's it (usually don't get too much spam Emails on this domain).

Anyway, 3 days ago I got a proposal from a marketing agency, to post a professionally written unique piece on my website, which will have a reference to one of their clients. They said they will be able to send a draft in the coming weeks so I could check it out.

I did some research and their "marketing agency" looks legit. The thing is - they are offering 70$ if the deal goes through, which makes me a bit suspicious, is my website really worth that much for their client (I'm assuming they will be profiting as a middle man for this deal)?
Also, how can they be sure that I won't take the article down/sell my website/shut it down after like 3 month? Does this business work on trust? or do they just assume they would get their money worth even if the article won't stay forever...

So what should I pay attention to?

1. I'll inspect the piece before hand (draft), the outbound link (their client page) of course.
2. The payment? For example, if the Payment is indeed sent from their agency (PayPal or whatever)?

Could this in anyway harm the status of my domain on Google? Most of the posts have no outbound links, so It would be just 1 guest post with an outbound link out of like 3K pages...

And if it actually goes well, why wouldn't I just allow more and more of these guest posts? It seems like easy money isn't it?

For obviuos reasons I can't reveal any specifics (my domain, the agency, etc) - also not allowed here I believe.

 

[tazarbm]

I've done this in the past, so you're lucky to have been contacted (you get free cash). Just ask them for $100 and see if they're OK with it (many of them are).

And no, it can't harm your website... except if it's google themselves contacting you to check if you're a link seller or not, but the chances for that happening are slim, so...

And if it actually goes well, why wouldn't I just allow more and more of these guest posts? It seems like easy money isn't it?

Yeah, it's easy money. You could allow more of guest posts, obviously (you even should, if your website is not making you enough money yet), just keep it to a low rate to avoid being seen as a link farm. I'd say to accept one guest post for every 10-12 articles you have (I mean, every 10-12 articles that don't link out to external, non-popular sources in your niche)

 

[NedCugg]

I've done this in the past, so you're lucky to have been contacted (you get free cash). Just ask them for $100 and see if they're OK with it (many of them are).

And no, it can't harm your website... except if it's google themselves contacting you to check if you're a link seller or not, but the chances for that happening are slim, so...


Yeah, it's easy money. You could allow more of guest posts, obviously (you even should, if your website is not making you enough money yet), just keep it to a low rate to avoid being seen as a link farm. I'd say to accept one guest post for every 10-12 articles you have (I mean, every 10-12 articles that don't link out to external, non-popular sources in your niche)

It's just sound too good to be true. I can remove all advertisement from my website (you could understand that - ads for 12K page views per month is nothing compared to 70$ per one guest post).
I don't really know how to evaluate my website properly I guess...

Anyway, this is just one random agency that contacted me. To do this regularly I'll need these markets, some of them require editor privileges on my website (is this normal? Why can't they just send me the drafts like these guys).

It's just feels too easy, I don't know. With a few of these guest articles I can make more than 1 month earning of ads...

 

[tazarbm]

It's just sound too good to be true. I can remove all advertisement from my website (you could understand that - ads for 12K page views per month is nothing compared to 70$ per one guest post).
I don't really know how to evaluate my website properly I guess...

Anyway, this is just one random agency that contacted me. To do this regularly I'll need these markets, some of them require editor privileges on my website (is this normal? Why can't they just send me the drafts like these guys).

It's just feels too easy, I don't know. With a few of these guest articles I can make more than 1 month earning of ads...

I don't think you're gonna get enough offers to outearn your ads, but the few of them that come every now and then just take and be happy with the free money

Also, I don't think that giving them editor access can harm your site, but you can simply refuse. It's your website, you decide what you do with it, if they like it, fine! If not, tell them to move on... well, in a polite way, obviously

 

[NedCugg]

I don't think you're gonna get enough offers to outearn your ads, but the few of them that come every now and then just take and be happy with the free money

Also, I don't think that giving them editor access can harm your site, but you can simply refuse. It's your website, you decide what you do with it, if they like it, fine! If not, tell them to move on... well, in a polite way, obviously

Well I knew about guest blogging, but never thought that I would be offered such amounts for 1 post... So you're assuming that even if I join these markets (they connect site owners with people who need guest posts for their businesses and pages), I won't get that many requests?

Yeah regarding the editor privileges - it's one of these markets. You send your site, and if they approve it, they want to be able to go in an post themselves whenever a suitable advertiser is found...

 

[tazarbm]

Well I knew about guest blogging, but never thought that I would be offered such amounts for 1 post... So you're assuming that even if I join these markets (they connect site owners with people who need guest posts for their businesses and pages), I won't get that many requests?

Yeah regarding the editor privileges - it's one of these markets. You send your site, and if they approve it, they want to be able to go in an post themselves whenever a suitable advertiser is found...

oh, I somehow missed the "markets" part. I thought you were talking about occasional individuals that are contacting you via email and want editorial rights. My bad

Honestly, I don't know what to say. Some people do give access, others don't. If this is your only website (or the highest performing one) you are probably not comfortable with others deciding what they post on your websites, although... if I remember correctly some of these agencies do send the content to you before publishing so you can approve / reject it.

Also, you can get your website out of their inventory at any time I think, so you're not risking that much to be honest.

EDIT: I've submitted 3 of my websites to 2 such networks few months ago, but after 1 month of not receiving a single guest post / backlink I've removed them from their network because I've not been happy with their plugin being active and empty on my sites at all times, and I didn't like the fact that the plugin was making my sites look a bit ugly when there was no link opportunity showing up. The plugin basically added a widget on the sidebar, saying "Partners" and that widget has had no partners for over 1 month, and I didn't like it. So, I removed the plugin and then removed my websites from their network and nobody gave a shit what I have done. I am sure that if I want to join again with the same 3 websites and install the plugin again I will be instantly accepted again

The point is, you can add your site to their network and see what happens, and if you're happy with the changes / money you're making you can keep it in there, otherwise just remove it and you're good

 

[Aleksandar916]

This is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. It cannot harm your website unless you're doing it waaaay too much and stop posting your own content. I would recommend you to avoid links to adult, gambling, cbd, pharma websites, unless one of those is your niche. If you don't want to avoid them, you should at least charge double.

Also, how can they be sure that I won't take the article down/sell my website/shut it down after like 3 month? Does this business work on trust? or do they just assume they would get their money worth even if the article won't stay forever...

Like many things in business, it works on trust. If you want more of this, you should be honest and professional, they will bring more work to you or refer you to others.

Keep the ads. This is not something that's consistent and sustainable, but it's nice way to earn extra cash quickly.


And like @tazarbm said, if they offered $70, you can easily ask for $100 and get it.

 

[solutionservices4SEO]

As you mentioned you have authority site with good traffic that's why you are getting Article(guest post with link) request that link will also help that site to become a authority site and rank in google, by this way you will get extra money and other site will get juice(traffic) from your site. both will be on win win position. but in start avoid by giving the Editor rights, spend sometime and observe how things are happening

 

[blogmen]

post with an outbound link out of like 3K pages...

3K pages and no outbound links? I recently found that having authoritive outbound links helps SEO. Time to accept every guest post you can get. How come you haven't received guest posts till now, assuming it took a long time to build a 3k-page blog?

If you take their guest post down after 3 months, they'll simply avoid you next time. Othwise they'll come back later for more guest posts.

 

[NedCugg]

oh, I somehow missed the "markets" part. I thought you were talking about occasional individuals that are contacting you via email and want editorial rights. My bad

Honestly, I don't know what to say. Some people do give access, others don't. If this is your only website (or the highest performing one) you are probably not comfortable with others deciding what they post on your websites, although... if I remember correctly some of these agencies do send the content to you before publishing so you can approve / reject it.

Also, you can get your website out of their inventory at any time I think, so you're not risking that much to be honest.

EDIT: I've submitted 3 of my websites to 2 such networks few months ago, but after 1 month of not receiving a single guest post / backlink I've removed them from their network because I've not been happy with their plugin being active and empty on my sites at all times, and I didn't like the fact that the plugin was making my sites look a bit ugly when there was no link opportunity showing up. The plugin basically added a widget on the sidebar, saying "Partners" and that widget has had no partners for over 1 month, and I didn't like it. So, I removed the plugin and then removed my websites from their network and nobody gave a shit what I have done. I am sure that if I want to join again with the same 3 websites and install the plugin again I will be instantly accepted again

The point is, you can add your site to their network and see what happens, and if you're happy with the changes / money you're making you can keep it in there, otherwise just remove it and you're good

Thanks a lot for these informative responses.

Yeah, I'll check out some markets I guess, we'll see how it goes.

 

[NedCugg]

As you mentioned you have authority site with good traffic that's why you are getting Article(guest post with link) request that link will also help that site to become a authority site and rank in google, by this way you will get extra money and other site will get juice(traffic) from your site. both will be on win win position. but in start avoid by giving the Editor rights, spend sometime and observe how things are happening

12K per month is "good traffic"? It's organic and all (Google, Facebook, twitter, all natural) but I considered it as very low traffic (it's a few hundred views per day).

They'll get some juice, but I don't know about the traffic. I can promise that their posts will be ranked on top, only a few of the posts on this domain rank on top...

Yes I tend not to give editor privlliges to strangers ATM, we'll see.

 

[tazarbm]

Thanks a lot for these informative responses.

Yeah, I'll check out some markets I guess, we'll see how it goes.

good luck

 

[NedCugg]

3K pages and no outbound links? I recently found that having authoritive outbound links helps SEO. Time to accept every guest post you can get. How come you haven't received guest posts till now, assuming it took a long time to build a 3k-page blog?

If you take their guest post down after 3 months, they'll simply avoid you next time. Othwise they'll come back later for more guest posts.

It took 8 month, we were 3 people contributing to it (but I solely own it). Yeah for such prices of course I want to get guest posts. I received this 1 paid offer and my eyes literally opened up (hence - this thread).

Of course I'm not in it to cheat anyone. I just wanted to understand how this bussiness works, and how come these guys are offering to pay 70$ to a website owner they don't know, for 1 article...

 

[blackbeans]

There are two ways you can play this.

You can play it by Google's rules and practice 100% transparency.

What you should do then is to tag the outbound links in the guest post with the word "sponsored."

On the other hand, you can play this game the same exact way as most of the other users on this forum.

They don't add that tag.

But here's the key.

People are not going to approach you for a guest post if you aren't going to put the sponsored tag on the link.

That's just the nature of the beast.

You can go with transparency and try to appease the Google gods that way.

Or, you can just do what most other publishers do, which is take money for high-quality guest posts.

You should still exercise the highest editorial quality control.

But at the end of the day, the value to the person pushing that content on you is how "natural" the backlink you produce will be.