How to survive a writing website closure: Be a guest blogger

Guest blogging offers writers a venue for publishing their content on another’s site, potentially reaching new audiences.

Why would a writer chose to be a guest blogger?

This option may be particularly helpful for content producers who do not already have their own blogs. It may also present publication opportunities for articles that do not fit a writer’s existing editorial columns or blog sites.

In the best cases, guest blogging can provide added exposure and readership, helpful back-links, and positive networking.

Certainly, however, it pays for a writer to be picky about where he or she does any guest blogging. The best sites are well run, reputable, and ranked advantageously in search engine results.

Unfortunately, countless spammy sites advertise themselves as guest blogging opportunities. At best, these fly-by-night websites fail to pay and vanish quickly. At worst, they may practice copyright infringement, link misuse, and computer virus or malware proliferation.

Bloggers are advised to examine Terms of Service for each site and evaluate each publisher and opportunity individually - particularly for page ranking, readership, and reputation.

Here are a few websites that feature guest bloggers.

The links on this list lead to additional information and applications (where relevant).

• Andi’s Book Reviews 
• Blue Dragon Creations
• Famous Bloggers
• Global Tech Village
• Hive Health Media
• Huffington Post
• New Creative Media
• She Takes on the World
• Social Fresh
• Women on the Fence
• Work It Mom
• Write Wave Media  
• Writers in Charge

Some of these guest blogging opportunities focus on specific topics, while others may be open to general articles and posts. Certain sites will accept previously published material (as long as the contributor owns the rights to it), while others want only first-run content.

Most offer bylines with posts, but others do not. Payment practices vary, with some sites not paying at all, but simply offering bloggers the visibility of publication.

This list of sites that invite guest blogger participation is intended for informational purposes only.

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How to survive a writing website closure: Keep multiple copies

Web writers recoil in fear at the mere thought of unintentional erasures. Who among us hasn’t stared in horror at the blank white screen of death, where a thoughtfully composed article once appeared?

The problem is compounded when a publisher’s website goes kaput. Ask any writer who has produced content for a now-defunct site.

Fortunately, most web writers know enough to save their work, both in-process and post-publication. And the smartest keep copies in multiple spots, just in case.

Hey, glitches happen. And human error is always a possibility.

What writer hasn’t opened last week’s feature article document file, for example, composed this week’s entry, and saved it under the old name? Oops! That just overwrote the first piece.

And what if a computer crashes? Or what if a content storage website vanishes? Is all the copy contained within it lost?

If that content has been saved in another spot, such as an external hard drive or a thumb drive/flash drive, it can be easily recovered. If not, well, uh-oh.

Multiple copies – kept in different spots – can be a lifesaver for the web writer, especially when a website closes and those old pieces may be restored, revised, and republished somewhere else.

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How to survive a writing website closure: Sprinkle old and new content

Hosts of web writers are revising and repurposing content previously published on now-defunct websites.

Here’s a little secret to keep readers engaged.

Why not mix in a hearty helping of fresh, new articles and blog posts, while putting up updated versions of the earlier stuff?

Sure, this may or may not affect the searchability of the rewrites. But it certainly does long-time readers, subscribers, and followers a big service.

Plus, this practice keeps the writer writing. How easy is it for us to grow stale, if we’re simply editing and posting old, familiar content?

Mix it up!

Bring on the new material, while freshening up the tried and true content. Toss in a trending news piece. Try a feature article on a current topic.

Keep readers guessing … and intrigued.

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How to survive a writing website closure: Change it up

Duplicate copy is an online no-no. It happens all the time, but it’s not a smart strategy. From content pirates to the original copyright holders, web users all too often republish articles, blog posts, and other works word-for-word.

Oh, no!

Why is a verbatim repeat a bad idea online?

Besides the plagiarism problem, which we have addressed in other posts (like this one), the reposting of previously published materials dilutes a work’s potency in internet search engine results. 

The search robots (or spiders, as they may be tagged) identify the duplication. That sends most of the matching content plummeting in search results.

That means potential readers may never find the duplicate version.

In the very least, these internet users are not likely to see the title links to the most recent publication of previously posted material until the original links (perhaps still cached by search engines) have vanished.

How can web writers work their way past this problem? 

First, it is essential that one only publish materials within his or her right to do so. Original copy, permission-granted items, and public domain works are fair game. Anything else risks copyright infringement and can result in a search engine ban and possible legal action. 

Here’s an aside: Public domain works are free to reuse, republish, recycle, and recirculate. But that’s another story altogether.

Next, it’s always a good idea to edit, revise, and update old pieces before publishing them in a new spot on the web. Even if their original site of publication no longer actually exists, this is a prudent practice. 

Internet search engines love fresh, new content.

• Tweak the title.
• Write new subtitles.
• Play around with the first and last paragraphs. 
• Rearrange sentence structures, and swap in some suitable synonyms.

OK, copy that.

But only if you have the rights to do so, and you’ve changed it up a bit first.

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How to survive a writing website closure: Beat the cache flow problem

Web writers aiming to republish their own work after it’s appeared on now defunct websites need to beware of this search engine peril.

Don’t get caught in the cache!

What does that even mean?

The major internet search engines (such as Google) create caches of web pages, which can linger in cyberspace long after those pages have been removed.

That means potential readers who search on any topic are likely to find cached pages in their listed results. What’s more, if those now-vanished pages were highly ranked by those internet search engines, they will hog the top positions in the search results.

Readers may click those top links, only to find the pages missing. Worse yet, their link clicks may be re-routed.

Either way, writers who have moved their previously published work to their own blogs or still thriving sites may lose those potential readers, along with their lovely page views.

That’s the first problem. The next one may be even more perilous for those who publish online.

Search engines hate duplicate content.

If cached items still appear, writers’ republished items are likely to be tagged as exactly that.

To prevent this problem, it’s important to report cached links when they appear. Here’s how to do report dead links to Bing, to Google or to Yahoo.

Once that’s done, the material now published in new places should be recognized as new and unique (unless it also appears on other sites).

Eventually, caches are updated, eliminating the problem. But, in the meantime, those early potential content readers may have moved along.

Beat the cache flow problem, and keep those readers coming your way!

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