A popular guy on Twitter recently asked: “Doesn't it seem like poor etiquette to post a copy of a guest post you wrote on your own blog? You guest wrote it for someone else, right?”
Good question! I have done that, reposting here modified versions of guest blogs I wrote for other sites. But in all cases, it was at least six months after the blog had been originally posted somewhere else. And I noted at the top of the blog that it was a reposting, so if a reader had, by some chance, seen it they could skip it.
Do others bloggers repost material?
My thinking is that the traffic on the other blog site is likely to be different from the traffic I now have on my site. So if it’s fresh content to most of my readers, why not use it? Sometimes, it’s challenging to come up with new material twice a week! Reposting parallels like the practice of repurposing information gathered for an article your wrote for publication. As long as you modify the focus and/or arrangement, it’s acceptable (and common practice ) to pitch similar stories to other magazines with different audiences—using the same material.
What’s your take? Is it okay to repost guest blogs you’ve written?
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8 comments:
I think it's okay. Most of the bloggers I know who repost don't just copy and paste. They talk about the same subject, they make some of the same points, but they take the post in a slightly different direction, and even add in things that arose from comments. I'll read a repost, just to get that different angle on the same subject.
I see it as "recycling." LOL! No, seriously, not every blog has a great following. And it may reach a new audience. And I say, if someone doesn't like it, they don't have to read it.
As you pointed out, you may have a different audience than the guest spot that published the original post.
We sell rights to our stories to multiple places. As long as you're not violating an agreement with the blog you wrote it for, reposting it here should not be an issue.
Besides, you're given the original due time and credit.
I'm new to this blog. Do you mention here that you're up for a guest spot elsewhere so your readers can check out the post?
I've done it several times because I have three blogs and contribute to three others, so sometimes it's a necessity. But I've only recycled older articles that seem to fit the time and place. Who wrote the book on Twitter etiquette, anyway?
Jean
http://mysteriouspeople.blogspot.com/
I have both a newsletter and a blog, so I've recycled something from the newsletter to the blog. But I go back to way in the beginning of the newsletter (which is now 10 years old), find something that I know I can update and change so that it's new.
Yes I think (and I have done this) reposting an article written for another blog on your main home page blog is an acceptable practice. Like you, LJ, I do alter/modify it a bit to fit best within my blog's topics, and also to make it at least somewhat "original" for anyone who has read the previous post on the other blog.
I believe it is perfectly acceptable-especially with the time gap. It's your own writing, you have a different audience--and changing it a bit makes it new and fresh.
I think you can post your own stuff anywhere you want, although repetition without update will get boring. But posting others comments or guest blogging? Without specific permission, I don't think so.
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