The Wardman Wire

I note that Iain Dale has introduced Guest Bloggers at the rate of one per day for the summer, is broadening the offering on his political blog with a wide-range of Guest Posts over the last few days.

• Robin Tilbrook, Leader of the English Democrats: For an English Parliament
• Matthew Dear: Politics is a Derby, Not a Kick-About
• Austen Sanders: Why Young People Don’t Join Political Parties
• James Clark: Death of the Record Industry
• Andrew Mitchell MP: Obama or McCain? Who gets the Vote of the Poor?

And he’s after more:

Note from Iain: I will be running a series of guest blogs throughout the Summer. If you would like to write an article to appear on the blog (max 750 words) please do email me. I can’t guarantee it will be used though!

My suggestions:

• Go for it, especially if your normal writing contrasts with Iain’s style and your audience is in an adjacent niche but not especially overlapping with Iain’s.
• Include a small number of extra links compared to the pieces already there. Make them crucial to the piece and at least one going back to your blog then Iain can’t take them out ! (not that he would).
• The laws of supply and demand suggest making it quick, or making it excellent.
• Make sure that your “name check” link back lands somewhere attractive that will snag the new readers, with a “subscribe” icon somewhere visible. Why not write a special “Landing Page” article explaining why visitors need to read your blog for their continued health and wellbeing?
• A good opportunity for lefty-bloggers to steal part of the right-hand audience … I suppose.

A golden opportunity for wider exposure - even an extra 100 one-off visitors can make a difference to many blogs.

On my own blog, I’m moving back more to a normal pattern - but with a few adjustments over the summer.