Writing an SCL Guest Post •• Some Blog Site

Writing an SCL Guest Post

Jun

2011

or, How to Double Your Website Traffic in 3 Easy Steps

This post will tell you how to write a guest post for Stuff Christians Like. Jon Acuff has already listed some hints on what to write in a guest post, but this post is going to tell you some additional details on how to do that.

Steps for Writing an SCL Guest Post

Step 1. Come up with a good idea.
Step 2. Write a 500-word humorous essay on that idea.
Step 3. Email it to Jon (his email is listed in the link above).

It really is that easy, but there are some other details that might help – things I’ve picked up over the years.

Tips for Writing an SCL Guest Post

These tips are not guaranteed to get your guest post published on SCL, but they might help.

See if your idea has already been covered in SCL. It’s okay if the topic is the same, but you must write about a different angle.
For example, Jon and I both wrote about meal-time prayers. But he wrote about which meals deserve prayers and I wrote about the reason for a prayer.

Same topic + different take on things = different posts.
A guest post should be ready to publish. Write it well. If you’re not good with grammar or proficient in proof-reading, then find someone competent to be your editor (your English-major sister, the guy who leaves blog comments correcting things in the post, etc.)
Yes, Jon will clean the post up a bit, but if he is choosing between your guest post and someone else’s similar guest post, my guess is that he will pick the one that requires less work on his part.
Remember that you’re writing for SCL. The audience is there because they appreciate a certain style, so work within the culture of SCL.
This might not work for all people, but I write my SCL guest posts differently than I write my own posts. Posts for my blog are drier, so I try to be more entertaining in a guest post. Something along the lines of “what would Jon write?”

But guest post are for variety, so don’t try to mimic him. Which leads to the next point…
Don’t add trendy pop culture references just for fun or because you think Jon will like them. If that’s a part of your writing, then fine – go ahead.
Jon is known to tweak or add things to guest posts, so if he thinks a current topic deserves a cameo in your guest post, he will make it so.
After you send it in, just wait and don’t worry. Sometimes he sends a reply the next day. Other times it takes a week or two. It depends on his travel schedule and who knows what else.
He usually sends a “Thanks for your guest post” reply first, to let you know that he got it. Then, once he knows that he will actually use it, he sends a “I loved it! It will go on SCL in a few weeks” reply.

If all you ever get is the first email, then your guest post is languishing in purgatory.
Type out your website in your email signature. If you just sign your name when you send in your guest post, Jon won’t know that you have a website. Therefore, he won’t provide a link to your site. And that means you won’t get all those visitors.
Because that is why you’re writing, right? No? You just want to help others? That’s not a very sustainable business plan. (of course I’m joking here. I don’t have a business plan either)
If you want visitors from SCL to return to your site, you might want to think about having an update just for them. You could have a new post all set to introduce yourself (and your site) to them.
I did this the first time, but I don’t bother with this anymore. Maybe if I had a product to sell or a goal in mind, I would do this more.