Without doubt, the best decision I made for MarketingPilgrim.com during 2007 was the addition of new contributors. We took on two paid staff writers and added almost a dozen other contributors.
Theses additions helped Marketing Pilgrim in a number of ways including:
- A deeper range of opinion. Our readers are now treated to broader insight and views–which I could not have provided on my own.
- More content for Google. With more writers, you produce more content for Google’s hungry spiders to digest.
- Expanded syndication. The addition of new writers helped position Marketing Pilgrim as a leading source of marketing news–which lead to our inclusion in Google News.
- More time for other projects. With the extra writing help, I was able to spend more time on research, development, and promotion for the site.
- Keeping me on my toes. There’s nothing like having fresh ideas and writing styles to help you evaluate and improve your own writing. I learned a lot from our new writers.
While having an audience of 8,000-10,000 daily readers helped us to attract great writers, that shouldn’t stop even the smallest blog from seeking contributions. A writing contest or a simply request for reader submissions is often all you need to bring additional content to your blog. You don’t even have to pay for new content either. Often an author byline and link back to their site, is enough of a reward for most contributors–just take this post as proof! :-)
Andy Beal is the editor of MarketingPilgrim.com and co-author of the upcoming book ” Radically Transparent.”
PS from Darren: If you want to know more about HOW to do some of what Andy talks about above – check out this more recent post from Collis on how to add new authors to your blog.
