Guest bloggers at StevePavlina.com?

[featherstory]

I have certainly at times read the blog and wondered about other people with different experiences or expertise...such as what would a woman, who lives in S. America and is in her 60's, say about this... I think it would be cool if it was still in relation to your blog posts, and certainly a lot better than less blog posts.

[fcrdash]

I think having guest bloggers would make this community richer. Somewhere in the thread, maybe it was Steve, suggested a guest could blog about results or efforts. I think this has lots of potential for value and probably even humor.

I have been hanging around here for several years and this is, I think, my first post. I am working on overcoming shyness......

[slumberland]

People can already sort of 'guest blog' in these forums.

A really fascinating post can probably magnetize an audience like a blog post would.

[Mynder]

The brand issue has been brought up before. "stevepavlina.com" has been very clear, very direct, and very focused. I think guest bloggers, no matter the quality of the posts, would water down this focus, this clarity, this continuity.

Part of the attraction this blog has is following you as you develop. You, as a person. The insights you share don't suddenly appear out of the blue, but they are often protrayed as developments and refinements or even rejections of previous learnings and articles. There is a storyline we've been following here, and while this would keep it limited to what you are and can provide, I think this is at the core of this product right now.

Instead of you watering down your own blog, you could set up "pavlinafriends.com" or something similar, and really pull in the folks who you think have something of value to share with the world. You wouldn't have to monitor things as strictly, because it's not YOU that is suddenly being sold by other authors' works.

In short...no problem with reading stuff from other people you believe will contribute value to the general public, including us diehard forum goers...but I feel it might be disruptive to the current blog, so I suggest a different playing field for that. I mean, you can still crosslink there in your own blog posts, add some personal "best points made in the last month" lists, roll up lots of guest articles into (e-)books, etc.

Folks going to stevepavlina.com expect a dose of Steve Pavlina. At least I do. A guest article can be polished and perfect and of the highest quality, better than your own even, but it can't tell me what's going on in your mind.

And if a guest blogger were truly that good, it'd be a shame to not set them up with their own site to address their own audience.

That said, I'm prone to see the problems in any planned change, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

[Savage]

I appreciate all the feedback on this. Combined with my own intuition, it tells me that having guest bloggers isn't the right way to go. I do like the idea of making my blog a bit more social in the sense of sharing ideas from others, but there may be better ways to do that.

Been thinking about doing audio interviews with others in this field, for instance.

[Ink]

Originally Posted by Savage

I appreciate all the feedback on this. Combined with my own intuition, it tells me that having guest bloggers isn't the right way to go. I do like the idea of making my blog a bit more social in the sense of sharing ideas from others, but there may be better ways to do that.

Been thinking about doing audio interviews with others in this field, for instance.

I would love that! (Tony Robbins?!)

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Ink

I would love that! (Tony Robbins?!)

I don't really know Tony, but I could start by asking people I already know and who know me, such as Jack Canfield, Michael Beckwith, Hale Dwoskin, Lisa Nichols, etc. I'm sure I'd be able to find dozens of interesting people to interview without much difficulty.

I don't like the formal Q&A format so much though. It's been done to death, and some of the best questions don't have clear answers. I think it would be more interesting to do something like a "Coffee talk with Steve & ____" where we have a discussion about a certain topic, record it, and share it.

Right now I'm just tossing this out there. It's not a committed plan at this point.

[WilliWibald]

"Coffee talk with Steve & ____"

sounds fabulous. I would really like to see/hear that.

[Le Roi]

Originally Posted by Savage

Been thinking about doing audio interviews with others in this field, for instance.

I'd love this!

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by Savage

I don't like the formal Q&A format so much though. It's been done to death, and some of the best questions don't have clear answers. I think it would be more interesting to do something like a "Coffee talk with Steve & ____" where we have a discussion about a certain topic, record it, and share it.

Right now I'm just tossing this out there. It's not a committed plan at this point.

Great idea. Love it.

[Agota]

Interviews would be awesome if you could do really in depth interviews on certain topics ( as opposed to interviews with ten questions that really don't add much value).

I guess you've made a right choice with guestposts. I have to admit I was a little disappointed, but that's because I'm biased as blogger. I think if you would allow guestposts and outsource their selection, that would really affect the quality of this blog negatively. I mean, you'd obviously get some amazing guest posts, but with your level of traffic, you'd mostly get those boring articles rehashing things you've heard one thousand times with no new input. Not interesting.

[Savage]

A challenge with open guest post submissions would be getting tons of low quality submissions and having to sort through them to find a few good ones. I just don't want to do that.

[VinceG]

Originally Posted by Savage

A challenge with open guest post submissions would be getting tons of low quality submissions and having to sort through them to find a few good ones. I just don't want to do that.

Crowdsource that too.

[BillyTheAdult]

Originally Posted by VinceG

Crowdsource that too.

The crowd only knows what it likes, not whats quality.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Savage

A challenge with open guest post submissions would be getting tons of low quality submissions and having to sort through them to find a few good ones. I just don't want to do that.

You'd probably do better to do what agents/publishers do for writers: make them send you a one page query letter for an article and choose candidates based on that.

[Mynder]

I still kind of like my "pavlinafriends.com" idea. So many great opportunities and possibilities in there.

[VinceG]

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult

The crowd only knows what it likes, not whats quality.

Simple matter of direction can fix that. Designate five or six "keepers of quality," people who know the difference between a good article and a bad. They can go through the slush, and pick out the best stuff and submit it to a queue for Steve, or a delegate, to look at. If the volume of submissions picks up, increase the number of levels. But two, or three levels should work unless things get crazy.

[Keith]

I personally would vote "no". The blog represents a progression - Steve's personal journey over time.

Steve's blog is an extension of Steve's character. Posts by other authors would be discordant, regardless of quality.

[borisg]

I'd have to vote no. Its enough to decipher your ramblings sometimes. I would rather this remain the SP channel and not a network of misc. PD gurus. Everybody and their mother seems to be a PD guru nowadays. If you find a post by another person to be very much to your liking, then I appreciate your recommendations...but I don't think you should give them the mic.