What to do about constantly getting low quality guest posts?

[lynnehuysamen]

I just wanted some guidance here. I sell guest posts on my websites and my gigs clearly state only high quality posts written for real people because my blog is a real blog with real readers.

It also states clearly in all my gigs that anyone interested in ordering my basic gig and providing their own articles must send them to me first to check.

The problem is that buyers are mostly not sending me the articles to check and I am getting orders with really low quality articles sent to me that I could never post on any of my websites.

I just cancel these orders and state that the buyer ordered something I don’t offer.

I am considering completely removing the options for buyers to send their own articles because I am worried that the cancellations will result in my rankings dropping. I am not really concerned about losing money from dropping that part of the gig because it is only $10 and having quality content is way more important to me than earning $10.

What would you do?

[gina_riley2]

Lynn,

Personally, I would drop it, but since I don’t sell here, I maybe the wrong person to advise.

Also, since you do not have a link to your post, I would recommend you moving this to the conversation portion of the forum. You may get better or more responses. Afterall, you’re not actually “Improving My Gig” but having a “Conversation” on what to do with your gig.

[mjakkerman]

Maybe you can clarify in your FAQ when you consider an article spun. And possibly you can refer to your FAQ in the gig description.

[stmorshed]

this is also issue for me

[lynnehuysamen]

Maybe you can clarify in your FAQ when you consider an article spun. And possibly you can refer to your FAQ in the gig description.

Thanks @mjakkerman I am not sure the articles are necessarily spun, but they are not written by a native English speaking person and very often the articles are clearly written by a male when my main blog is a mommy blog. So this is becoming problematic.

The difficulty is that the buyers are not reading the gig properly because it states to contact me and send me the article before ordering.

From what I can see my version of quality and the buyers version of quality is not on the same level by a long shot. I have offended some buyers, not intentionally of course. But when I reject an order because of the article there has been some upset about my reasons.

[lynnehuysamen]

this is also issue for me

@stmorshed How do you deal with this problem?

[lynnehuysamen]

Lynn,

Personally, I would drop it, but since I don’t sell here, I maybe the wrong person to advise.

Also, since you do not have a link to your post, I would recommend you moving this to the conversation portion of the forum. You may get better or more responses. Afterall, you’re not actually “Improving My Gig” but having a “Conversation” on what to do with your gig.

Thanks @gina_riley2 yeah that’s what I was thinking. It almost doesn’t seem worth it to offer that gig when most of the articles that are sent to me are not suitable for my websites.

It is really sad though because I have had the odd few awesome buyers for that gig. I guess though if anyone requested I could do a custom offer if their article is awesome.

[mjakkerman]

Thanks @mjakkerman I am not sure the articles are necessarily spun, but they are not written by a native English speaking person and very often the articles are clearly written by a male when my main blog is a mommy blog. So this is becoming problematic.

The difficulty is that the buyers are not reading the gig properly because it states to contact me and send me the article before ordering.

From what I can see my version of quality and the buyers version of quality is not on the same level by a long shot. I have offended some buyers, not intentionally of course. But when I reject an order because of the article there has been some upset about my reasons.

From what I can see my version of quality and the buyers version of quality is not on the same level by a long shot.

Then I would drop it as well. Or do it the other way around. Make a gig in which you write articles. If somebody sends you an article that you can place without any further work (well, some minor edits should be possible), then you can send a custom offer.

[fonthaunt]

this is also issue for me

@stmorshed You don’t seem to have any gigs involving guest posts. Are you sure you are on the same topic? Just curious.

[fonthaunt]

@lynnehuysamen i would suggest one of two things. If you want to keep the option open for people to send their own articles, you could state up front that they will be edited by you and charge extra for that service. That will probably keep most people from sending their own anyway.

Otherwise, personally I would drop it. There are so many sellers and buyers who don’t fully understand what a good post with real content is. Some are just trying to stuff keywords but not write anything very meaningful and others just don’t know how to write engaging content for a specific audience.

[lynnehuysamen]

@lynnehuysamen i would suggest one of two things. If you want to keep the option open for people to send their own articles, you could state up front that they will be edited by you and charge extra for that service. That will probably keep most people from sending their own anyway.

Otherwise, personally I would drop it. There are so many sellers and buyers who don’t fully understand what a good post with real content is. Some are just trying to stuff keywords but not write anything very meaningful and others just don’t know how to write engaging content for a specific audience.

Thanks for the feedback @fonthaunt that is what I was thinking too. I am so tired of having to explain to people why their posts are not fit for my websites.

I’ll keep that gig up for a little bit longer and I am going to think about how I can phase it out in the near future and offer something else to make up my 3 packages for each website.

It seems that the majority of buyers are just looking for a backlink and they either don’t care what the content is or they just don’t get it. Either way it is really wasting my time.

I am busy with a big project on my website right now, and when that is finalized I will take another look at my gigs and make changes.

[Guest guestpostexp]

The best way is to mention in your gig that buyers should contact your before ordering that way you’ll only get exactly those clients who are interested in just more than a backlink and you can put a gig extra to write let’s say a 500 word article with a do-follow backlink and convince your buyers that since it’s your site, it’s better if you write the content so the audience can engage more with the article and that you’ll also share it on your social media for extra boost.

These are just some small steps towards getting good clients and having good content on your blog.

[lynnehuysamen]

The best way is to mention in your gig that buyers should contact your before ordering that way you’ll only get exactly those clients who are interested in just more than a backlink and you can put a gig extra to write let’s say a 500 word article with a do-follow backlink and convince your buyers that since it’s your site, it’s better if you write the content so the audience can engage more with the article and that you’ll also share it on your social media for extra boost.

These are just some small steps towards getting good clients and having good content on your blog.

Thanks @guestpostexp but I have done that. I have asked buyer to contact me first and to send their articles to me first to check if they want to use their own articles. It is not working though. I do have options to write the post too and I do get plenty of orders for that package which is great.

I am just going to remove the option for buyers to send their own gigs.

[adrover]

I would nix that gig. The cancellations will hurt you. As someone else mentioned, you could offer guest posting as an extra for articles you write for people. I have actually thought of doing the same thing once I get a site up and running.

[Guest guestpostexp]

Thanks @guestpostexp but I have done that. I have asked buyer to contact me first and to send their articles to me first to check if they want to use their own articles. It is not working though. I do have options to write the post too and I do get plenty of orders for that package which is great.

I am just going to remove the option for buyers to send their own gigs.

Perhaps you can try optimizing the price that includes writing the article yourself. Instead on $10 you could offer it for $20.