I’m a big advocate of being involved with your community in any way you can. Guest posting is one way of doing this. It is a fantastic way of gaining new eyeballs for your content. I recommend it.
I recently sent David Risley a guest post, and he graciously accepted and published it. That same day, I sent a guest post to Michael Martine, and he also accepted and published a few days later. Two original articles, two guest posts. I couldn’t think of a better way to help get this new blog off the ground than by sharing it with the awesome readership of these two great blogs. Unbeknownst to me, and them, I had sent them the same post.
It was an accident, but the effect was still terrible in my mind. Duplicate guest posting is really not cool. David had published the article first, and then Michael followed, and I didn’t realize my mistake until the post went live on Michael’s site. David sends me a tweet basically saying “what’s up with this, fool?” He had every right…even an obligation…to call me out. And my stomach sunk when I visited Michael’s site to see that I had submitted a duplicate post to him.
I apologized, and both guys were terrific and gracious as always. It seems to be water under the bridge. But I walked away with a terrific lesson I wanted to share with you. One of those damn lessons you need to learn more than once in life. Details matter. Pay attention to what you’re doing. Also, when you make a mistake…own up to it as soon as possible. No one is perfect; God knows I’m not.
Thanks guys for the opportunity to appear on your blogs. It’s an honor, and next time I promise not to screw it up : )