Pardon the tangential reference to finance topics, but I thought I’d write something that might benefit the other online community I’m a part of. I thought this post might be timely, particularly as the authors of several well-known sites start looking for guests during this season of vacations!

If you’re a newcomer to blogging, you’re no doubt familiar by now of the importance of building up awareness and traffic on your site. And you probably also know that being a guest blogger can be a great way to do it.

I’m about to finish up a week of writing at All Things Financial (ATF) and thought I’d give a few pointers on what I learned. Granted, JLP’s way of having guest bloggers (having only one author, and giving me access to write whenever and however I wanted) is probably a little unusual, but I think the same concepts apply no matter if you’re writing one or all of the articles on another blog.

Step 0: How do you get a guest blogging spot? If you’re a newcomer, this is probably your first question. The answer is to keep your eyes open and watch the established blogs your niche for posts and forum threads asking for guest submissions. It’s quite common for well-known bloggers to ask for guest submission entries while they’re on vacation. If you blog regularly and do it well, chances are people will start to notice, and you might get an unexpected invitation, as I did.

Step 1: Know your own writing style and set expectations: I’ll admit that I was somewhat intimidated by the prospect of taking over JLP’s blog for a week. Our styles are very different. I tend toward writing timeless, essay-length articles, and I was concerned about whether this would be a good fit for his site. I also realized I don’t have as wide an understanding of personal finance topics as he did.

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We end up traveling and calling overseas more than the average American since our families live in four other different countries. Besides the cost of the plane ticket, there are always other common expenses that pop up that are consistently overlooked. Here some comments and resources on how to save on them so that your pleasant memories of your vacation aren’t ruined by a jarring shock when bills from the trip start rolling in after a few weeks.

Foreign transaction fees on credit cards: If you didn’t know, most Mastercard and Visa credit cards out there charge an additional 3% fee when you use their card for purchases overseas, and this is in addition to any unfavorable foreign exchange rates. There’s a long but regularly updated discussion thread about credit card fees and exchange rates for foreign transactions that I check from time to time. The problem is that credit card reps don’t always know their own policies or companies are always “about to change” their terms and conditions. Currently, it’s rumored that Capital One charges no extra fee whatsoever, and there are a couple of MBNA cards that might only pass through the 1% from Visa without adding anything additional on top.

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Here’s a follow-up to my earlier post on avoiding two big resume pitfalls. Now that you know what to do, how do you actually get there? I’ll share my process, which some might find useful and others aggravating. I find it a practical approach. (Note that this process is for applying to US jobs…jobs in foreign countries tend to have requirements not covered here.)

Step 1: Read and re-read the job description. I look particularly in the job description for keywords on qualities they’re looking for, like comfort working in an environment of uncertainty and change, self-directed approach to working, etc. and highlight them with a marker. If the job requires technical or foreign language skills, I highlight those.

I find I tend to address most of the information under “job requirements”, like education and work experience in my cover letter, but sometimes there are specific skills they’re looking for under this section, too. I’ll usually also take the time to research the company I’m applying to and the industry (if I’m not familiar with it already) to see what sorts of people or skills they look for. But mainly, I focus on what’s written for the job itself.

Step 2: Review your work history. This takes a while to do, so set aside some time, a mug of coffee, and find a bright and quiet place. The good thing about it is that it’s the most time-consuming the first time you do it and easier with each subsequent iteration. Believe it or not, it can also be a somewhat therapeutic and fulfilling exercise as you take a jaunt down memory lane (assuming not all of your work experience has been miserable).

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For all you puzzle lovers out there, go here. It’s an alphabet puzzle, sort of like the SAT analogy section on drugs. The first answer is “b”. The rest is up to you. How far can you get? (I’m stuck on “P”.)

Lots of changes seem to be afoot! First, welcome to all the readers who might be visiting from The Street’s Daily Blog Watch. It was an unexpected but pleasant surprise to find my article on ETFs had been picked up by such a well-read site this morning.

Second, those readers might also be interested in this week’s Carnival of Investing, a collection of investment-related entries being hosted over at Free Money Finance. I submitted a post on choosing a bond fund, but there are several others worth reading, including one on inverse ETFs, which I’ll need to look into learning more about myself.

Third, as you may know, I’m writing both here and on All Financial Matters this week for JLP, the blog’s author, so why not drop by and take a look? My posts there have been shorter and a bit more interactive, in an effort to respect his spirit of writing. Maintaining two blogs and writing multiple, interesting articles on each one is quite the challenge, but well worth it. Thanks again to JLP for giving me this opportunity.