If you’re a writer looking to write a post on my site, just know I do accept guest posts and sponsored posts.
Please read the entirety of this page to ensure you have a complete understanding of what I look for and what you can expect.
Not sure of the difference between guest and sponsored posts?
A guest post will be edited and formatted by me and I may add to the content or alter it to fit the style and format of my blog; it will be a collaboration.ย I will always link to your main website and/or your social channels. However, I reserve the right to insert my affiliate links or exchange any other links in the post. Thus if you are being paid to generate links for a certain website or have otherwise promised a website you will include their links in a post, that is not the purpose of a guest post. That is a sponsored post, so please see the below passage.
A sponsored post is one where you pay me for my time in editing and formatting the post as well as for not inserting my affiliate links and for leaving any links in your post as is. All links will be follow links. The editing of your post will be very minimal.
In either case I prefer the author to submit at least 3 royalty-free images with their post (see more below). In either category, the post will be noted as a guest post.
POST REQUIREMENTS (for either option)
- They need to fit one of my categories: Parenting, Marriage/Relationships, Personal Finance or something related to work or home DIY.
- The post needs to be a minimum of about 1000 words
- The post needs to be original content – not previously posted on any website
- You cannot also publish the post on your site (linking to it is fine and sharing socially is fine, but we’d both get in trouble with Google for having the same post on 2 different websites)
- Great content – While you would be credited as the writer of the post and I would include a bio and link to your site and/or social pages, I would not wantย your guest post to be sales-y or pushing your affiliate links. The post’s primary goal should be to help my viewers
- Your bio should be 200 words max and can include a headshot or logo pic of your brand.
- I reserve the right to edit the post as I see fit and format it to my liking (including inserting my affiliate links on guest posts if I think they naturally work with the post) – but I will give you a review period with the option to make suggestions
- If you send images, make sure they are royalty free or your own – Images from websites like Pexels.com or Pixabay.com can be used commercially without attribution (credit).ย Please make sure the images you send are able to be used without payment or copyright infringement. That being said I have no issue with finding images and I reserve the right to substitute images if I think it helps the post. I also frequently insert YouTube videos where it makes sense or possibly embed Twitter posts that are relevant.
- If you post cites a fact or statistic, make sure you link to the original study (not just another blog post)
- If you want to link to other blog posts just make sure they aren’t competing for the same keyword phrase (ie: the same subject matter)
- Until I see your written post I cannot guarantee I will use it
- The post should be submitted in a word document or PDF file
- I would want you to share the post at least once on all social channels you use
- Share me now – Itย doesn’t hurt to show me you’re serious by sharing some of my existing posts now on your social channels and following me on all my social channels.
- Repeat posts – If the post does well, I’m happy to accept future posts under the same conditions.
LINKS IN YOUR POSTS
I will always link to your main website and/or your social channels, so please make sure those are included in your bio.
However, I reserve the right to insert my affiliate links or exchange any other links in any guest post. As I mentioned above, if you are being compensated for generating backlinks for companies, I don’t have any issue with that. However, that is not the purpose of a guest post; that is what’s known as a sponsored post.
I do accept sponsored posts and aside from formatting and minor grammar edits, I will leave your post as is with whatever links you wish to include. I charge upwards of $100 for a sponsored post but am willing to negotiate, especially if you plan to write multiple posts. As an example, a writer submitting 2-3 posts per month might only need to pay $25/post.
SEO REQUIREMENTS FOR GUEST POSTS
It will benefit us both more if the post has a chance to rank well on Google.
With that in mind, this is what I do on all posts (mine included) to ensure they are SEO friendly. You can handle this on the front end, or I can adjust it on the back end.
- COMPETITION – I search the chosen keyword phrase you are using to see how much competition (other posts) already exist.ย I look for phrases that have about 500,000 or fewer other similar posts. Below 200,000 is even better.
- SEARCH VOLUME – I also look to see how many people are actively searching for that keyword phrase. There are a number of free and paid tools to show you this.ย I would want a minimum of 50 people/month searching for the chosen keyword phrase and obviously higher searches and low competition is better!
- AVOID BIG NAME COMPETITION – Of the top 10 posts for that phrase, I like to make sure they aren’t from big names like HuffPost. It will be hard for us to out-rank them.
- KEYWORD PHRASES – That keyword phrase needs to appear in your post title and be sprinkled around naturally in your text at least 6 times.
- BEAT THE TOP POSTS – Take a look at the top 2 or 3 posts on your phrase. The goal would be to have your post be better, more thorough and/or more current.
- SIMILAR SEARCHES – On certain keyword phrases, Google will suggest other similar questions in a box called “People Also Ask”.ย Use some (or all) of those as possible headlines in your post as Google will reward posts that really dig deep into a topic.
- NUMBERED POSTS – Numbered posts tend to do better, followed by “How to” posts. When doing a numbered post, realize that odd numbers perform better than even. Also be aware that if another post in the top 10 has a number, for example, of 9 you would want to select the number 11 or higher; people naturally want to click on a post they think will give them more.
The editorial process for guest posts
Typically you would submit 2-5 post topic ideas based on the above criteria.
I would let you know my preferred topic from those choices. You would send me a draft which I would edit. In my editing process, I’m looking not only at grammar but also the length of sentences. Long sentences don’t read well, especially on mobile. Thus I may break long sentences into two.
I will also likely link to 2 or more of my previous posts if they tie into the subject matter.
I always send you a sneak preview before posting so you can review and offer feedback/suggestions/changes; I want you to be proud of the finished product! But do expect there to be some changes to your original draft; this is a collaboration and ultimately representative of me since it appears on my site.
During the preview review period this is your opportunity to request changes, additions, deletions or ask questions before the post is published. Once published I very rarely go back and make changes due to the author’s failure to properly review the post during the review period.
The time frame
With the volume of requests I’m receiving you should expect a week delay in my responding to requests and 3-6 weeks before any guest post would be published. If you happen to have a deadline you’re hoping for, make sure that’s included in your original email, but I can’t guarantee I can meet that but I will let you know if I think it’s possible.
I will publish sponsored posts as soon as they are ready.
The Long Term
If you have paid for a sponsored post, I guarantee that post will remain on my site for a minimum of 2 years from the published date (or until I decide to close the site).
What determines if I chose to remove a post or not?
In a word; traffic. If the post is ranking in Google and continuing to drive traffic to that post and my site you can bet I will keep it there. Thus, that’s an incentive for the sponsored post writer to make sure and optimize the post for SEO.
For guest posts, I will guarantee the post will be up as published for a minimum of 6 months (or until I decide to close the site).
At that time, again depending on SEO and traffic, I may choose to re-write it, delete it, add to it or combine it with another similar post. Of course if it’s already ranking well, I will most likely leave it exactly as it is; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
So again, all the more reason to pay attention to good SEO strategies when writing your post and selecting your topic.
I know this is a lot of information, but at this time I’m getting upwards of 6 requests a week (and I’m a one-man show), so its helpful if you have a clear understanding of what I’m looking for going in. It also helps prevent confusion or frustration as we get further into the process.
Ready to go?ย Send me an email with your attached post or ask additional questions.