GUEST POSTING GUIDELINES

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.

THIS FORM, HOWEVER, IS NOT FOR SPONSORED POSTS. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SPONSORED POSTS.

I have published over 50 guest posts on my blog and 99% of my writers have been very happy with our arrangement and the outcome of our collaboration. 

However, I have had miscommunications with 3 of them due to them being unclear on the process.

Thus I now use this more detailed form to ensure we are both 100% on the same page with regards to how it works, how I may edit guest posts, whether I leave links in the posts and how far out I will publish.

I want you to be very pleased with the final post just as I want to be proud of it since it's on my site and represents me.

Checking the acknowledgment box at the bottom is the ONLY way to submit your ideas for consideration.

With the volume of requests I’m receiving you should expect a week delay (minimally) in my responding to your submission. 

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. 

If you are expecting that I will just publish your post as is, my blog is not the right place for your guest post. My blog represents me and thus all guest posts need to reflect my style and I reserve the right to edit and format them accordingly.

It will be credited to you as author or co-author depending on how much I add to it.

I will always link to your main website and/or your social channels in the author bio. 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 to 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, my website traffic and domain authority and backlink benefits. The editing of your post will be very minimal. I will not insert my affiliate links into a sponsored post and I will leave any links in your post as is. All links will be do-follow links. 

In either case, I prefer the author to submit at least 1 royalty-free images with their post (see more below). Sponsored posts will be categorized as a "Contributed Post" and will be backdated to not appear on the home page.

PERSONAL FINANCE OR HEALTH TOPICS

Due to Google algorithm changes, I am no longer accepting guest posts in any category or niche related to personal finance or money as well as anything medical or health-related.

If you are accredited in one of those areas (for example a CPA, CFO or a doctor or nurse), I would consider a guest post.

But unless mentioned when you submit your topics, any requests in those areas will be ignored.

POST REQUIREMENTS (for guest posting)

  1. They need to fit one of my categories: Parenting, Marriage/Relationships, or something related to work or home DIY.
  2. The post needs to be a minimum of about 1200 words
  3. The post needs to be original content – not previously posted on any website
  4. 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)
  5. Great content – While you would be credited as the author of the post and I would include a bio and link to your site and/or social pages, I would not want your guest post to be sales-y or pushing your affiliate links. The post’s primary goal should be to help my viewers
  6. Your bio should be 200 words max and can include a headshot or logo pic of your brand.
  7. 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)
  8. 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).  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.
  9. If you post cites a fact or statistic, make sure you link to the original study (not just another blog post)
  10. 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). Also, make sure it makes sense in the flow of the post. I reserve the right to remove or swap all links in a guest post.
  11. Until I see your written post I cannot guarantee I will use it
  12. The post should be submitted in a word document or PDF file
  13. I would want you to share the post at least once on all social channels you use
  14. Share me now – It 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.
  15. Repeat posts – If the post does well, I’m happy to accept future posts under the same conditions.
  16. My Ownership - Once you submit a written post to me for guest posting that post is now mine to edit, format and publish as I see fit. I will always credit you as the author of the post unless you wish that credit be removed. Once I have invested time in communicating, editing and formatting the post, I reserve the right to publish it whether or not you are happy with the final result (but it's always my goal to have both of us be extremely pleased).

LINKS IN YOUR POSTS

For non-paid guest posts, I will always link to your main website and/or your social channels in your bio, so please make sure those are included below.

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 or have promised a link to a company for other reasons, 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 (do-follow 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 $45/post (paid in full up front).

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 should write your guest post with these things in mind.

  1. COMPETITION – I Google the chosen keyword phrase you are using to see how much competition (other posts) already exist.  I look for phrases that have about 500,000 or fewer other similar posts. Below 200,000 is even better. Example: if your topic is "best mattresses for children", search for that phrase and see how many results come up.
  2. 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.  I would want a minimum of 50 people/month searching for the chosen keyword phrase and obviously higher searches and low competition is better!
  3. 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.
  4. KEYWORD PHRASES – That keyword phrase needs to appear in your post title and be sprinkled around naturally in your text at least 6 times.
  5. 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.
  6. SIMILAR SEARCHES – On certain keyword phrases, Google will suggest other similar questions in a box called “People Also Ask”.  Use some (or all) of those as possible headlines in your post as Google will reward posts that really dig deep into a topic.
  7. 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

You will 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 & readability 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.

Over 60% of my audience is in the US, thus while you may not be, your post ideas need to be relevant to my audience. The UK and Canada make up the next 2 biggest audiences. Thus well over 80% of my audience is from one of those places.

So if your post includes links to things that are local to places other than those countries, I almost certainly will not use them unless you are paying for a sponsored post. 

If you or your guest post author does not speak and write fluent English my blog is probably not a good fit as I don't have time for extensive editing to make a post flow naturally in English.

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.

Once published, I very rarely go back and make changes to a post due to the author’s failure to properly review these guidelines, so please make sure to read this entire document thoroughly.

How Long Will the Posts Remain Up?

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 or sell the site).

For non-paid guest posts, once published I will leave it up for a minimum of 6 months before making any radical changes to it or removing it, but a non-paid post is my property and I reserve the right to do anything to it at any time. Thus, if you want to ensure a post (and links within) stay up, paying for a sponsored post is the best way for you to proceed.

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 or guest post writer to make sure and optimize the post for SEO.

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.

Your Info

Will you be the author of the post you wish to submit? *

Is there a specific deadline for the publishing of your post you are hoping to achieve? *
 +

With the volume of requests I’m receiving you should expect 1 week before you see a response from this form and if we agree on a topic and you submit your post, you can expect it to take up to a week before it is published.

If you have a deadline you are hoping to hit for the publishing of your post please let me know. I can’t guarantee I can meet your deadline but I will let you know if I think it’s possible. For tight deadlines, you should consider a sponsored post.

I will publish sponsored posts within 24 hours of receiving it.

I Understand and Agree to Everything Stated Above *
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