From time to time, I get emails from other bloggers and industry leaders interested in writing a one-time guest post for REtipster.
I always appreciate these emails and understand why most of these folks are inquiring (as a blogger myself, I get it – the publicity, exposure, and backlinks that come with guest posting can go a long way).
That being said, there is nothing I hate more than having someone submit an article for this blog – only for me to realize I can't publish it because it isn't appropriate for this audience. This isn't fun for the writer or me (for obvious reasons).
So – if YOU are interested in writing for the REtipster Blog, there are a few things I want you to understand before you contact me:
- We do not publish any articles unless they offer an absolute value bomb. The blog posts we publish must be absolutely life-changing for the reader. Our goal is to teach our audience new skills and give people MAJOR lightbulb moments that change how they run their business (like this, this, or this). Think of what you'd expect to get if you paid $197 for a short course… that's what we're aiming for in each blog post. An abundance of value is available for free (some people refer to this as “EPIC” content).
- Sometimes our articles offer simple entertainment value. This is okay too, but it needs to be the kind of entertainment that readers will remember the rest of the week, tell their friends about and discuss at the dinner table (like this, this, or this). The point is – we do everything in our power to avoid publishing “fluff” on this blog. If an article isn't an EPIC piece of work, we aren't interested in it.
- Our editor's job is to ensure every article flows well and delivers an abundance of value before it gets published. The writer's job to make sure these elements are already in place and that all grammar and spelling is in perfect condition. If an article is a mess and requires lots of edits and corrections, it will get rejected.
- An ideal guest post on this blog will be anywhere from 1,000 – 2,400 words in length. The length is somewhat important, but what really matters is the value being conveyed (e.g. – making difficult concepts easy to understand, delivering the kind of content people would be happy to pay for, including supplemental images and videos to help explain the points (photographs, diagrams, charts, screenshots, template examples, infographics, etc.). Omitting these elements from an article won't result in an automatic “thumbs down”, but it certainly won't help if the article is a massive block of text.
- A good article is entertaining and fun to read. Show us that you have opinions, that you're a real human being, and that you have a sense of humor.
- If you're writing about a complicated topic (e.g. – how to make sense of the IRS tax code or how to deal with a complex legal issue), the end product needs to be written so that anyone with an 8th-grade education can understand it. If your article sounds like it belongs in a graduate-level textbook or is written in a way only lawyers and CPAs can understand, it won't be the right fit for our site. Here's one example of how to take a confusing, complex, and boring topic and make it simple and easy to understand.
- The primary purpose of this blog is not to pitch. We understand most writers have a product or service they want to plug, and that's okay, but the content needs to be legitimately helpful, actionable, and relevant with no purchases required. You're welcome to include one link back to your site within your post (in addition to a link at the bottom of your article) – but beyond this, articles should not include a bunch of sales copy.
- The articles published on this website need to be your original content that hasn't been published elsewhere. This includes article spinning – you're welcome to write another original article about the same topic on your own site or anywhere else, but please do not simply spin an article that you submit to us, and do not submit a post that you've simply spun from another article. If you'd like, you may re-post the piece on your own website with a reference to REtipster.com as the original publisher of the content. For example:
This article originally appeared on REtipster.com.
- As a guest contributor, you will allow us to edit and modify your articles as needed. This includes but is not limited to making editorial, grammatical, punctuation, and structural changes, adding or removing images or graphics, and adding or removing links to the article.
- We reserve the right to reject any article from any contributor, and we may choose to publish your article at any date that we deem necessary.
- Contributors can have one link in their author block, typically sent back to their company website or blog. Links to other relevant products or sites are encouraged. However, those products shouldn't compete with the REtipster brand and must be relevant in adding value to the topic(s) being discussed within the content. Contributors may not embed any affiliate links or referral codes in their posts. Any contributor links must be approved by the publisher, and the publisher reserves the right to remove ANY links at their discretion, either from the article body or the author block.
- As a writer, you will be expected to promote all of the articles you write on your social media platforms and others on REtipster.com that may be appropriate for your followers, subscribers or audience. Your promotional efforts will not be monitored by us, but it is strongly encouraged.
- Here are some examples of good/acceptable blog content:
- Article: https://retipster.com/mineralrights
- Guide: https://retipster.com/real-estate-investors-quick-start-action-guide
- Review: https://retipster.com/window-world-review
- Tutorial: https://retipster.com/legaldesc
- Opinion: https://retipster.com/land-investors-fail
- In-depth Research: https://retipster.com/real-estate-data
Essentially, we want our Guest Contributors to approach this blog the same way we do. Our goal is to change the reader's life. We aren't interested in adding more noise to an already-noisy internet.
Many guest writers have a hard time abiding by this list of guidelines (and admittedly, our standards are more stringent than most). If you want to submit your guest post for us to publish, we're happy to take a look at it – but don't be surprised or offended if we reject it for not meeting these standards (because many of them don't).
It's nothing personal, and I'm not trying to discourage you from marketing your product or service, but there is a very small box for the content that makes its way onto this blog. If you want a better feel for the posts that belong on the REtipster Blog, just browse through some of the Archives, and you'll get the idea.
If you think you've got something worth submitting, feel free to contact Rex (our managing editor) via the form below about the next steps.
