Guest Authors at Home Tips for Women
We appreciate your interest in contributing content (articles, videos, etc) to our homeowner library for women. Our website covers a broad range of homeowner articles on homeowner financial dollars and sense, home maintenance and repairs, small home improvements to major remodeling projects, plus the inspiration we all want when decorating, getting organized or committing to a greener lifestyle.
We want to help homeowners learn about their homes, so they can make educated decisions. It's not easy for most homeowners to decide which repairs need to be done now, what projects they can do themselves and when it's best to hire a a professional. The guidelines for publishing articles on HomeTipsforWomen.com:
- Articles must be educational first, plus inspiration (photos are great) so readers want to take action on your recommendations.
- Articles must be well organized and easy to read. Special terminology should be defined (or link to a definition) and it's better to focus on a single teaching message.
- Articles should be unique content (400 to 600/more words) versus one you've previously published on another website.
- Photos that support your article are preferred (required personal stories) or we'll add them during our editing process. You must own or have the right to use any photos provided.
Articles should teach the reader what's important, and lead them through the decision process. Getting a new roof involves a lot more than the color of the shingles, although most websites focus on aesthetics. My goal is to provide homeowner articles to they can become smart, savvy decision makers that can talk to contractors with confidence, and participate in key decisions about their homes!
Process for Submitting Homeowner Articles
We accept articles from practicing/retired home professionals with hands-on experience. We also know many home professionals don't have the skills or time to write their own articles, so they work with professional writers to share their expertise. That's okay when the expertise is visible in the article.
There are also opportunities for women homeowners to share their stories, because we've all got stories and it's helpful to be reminded that we're not the only one dealing with things like getting children to take responsibility — your own kids, or when grandchildren move in.
To insure the quality of the homeowner articles in our library, we use the following process:
Step 1: Verify Writer & Website Qualifications
We get 5 to 10 inquiries weekly, putting a huge burden on our content team. To save everyone time, we verify the qualifications of each writer, and website bio link. Here's what you should submit and we'll reply to your email within two to three weeks.
- Published author's name (plus ghost writer if applicable), and a link to their LinkedIn profile.
- Proposed author bio to be used on HomeTipsforWomen.com, which should include the website name and link, to the author's website. Name and bio will be listed on approved guest author list.
- Link to proposed author's LinkedIn profile, and for businesses, a link to your Facebook fan page.
- Sample article or preferably, links to several articles already published online. These should be representative of your writing for us to verify quality of your work.
- (Optional) Proposed title and abstract for first article you want to contribute to HomeTipsforWomen.com.
Step #2: Submitting Homeowner Articles
Once you're on our approved list of guest authors, you can submit one homeowner article per month. After we've published three of your articles, and seen success in google analytics (hint: we love comments on our blog and help promoting new articles on social media), you'll be recognized on our home expert page, with another link to your website.
- Title, keyword and teaching message you're delivering in the article.
- Article formatted in Word, following guidelines below. Your article should be edited before sending it to us — the best way to do this is to read it out loud, and correct any wording that you stumble over. Yes, this really works and it's what I do for every article submitted to another website.
- Confirmation of technical accuracy is important to our reputation. You can use one or two outbound links per article, to support your writing … or include them in your cover email to save us time.
- (Optional) Proposed title and abstract for first article you want to contribute to HomeTipsforWomen.com.
- Articles are published after review and approval. You will get an email letting you know you've been published, along with graphics for you to use in sharing your article on social media.
Note: We reserve the right to withhold homeowner articles from publication where content does not fit the scope of our website or meet our quality guidelines.
Tips for Writing Great Homeowner Articles
Homeowner articles should be informative and fun to read. Here are tips for writing great articles, ones that homeowners will want to read. The first thing to understand is people love stories. When you share a story, people will remember it better than a string of important facts. So here are tips for writing a great article based on the experience I've gained blogging since 2006 (more than 2,000 article).
- My first articles were summaries of phone conversations with my handyman customers. What began as emails explaining problems and solutions, has grown to more than 1200 articles today.As a home professional, you're answering homeowner questions all the time. Your best stories are ones you've shared with customers because you already know they're interested in the topic.
- Pick your topic and try to be specific, like fireplace mantels versus fireplaces.
- Identify what your customers will search for when looking for your story – this is called your keyword.
- Write 3 possible titles for your article, and include the keyword in each title. Then pick the title you think will appeal to the most customers, e.g. people who might hire you.
- Pick one customer you're writing to, e.g. first time homeowner versus busy parents with no time to handle even small projects. This makes it easier to write and increases your connection with readers.
- Pick one message you want to deliver with your story. It’s better to focus on one key message, and a few supporting messages, like a leaky roof needs to be fixed right away.
- Include 1 or 2 personal stories related to your topic, to make you more believable and memorable.
- Write your story (400 to 600 words) and stay on task. Start writing and if you get stuck, list 8-10 ideas that are part of the story. Some you'll want to describe in paragraph format, while others will work better as a simple list. For more formatting tips …
- You can include 1 or 2 links in your article. One link to supporting information on an authority site; second link in your author bio, to your website, Facebook profile or …
- Proof your article by reading it out loud. You’ll want to make small changes and removing a word is often the easiest way to make things flow more smoothly.
- Photos help capture readers interest, so share your own photos or proof (purchased or link to Creative Commons license).
We look forward to you sharing your expertise at Home Tips for Women, and joining the dialog as we build a community of empowered homeowners!