Becoming a guest contributor on a popular website is a great way to build your personal brand. Publications are always looking for new contributors and guest bloggers. However, pitching proposals and becoming a guest contributor at popular websites can be time-consuming. Each website has different requirements and instructions. To help you save time on sorting through the requirements and gathering information, we scoured the top websites for their submission guidelines and instructions on how to be a guest contributor.
Here is a quick overview of the publications and how to contribute to the website with instructions and guidelines:
Guest Contributor Guidelines and Instructions for 10 Popular Websites
1. Forbes
Forbes.com is a website that focuses on news and information about business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and affluent lifestyles.
To contribute: To be a regular contributor, you need to fill out this Google Docs form. The form will ask you for your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, the concept for your “Forbes page” such as overall theme and story ideas. It will also why you are expert on the topic, and you will need to provide samples of your work.
Huffington Post is a publication that covers news, blogs and original content about U.S. politics, entertainment, style, world news, technology, and comedy.
To contribute: According to their contact page, visit this Google Doc page to submit your blog idea and your bio. They are looking for succinct, shareable and satisfying articles. Here is a helpful blog post on how to become a regular contributor. If you are a current contributor to Huffington Post, read this article.
3. Fast Company
Fast Company is a popular online business publication that covers technology, ethical economics, leadership and design. It says it is written for progressive business leaders to inspire readers and users ‘to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversations, and create the future of business,” according to their About page.
To contribute: According to their guidelines for submitting articles, your articles should be between 750 and 900 words and be exclusive for Fast Company. They need to be complete and unpolished articles that are intended for Fast Company’s audience. Articles should have a tone appropriate to Fast Company and be written by a person, not a PR department. They are only accepting articles for their leadership section. Articles should be submitted to Associate Editor Rich Bellis at rbellis@fastcompany.com. They don’t want pitches, abstracts, outlines, press releases, or interview offers.
4. Entrepreneur
Entrpreneur.com is a publication geared toward business owners who are starting and growing their businesses. They cover actionable information and practical tips for startups.
To contribute: To become a contributor, fill out the form on their contributor page. It is almost identical to the Forbes contributor form in that they want to know your contact information, your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, themes, story ideas, why you are expert on the topic, and samples of your work.
5. Inc.com
Inc.com is an online publication that writes articles for small businesses. They provide entrepreneurs with advice and tools.
To contribute: Visit their contact page to learn more and under “contributing to Inc.” they say to be a regular columnist, email contributors@inc.com. They don’t clarify on what they are looking for but your email should follow what Forbes contributor form andEntrepreneur contributor page are looking for with submissions.
Business Insider is a business publication that covers industry topics such as financial, media and technology.
To contribute: According to their contact page, you should emailcontributor@businessinsider.com. According to how to contribute to Business Insider page, you should send a final draft of your article, a proposed headline, a brief bio, and links to other articles you have published. You may want to review their authors’ page to get an idea about what other contributors are writing about.
Business2Community is a publication that covers breaking news and top trends in social media, digital marketing, content marketing, social selling and social business.
To contribute: To contribute, visit their become a contributor page. You will then need to read their contributor guidelines and fill out their online application form that includes your contact information, your website, and three writing samples that show that you know the topic and you have quality blog posts.
Social Media Today provides news, trends and best practices on social media and digital marketing.
To contribute: To contribute, there are two ways. You can register with the website to create posts that go directly to the website. They are looking for bloggers who want to provide exclusive posts that meet Social Media Today’s standards. You can also set up your account to take in posts from the RSS feed of your blog. Social Media Today can pick from those posts to post on their blog. To learn more, visit their blogger approval and posting page.
9. Mashable
Mashable is a publication that prides itself on being the “go-to source” for technology, digital culture and entertainment content.
To contribute: To contribute, visit their submit news page. Fill out the form on the page to submit a pitch, tip or article. They will ask you what type of submission: exclusive story, a news update, a hot tip, an editorial suggestion or other.
10. PRDaily.com / Ragan.com
PR Daily is a daily news website that delivers news and advice about the PR, marketing, social media and traditional media worlds. Ragan.com delivers practice advice, real-world solutions and field-tested strategies for today’s communicator.
To contribute: To become a contributor to PRDaily.com and Ragan.com, visit the submit news page. They are looking for basic contact information, topic and your article. They will want to know if it is an aggregated news story, original story or column, a previously published blog post, a tip or other.
What other popular websites would you add to this list?
An earlier version of this post appeared on the Knowledge Enthusiast blog.
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