Our Platinum and Agents sponsors have a one-time-per-month opportunity to share insights and expertise or prompt discussion on important issues facing the channel with our audience. Here are some best practices and editorial guidelines for the guest blog posts.
When deciding what to write about, or how to write about it, put yourself in your intended audience’s shoes. What are their biggest concerns? What keeps them up at night? What do they need to know about? Focus your message within the answers to these questions to help assure wide interest in and engagement with your content.
Provide thought leadership, not product promotion. Readers are more likely to open and read a post that addresses an issue rather than a specific product or service. You’ll engender trust and respect, and better establish your company’s brand, by offering expert insight within a timely and compelling topic. You can always direct readers to specific offerings through embedded links in the post and/or through a call to action at the end of a post.
Each post should have an author, and their bio and photo should be submitted with the post. Technology leaders are more likely to engage with content that comes from a trusted source — ideally, an author with a technology background and title.
It’s important to note that the byline on the post will be your company name. The bio and photo of the actual author will appear at the end of the article.
Think as much about the headline as you do the post’s content. The headline could determine whether potential readers open the post, and it will figure heavily into whether the content shows up in a Google search. It can be challenging, but you want to balance relevant (and highly searched) keywords with language that makes the post sound enticing.
Consider “listicle” and how-to content. Readers love a good list, so content like “Your Customers’ Top Digital Engagement Strategies and What They Mean for Security” or “8 Ways to Boost Your Lead Generation Results Today” tends to do well, especially when it is promoted via social media and in newsletters that go out to your customers. Readers with limited time (which is almost everyone, these days) also want to be able to “do something” after reading an article or blog post. Simple but meaningful “how-tos” give readers a reason to open, read and share your content.
Consider “riffing” on current news. It’s important to avoid any whiff of exploitation, but, when it makes sense, align your messaging with current events — in the industry or in the world at large. For example, leading up to the World Series a security company might write a post on the ways in which modern security measures do and don’t mirror a baseball game. Of course, timing is key here. If your post needs to be posted on/by a certain date, let us know in the email when you submit it.
Share and share alike. The work you put into your post should not stop when you send the file to us. Once the post has been published, share a quick summary/teaser over your social media accounts. Link back to the original post and invite your followers to comment. (You never know, the comments themselves might spur a whole new post.)
Refer and link to related Guest Post content when you develop new content.
Submissions should be original. While you’re welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere, our hope is that posts that appear as guest blogs on our site don’t appear in the exact same form on other websites, blogs or publications.
While a good post can range widely in word count, 500 to 700 words is a good guideline.
If possible, include a photograph, chart or other illustration with your post that represents the subject matter. (Be sure you have all rights to images, as well as text.)
Depending on volume, posts will be published within five business days of receipt.
Your post will be edited for grammar, punctuation and readability. If there is a question on content (for example, if something does not make sense or is missing), an editor will contact you before the post is published. A delay in response could result in the post being published outside of the five-business-day window.
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