How To Get Published on GettingSmart.com
What makes GettingSmart.com great is the collaborators, the mission-driven thinkers, the thought and discussion provokers. We’re a community. As a community, we’re always looking for people to join in sharing our passion and support in advocating for better opportunities for learners and educators. It’s the tweets, emails, constructive comments, and stories you share that fuel us, and helps power us to want to do more.
Thank you everyone who has ever reached out to share your blogs. With the high volume of submissions we receive, we wanted to share some best practices for your blog production and submission.
Be pitch perfect
Everyone has different approach to producing blogs. Try this with your next one. Before you spend time writing an entire blog and sharing it with us, share your blog topic ideas first. In an email to [email protected], briefly share who you are, why your are interested in submitting, and three to five potential topics and descriptions you are kicking around.
Follow the guidelines
Didn’t know there were specs your blog should follow? Now you do. Check out our Guest Posting Policy for submission guidelines for things like length, photos, and the all mighty terms and disclosure. When reviewing blogs, the submissions that adhere to policy get first priority and have a greater chance of moving to the editing phase.
Personalize your message
9 times out of 10, pitches that begin with “PLEASE HELP SPREADING THIS EXCITING NEWS” or “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” won’t even get viewed by our team past the first couple sentences. Personalize your outreach. Share the need your product, idea, strategy, report, initiative or event works to solve. In a short list share the main points and how it relates to our content focus of innovations in learning.
Fit into Getting Smart’s “coverage universe”
Our blogs aren’t posted once and left to die. Our blogs are shared extensively on social media and are used as references for future blogs. Some think “innovations in learning” could apply to every education related topic under the sun (it doesn’t). Bottom Line: Keep it in line with our focus please.
Photos, video, audio.
One of the closest feelings to a near death experience is opening a blog and seeing “The Wall.” In your draft, provide photos, and links to videos and audio that can be embedded to support your piece. Include links to videos that can be embedded. Balance your copy with supporting multimedia content, don’t overdo it.
Be relevant
With your next blog, ask yourself, “How is [enter your blog topic] impacting learning and/or educating?”
Be in the know
Many of our blogs are part of larger projects on topics that we explore over time. Besides the fact that you should never submit to a blog you haven’t read, if you read the blog you’ll know these projects and will be able to tailor your pitch and blog topic. Projects are featured as “Blog series’” and can found on our homepage.
Put in the leg work
You get your topic, you cleared your schedule, you got your coffee. Leg day at the gym is the worst. But like at the gym, you got to put in the leg work to get your blog in good shape if you want it published. Here’s an sample check list:
- Frame the topic and explain the need
- Share how and why your topic moves the needle in the space or directly addresses the need innovatively
- Mention similar efforts being made in the space by other people
- Cite and link to research
- Share a personal experience or story that relates to the blog topic
- Include a tweet or two that we can embed
- Conclude with a call to action
There is not one perfect length and structure to your blog. It always depends on the content. Research the inverted pyramid structure, public narrative, or check out popular articles on GettingSmart.com. Try a couple out. See if arranging your content a certain way might be more engaging than another.
Have other ideas for what makes a great blog? We’d love to read them in the comments section below. Or tweet us @Getting_Smart. We’re always open to welcoming fresh thinking from our community.
For more on blogging, check out:
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