Guest Post Opportunities
People ask us all the time if we accept contibutions from guest authors. We've assembled the guidelines in a page and refer every one here.
So the answer is: Yes, we do accept guest blog posts on the Liquid Blog.
Personal Finance Blog
Good content for our readers should be tied to personal finance in some way but we want you to get creative. Bring in your own personal experiences.
There is no minimum length for your post, but usually guest posts have over 500 words.
- Search all our posts before submitting an article. If we have covered that topic in the past there are good chances we’ll reject your post (unless you offer new insight).
- See the previous guest posts that have done all this for topics like how to save money, alternative income, credit, debt, and apps (technology). We love posts that are tailored for a young audience - high school, college, and twenty-somethings.
Content Voice is Super Important
Since we appeal to a young audience, a tongue-in-cheek, sometimes snarky, non-boring take goes a long way. Regular people don't go out of their way to continue following personal finance blogs so we want to stand out. Make your copy entertaining. Talk in a way that you wouldn't expect a personal finance blog to talk. Be real and have a narrative voice. Make it seem like your post has someone talking directly. Being more blunt and matter-of-fact will make your article more relatable and refreshing. Too many times personal finance authors they want to skirt around what they are saying. Cracked.com articles are good examples of the "friend" voice.
Guest Blogging Rules
- Your post must be original and must have never been published before on the Internet
- You agree to not publish the post anywhere else (neither in your own blog nor as a guest post in other blogs)
- You can have a byline bio and include two links (one "deep" and one main), which will be displayed at the bottom of the post, e.g.
- Max Jaffe is a "Money Expert":http://getliquid.com/money-expert/ who offers a unique perspective on money that will forever change how you look at it. You can book him for speaking engagements at "maxjaffe.com":http://maxjaffe.com/.
- Use this format to submit via email
Please send your post in plain text using the layout:
Title:
Summary Excerpt:
Tags (separate with commas i.e., health, travel, technology, video):
Byline Bio:
Post Body:
All set? Send Us Your ArticleSubmit Guest Blog Post
If your post meets the guidelines above, submit your guest post to us on the email post@getliquid.com.
Usually within one business day we will reply and let you know if we will accept the guest post. If we reject your post, you are obviously free to use it for your own blog or to propose it as a guest post to another website.
Writing For The Web, Best Practices
- The theme (i.e., save money) or outcome (i.e., double your income) of your post should be repeated as appropriate throughout the page text. That way, search engines will clearly know what your post is about. Especially in:
- The title and headings
- The first and last paragraph
- Title with a punch
- Evocative words make you wanna read, see headlines on Yahoo
- Quantified tips -- "5 Ways ..."
- Instuctional -- "How to ..."
- Capitalize correctly
- Articles (a, an, the)
- Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so)
- 'to' when it precedes a verb
- Prepositions < five letters (at, by, for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over (unless used as a verb), up, with)
- 'as'
- Pretty much everything including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, & adjectives
- First & last word especially
- Subordinating conjunctions (before, after, when)
- Hyphenated compound words (Bread-and-Butter Basics)
- First word following a colon (Capitalization: A Love Story)
Do NOT Capitalize
Capitalize
- Headings have keywords
- If you have [5 Tips] it would be good to use a heading for each one
- Otherwise try to use at least two headings to break up your content into sections and define supplementary keywords
- Bring in media (images, videos, sounds, and documents) embeds to provide a rich experience
- Wield Advanced Tips
- Lists help the reader make sense of the information. Leave the period off to keep list items lite.
- *Bold* can help readers find what they want. But watch out for visual noise when adjacent to headings and links.
- Short Paragraphs One to three sentences-long sends a message: I'm easy! This won't take long at all! Read me!
- Brevity Write tight. Omit all unnecessary words.
- Active Verbs Passive verbs bore readers (am, is, are, has, have). Bored readers leave. Provide vivid and emotional description.
- Say What You Mean Try saying it out loud. We tend to speak more directly than we write. See if the listener's eyes are glazing over.
- Reasonable expectation Tell user what she will get when she clicks. Don't use "click here," instead use use keywords.
- In-site Bonus points for linking to content on the same site your post will be published on.
- Keywords A long phrase (more than about five words) can be hard to read, so be short but descriptive.
- Once published, create and post links across the web and social media to make your article more visible
