Small Business Trends

Thanks for your interest in contributing guest articles at Small Business Trends!

We’ve put together the following guidelines to explain what readers are looking for and what makes a successful guest post under our Guest Author Program.

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FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: Does Small Business Trends accept article contributions that have been, or will be, published elsewhere?

A: Guest articles must be original content, not published elsewhere.

Q: Do I get a byline?

A:  Yes, of course!  Each guest author receives a byline, including a short “About the Author” bio that appears at the end of each published article.  You can list up to 5 social media profiles, to encourage readers to connect with you.  These include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BizSugar and Google+.  Your “About the Author” section should be informational in nature, and not a call to action — your article will have more authority that way.  Below is an example:

Profile Page: Each guest author also receives a full page author Profile with an expanded biographical profile.   Here is an example of a guest author Profile page.

Experts Feature:  In addition to the above, you will also be featured in the Small Business Trends Experts section.

Q: Can I promote my site, service, product or book within my articles?

A:  No. Articles published under the Guest Author Program are for the benefit of readers, and as a secondary benefit they demonstrate your expertise and thought leadership.  Readers want to read valuable information, advice, tips, and insights — not get a sales pitch.

We review every submission by at least two Editors.  We reject self-promotional articles or those that are advertorial in nature.

Q: Can I republish or reproduce my article after publication on the site?

A:  Article contributions cannot be republished or reproduced after publication.   Small Business Trends is granted all publishing rights to submitted articles and guest authors are not permitted to republish article contributions unless special, written permission is granted, according to this site’s Terms of Service.

Remember, you always have the option to re-write an article and publish a re-written article on your own site or on another site.   Change the words, give it a different title, approach the topic from a slightly different angle, etc.  But make it a completely new article.

Q: What about article length, topic and other so on?

A: Here are some suggestions for writing your articles:

• Style:  Readers want to hear YOUR voice come through in your writing. Make it sound like you. Try to write like you talk. Let a little personality show through.
• Topics: Any topic of interest to small businesses is fair game. We have been blown away with how creative the topics have been. Here are some topics that have gotten excellent results in the past:
• offering a business lesson tied in with current news/events
• anything related to the economy
• how-tos or articles that give the reader actionable advice to put into practice
• tips on running a business based on your own first hand experiences
• taking a position that is contrary to standard wisdom or prevailing popular opinion
• practical problems we face in our businesses where little is written about how to solve them
• trends on a given topic or industry (with insight into how to leverage each trend in your business)
• Detailed is better than broad and general.
• Article Length: Keep posts compact. It is much harder to read lengthy articles on a computer screen than in print:
• Ideal length is 400 – 750 words.
• If a post is going over 1000 words, we strongly urge breaking it up into 2 separate posts. (For comparison, the Guest Posting Guidelines article you are reading right now is nearly 900 words.)
• Paragraph & Sentence Length: 
• Keep paragraphs to 3 sentences or fewer. Shorter paragraphs are easier to read on a computer screen.
• Keep sentences short.
• Bullet points make articles easy to scan.
• Consider bolded subheadings for long articles. They break up large expanses of text.
• Images in Posts:  We add images to posts — you do not need to worry about images.
• Edits: We frequently make minor edits, such as fixing grammar and spelling, revising introductions for better emphasis, and breaking up long sentences or paragraphs.  We may come back to you and suggest revising the article to better hit the mark with readers. Please don’t take it personally. (It’s easier for another person to edit, than it is to edit our own work. )
• Copyrights: Our Terms of Service say that when you submit a guest column, you grant Small Business Trends the right to use that column and redistribute it in RSS feed syndication, in newsletters, in compilations, etc. — provided that we always give you attribution as the author.

Q: What if a magazine wants to republish my article?

A: If a magazine or newsletter wishes to reproduce your article and is willing to give attribution to you as the author and to Small Business Trends as the original source of publication, we will grant written permission on a case by case basis.  Please forward all reprint/republishing  requests to: guestexperts@smallbiztrends.com.

Thank YOU for sharing your expertise!  

P.S. if you arrived on this page through a search engine or from somewhere else, and would like to know the process for becoming a guest author, please read:  How to submit a guest post.