Guest Post Guidelines for the NMX Blog

Please read all of these guidelines before submitting your proposal. We receive a several guest post inquiries every week and often say no to people who have great ideas, but who clearly do not read our directions.

Topics We Cover

We do not come up with guest post ideas for writers. If you’re interested in guest posting, we expect you to propose the topic that you feel most comfortable covering. Here are the broad categories we cover on the NMX blog:

Content creation: blogging, podcasting, web series, vlogging, digital photography, curation
Monetization of online content
Building an online community
Social media marketing
Content marketing
Online branding
Email marketing
Mobile
Getting more traffic
Self-publishing and digital publishing
SEO
The intersection of “old” media (newspapers, film, etc.) and “new” media

What we do not accept:

Posts promoting individual products/companies*† (exception: case studies for companies where you have no affiliation)
Sponsored posts*
Posts about business topics that do not relate to new media in some way
Most posts about tech/gadgets, unless they directly relate to content in some way
Time-sensitive posts (unless they are truly extraordinary)

*We do occasionally run sponsored posts on our blog, but to be eligible for this, you must be a sponsor or exhibitor of our event. If you’re interested in this option, please contact Patti at patti-at-nmxevents.com.

†Lists of tools are fine (ex: “Ten WordPress Plugins to Help You Maximize Your Profits”) and it is okay, even encouraged, to write about specific tools in the context of a larger educational piece (ex: if you were writing about time management for bloggers, it would be okay to mention your favorite time management app). The post just can’t be solely about a single product or company as a promo piece.

How to Pitch Your Post

If you’re interested, please email the following information to jenn@nmxevents.com:

The proposed topic of your post
A 3-5 sentence description
Your bio, as you would like it to appear on our site (may contain up to 2 links)
A link to your Google+ profile
1-2 backup ideas for other topics you could cover
Any other relevant information

Do NOT send your full post. We work several weeks ahead on our content schedule, so someone else might have already covered the same topic, or we might be working in a different direction with our content schedule.

Do NOT send a bio pic with your submission. Our theme uses Gravatar to pull in whatever pic you have linked to your email address. If you want a bio pic to appear, please link your email address to Gravatar.

After the Pitch

If we like your idea, we’ll give you the go-ahead to start writing. IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT A PROMISE TO PUBLISH. This just means that we like you idea and we want to see the full copy. We give a final yes/no only after we see the actual post.

Here are some general guidelines to help you get accepted.

Length is open, but most guest posts that are over 1200 words need to be edited and most posts over 1500 words needs to be split into multiple posts. Please carefully edit using a heavy hand before you send me copy to review.
All guest posts have to be 100% exclusive for NMX/BlogWorld.com
Whenever possible, include real-world examples of tips or techniques you’re talking about. Back up what you are saying with stats and examples!
No profanity.
Each post must include at least one image that you own or is free to be used under the Creative Commons license. Please include the source for this image. (If you need help with this, please let me know. If you can’t provide an image, this is not a deal-breaker.)
Use bullet points or headers when possible to make the post scannable.
Put some thought into your title. It should be both enticing (for social media) and include your main keyword (for SEO).
Link to other posts on the BlogWorld.com blog and on other blogs when relevant. You may link to your own site/blog when relevant, but keyword linking for SEO is not allowed.
Include a relevant “call to action” at the end of your post. This CTA can be to leave a comment (most common), come to the event, check out another post on the NMX blog, etc.
Spend time on the first paragraph to make sure it is engaging and descriptive. This is the most common reason guest posts are sent back for revisions or not accepted.
Be personable. We like posts that include a little flavor.
Include a list of tags that are relevant to your guest post.
Include a short (140 characters or less) description of your post.