Contribute To Pretty Opinionated

CONTRIBUTE TO PRETTY OPINIONATED

If you would like to contribute to Pretty Opinionated, please take a moment to read over my guest post policy. Once you’ve done so, use the email at the bottom of the page to contact me. 😀 I purposely put it there so people would have to scroll past the guidelines before sending me an email. I get a lot of spammy requests from potential contributors who clearly do not even glance at my requirements.

General Guest Writing Guidelines

Posts must be relevant to my site. Please take the time to look around my site and see what I usually write about. I’m not saying you have to read every post, but at least take a look at my categories and titles. This should give you an idea of what I am looking for. See below for more info on what types of guest posts I accept.
Quality matters. I will not publish anything that I don’t love. This is my site. My baby. My bread and butter. It lets me support my son and keep a roof over our heads. Write a quality post and you’ll have a much better chance of getting it published.
Word count– Posts must be at least 600 words long. I prefer closer to 800, but 600 is the minimum that I will accept. The only exceptions are recipes and craft tutorials. There is no maximum word count. I mean, obviously 50,000 words is a bit too much, but within reason, no max.
Watch your links:I do not allow links to spammy sites, adult sites, gambling sites, or any other site that I feel is not a good match for Pretty Opinionated. I decide what I think is spammy.
Post must be original and published only on my site. I will check for duplicate content through Copyscape. I also periodically go through my older guest posts to ensure that they haven’t been published elsewhere. If I do find them published again, I will remove the post.
I reserve the right to format the post to fit my style.This may include adding headers, breaking up long paragraphs, and adding images (either public domain, creative commons or images that I own).
I reserve the right to edit grammar issues, if any are found.
I reserve the right to add my own affiliate links to guest posts.

Types of Content We Accept

Author Guest Posts

I am a strong supporter of authors in general, and indie authors specifically. I welcome posts from authors about their work, or a subject that ties into their work. Feel free to promote yourselves with an “About the Author” bio and links to where we can find your books. Author guest posters also have a lot more freedom when it comes to the content, word count, etc.

Recipes & Crafts

I would love to feature your recipes or crafts on Pretty Opinionated. All recipe & craft posts must contain at least one original picture so I can promote it on Pinterest. This is for both your benefit and mine. These are the only posts that are exempt from the word count, as I know it can be hard to come up with 600+ words about a recipe. I will add a unique intro before introducing your post.

Relevant Content from Other Bloggers

I am happy to share tips and relevant content from my fellow bloggers. Keyword: bloggers. As in, a post with a link back to an actual blog, not a company or “repair my credit” website. You know what I’m talking about! Don’t pretend otherwise.

High Quality Posts from Experts

There are a few key words there. Let’s discuss. “High quality” is a must. This means well-written, engaging voice and good grammar. “From Experts” means what it sounds like. You are an expert in a field relevant to Pretty Opinionated. Examples include child psychologists, teachers, beauty industry experts and both holistic and traditional medicine experts.

WHAT I AM NOT LOOKING FOR:

Purely promotional guest posts that contain little to no quality content relevant to my site. Please look around.
I do not post about politics and rarely post about home improvement. Guys, seriously! I am getting a dozen requests a day to post home improvement guest posts. This just tells me that a) I accidentally ranked for the phrase and b) someone is NOT reading my guest post policy.
I am also not looking for commercials disguised as guest posts. These types of advertorial “guest posts” are considered sponsored posts, and they’re described in my advertising options.
I also do not accept guest posts that contain links to law firms that practice in Virginia, Maryland or DC (or the surrounding areas, like part of West Va), no matter how good it is. My brother is a lawyer in Loudoun County with his own firm. Out of loyalty and respect for him, I do not promote other lawyers in his area.

A few tips for getting your guest post request email noticed:

My name is Nicole (or Nikki), not admin, site owner, “dear blogger” or Pretty. Well, I don’t mind so much when you call me Pretty, but flattery will only get you so far! Seriously, my name is on every post I write, which is about 95% of the content on this site. Use it and I’ll be more likely to keep reading.
Be genuine! I get a lot of guest posts requests every day, and the ones that I actually accept are those that sound like they were written by real people. I know it’s easier to use a pitch template, I use them too. Just throw in something, even a sentence, that shows you actually took the time to check out my site, and that you’re not a robot.
Give me links to other posts you’ve written, so I can get an idea of your writing style…and so I can see what types of links you include in your guest posts.

These are a few of my favorite guest posts that I’ve published on Pretty Opinionated. Take a peek to see what I’m looking for in a post:

If you have read the above guidelines and feel you have an idea that would be a good fit, please email prettyopinionated@gmail.com