photo credit: Damian Gadal

Guest Posting Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in submitting a guest post to my blog!  It’s fantastic to introduce a voice to my readers and I always learn something too.  To help you get the best experience possible, here are a few guidelines for you…

Please Read a Few Posts – It would be helpful if you would take the time to read several posts on this site so that you can pick up on the tone and content of the site so that you can craft a submission that will be well received by the Through the Lens readers.

Original Content Only - Google frowns on multiple blogs having the exact same content and I don’t want either of us to be penalized, so please only submit original content.  I think an exception to this would be YouTube videos, which we can embed in multiple places.

Length of Post – If you submit a post that’s longer than 500 words, then I recommend that you include headers for each section to break it up; this will allow readers who don’t have a lot of time to catch your general point.  I would love it if people read every word that I write, but I understand that we all have busy schedules.

YouTube Vidoes - If you decide to submit a video instead of a written post, please keep the video under 3 minutes, keep the topic on topic, and only reference your and and blog in any notes/annotations.

Subjects – It’s best if you stay on topic.  An article about auto parts won’t appeal to my readers, but articles about pets, photography, and blogging are a big hit.  Please do not submit any pornographic material or content that involves animal cruelty.  Posts that are heavy into profanity aren’t a good fit for my blog.

Back Links – One of the benefits of submitted a guest post is the incoming links to your site.  I allow up to two back links to your blog or business site.  I do not, however, allow affiliate links or links to a site that isn’t related to my blog’s subject.  I have built a relationship with my readers based on trust and I would be remiss to inadvertently promote businesses with whom I have no experience.

If your submitting content to promote a product, service and/or business, there is a sponsorship fee of $35 payable through PayPal to kimberlymgauthier@gmail.com.  Again, this product, service and/or business must relate to the content of this blog.

Submit via Email – Please email your article in a Word document to kimberlymgauthier@gmail.com.  Also attach up to two images; if you don’t supply images, I will provide them for you.  If you’re post is a “how to” article, you can submit more images if they’re screen shots showing the steps in a process.

Comments – I require people who guest post for my site to reply to all thoughtful comments from my readers; I know that life can get in the way, but if you would pop in for a few days after your post goes live (see Google Alerts tip below), that will suffice.  Not only is responding polite, it does a great job bringing traffic back to your site and will introduce you to a great group of people.

Publishing Date – Depending on my editorial calendar, your article will be posted within a week to a month.  Once I’ve read and accepted your guest post, I will contact you with an estimated publish date; please note that the publishing date is subject to change.  I recommend that you create a Google Alert with your name or the title of your article to be notified of when your post has been indexed by Google.

Thanks again for your interest and I look forward to working with you!