Thanks for your interest in sharing a guest post with the Refined By FIRE audience. I hope you become part of what makes this site great. My readers have been asking for more guest posts so I looking forward to reading your article(s.) Here are a few things to consider.
Length:
There are no length requirements for articles. Take the space you need to clearly develop your points. If your piece is 500 words, great. If it’s 5000 words, that’s great too. My articles tend to average over 1,300 words. Note that Google favors long-format content these days.
Topic:
There are virtually no topic requirements for articles. It should probably be related to money in some way, but I’m fine with running anything that helps readers improve their lives. Articles that do best are creative, original, informative, and entertaining.
I often encourage folks to take one of these approaches:
- Tackle a topic that you normally couldn’t share with your own audience. Maybe it’s too personal for your site. Maybe a confession. Maybe it’s not what you usually cover. Maybe you write about debt but you have something to say about splurging. Maybe you only cover tools and apps and credit cards but want to write something about behavior.
- Tackle a topic that I don’t write about. If you’re technical, go for it. Dazzle us with facts and figures. If you are artsy, let’s see what you can create. I have big blinds spots for example now that I’m out of debt, I don’t write much about it anymore. But you certainly can.
- I believe strongly in the power of story. You don’t HAVE to submit a story-driven piece, but I like them and so do my readers. If you have a story from your own life (or the life of someone you know) — especially a story with clear takeaways — that’s going to really resonate with people.
Really, though, write whatever you feel compelled to write.
Whatever you decide to write, your article should showcase your best work. Make it so compelling that Refined By FIRE readers want to click through and go see what else you’ve written. The most popular articles are helpful, add value to the reader, and often have clear actionable take-aways.
Rating:
This site and content is intended to be family-friendly, something that you could share with anyone on the path to financial betterment regardless of age. Hard-hitting mature life issues, struggles, and content is perfectly acceptable but should be respectful and not gratuitous. If it is brazen or gratuitous it will be passed up or edited.
Editing:
Articles that do well are edited well. Show off your best work. Your article will be edited. Typically, this looks like grammar, spelling and the addition of headlines. But may include removing language, repetition or even entire sections. I may or may not add an intro to your article, typically introducing you to my readership.
Facts & Figures:
This reader family loves quotes, lists, data, statistics, charts, facts, and figures. It seems I can’t embed enough to satisfy this awesome audience. Now I can’t blame them, after all, “From good information, flows good decisions.” Displaying a lot of information in a concise easy to read and understand way is always a win.
Pix & Vids:
If you have images to include, send them over! Stock images are fine (provided there is no copywrite), but personal images are even better. Please include the photographer to be credited for the image. I am all about giving credit where credit is due. Link to Video via YouTube (must be your content.) Note articles with images/video rank better.
Links:
I believe strongly in the abundance mindset and spreading the love. I’m happy to link out to your sites and projects. Otherwise, feel free to link to anything relevant (especially sources,) just as you would for an article on your own site.
That said, all links should be relevant, not hyper-markety or I’ll remove them. The less promotional your article, the better. Please do NOT submit an article that’s simply a blatant affiliate play. Not cool.
I won’t run articles that are simply promotional pieces for a course or project UNLESS there’s a clear takeaway for Refined By FIRE readers. So, for instance, I won’t run an article that’s just an ad for a budgeting course. But if you write an article that offers useful budgeting tips, then has a call to action that promotes a course, fine. That’s cool.
Author Bio and Pic:
Welcomed and encouraged! but not required. Readers like to get to know and see who is writing. Google does too. Keep bios 150 words or less. It is supposed to be a teaser.
Politics:
Refined By FIRE does NOT do politics in any sort of partisan fashion. If most politicians suck, why talk about ’em? It’s okay to mention political stuff but not to promote a specific agenda and/or to denigrate one single party. All parties must be denigrated equally. The site is politically neutral (even though I am not).
Exclusive Work:
I should also mention that it is poor form to submit an article from elsewhere or blanket submit articles to multiple sites. That stuff gets you blackballed from quality sites. Please make it an exclusive piece.
Pricing:
- Guest post pricing for value-adding Bloggers & Freelance Writers: Free. That’s right, no cost to you. I want you to have the same opportunity to showcase your work, grow, and get recognized that amazing bloggers have given me over the years.
- Guest Post pricing for sponsored posts & business sales and product advertising: Email me for current pricing or advertising opportunities.
Final Thoughts:
Finally, I should warn you in advance that while I will read all submissions personally, that is no promise that I will run them. I am happy to run most guest post submissions, I absolutely do turn down a percentage of opportunities. When I do, I try to explain why I’ve opted not to use a piece.
The most common reason I reject articles is because they’re poorly written. I’ll refuse to run a piece if it takes too much time to copy edit. This isn’t me trying to be mean. It’s me trying to respect my time and my audience. The second most common reason I reject articles is that they’re too simplistic. The final reason is because people simply disregarded this entire page. 🙄 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Remember these are guidelines, you’re not required to have all of them to guest post. Write from your heart.
Depending on how many guest post submissions I receive, your article could run next week…or next month…or next year. I do my best to let you know when it will run. Please be patient with me sometimes it takes a minute to read articles and get back with ya. You’re welcome to follow up if it has been a while.
I think that’s it. I hope you become part of what makes this site great!
Please feel free to ping me with any questions or submissions: [email protected]. Put “Guest Post” somewhere in the subject line and it will get more attention.
Thanks!
~Mr. Refined
Keep the FIRE burning my friends.
