Slyde contributors are invited by the editorial team only.
Slyde accepts contributions from anyone who writes well and has a great story to tell or knowledge of the topic they are talking about.
Expert Contributors commit to a recurring publishing date either monthly, every other month, or quarterly. Ad hoc slots are granted on a case-by-case basis and these columns run when there is an opening on the editorial schedule.
Columns accepted for publication must be exclusive to Slyde and 100% original. This means:
There are two ways to claim a topic for your next submission:
Slyde is a resource for ocean people give in-depth, expert advice and educational content. Always try to go beyond the basics/obvious.
The most successful articles tend to be:
Always provide actionable tips and practical advice.
Share your own experiences. Don’t rely heavily on quoting influencers, experts, or authorities from other sites.
Be the expert!
No one likes being on the receiving end of a self-centered lecture. People enjoy learning from other people, especially through personal conversations. Write the way you talk, and avoid language that implies your audience “should have known better.”
Assume your reader is fairly new to your topic, but is intelligent overall. That way you won’t patronize or accidentally speak down to anyone. As an added benefit, this will help you avoid the curse of knowledge, a common cause of bad writing that usually appears as acronyms and jargon, non-obvious references, and prose more concerned with being clever than being clear.
You aren’t writing to sell a product or recommend a particular product or service.
You’re writing to share your expertise, information, insights, and ideas with our audience.
Our audience can smell a sales pitch or gratuitous client mention a mile away.
If you have a relationship with a company or someone mentioned in your post, you must disclose it. Some examples of disclosures:
Experiences involving a client or business partner should be approved in advance by your Managing Editor and must contain a disclosure of the relationship in the article. Please note that client, company and colleague mentions will be removed if it does not serve the purpose of adding value for our readers.
How long should your post be?
Note: Longer posts tend to get more pageviews, time on page, and social love. However, they also burn you out a lot quicker. Remember, you could probably turn that monster post into 3 or 4 more targeted posts instead!
The best posts are clear, concise and only as long as they need to be. After all, our readers are busy. Tell them what they need to know and get out.
Try to be concise.
Always try to keep your paragraphs short.
One sentence is fine.
Two sentences is typically OK. But no more than three sentences. Please.
Short paragraphs are easier to understand and digest (particularly on mobile), help drive your point across, and encourage reading in this age of information overload and short attention spans.
It pays to remember distractions are always just a click away. Writing for the web means combining substantive material with approachable formatting.
Effective writing pleases at a glance but rewards careful study. Make strategic use of worthwhile breaks in the text with bullet point lists, informative callouts, eye-catching visuals, and compelling subheadings.
Your headline should be interesting enough to entice people to click on it. It should be optimized for search and social media and have a character count of 70 characters maximum.
You can edit your URLs (Permalink). Use this to highlight important keywords.
We love SEMRUSH SEO. It will highlight potential SEO and readability problems and areas for improvement.
What you need to worry about for your post:
Typically, you will choose “Tutorials.”
Please add an excerpt (maximum: 25 words) for every post. It can be similar to your meta description.
This is the description that appears on the Slyde website when it publishes. If your excerpt exceeds 25 words, it will end with a …
We A/B test headlines – your main headline and two alternates. Alternate headlines must be less than 70 characters.
Links to third-party authoritative sources tell the reader that you are incorporating third-party perspectives and evidence in support of your argument. Otherwise, all you’ve got is a theory without substantiation.
Having said that, our editorial team is always on the lookout for links that appear promotional. We’re marketing to marketers, so if we don’t sleuth it out, our very savvy community eventually will.
Our editorial team looks for links to clients, friends, or appear self-serving in some way. In some cases, the promotion may be unintentional, but it will still have the same effect.
Buying, trading, or selling links is strictly prohibited. If someone approaches you to buy links in your articles, we’d appreciate you tipping us off (anonymously) via steve (@) slydehandboards.com
We only allow guest writers to create links directed back to credible, recent, and trustworthy sources with a DA higher than 30. NEVER include links to our competitors and avoid citing their content or resources.
Use recent, relevant stats that support the authority and expertise of your piece. (Never use stats older than 5 years – it’s most likely outdated!)
Link to the original source only (i.e., study, survey, etc.). Stats roundup posts or third-party infographics don’t count as valid sources.
No unattributed stats. If you can’t find the original source, don’t use it.
Use the statistic itself (eg.: 46%) as anchor text, not the surrounding text.
JPG only, please.
Required: Upload a featured image (found on the right sidebar) that is 1600 pixels wide and 677 pixels tall. Please preview your post before submitting it to make sure your featured image is formatted correctly.
To use a ADOBE stock photo, please email your chosen photo’s link to Steve: Steve [at] slydehandboards.com. He will download it for you. (Note: Follow the same process if you want to use ADOBE for any in-post images.)
Image Credits
Featured Image: DepositPhotos.com
In-post Photo: Pixabay.com
Screenshot taken by author, May 2020
In order to avoid duplicate content issues with Google, we permit content to be republished 14 days after publishing on Slyde. You MUST use a canonical link.
So, what happens when you’ve finished an awesome post
Place all your writing in word document including where you want the images placed and send them to steve [@] slydehandboards.com and we will review your work before posting.
Head to “Edit My Profile”.
Make sure to fill out your Biographical Info.
Upload a color Profile Photo – use a headshot so people can clearly see your face.
Add links to your personal Social Profiles:
Add your Company Details:
Note: You are eligible to get a followed link from your SEJ profile page if you meet some basic criteria:
If you meet these criteria, and haven’t yet received your followed link, please let us know!
If you’re going to miss your deadline, please give us a heads up.
We know you’re busy. Stuff comes up.
Just let us know. It only takes a couple of minutes to send us an email or private message.
If you miss 2 deadlines in a row, we’ll contact you to make sure you want to continue on as an SEJ Contributor.
If you miss 3 deadlines in a row, and fail to respond to communications from us, you will lose your status as an SEJ Contributor.