BiggerPockets Blog Guest Blogger Guidelines & Suggestions

We’ve had a fair amount of interest from people who want to share guest posts on the BiggerPockets blog, and as such, have created these guidelines to help you. Remember that these are guidelines . . . we’re looking for bloggers who can express themselves and share high-quality real estate related information with our audience.

Guest Topics

We’re open to articles on almost everything pertaining to real estate, but aim to focus on those topics around real estate investing. Our blog is read by people such as real estate investors, homeowners, agents, mortgage lenders, other real estate professionals, real estate press, bloggers, etc.

Some of the posts that garner the most attention from our users are tips, how-to posts, and interesting and informative lists that they can easily digest. We’re always looking for product review posts, website reviews, and those that point out new technologies, as well as those that walk people through everything from selecting a realtor to flipping their first investment property.

Sub Headings

Subheadings are great for breaking up your posts, and help make them easier to read. Use the bold or h2/h3 tag to wrap your subheadings.

Images

Images are great for grabbing a reader’s attention. If you can’t come up with an image that directly relates to what you’re writing about, think of abstract images that may illustrate your point. A few notes:

• Images can be of any size – but the maximum width is 650 pixels.
• You must have permission to use an image, or at least use one where there is no copyright issue. Proper attribution is required.

NOTE: If you aren’t able to find an image, we’ll do it for you.

Post Length

Typically, posts can be of any length as long as they convey the message. We do recommend you have a minimum of 600 words. Keep in mind that posts that are too long can be daunting for readers, but if well written, we have no limit on the max length of a post.

Editing

We regularly edit posts submitted to BiggerPockets by our contributors and guest bloggers. We’re not going to rewrite your article, but may make grammatical changes, minor edits, title changes, photo changes, and other changes. Don’t take it personally . . . we know our audience and we know how to write successfully for the blog. If a post misses the mark completely or if it needs improvement, we will return it to you and say so. If there is room for improvement, we’ll let you know and suggest how to do so.

Exclusivity & Copyright

In submitting a post to BiggerPockets, we’re assuming that the post you’re writing is exclusively for use on BiggerPockets. All articles are to be used once and only once. You may not reproduce the article on your own blog, newsletter, or any other websites. Any use of the article, once it is posted to BiggerPockets, must be done with the permission of BiggerPockets, Inc.

Of course, you’re welcome to write about the topic elsewhere, but your work should be unique.

Contributor agrees that once an article is posted to the BiggerPockets Blog, it becomes the property of BiggerPockets, Inc. and you give us your consent to reproduce such content in any way, publicly or privately, in any form of media, known or unknown, without any compensation to you. BiggerPockets, Inc. will retain copyright ownership of all articles posted on its blog.

In-post Links

We will allow links in your articles if they are relevant to the topic you’re writing about. We do ask that you link to any of your sources in order to give proper attribution. Self-linking is prohibited, though you will have the opportunity to do so in your byline.

Byline / Signature

We want to help promote you as the author of your article, and as such, provide an opportunity to include a byline/signature on your posts. This may not be used as adspace. We’re looking for you to let people know who you are and what you do in real estate. We allow up to 2 links, but they may not be affiliate links or point to junk sites that are soley designed for promoting affiliate links.

Once Your Article has been Published

Respond to Comments – Our readers like to get involved in the conversation with our authors. By participating and engaging, you raise your profile and increase the likelyhood that the reader will want to connect with you or visit your website. Please be timely and appropriate in your comments.

Promote the article via social media – Be sure to share your article via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Digg, Stumbleupon and of course, be sure to let others in your circles know as well. The more people know about the post and that see it, the better your chances of seeing new colleagues and traffic to your site.

Link to the post on your own website or blog – Your own readers and users will certainly want to see what you’ve got to say, and letting them know about your guest post on our site will allow them to do that. Additionally, BiggerPockets only takes the best of the best, so if you’re post is published on our blog, it is certain to be great!

We want to thank you for your interest in getting involved in BiggerPockets, and hope that by sharing your work with us, we can in turn help promote you right back.

For more tips on writing guest posts, see:

• The Five Unwritten Rules of Guest Posting on Blogs

If you’ve got any questions, please contact us.