Guest posting on Animaker: What you need to know!

We often get mails from people who are interested in guest posting. So far we used to send them guidelines via mail. But recently the trend has hit the roof! We simply cannot reply to every mail. So we decided to write this blog. If you are interested in guest posting, read on!

Why we love guest posting!

Over the years, we have built a strong audience for our blog. Now we’d like to take things to the next level by inviting our community to take part. Guest posting is an awesome concept. It makes the blog rich. It's when people from around the world with different levels of experience, roles, and expertise come in to share their viewpoints with the community. Many guest posts have sparked thought-provoking discussions in the comment section. Overall, we get to see a topic from many dimensions.

Why should you guest post?

Are you the kind of person who loves sharing your knowledge? Do you get a dash of dopamine in knowing that you are helping thousands of people? If so, this opportunity is for you. There are more perks of course:

• You get to portray yourself as a thought leader in your field of expertise.
• We'll promote your post to our Social Media followers.

Who is our audience?

We have two types of audiences.

• Startups: These are small and medium businesses trying to hack their growth.
• Educators: These are mostly teachers trying to become their students' superhero!

Whatever you write should be helpful to either of these two categories.

What topics can I chose from?

If you are trying to help startups, these are the topics that we are looking for:

• Creative Marketing
• Video Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing

If you are trying to help educators, these are the topics that we are looking for:

• Education Technology
• Creative ways to make the classes engaging
• Personal experiences on how you made an impact on your students.

What type of posts are accepted?

These are the following type of posts we accept:

• How-to-Posts: These are in-depth guides on an evergreen topic. It should be well researched and thorough. These are posts that deserve at least 2k words.
• Case Studies: These are experiments that brought you success. It should have a few really actionable takeaways. These posts can be of any length. It's the insights that matter here.
• Practical "How I use Animaker" posts: If you are having some success using Animaker, you can share it here. You can also come up with creative ways to use Animaker. These posts can be of any length.
• List posts: These are tips and tricks that'll improve the life our readers. These posts should be of at least 1500 words.

However, if you feel that you have a really good post that doesn't meet the word count, you can still send it in. If the content is exceptional, we will definitely accept the post.

What makes a Killer Blog Post?

This is probably the most important part of the guidelines. Make sure that you follow each and every guideline specified. We respect our readers a lot. Nothing less than awesome will get published!

Kickass Title

If you take 3 hours to write a blog post. Spend equal if not more time on coming up with a kickass blog title. Remember, no matter how good your content is, if the title sucks, all your hard work goes down the drain.

Readability

• Use short and crisp sentences. Use short paragraphs. One paragraph shouldn't contain more than 3-5 sentences.
• Use Bold or Italics to highlight certain key points. Do not use Capital Letters!
• Always use Active Voice. This will improve readability:

For example: Active: We love our audience! Passive: Our audience is loved by us! See the difference? Please review your submissions using the Hemmingway App before sending it in!

Credibility

• Whatever stats or info you claim should be backed up with a dependable source. Do not rely on your uncle's personal blog for info.
• You might have tips that you learned out of personal experiences. These do not require a source. But it would be great if you give examples.

Tone

• Be conversational. Have a friendly and fun tone. It should not be like a long boring research paper!
• We love humor. But don't overdo it.
• Limit the usage of jargon. Get the message across in simple words.

Grammar

Even if your submission has some really cool insights, grammar mistakes will spoil your post’s impression. We don’t have time to sit down and edit the correctness of your English. So please double check your piece using a tool like Grammarly.

Visuals

We are a bunch of Creativity Oriented people. We love visuals! Make sure you use a lot of cool images, gifs or even videos wherever relevant. Don’t forget to credit sources wherever necessary!

What we don't accept!

These are cases when your submission will be rejected without a second thought:

• The post is not 100% original and is plagiarized.
• The post is a clear link bait with no actual intention to help the reader.
• The post is too promotional where you only talk about how awesome your product is.
• The post has nothing to do with our area of interest.

Additional Notes

Please keep in mind these additional points which are very important:

• You cannot republish the post again elsewhere.
• You can improve your chances of getting published by doing some keyword research and including it on your pitch.

How to submit your Guest Post?

If you've reached this part, after reading the entire guidelines, congrats! You're well on your way to get published. However, if you just skimmed through everything, please go back and read everything in detail. It'll save both of us a lot of time!? For submitting your idea send a mail to keerthana@animaker.com with the Subject line: GUEST POST: *your topic* Pitch your idea in 3-5 sentences. Also, give a basic structure of how your post will look like. If it's kickass, I'll reply within 3 business days. We'll take it on from there! Good luck!