How to Contribute to Gay Friendly

Gay Friendly contributors are either invited by the editorial team or can apply.

Gay Friendly accepts contributions from professionals in therapy, psychotherapy, travel and anything else we believe will have relevance to our audience.

Expert Contributors will have a bio on the site and be able to login to their own user blog where they can submit all articles.

Expert Contributors commit to a recurring publishing date either monthly, bi-month, or every three. Ad hoc contributions are granted on a discretional basis and run if there are openings in the editorial schedule.

Contributor Agreement

All contributors for Gay Friendly shall digitally sign a basic contributor agreement before posts can be published.

Posts Must Be 100% Original to Gay Friendly

Contributions must be exclusive to Gay Friendly and original.

This means:

  • Do not plagiarise! We use Anti-Plagiarism tools and it is at the Editor’s discretion whether the offence warrants a warning or removal from the Contributing Experts roster.
  • Do not self-plagiarise: You can’t “borrow” from your already published content, company blog posts (or other materials).
  • Reference: If you’re using someone else’s work, it must be properly referenced.

What to Write About

Here are the two ways to claim a topic for your next submission:

  • Pitch the Managing Editor.
  • Choose an approved title from the Managing Editors list.

Gay Friendly is a resource for therapy and health minded individuals seeking in-depth, expert advice and educational content. Try to go beyond the bones of the topic and flesh it out.

The most successful articles tend to be:

  • Lists (e.g., examples, tips, tools, tactics).
  • How-to articles/guides.
  • Expert roundups.
  • A solution to a problem.
  • Explainer posts (e.g., what is…/why x matters).

Provide actionable advice and practical tips.

Though it’s alright in moderation, don’t rely on quoting influencers, experts, or authorities from other sites. Share your own unique experiences.

You are the expert!

What Not to Write About

Gay Friendly does not publish content pertaining to pornography, gambling, weapons and firearms, or other salacious industries/topics that may violate Google’s content policies.

We do not publish examples of other sites of our type. Try to find examples that are relatable to your subject that are direct/primary sources rather than second hand.

This Is Not a Soap Box

You are not here to sell products or services.

Our audience can smell a sales pitch a mile away, don’t do it.

How Long Should A Post Be

  • Minimum post length is 1,000 words.
  • Most posts that appear on Search Engine Journal are between 1,500 and 3,000 words.
  • If you want to write a post that is even longer, please ask for approval from the Managing Editor or Senior Editor first!

Note: Bigger is normally better, long posts receive typically more time on page, and social love. However they are far more time intensive. You could most likely turn that Mountainous post into 3 or 4 more targeted posts instead!

The best contributions are clear and succinct. Readers are busy, give them what they want.

Paragraphs

Keep it succinct.

Short paragraphs work.

One sentence works too!

Two sentences is OK. But no more than three. Please.

Short paragraphs are easier to digest, and encourage concise writing and engaged reading. Everyone wins!

Best Practice For SEO

Gay Friendly is a website and therefore how many read your contribution will depend on how Optimised it is. Fortunately follow this guide and we will do the rest to make sure that it flies!

Headline

Your headline (Title/H1-what goes at the top of the post) should be interesting entice people to click on without trying too hard. It should be optimized for search and social media by

  • Contain the words you are writing about (Foot massage, CBD oil and Therapy)
  • Contain a power word (Greatest, Best, Top)
  • Numbers work, especially odd ones (5 Reasons Why…)
  • Contain an emotional sentiment (Hate, Love, Despise, Hope )
  • Have a character count of 70 characters maximum.

The Managing Editor might edit this after you have pressed submit.

URL

You can edit your URLs (Permalink). Use this to highlight important words and keep it succinct. The Managing Editor might edit this after you are pressed submit.

Images

  • Always use images if appropriate.
  • Captions are optional but recommended.
  • Alternative Text is a must. This can be the post title or a succinct description of the photo that fits the post’s topic.

“Tips to write better content”

Just click the image and if you are in the “Block” view on the right hand side a box will appear.

RANK MATH

Rank Math will highlight potential SEO readability problems and areas for improvement and let you SEO largely by numbers.

In your posts you should make sure

  • Your title matches your headline.
  • The last part of your URL (slug) matches your headline.
  • Your Meta Description which typically comes from your Excerpt (the description of your contribution that appears on each engines) is 1-2 concise sentences (around 20-27 words). If your excerpt exceeds 25 words, it will end with a …
    Excerpt is located just below “Featured Image”
  • You know your focus keyword (What is it exactly you are writing about in 1 -3 words, e.g Pre Natal Therapy)

Links

Links to third-party authoritative sources demonstrate you are incorporating third-party evidence in support of your argument.

However, our editorial team it watching for links that appear promotional. They will be spotted and removed, so it’s better not to try.

  • No self serving links to home pages. Linking to sources’, LinkedIn profile, or another type of bio page is OK.
  • No self-promotion (“Check out my new blog. Click here to read!”).
  • No linking to gated content or salacious content. E.g medications, porn, gambling, and payday loans.
  • We reserve the right to add rel=”nofollow” to any link or remove it entirely.

Buying, trading, or selling links is strictly a no-no. If approached we’d appreciate you giving us the heads up via admin@gayfriendly.com. It will not come back to you.

Stats and Numbers

Relevant and recent stats are the go. Stats older than 5 years are most likely outdated!

Link primary sources only. (i.e., study, survey, etc.). No secondary sources.

Only use stats that you can source.

Add the hyperlink to the number (eg.: 46%), not the surrounding text.

Formatting & Grammar Tips

  • Use H2 headings for subheadings.
  • Use H3 headings for sections below your H2 (subheadings). If you need to go another level deeper, it should be bold H2.
  • No H4
  • Avoid bolding inside sentences.
  • Maintain the same font and font size.
  • Single numbers to be written “one..nine.” 10 and up are written as digits. Percentages are always digits.
  • Reference URLS (e.g. http://example.com) need to be plain text (no hyperlinks).
  • Use Capitals For All Words In Titles And Subheadings.

Images

General Guidelines

Stock photos come from Shutterstock only: Gay Friendly has a Shutterstock account. If you would like to include a photo with your article, please email your chosen photo’s link to us, admin [at] gayfriendly.com to download it for you.

Don’t use Shutterstock images that are marked “Editorial.”

Don’t use photos from “free” photo websites: This includes from Pixabay, Unsplash, etc. Any stock photo that does not come from Shutterstock will bed replaced or removed.

Don’t use images with transferring licenses: No stock images licensed by another person or organisation (e.g., Adobe Stock, Getty Images).

Promotional images are not acceptable: images cannot include your logo or branding.

Your own images: You can use relevant, unbranded images if they are self created i.e not under copyright.

Other guidelines you need to know:

  • PNGs only
  • Removing/replacing images: Gay Friendly may edit, change, replace or remove any image at any time at their own discretion.

Featured Image Usage, Types & Attribution

Always: Use a featured image (found on the right sidebar in WordPress) that is 1600 pixels wide and 840 pixels tall.

Please preview your post before submitting to check formatting.

Stock Photo

Referencing your Featured Image that is a stock photo goes at the end of your article, underneath a horizontal line with the following unlinked format. Here’s an example using this photo:

Featured Image: Alina Kruk/Shutterstock

Custom Featured Image

Referencing a custom Featured Image created by the Gay Friendly team follows the same formatting with our name at the end replacing Shutterstock.

Featured Image: Alina Kruk/Gay Friendly

Screenshots

When using a screenshot of a website anything that may fall under copyright or identify a person/organization must be blurred or excluded. For referencing purposes follow the formatting.

Credited in caption: Name of the website, Month (&) Year (no link to the website).

Example: Screenshot from Gayfriendly.com, June 2022

YouTube Still or Video

  • Credit goes in caption: with Video Title, Name of YouTube Channel, Month Year (no link)
  • Example video – How to cite and reference an online edition of a newspaper article, MMULibraryServices, 8 Apr 2020

Other guidelines you need to know:

  • One stock photo per article: Unless otherwise approved by the Gay Friendly editorial team. You can use the other images outlined above to help tell your story.
  • No external links allowed on images.

Republishing Content Guidelines

We do not want duplicated content Google, you may repost to another site after 30 days but…

You MUST use a canonical link.

Editorial Review and Corrections

  • On discovery that authors aren’t writing their own contributions, we reserve the right to delete or reject the post and at our discretion stop the author from writing on Gay Friendly hence forth.
  • Gay Friendly reserves the right to add any disclaimer on any post or to make corrections In the instance of updates to facts or newly published articles at any time that is deemed by Gay Friendly appropriate.
  • Gay Friendly reserves the right to edit typos, grammar, content flow and links at their own discretion.

Your Bio

Head over to “Edit My Profile”.

Fill in the Bio Section.

Name your blog and tell us and your readers about it. Be succinct and to the point. `

Upload a color Profile Image – use a headshot so people can clearly see your face.

Add links to your personal Social Profiles:

  • Twitter.
  • LinkedIn.
  • Facebook.

Add your Company Details:

  • Your company.
  • Your University
  • Your Title (PHD, BSc Hons)
  • Your position.
  • Your company’s URL if Applicable.

Note: You are eligible to get a followed link from your SEJ profile page if you meet some basic criteria:

  • You must have written at least 5 Gay Friendly articles.
  • You contribute articles on an ad hoc basis somewhat regularly – minimum 1-2 a year).
  • You agree not to abuse your link.

Let us know if you fit the criteria.