ARTICLE GUIDELINES
New to article writing and not sure what we’re looking for? Don’t know whether to write a poem or an academic treatise? Your guidelines to WLE submissions are all here!
Defining High-Quality Content
We have a separate page that provides our definition of high-quality work.
Article Content
Although there are a hundred different types of writing, all the articles we’re looking for follow certain simple rules:
- They have an introduction paragraph which states what the article is about and hooks the reader into continuing.
- They present useful information, not just vague ideas.
- They have a conclusion paragraph.
- They are not partial or full rewrites of other people’s work.
- They do not include links (though an address such as Google.com is acceptable if you really need to include one).
- They do not include promotional material.
- They do not include first-person anecdotes, op-ed, personal experiences or anything using the pronoun “I”.
- If they are list-style articles, they are not just lists, but have details for each item in the list, providing useful information.
Do
- Write articles that are informative.
- Write articles whose content matches the title.
- Write concisely, avoiding fluff and padding.
- Write with authority and confidence.
- Write about what you know – or do research.
- Write articles that clients will want for their websites.
- Write articles that are (reasonably) evergreen, with a shelf-life of at least several months.
- Write in English (British or American).
Don’t
- Copy existing content from the Internet (plagiarism).
- “Rewrite” existing content from the Internet
(i.e. copy and change a few words – still plagiarism) - Submit content you’ve already published somewhere else (e.g. rev share sites), even if you’ve taken it off the other site.
- Submit spun content.
- Submit sales copy.
- Write articles that are just lists, without any detail.
- Write articles that are encyclopaedic (i.e. Wikipedia content and style).
- Write articles with only common knowledge and no original angle.
- Write articles that consist mostly of quotes.
- Write articles that are anecdotal in nature (stories).
- Write articles in first person.
- Write op-ed articles.
- Write poetry, fiction or other creative content.
- Write academic papers.
- Include your bio or byline.
- Include external links.