BLOGGING GUIDELINES

​Thank you for your interest in writing for the NBWN and/or SistaTalk. We love to share original content within our network and we're delighted that you're interested in being part of it.

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The purpose of the NBWN / SistaTalk blog is to share high-quality content with our ever-growing network that aims to educate, inspire and inform our community of incredible business people in the spirit of sharing knowledge and good practices.

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Contributing an article is a great way to share your expertise with our large business-focussed community, position yourself as an authority in your industry and even send traffic back to your own website / social media platforms.

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The NBWN / SistaTalk blog is where people find original, practical business and personal advice on a range of topics affecting people of colour in the business / corporate sector in the UK and around the world Our goal is to help them get better results from their business and share learning from the network as a whole.
 

Our team are always keen to publish high-quality guest posts and our active audience of nearly 10,000 are as keen to read them. If you’re an excellent writer and have an idea for an article that you think would appeal to our business community please read the information below.

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Although we cover a broad range of business topics, we’re particularly interested in content that relates to starting, running and/or growing a business, gender issues, women's physical and mental health, importing/exporting, business innovation, societal/cultural business issues, work/life balance and any issues affect women of colour in the business space.

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To ensure that the quality of content on our blog is maintained we will only accept articles that we think are timely, relevant and valuable to our business audience.

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Regardless of whether you're an established blogger; an 'expert' in your field or even a complete newcomer, providing the piece is well-written and well-researched, original, topical, relevant and meets the criteria set out below, we're interested in hearing from you.

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Our audience includes small, medium and large business owners, corporate officers, important and influential people in a multitude of sectors including Government, Industry, Retail, Banking / Finance, etc. They are busy people. Before writing your blog, ask yourself "What are they going to get out of your post?"

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If you're ready to make a start, please take a look at the guidelines below before submitting.

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General Guidelines

• We only consider complete draft articles (not pitches) from website members with an active, ongoing membership to either the Evolve or Empower scheme. For more details, see our Membership page.

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• Members must write an original article with relevance to our audience that meets the criteria listed here.

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• Fresh ideas and viewpoints are welcome and encouraged.

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• We're looking for you to craft a fresh article with relevant and practical takeaways our readership can act upon if they choose.

  • It may be worth checking previous NBWN / SistaTalk blogs to ensure your blog contains a new outlook, new information or a fresh angle on a particular topic, rather than a re-working of an existing post.

  • You may offer suggestions on how to do 'something' better, rather than just 'why' or 'how' to do it.

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• Our blog is NOT a sales channel for you, therefore sales focused and advertorial-style content will not be accepted.

  • We will not accept blogs that simply promote your company or organisation, services and products.

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• It's important to remember that you are writing for our audience who are, for the most part, professional men and women. This audience includes executive-level business people, entrepreneurs and business owners so keep it interesting and conversational in style.

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• We are looking for detailed content that provides actionable help/advice.

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• Create an engaging introduction specific to your article and introduces you (and your standing) to the reader

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• No buzzwords, jargon or corporate speak.

  • If they ARE ABSOLUTELY necessary, i.e. specific to a particular industry and not commonly known or understood, please explain them briefly without patronising. or include a link to a glossary of terms.

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• Give credit where relevant. This can include but is not limited to, the images used (i.e. credit to the photographer), research/studies, statistics, etc.

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• Check your facts / statistics / quotations. Where necessary, cite the original source, rather than just the source you used if different.

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• If you are offering conclusions/opinions, make them definitive and/or declarative.

  • Give factual, verifiable examples (even better if they detail, metrics. research, etc.) to support your case. 

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• Avoid overt self-promotion in the article.

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• NBWN / SistaTalk retains the right to decline or take a post down after publication and may edit a post where appropriate.

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• Commenting will be active on each post for our members to engage with the post. Please be aware that comments may not always be positive. However, NBWN / SistaTalk will remove any comments that are offensive, threatening, discriminatory, etc. but comments that disagree with or challenge the article will be allowed.

  • Please be available the day your article publishes and the following few days to respond to comments on your blog if necessary.

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• We retain the right to edit a post where appropriate (spelling mistakes, grammar, punctuation, etc.) and to include links to our own services or existing content (internal linking) when relevant.

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• Blogs must be written in British English (Br E).

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Minimum Requirements

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Original / Exclusive

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• Any blogs submitted must be an original work by the author, and must not include any plagiarised element or that generated by AI (Artificial Intelligence), i.e. ChatGPT, etc..

  • Exceptions to this may include names, quotes, references, citations, etc.​

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• All blogs submitted to NBWN/. SistaTalk must be unique and exclusive to our site on the first publication. Any blogs submitted must not have been published on any other website previously or simultaneously.

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• If you’d like to republish your guest post that previously ran on the NBWN / SistaTalk site elsewhere, you must wait at least 8 weeks to do so.

  • The subsequent article must be revised/updated to make it current and must link to the original post on our site.

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700 Words Minimum / 2500 Maximum

To ensure the blogs we publish meet our criteria in terms of quality, and engagement and to also support our internal SEO strategies, the length of the blog is important. As such:

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• ​Please don't write to a word count which means don't fill, or limit, your blog just to meet this target.

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• Blogs should flow naturally and remain engaging throughout and be structured with an easily defined beginning, middle and end with a definitive conclusion.

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• ​End the post with a question and/or a call to action for comments. The more specific, the better.

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Format​​​​

While our team will format the blog for the website itself, it's important that you adhere to some basic formatting guidelines to help speed the process along. So:​

• Avoid big blocks of text.

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• Keep your paragraphs short. No longer than 4 lines each to aid readability.

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• Use bullet or numbered lists where appropriate.

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• Please only add one 'space' after the full stop, not two.

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• Add relevant headings / sub-headings throughout to distinguish areas of the blog to break up your post.

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Images​

We love images on the NBWN / SistaTalk blog. We use them to break up the text, make the blog post more engaging, visually interesting, and scannable and support any included data.

• Ideally, we prefer to include one image at every scroll depth, this way an image is always visible to the reader.​​

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• Include one header image that accurately illustrates and is relevant to the topic of your post. This is known as the 'Feature Image'

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• Please resize your feature image(s) to a maximum of 750 pixels wide and 322px high. Other images must be a maximum of 750 pixels wide.

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• Any images used must be copyright-free or comply with any copyright or usage restrictions.

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• Permission for use should be obtained before submission and the source should be cited and/or you must have perpetual permission to use each image in this way.

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• If it's your first submission to us, please include;

  • A headshot of you (350×350 pixels).

  • Write a brief biography about yourself. This should be 50 words maximum.

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Links

• Links can not lead to a longer version of the article on an external website.

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• Include links to relevant content.

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• Every link used MUST be related to the topic or discussion it references and adds value to the reader.​

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• NBWN / SistaTalk does not allow links to gated or paywalled content inaccessible by the general public.

  • We do allow ungated links to articles and blogs that illustrate a point in your story.

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• Links must NOT be part of an external SEO linking strategy by you or a third party.

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• Please disclose any personal / business relationship/partnership you have with any of the products, businesses, links or sources in your article.​​

  • These aren't forbidden, but please limit your use of these to one or two per article.

  • NBWN / SistaTalk reserves the right to add additional links as necessary or remove any that don't meet these criteria before publication.

  • Links to corporate websites won’t be included.

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Promotion

• Once published we will promote it via the NBWN social media platforms and / or newsletters.

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• We also expect you to share it on your own social media. This can be through your own posts, social sharing options on the website or reposting/retweeting/sharing posts from the NBWN.

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• We ask that you share it more than once on multiple networks over multiple days. The time frame and schedule are up to you.

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• Please include any links to your social media accounts so we can add them to the footer of the blog post.

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Content Ownership

• By contributing blog content to NBWN / SistaTalk, you are granting us a perpetual license to this content to be used across a range of our social media accounts and website.

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We Will NOT Accept:​

• Short/thin content which we don't think provides value to our audience,

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• Content that already exists (for the most part) on other websites.

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• Content written by AI (Artificial Intelligence) software.

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• Sales / Advertorial pieces.

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• Press releases.

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• Submissions from people not signed up to any of our paid membership levels.

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• Any article that is:

  • Misleading.

  • Inaccurate.

  • Defamatory.

  • Excessively negative.

  • Discriminatory.

  • Violent.

  • Conspiratorial.

  • Racist.

  • Sexist.

  • Misogynistic.

  • Homophobic.

  • Incendiary.

  • Financially Deceptive (e.g. 'Get-Rich-Quick' schemes, Inflated Income Schemes, etc).

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How To Submit A Post

If you've read these guidelines and are ready to submit a piece, please complete the form on this page. Before you go, it's a good idea to read the text below so you understand what happens once you've submitted it.

 

What Happens Next?

Once you have submitted a piece via the link above, we will take a look at it to ensure it meets the guidelines detailed above. Please note that ALL submissions will be reviewed, but may not all be published.

 

We may edit your post or bounce it back to you for revisions. We also reserve the right to remove links and conduct minor edits (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) to the content to aid readability and flow without consulting you to ensure it meets our editorial standards before final publication.

 

We may also edit anchor text/links that are not relevant to your post, or include any links, tags, headings, etc. that help our SEO strategy. We will contact you within 2 weeks if there are any major issues to allow you to respond/resubmit.

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Whilst we endeavour to post regularly and in a timely manner, NBWN / SistaTalk reserves the right to withhold publication to allow the blog to be used as part of a forthcoming and/or relevant awareness campaign, online/in-person event, fund-raising, promotion, etc run by the NBWN and/or SistaTalk.​