Write for Us!

‘Us’… is really just me, Dachia.

Adopted Dog Mom welcomes submissions from amazing guest authors. If you have a great story to share as to how you got first adopted or you have some wonderful advice for the new adopter, I’d love to hear from you.

But there are a few guidelines guest posts need to meet.

Rule #1: Keep it simple.

My goal here is to make the adoption process super simple and accessible to everybody. I am not interested in costly tools or services. The goal is to make the adoption of a dog as easy as possible and matching the right person with the right new family member.

Rule #2: Target a specific keyword/phrase (that people are actually searching for)

I’ve got some free tools to help you out with this. The more Evergreen, the better. The idea here is to make sure your work continues to get traffic month after month from people searching for it in Google.

You can use a free tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to estimate this, but there are other (and I think easier ways to learn what people are searching.

Easy way #1- go start doing a search on the topic you are thinking about on Google and pause… and see what Google suggests. Google is set up to make the user experience as smooth as possible. So, when you start to enter your search, Google wants to make it easier by gently assuming what you are about to ask, based on what you have already typed.

Google makes this prediction based on what lots of other people were searching that started with what you started with. What this means to you is that whatever Google predicts is something that lots of other people are searching.

I’m personally a fan of going directly to the source to find out what people are searching for. Nobody knows better than Google what people are searching for on Google. There are other services out there that usually cost money, but even if free… I’m not a fan. This task is pretty straightforward and shouldn’t cost you anything.

Another free option is to start your search with your main keyword and then type ‘a’ and see what Google predicts you are going to ask based on just that. Then with a ‘b’. Etc. Google will give you a drop down list of searches, in order of popularity. Take note.

And yet another free source, still on Google, is to choose one of the predictive searches and then scroll down to the bottom of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and you’ll find a list of related searches.

I do have another suggestion in this task, though. Go to Answer the Public. Scroll down just a bit and there is a field to enter your topic. And the site provides a few wheels of great questions. And then you can either use those questions as sub-headings, or search those questions and see where it takes you.

These are my suggestions for free ways to determine what people are searching for.

Rule #3: Make it the best resource on that topic the Internet has ever seen

Google is looking for great user experiences. They want to know that if they send somebody to your post, it’s what the person wanted. One way it judges that is how long a person stays on that post or the site and how many other questions that post or site will answer.

Google assumes other questions this person might have. A great post covers several related questions in a single post. So, the goal is to be one of the best posts out there on this topic.

If it’s not, it has little chance of cracking the top 10, which doesn’t do either of us any good. I’m not looking for filler and you are not looking for an exercise in writing. We want organic traffic.

What does that mean?

It means covering a topic in as much detail as needed to thoroughly answer the reader’s current question and predicted questions. It usually means writing content that’s at least 2000 words long.

Rule #4: Format it so it’s easy to read.

Formatting blog posts is not very hard once you get the hang of it, but super important. Put yourself in Google’s shoes or that of a person searching your topic. And then take care of them.

Your post should:

• Brake up text in a few simple sentences per paragraph, and use H2 subheads. These subheads should include your main keyword and related questions that you found when searching Google for this topic.
• Links to relevant internal and external resources. Relevant external sources need to be reputable and heavy hitters, not Bob’s Blog.
• Relevant images or screenshots, 700 pixels wide if possible. Smaller is fine, bigger is not. Images need to be royalty-free (tell me where you sourced them).
• Your author bio with preferred link. Your link can be included in the bio, but not in the post.

Ready to Pitch?

When all that sounds good, pitch away! Due to the volume of pitches I receive, please follow the instructions below.

If you don’t, I’ll assume you haven’t read these guidelines and will ignore your email.

• Compose your article in Google docs.
• Run your draft through Hemingway or Grammarly (or both).
• Send your pitch to editor at adopteddogmom dot com.
• Use the Subject line: “Guest post pitch: [Your proposed title]”
• Link to the Google Doc version of your post.

Keep in mind that somebody else might be working on a similar topic, so I encourage you to connect with me first to be sure your work is not in vane.

Click here for topics I’d be interested in. And feel free to pitch one of your own.

Thanks!