CONTRIBUTOR CONNECT

Yahoo! Contributor Network gives established writers and novice alike a place to showcase their work in addition to providing a professional freelance writer with a reliable, paying client. If you are new to the network and need a little bit of help, follow this quick tutorial for navigating the site and writing commissioned assignments.

Step 1: Find the right topics for you

To help contributors find topics of interest we’ve deployed the Assignment Desk which can be found on your Account page and Content page. This tool is easy to use and is filled with writing opportunities based on your interests and expertise. For tips on using the Assignment Desk, please read our tutorial “Assignment Desk guide: find a topic, claim an assignment and submit today”.

Step 2: Start writing

After reading the assignment details thoroughly and clicking claim, it’s time to start writing.

A few things to remember:

- Check the due date of the assignment to make sure you have enough time to write.

- Double check the keyphrases and incorporate them into your title, descriptive overview and text body (without keyword stuffing).

To protect your work, we suggest that you devise your outline and write your article off-site. This will protect you from losing your work to an Internet hiccup, as well as remind you to revise your article before submitting. Writers on Yahoo! Contributor Network serve as their own copy editors, so it’s important to give your work one last read through.

Step 3: Submit your article

The easy process of submitting your article begins by revisiting the Assignment Desk, clicking on the "Claimed" tab and pressing "Submit."

Enter your content

Title: Enter an eye-catching, relevant, keyword filled title.

Subtitle: Optional, and will appear under your title.

Descriptive overview: Summarise your article in 1-3 sentences with keywords placed in the first sentence. This paragraph will appear on your profile page and online search results.

Text body: Cut and paste your article text into the text body. You may need to format to make sure the correct page breaks and paragraphs are showing properly. Be sure to give your work a second look and if you haven't already, cite any sources you use with inline hyperlinks.

Add extra information

Search tags that describe the topic: Include 2-5 keywords or keyphrases (5 words maximum) that describe your content.

Supporting links: If you’ve come across similar, related, quality content on the web or have written related articles, then this is the place to add these content URLs. Please avoid adding affiliate or promotional links.

Is this a review of a product, service or event? Be honest. If your answer is yes, click the appropriate disclosure of material connection.

Adding images

Images should only be added if you are asked to do so in the assignment details. If you are not, your image maybe deleted.

Images need to be 100% original, meaning you took the photo and own the copyrights to it (to avoid copyright infringement). Under UK photo rights, you must have consent from anyone highlighted in your photo (shows the face of the focal person in the image). Exclusion to this rule includes images of crowds.

All images must be clear (blurry images will be deleted) and must be properly credited. Rule of thumb for file size is – the bigger, the better – as long as it’s a JPEG or GIF file and is under 1 MB. Avoid panoramic shots for awkward image cropping. For additional information, please read our Image Submission Guidelines.

Step 4: Know what Rights and Payments are pre-determined in your assignment

This step reviews the rights of the assignment you are submitting on. For more information on content rights please click on the “more details” link. For more information on payments, please visit our Payments Policy page and Earning Money page.

Step 5: Preview and submit

The preview function allows you to double check your article one more time before submitting. Does the structure look good? Did I misspell any words in the title? Did I forget to hyperlink a source? Scan over your article one last time. If you need to make any final edits, click the “Edit” button. If your article looks flawless, click the “Submit your content now” button.

Step 6: What now?

Before your article can be published it has to be reviewed by a Yahoo! Contributor Network editor and a Yahoo! site editor. Within ten business days you'll know whether or not your article was approved for publication. If your article is declined, please don't fret. Great articles maybe declined for simple edits like fixing the structure, adding a link or changing the title. If your article needs more of an editorial overhaul, do not take it personally. Make the necessary edits, resubmit your article – and most importantly – learn from this experience to avoid making the same mistakes twice. We encourage you to keep on claiming, keep on writing and keep on submitting brilliant articles.

If you are ever concerned about your article being declined, please contact us here.