How I Became A Huffington Post Contributor

Have you ever wondered how bloggers & writers write for the Huffington Post? Well- I know I did.  A couple of months ago I began researching how to submit a pitch idea to the company.  Well, last month I submitted my first pitch idea to the Huffington Post and to my surprise it actually got accepted!

WHAT!!!!! I was so shocked and happy at the same time about getting accepting on my FIRST time that I decided to write a step by step guide.   I decided to put together a guide that walks a person through what I did to become a Huffington Contributor.

THE PROCESS

The process of getting a pitch idea accepted varies from person to person as I have heard different wait time for different people. But, one thing is for sure and that is that it doesn’t hurt to TRY. 

I actually learned where to send my pitch to from one of the Facebook Groups mentioned in this article.  See! Being a part of awesome Facebook Groups has a ton of advantages. 🙂  Once I learned about the process I was ready to submit my idea to one of the editors. Below I share how I became a Huffington Post Contributor. 

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1. Send in a PITCH: Yep, that’s correct! The first thing to do is send in a pitch to editor(s) of your article’s focus. For example,  if you write in the parenting and children categories you will send a pitch to [email protected]. To find the correct email for your category search them on Facebook. For example, if you were searching for the Huffington Post Women section type in “HuffPost Women” in the Facebook search box and it will come up & then look up their email in the “About” section. If you happen to not find the email in your category you can simply send your article pitch to [email protected] or you can send your pitch to Arianna directly at [email protected] . She has announced at multiple conferences that she invites any writers to contribute their ideas to her.

• Key Pointers:

 

• • Clearly outline the benefits your article will give to the readers of the Huffington Post.
  • Have a clear a FOCUS when writing your pitch. Make sure you are very clear on what the readers will learn from your article.
  • Make sure to grab their attention quickly in the pitch & show that you have the skill to craft an amazing pitch & full article.
  • Be YOURSELF! There is something very special and unique about each person and that’s what makes them interesting and keeps people coming back for more!
  • Make sure to Thank them at the end of the email for taking the time out to view your article pitch.

 For my pitch, I simply included an introduction of  myself and my blog Arts and Budgets and also included some of the articles I was pitching which was, “5 Ways to Fund an Album Project.” I keep it pretty short and sweet. 🙂  Here is a link to my actual Huffington Post article  HERE.

 

2. The Waiting Begins: After you submit your article to the Huffington Post the waiting begins.  It can take days or even weeks to hear back from an editor but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t like your article. Most of the time the editors are extremely busy and sometimes don’t have the time to respond to your inquiry right away.  In the event that you don’t hear back, simply revamp your pitch and politely follow up with the editor after 2 weeks.  If you do hear back from them, Congrats! You’re in! Below is the email I got when my pitch got accepted! 🙂

When I submitted my article it took about a day for it to get accepted! Soon after I received a second email from Madeline with information on how to join the blogging platform, Athena!

 

Lastly, I got an email to set up my Blogger Profile on the Huffington Post Platform the same day I got the email from Madeline.

 

3. Set Up Your Profile & Launch Your Post: When you get the last email now it’s time to set up your profile with awesomeness & start writing your first article! Wooo hoo!

Things to fill out are as follows:

 

• Name- Your Full Name.

• Title- Put in your title. On my profile it says, “ Founder of ArtsandBudgets.com

• Twitter- Add your Twitter account.

• Facebook- Add your Facebook account.

• Full Bio- Write a short bio about who you are and what you do! Also, make sure to include a link to your blog/ website in this section as well.

 

 

After that, hit the save button and you can start writing your new post! You would simply click on “New Post” on the left and start writing! 🙂

 Key Pointers:

 

• • Keyword tags: Make sure to include keyword tags in your article.  The Editors will use the keyword tags if the post is promoted. You can type in the keyword tags on the upper right-hand corner of the draft article. For my first article  “5 ways to fund your Album project” I included keyword tags that were related to my article such as, “Entertainment, Music, Funding, etc!

 

• • Make sure to grab the reader’s attention: Using line breaks, writing shorter paragraphs, and adding bullet-points help with keeping the focus on the readers.
  • Include images: Make sure to include an image or two that’s related to your article title & focus.
  • Read the section (s) you want to write for: This is key! Make sure to do some research on the different Huffington Post sections you want to write for such as Entertainment, Women, Black voices, etc. Make sure to check out what’s popular in the section(s) that you want to write for.  Lastly, connect with the editors and writers of the section(s) on social media and build relationships.

 

After you have proofread your article and put up keyword tags, and images then you can publish it. Soon after you publish your article, promote it EVERYWHERE! Email list, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.. You name it! The more comments a post attracts, the better it does in generating clicks and more comments. So, Promote! Promote! Promote!

There you have it! I hope this guide helps in your journey to submitting to the Huffington Post.  I wish you all the best and can’t wait to see your article on the site! 🙂 Woohoo! 🙂 

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