Guest Posting Guidelines

Please send all guest post submissions to editor@lhcowork.com. Due to the number of emails we receive, please allow 2-3 weeks for a response.  What our blog is about: The LaunchHouse blog is a place to showcase the work of coworkers and entrepreneurs who are growing their businesses. We want to feature advice, stories, and reporting on growing small businesses in Ohio. Much of what we do is focused on helping small businesses grow, whether that’s going from two employees to three or hundreds in sales to thousands. Who can write for us: Entrepreneurs, small business owners, consultants, freelancers—anyone who has the expertise and experience of running or starting their own small business. This also includes service providers — lawyers, accountants, PR pros — anyone who provides help and assistance to startups and small businesses. What we are looking for in blog content:

• Stories of growth—both success and failure
• Case studies
• Advice-based articles—“How do I ensure brand consistency at two locations?”
• Interviews with entrepreneurs who successfully grew their business or got over a hurdle or problem encountered when scaling

Our Voice: Our blog tone is friendly, professional, and helpful. Assume that the reader has some experience with your topic but you are there as a consultant/expert to answer their questions. Style Guidelines:

• The content must be original and not yet published anywhere else on the internet.
• We love articles filled with facts, stories, examples, and research, but make sure to cite your sources and include links.
• You may include two do-follow links in your article. Links and their placement must be relevant to the article and the blog as a whole or they will be removed.
• Write in a conversational and grammatically correct manner. Contractions are okay and the Oxford comma is preferred.
• We reserve the right to edit all articles for content and grammar.
• We will include a 1-2 sentence author biography at the end of an article if you wish.
• If you want to include pictures attach them separately and make sure that you have the proper permissions and copyright for their use. If there is a photo credit we should include, please let us know.
• Feel free to use headings, numbered lists, and bullet points as they make sense for your article.
• Shoot for a minimum of 500 words, but longer is OK, especially for in-depth posts.

What we are going to reject: Rejection hurts but we want you to know the rules up front. If your article appears to be spammy, too self-promotional, or full of SEO backlinks, it won’t make the cut. Anything that is spun, plagiarized, or just downright horrible won’t make it in. Anything to do with MLMs is not going to make the cut. Topics that are not related to business will be rejected, as will anything illegal or just shady. Content specific to a country outside of the United States will also be rejected - we are a local business in the U.S. so your article will not get views on this site. Types of Content Accepted: Articles should be between approximately 500 to 2500 words. Longer posts are better as they provide more helpful, in-depth information. Topic Categories:

• Coworking tips and trends
• Starting, sustaining, and growing a business
• Small business marketing
• Customer relations
• Leadership and hiring
• Remote working and freelancing

Please go beyond the basics of how to start a business. We are also not looking to large multimillion-dollar companies for scaling solutions. We are looking for content that will truly help people who are trying to grow their small business or freelance agency. The topic categories above should help you determine if your article is a good fit for our blog. We are also happy to suggest topics. Our Audience: Our audience is entrepreneurs, small business owners, and freelancers who are looking to grow their businesses—just about anyone you would find in a coworking community. What can you do with the article after we publish it: You can post a blurb with a link to the hosted article on our site—but not the whole thing—on your blog or other platforms (Medium, LinkedIn, etc.). We want to avoid duplicate content penalties and not confuse Google. You can also share the link to the original post on your social media and with your email list. Example: "Check out what I wrote for the LaunchHouse blog on How to Hire Your First Employee." What happens after you hit “send” after sending us your pitch:

1. Give us one week to review it. Sometimes things get busy, so please do not email us multiple days in a row.
2. Pitches that are completely out of line with our guidelines will get no reply at all; we can’t give feedback on all submissions.
3. If accepted, we’ll ask for the full article within a week of accepting it.
4. Once we receive it, we’ll proofread and edit it, schedule it, and email you to tell you when your article will go live and what link it will be at. Again, we may not be able to do this the same day you submit, so please allow a week before following up.