Be a Guest (Mediator) Blogger

Are you reading this because you are a mediator, or work in the mediation industry and are interested in being a guest blogger on the COMSGATEWAY website? We call a guest blogger a, ‘Contributor’.

Our aim is to help mediators to connect, communicate and collaborate with other like-minded people in the mediation sector. One way to achieve this is to find contributors to join our platform.

If you would like to share your mediation expertise with a large audience of potential clients and peers to help grow your mediation business we'd love to hear from you.

The guidelines below should answer any questions you have about what kind of mediation related content we're looking for and how the submission process works. They set out the rules for being a contributor and explain best practice that we ask all our contributors to adhere to.

To become a Contributor you need to subscribe to our Contributor plan.

Our 'Contributor' plan is a FREE plan which allows a mediator to publish a maximum of one post or article a month on the COMSGATEWAY website blog page.

Let's talk Mediation!

Blog posts and articles need to be mediation specific. Whilst we will consider topics around international mediation we focus mainly on mediation in the UK. Priority will be given to articles related to UK civil and commercial mediation.

Submissions must meet the COMSGATEWAY quality standards (see below) in order to get published. Editors reserve the right to reject contributions at their discretion.

Quality Standards for blogging with us

We look for certain elements in the material we publish and priority will be given to posts which meet the following criteria:

1. Material should be original.

2. Topics should be interesting and compelling to read and capture the attention of the audience.

3. Writing should be of a high quality.

4. Posts must reflect the writing style/tone of the Mediator Marketing website.

In the voice that we project, we aim to be professional in our approach and respectful of our  mediation industry peers. Our brand exists to be supportive of the growth and development of the mediation sector. We promote collegiality. We stay away from anything critical or controversial. Our tone is specialised yet graceful with a touch of light wit to promote open communication and build strong relationships.

5. Proper and clear attribution of all blog content must be given to the author and referenced correctly in the article. Plagiarism will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

6. There can be a maximum of one link to your company's website (Note: This includes your website homepage, blog, pricing page, etc ...) in the body of the post. COMSGATEWAY reserves the right to include calls-to-action to other content, including but not limited to email newsletters, eBooks, and other downloadable content.

7. Comsgateway reserves the right to add a link to at least one other Comsgateway blog post in your piece. 

8. We are constantly monitoring and researching which types of blog posts work — and which don't. All posts submitted to us will be reviewed before being published to ensure they comprise content that we feel will enhance your mediator marketing and build your and our online presence. Comsgateway reserves the right to edit and adapt your guest blog content as we see fit, and update it in the future for accuracy and comprehensiveness. This includes formatting using header tags when appropriate and making other adjustments for SEO best practice purposes. These adjustments will include (but may not be limited to) tags, keywords and URL slugs as well as a brief post description.

9. Contributed posts may be removed from the blog at our discretion and we may recycle the URL if we see fit to do so.

10. Comsgateway reserve the right to use guest blog author’s likeness across our content as we see fit, including but not limited to our social media channels. This is always done for the mutual benefit of the guest blogger and Comsgateway in building both online presence and brand awareness.

There are certain things which will not be accepted under any circumstances. These are:

Anything that may be construed as a link-building scheme or anything that shows sign of being an attempt to adversely manipulate general SEO best practice.

Anything that's too promotional for your company or organization.

Anything that's deemed (or may be construed as) offensive or inaccurate.

Anything that's overly critical of individuals or companies — this is not a site to air gripes.

 

Tips for writing a successful blog post
 

Follow these helpful tips

Don't sacrifice wisdom for the sake of concision. We don't necessarily enforce a strict word count on the guest blog. That said general SEO best practice suggests that articles should fall in the 1,000 - 1,500 word range. You don’t need to try to hit a specific word count though.  Focus on rich, considered elucidations that readers of different levels can appreciate and learn from. It's better to expound a concept than be too brief and leave some readers speculating.

The best blog copy is unassuming, accessible, and vibrant. Don't get fixed on trying to make a intricate sentence structure work when a modest one works better. Use your natural voice and promote authenticity. Readers are drawn to the person. 

Ideally paragraphs should be no more than three to five sentences long. Large chunks of words may fail to capture the attention of the reader and discourage them from finishing the article. One way of supporting a good format is to add bulleted lists to help break up compressed copy pieces.

Always include a conclusion.

When including images, follow best practice and cite the image source. Hyperlink any text with the page you found the image on. Clear attribution should be given to original sources at all times. Always use alt text with your image. It is best practice to do so and also helps with SEO.

Always perform a spell check and a grammar check.

Include a short author bio, headshot, and any links to your LinkedIn or Twitter accounts you'd like linked.

How to submit a guest blog post or article

First thing to do is to subscribe to our Contributor FREE plan and become a member of COMSGATEWAY. That way you will be able to keep a record of any blog posts and/or articles that you submit. You will also have access to the member area and the forum.

Once you are happy with your piece of writing (and have checked its content against the guidelines above send your entry to support@mediatormarketing.co.uk

​

​

​

We will reply with an acknowledgement so you know we have received your article. Your piece will be checked thoroughly. If your article meets the comsgateway editorial standards and supports our current content strategy, we will let you know when your article will be published. That process may take up to 2 days and the publication day could exceed this timeline based on the timetable on our content planner. Once the blog has been published we will send you a URL link that you are free to share with your own audience if you wish.

​

​

Thank you for your interest in writing a guest blog or article for COMSGATEWAY. We're glad you've decided to become a 'Contributor'