Ottawa > Writing Tips
FoundLocally's Editorial Writing Tips
Found Locally welcomes editorial submissions and articles on topics of interest to our readers.
We are not able to pay for writing, though your articles create a valuable business benefit for you!
- We give you credit at the top of the story, to promote you and your business
- At end, include business card info, including name, phone #, company, e-mail, and a web-link. This helps readers get in touch with you, to increase leads.
- We put your story in other FoundLocally cities, increasing your prestige across the country, and likely to increase your opportunities for new out-of-town business.
DID YOUR REALIZE that the number one search engine in the world, Google, uses a "social ranking" for its listings? Your priority is based on popularity, as defined by the number of sites linking TO YOURS. When an article in FoundLocally links to your site, Google will recognize 25 links to yours (one from each FoundLocally community), dramatically improving your ranking in such search engines. Editorial posted on FoundLocally gets your site more traffic!
Here's all we ask:
- Stories must be neutral and unbiased (it can't read like an ad). Teach the reader how they can become a better consumer.
- Write in a conversational tone and level. Pretend you are talking to a friend. Avoid technical terms and jargon (if you must, explain it).
- Get their attention with your first sentence and paragraph. Get into the details later.
- Keep sentences under 15 words. Keep paragraphs short - under 4 sentences.
- Keep stories under 250-400 words. Introduce a problem or challenge, then provide ideas how to solve it. Let readers recognize your expertise, without giving away ALL the answers.
- Use anecdotes ("I had a client who...") to personalize the article. This helps you develop reader empathy and earn their business!
Submit your story or story idea using the Contribute Editorial Form. If you wish to include photos, we will provide you an e-mail address to send those to. We will NOT accept handwritten, typewritten, mailed, delivered or faxed stories. We may edit for length, style, language. We cannot guarantee your submission will be used.
If you want to promote your own business, or non-profit organization, we
recommend you add yourself to our Free Business Listings
, where you can also add your events to our interactive Events Calendar, post news & announcements, sales & coupons, and
your jobs & volunteer opportunities.
If you want to critique or rate a business, then you can use the "Rating & Review" button in the business's listing (Search for it, and then add a rating & Review… see Recent Ratings & Reviews), or for your favourite restaurants & bars you can post a themed Top Five List.. Just let us know (in a sentence) why each is worthy of your list.
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