Guest Blogger Guidelines

What is a Guest Blogger?

Guest bloggers have recognizable and relevant knowledge in a specific area concerning small business and have agreed to help small businesses by becoming contributing members of the Business.gov Community via the Industry Word Guest Blog, which lives in the "Expert Insight and News" section of the Community.

Those who have earned the "guest blogger" designation within the Business.gov Community have registered as members of the Community, have been vetted by the Business.gov team and the SBA, and have agreed to the guidelines outlined in this document. In addition to writing a blog article each month, guest bloggers are encouraged to participate in the Community by posting discussion topics on the forums, answering questions and offering high-quality ideas on how to make the Community stronger.

Guest bloggers will be identified in the Community with an icon that reads "Guest Blogger" and a designation in their profile that reads "Guest Blogger". These will be assigned in advance by the Community administrator. The guest bloggers themselves are expected to provide relevant contact information.

Guidelines for Participation

Those who have arranged with the Business.gov team to contribute articles to the "Industry Word" guest blog must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Agree to the Rules of Conduct set forth in the Community Guidelines and these Guest Blogger Guidelines
• With respect to the Linking Policy set forth in the Community Rules of Conduct, guest bloggers are granted special privileges above those outlined in Section 4. Specifically, guest bloggers are able to link back to previous blog posts, or to their own websites, provided the information contained in these links is beneficial to the reader and aligned with the subject of the article, versus being promotional in nature. Note that guest bloggers must alert the reader when linking away from a non-government website. This may be done by placing an asterisk after the link and including a notation at the bottom of the post.
• Provide current name, business name, business address, email address and telephone number
• Communicate in a professional and courteous manner at all times
• Avoid posting spam, pornography, offensive content, excessive spelling/grammatical errors or profanity on any board within the Business.gov Community.
• Must be in good standing with the Small Business Administration such as:
  • not defaulting on an SBA loan
  • not having a conflict of interest with the SBA
• Maintain a germane status in the small business community as follows:
• Maintain a relevant and identifiable body of work, such as articles, blogs, case studies, interviews, etc. that demonstrate his or her knowledge of a particular subject area relevant to the small business community
• Provide a relevant resume or curriculum vitae
• Provide a third party recommendation from a recognized entity such as a government agency, business media, or business non-profit organization such as SCORE
• In their blog posts, bloggers will offer timely information that is in alignment with the mission of Business.gov to help small businesses start, expand and succeed
• Bloggers will offer unique advice and insight that is informational and apolitical in nature
• Bloggers may reference relevant, previously written content as appropriate, but agree not to use the Industry Word or the Business.gov Community overall as a platform to advertise or promote their business, products or services
• Bloggers may write original content, or may post previously written content that is current (published within the last six months) and relevant to the Business.gov audience
• Bloggers agree to provide one article / month (or other frequency as agreed upon with Business.gov team) to be posted in the Industry Word guest blog in accordance with the editorial calendar described below
• Bloggers agree to reply to comments that members of the Business.gov Community might post in response to their blog
• Bloggers agree not to change their blog once it has been approved and posted (without permission from a member of the Business.gov team)
• Bloggers agree not to alter any other blog that has been posted in the Industry Word section
• Bloggers understand that as with all government websites, once a blog article is posted in the Business.gov Community, the information contained therein becomes part of the public domain, and therefore becomes "public property" and available for anyone to use for any purpose.