Guest post tutorial

1. Getting Started

First, register at Biofortified and fill out at least some of your profile, including a profile image (see the Community tutorial for more information). Any posts you author will have a link to your profile page at the top and a short bio with your picture at the bottom of the entry. We require that our contributing authors disclose financial conflicts of interest. If you are not sure what you would need to disclose, feel free to ask. This helps improve transparency for people who visit Biofortified. Please note, the editors at Biofortified are willing to consider anonymous guest posts only under very special circumstances. Email us for details.

Once your profile is complete, you’re ready to request Contributor status. Just contact us via email to indicate your interest. Tell us a little about yourself, such as whether you have any relevant expertise or what sort of post you’re interested in writing for Biofortified. If you have a website or any writing samples published online, provide a link. No prior experience is necessary, but let us know how you think your Guest Post will contribute to discussion at Biofortified.

You will receive an email once you have Contributor status and can begin writing posts.

We will assign you to an editor who will review your posts after you submit them. They will also be your contact if you have questions about appropriate topics for posts you would like to write. You should receive email notices when your posts are accepted or sent back for revision. It isn’t necessary to send an email accompanying your submission as the blog will automatically email your editor.

2. Using the WordPress Visual Editor

There are 3 rows of buttons above each text entry box. The 1st row, next to the text Upload/Insert, can be used to insert images and videos into the post. WordPress accepts many file types, and they have great tutorials on Media, including: Insert Images and Upload Documents.

The 2 rows of buttons below Upload/Insert in the Visual Editor can be used to format text. You can use these buttons to underline, indent, change the text color, and more. Two of the buttons look like little clipboards, one for pasting as plain text and one for text copied from a Word document. The first will strip any formatting from the text you paste in and the second will retain formatting from Word. For a full explanation of the buttons, visit the WordPress Visual Editor support page.

You can also use HTML to edit the text if you would like. Just click on the HTML tab at the upper right hand corner of the text box, or click on Visual to get back to the Visual Editor. Allowed HTML tags are listed at the WordPress support page.

3. Creating a post

Log in to Biofortified if you haven’t already and go to the Site Admin page. In the left-hand side bar of the WordPress Dashboard, click on the Posts button which will open a dropdown menu with an Add New button. Click on Add New.

Create a title just below the  text “Add New Post”. The title should be fairly short yet describe what your post is about. Creative or catchy post titles are encouraged!

When adding images, please upload the images instead of “hotlinking” to them on other sites. That way, the images will always display on the post, even if the site you got the image from has been taken down. Only use images that are licensed for re-use or make sure to ask permission from the artist, author, or copyright holder. Flickr is a good source for images labeled for re-use. In the caption of the image, add the source, including whether you had to get permission to use it.

At the end of your post, add any references that you used. If the references are to a scholarly journal, an editor will add Research Blogging links to help increase visibility of your post.

In the right-hand sidebar, you may add tags to your post, which will help readers find similar posts. It is best to use an already existing tag rather than add a new one that is similar to it. Don’t worry about putting your post in any categories An editor will put it in the right category when they review the post.

You may edit and save your draft(s) to finish them at your leisure. Once a post is complete, just click on the Submit for Review button. Once your post has been submitted, email us to let us know so we can review and publish. Occasionally, an editor will email you back to request additional information or other changes. Writing a post is not a guarantee that it will be published, but so far all guest posts have made the cut!

4. Additional opportunities

Here at Biofortified, we use a custom version of the WordPress plugin FeedWordpress. If you like us and we like you there is an opportunity to have a feed from your blog automatically post at Biofortified. For example, if you write a post with the tag “Biofortified”, that post could automatically be reposted here. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity.

5. Comments

Last but not least, don’t forget about the comment thread on your post. Join in on the discussion and help commenters understand the material you wrote about. You might even learn something from the discussion!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!