Thanks for your interest in writing a guest contribution for Dance Advantage.

Although Dance Advantage is written primarily by me (Nichelle), I welcome guest posts from other dance teachers, students, parents, professionals, or those knowledgeable in related fields.

Please note that Dance Advantage does not accept guest posts from commercial link builders, or brands seeking links only for SEO purposes.

If you have your own blog, organization, or company, appearing as a guest is a great way to establish or advance your presence and authority within the online dance community or pass on or pay forward your wisdom to others involved in dance education.

To help you write an effective article for this site and to help me quickly prepare your post for publishing, here are some tips and guidelines for contributors:

Who To Write For

• Dance students (recreational or pre-professional – children, teens, college, or adults)
• Dance teachers (teaching concert dance forms like ballet, modern, jazz, tap in just about any setting)
• Dance school/studio owners (for-profit or non-profit)
• Dance parents (with children of any age in recreational or pre-professional programs)

What I Am Looking For

• VALUE! I am looking for articles that are practical AND educational for readers. I want them to walk away (or “surf” away) with something that is useful, or that they can apply to their own dance experience. More on what makes an article valuable.
• I am looking for content not published elsewhere. While you are more than welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere, I’m assuming that the post you are writing is unique and original content, exclusively for the use of Dance Advantage. Why? Find out by clicking here.
• I am looking for posts of any length – Average posts are 600-900 words but as long as your work is helpful to readers, I don’t fuss over word count.
• I am looking for well-written, quality content. You need not be or write like a professional wordsmith. The best articles communicate clearly, simply, focus on one topic at a time, and provide a new spin or way of looking at a topic.
• I am not looking for posts with a lot of self promotion. Let your content speak for itself. Unless it is really relevant, self-linking or talking about yourself is best left to your bio (approximately 100 words about you that will appear at the bottom of your article).
• I am looking for posts that fit with the others on this blog. I encourage guest contributors to write using their own particular “voice.” However, it helps to be a reader, or familiarize yourself with past articles before submitting a guest article.
• Personal experience is a plus. Accurate information and research is important. But it is story that people identify with and roots your article in reality. Writers should be able to offer some personal experience (their own or that of interviewed subjects). This is what makes articles at Dance Advantage stand out from other dance article hubs online.

As editor, I have the right to refuse content and the right to make changes to anything appearing on the blog. I will pull posts found to contain plagiarism and remove or edit articles with invalid information.

How to Submit Your Article

Articles may be submitted in rich text or in a Word document. Use the following address to submit your article. The address is an image, used to avoid spam, so please re-type it carefully. Or you can use the form below. Either way, please use the word GUEST in your subject line.

☛  Images: When formatting your post, please do not add inline images unless you are familiar and can provide WordPress-ready html. If you have your own copyright-free photographs/graphics for possible use in the article, attach these in an email. Please send a headshot or action shot of yourself for the bio if you have one.

☛  Editing: Please don’t be offended if I ask you to tweak your article. I want your article to stand out and be the best it can be. If I am asking you to make alterations, or submit a new draft, it is because I see something special in what you’ve written so far. As Editor, I will perform quality control (correcting grammar or spelling errors). It is your responsibility to properly cite sources and check facts.

☛  Thanks But No Thanks: If your article is refused, feel free to go back to the drawing board. You may want to revisit this article.

Reasons I Might Refuse An Article

1. Your article isn’t what I’m looking for (see above).
2. Your topic is too close to something recently covered on the blog. I’m okay with revisiting topics, as long as they bring new perspective.
3. Your article is not engaging – this is the most difficult to explain but I get submissions from companies that are one-dimensional and one-sided (i.e. lazy writing, lazy marketing, or both).

Here’s an example: You are a company that makes knee pads. A post on the benefits of wearing knee pads won’t be accepted. Why? Because readers know knee pads offer protection from injury. More useful to the reader would be “rules of the road” and other tips for staying safe, or how to tell if a knee pad is a proper fit, or even a list of common skateboarding injuries and their treatments. The key is to provide real value for the reader – it is better for me and my site and you will gain respect and authority for your company. Take the time to create a submission with tangible value.

What To Do If Your Article is Accepted

Do a happy dance and then wait. This is a busy blog and I’m a busy gal. I generally schedule posts in advance, so your post may not appear for a while on the blog.

Once I’ve given you a date for publishing, I reserve the right to reschedule, though I will do my very best to give you a heads up and provide a new date.

Once the post is published, I encourage you to promote it. Talk about and link to it on your own blog, tweet it, share it on Facebook, Stumble it, tell your students/co-workers… it’s no secret that a blogger is more likely to have you back if you’ve generated some good buzz.

Speaking of having you back… if you’ve been published here before, you are welcome to submit again. The same criteria applies.

Following the above guidelines increase the likelihood of getting published here at Dance Advantage and getting your article the attention it deserves.

If you have questions or concerns, you may contact me using the form below.

What is a valuable article?

Sometimes value to the reader is about learning, but more often than not it is about action. Dance Advantage readers want content that provides them with immediate tools for improving or advancing their current situation, whether they are students wanting to better their skills, teachers looking for methods to apply in the classroom, parents hoping to help their child succeed, or studio owners wanting to grow their business.

In providing value through actionable tasks and strategies, you are building a relationship with this audience, and increasing your authority (a powerful commodity for business).

A useful and enriching guest post or article can be a Win/Win/Win situation. Find out how here: How To Pitch Bloggers

Blogging vs. Article Marketing

Blogging (guest or otherwise) and Article Marketing are different animals that share some similar traits but please don’t confuse them. Blogging is a form of social media and article marketing is not. This means that their readers are different!

You might say that a blog reader has higher expectations than someone reading at an article directory. People follow blogs. They come to trust certain blogs to provide the kind of answers and help they desire. Blog readers are savvy and wary of marketing messages. Put them, and their needs first (they want to know what you know) and they’ll follow you and help you grow your brand.

The benefits of blogging:

• Targets a very specific niche with lots of exposure and quality links back to your site.
• Allows you to develop authority on a subject – gradually becoming a respected voice among dancers in this case, and therefore a trusted brand.
• Opportunity to connect and form a relationship with potential customers (also a great way to tap into their needs and wants).
• One article can go a long way. If your article is really useful (or entertaining), it gets shared over and over across other social sites and other blogs and even within the same blog (in roundups and newsletters and such).

Guest blogging IS in an investment of time on your part, but Dance Advantage is a highly targeted audience. If this audience is one you want to reach, it is worth cultivating a relationship with them as a facet of your marketing strategy. Dance Advantage is not an article directory and reserves direct marketing message slots for its advertisers.

Why Unique Content?

From a traffic standpoint it makes sense to host and post only unique content. Google discourages duplicate content because there are people who abuse the system. Were I to publish an article you’ve already published elsewhere, Google would have to decide which was the definitive version. In short, it is difficult to predict exactly how Google will respond to duplicate content but there is little evidence that cross-posting benefits either you or I.

But, enough technical garbage. A unique guest post makes sense from a reader standpoint. If a person discovers your articles at one place, their hope is that they’ll click over and find more good stuff at your own place, not the same good stuff. In fact, finding the same articles may even annoy them.

For these reasons it is not proper guest posting etiquette to post your article later on your own site. Instead, it is a great idea to write a little about your post or the guest opportunity at the host website and link back to the article.

Maybe it seems like a lot of work to write for another site when you may be producing content for your own, but consider that if you are guesting at a well-ranking site, that article does and can continue doing work for you while you sleep.