Write for us
DeskTime is a time tracking and productivity app used by thousands of companies and freelancers worldwide. Our blog is about productivity, team efficiency, employee management, work-life balance, and generally - about those 90,000 hours of our life that we spend at work.
If you're an experienced writer and want to write for us, we'll be happy to hear from you. That being said, we have some ground rules that we ask you to follow or we won't be able to accept your submission.
Here's what we're looking for in an article:
Originality
We do not publish content that has already been published somewhere else. Google doesn't like duplicate content, and we don't like being your second choice.
Comprehensiveness
We're looking for well-researched, in-depth articles that are at least 1500 words long. In fact, the articles that do best are usually at least 2000 words long. We want more of them.
Actionable tips
We want practical tips and takeaways that our readers can put to work. That being said, use theory, research, and science for supporting your claims and making your article more comprehensive. Always add links to reputable sources that back up what you're saying.
Real-life examples
Share your experience and use examples to help readers better understand the topic. In most cases, it'll be your experience and unique standpoint that will add the biggest value to your article.
Logical structure
Pay attention to the structure and make sure it's easy to follow your flow of thought. Every article should consist of an introduction, body, and conclusion. When writing, always explain why are you mentioning a specific idea or concept, and how it helps you answer the question proposed in the headline.
Reader-friendly formatting
We're looking for articles that are easy to scan through - short paragraphs, clear headlines, sub-headlines, bullet lists, images, etc. In the best case scenario, the reader should be able to learn the main takeaways by only reading headlines.
Proper grammar
Use Grammarly (it's free!), ask a friend or hire a freelance proofreader to edit your article before submitting it to us.
Please, do not pitch:
Topics that have already been covered on our blog before
Anything that is too promotional
Articles whose only purpose is to get a backlink
General "how to be more productive" type of articles
Superficial "best apps" type of listicles - if you want to write such an article, make sure you review min. 50 apps and add lots of details
A special note on links
Links are important to articles and we want you to use them – when you make a statement, quote a research, use data in your story, want to provide readers with more context, etc. Always make sure you link to a reliable and trustworthy source. A bonus point if you can find an article in the DeskTime blog that covers the same or similar topic and link to it.
You can also add one link to a blog article and other informational content on your page if it fits into the article organically and provides value to the reader. Promotional, out-of-context links, as well as links to product offers and services are not allowed and will be removed.
We keep the rights to take out and replace links, as well as change their anchor texts at any time and without the author's consent.
All links will be nofollow links. You can mention your business and add a (nofollow) link to it in your author bio – nofollow brand mentions, too, can boost your website's SEO.
How to submit a guest post to DeskTime:
Write an outline
Include:
Headline
Short intro - what your article is going to be about
Article structure - the different paragraphs you plan on including, as well as what you propose to write under those
Sources to be used
Main takeaways
Submit your outline
Please, keep in mind that we only accept Google Docs (don't forget to give editing access!). When your outline is ready, submit it via this form.
Wait to hear back from us
If we're interested, you'll hear back from us. Because we receive many pitches, we may not be able to reply to all. If you have not heard back from us in 5 business days, feel free to offer your idea to someone else.
Write your article
Once your outline is accepted, we'll ask you to write and submit a draft. Please, do it by following our guidelines! If the finished article won't fit our guidelines and quality standards, we retain the right to decline publishing it.
Get published
After your article is published, we'll be happy if you help us promote it:
Share it on your social media
Send an email to your subscriber list
Post on relevant niche forums and Reddit groups
Email people you've mentioned in the article and encourage them to do everything mentioned above!
