Policies and Guidelines
This site has been around for awhile. Seeing as there are many questions that I get consistently, I’ve decided to outline the basic policies I use for comments, guest posts and for people who want to advertise on this website or license content.
- Commenting Policies
- Guest Posting Guidelines
- Licensing Content from ScottHYoung.com
- Advertising on ScottHYoung.com
- Hiring Scott as a Writer for Your Publication
Commenting
As a rule, I don’t allow any comment that doesn’t add to the conversation about the topic a post brought up. Here are some comments that I will typically delete:
- Ones that only serve to link to another product, service or website. These are spam unless the product specifically adds to the topic covered.
- Ones that engage in personal attacks on other readers. I’m more lenient on criticisms of myself, but criticize fellow readers on their ideas, not on their character.
- Unreadable comments. I’m not perfect with my spelling and grammar. But I do expect a minimum level of readability. If I can’t understand what you’re saying, I can’t approve the comment.
- Off-topic comments. Stick to the topic covered. If you have broader suggestions or criticisms use the contact form.
- Abusive or vulgar language. I’ve been known to occasionally pepper my language with more colorful words. I won’t punish you if you feel the need to do the same. But try to keep things tasteful or I’ll have the comment removed.
Here are some comments that are fine:
- Criticisms of my ideas. I love a healthy debate. If you think I’m wrong, I’ll gladly approve your comment.
- Criticisms of myself or the website. I’d prefer these be sent to the contact form, but if you want to make your opinion known to the other readers, I won’t deny you that ability. Just keep it clean and try to be constructive, if possible.
- Any comment that adds to the overall discussion on a post.
I want to state for the record that I rarely reply to comments on the blog. I read every comment, but the volume is too large for me to handle personally. If you do want a reply, send your comment through the contact form.
Guest Posting
I’ve been receiving many offers to have a guest post on the site. I enjoy having other authors since it exposes my readers to alternate viewpoints that can compliment or contrast posts of my own. Guest posting also helps get great authors name out in the open, and I’m pleased to say some of my guest authors have been featured on sites such as lifehack.org and lifehacker.com.
Here are some of the benefits you receive for guest posting on ScottHYoung.com:
- Spreading your ideas. Get your ideas across to a larger audience.
- Publicity. Every guest post has a personal 1-2 sentence introduction from myself and a 50-75 author bio with links to any of your popular articles, products or your website.
- Audience testing. You can show your ideas to an active audience to get a wealth of feedback. Some of my guest authors have received 20+ comments on a single entry.
Guest Posting Guidelines:
- Articles must be between 600-1200 words. Articles shorter than 600 words will be rejected and articles longer than 1200 words will need special permission.
- The content must be your own. You must agree that you hold the copyright to the content and that no information has been copied from another source without proper citations.
- Link appropriately. Overlinking your own articles is discouraged, but linking appropriate references is encouraged if certain facts or statistics are claimed. Any links through affiliate or advertising programs will be removed or modified.
- The article must not have appeared online previously. In addition, you must agree not to publish the article online on any other website (including your own) for at least 6 months. Repetitive content hurts my websites search engine ranking and dilutes that usefulness of content on this site.
- Save the article in a .txt document and e-mail it to me as an attachment. Include URL’s for any links you want included in the article.
I also reserve the right to deny any content which I don’t feel is appropriate for this website. This means content I actively disagree with or doesn’t fit with the themes of ScottHYoung.com.
If you want to send me an article you’ve written, just e-mail me your proposal at howtochangeahabit@gmail.com.
Using/Licensing Content
If you want to reprint an article on this website, I need to know:
- Publication size.
- Name of publication and typical audience.
- Alternative publishings (i.e. if you are distributing a magazine and it also has an online copy)
- Which article you would like to reprint
Except under special circumstances I do not license content for free or for publicity. The time cost of answering e-mails and negotiating terms makes this difficult to do.
Generally rates for licensing content will be anywhere from $20-$50 per article, depending on the article and publication type. Keep in mind that some images associated with the article are not included in this license since I am not the original creator.
Rarely will I be available to do a free guest post on another site. If you want to hire me as a writer, you can look at my freelance writing rates below (subject to periodic changes).
Advertising on this Website
If you are interested in purchasing advertising for ScottHYoung.com, just drop me an e-mail at howtochangeahabit@gmail.com. I can offer rates for both sidebar ads as well as single post text ads.
Hiring Scott as a Writer (for your publication, blog or website)
If you’re interested in hiring me to write articles for your publication, just send me an e-mail at howtochangeahabit@gmail.com. My articles are 900 words and cover the topics of productivity, motivation, improvement and lifehacking. Here are my rates:
Regular Column (specify number of articles per month)
- $50 per article.
Single Article (specify length and/or topic)
- $8 per 100 words (minimum 900 words, 9*8 = $72 for a regular 900 word article)
If you are interested in some other arrangement, collaboration or interview, feel free to drop me an e-mail.
