Become A Contributor for Forbes (And 8 Other Authority Sites)

At some point in your professional life, you've probably wondered how to become a contributor for Forbes Magazine.

Or maybe Inc, Fast Company, or even Entrepreneur.

It's powerful exposure and authority positioning.  Every time I write for Entrepreneur, I get 100+ new Twitter followers.

It also gives you other places to share your message.   I can rank in Google for almost any 3-5 word term with my account at Huffington Post.

You also get free traffic and valuable backlinks from these very, very powerful authority sites that your competitors can't get.

Unfortunately, contributing to highly respected publications isn’t always easy.

Each publication has their own requirements and preferences with regards to the content they promote. It can seem almost like a maze you have to navigate with no map.

Any entrepreneur that wants to get their work published needs to learn the necessary steps.

Read below to learn how to get featured on 9 different sites (you can also download my whole list of over 100 places here).

1. Become a Contributor For Forbes

The content found on Forbes most often includes lifestyle, personal finance, stock market, technology and business pieces.

Yet, they will allow guest posts within their opinion section on any topic related to culture, arts, politics or public policy.

Once you become a contributor, you too can write about any type of business topics. One trick to get more shares is to give it a celebrity spin.

To Contribute:

Option 1: Check out their “Submitting an Article to Forbes Opinion” page.

Submit your completed article of any length to opinion@forbes.com

The content must be original and exclusive to Forbes. They will reject any content already published on other sites or in print.

They typically take around five business days to review articles. If five business days have passed without word from Forbes, you can safely assume they aren’t interested and publish your piece elsewhere. They discourage follow-up emails.

Option 2: If you want to become a regular contributor to Forbes, fill out this Google Form.

This form will ask for links to your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, a few story ideas and your concept page for Forbes, links to work samples and why you believe you are qualified to write on the subject in question.

2. Write For Entrepreneur

This site is mostly geared towards new business owners just starting out or those who are growing an established business. The idea is to create “actionable information and practical inspiration for business owners.”

This article of mine was shared by Brian Tracy and 9700 other people. It still gets retweets and shares every single week.

To Contribute:

Read their “Become an Entrepreneur Contributor” page, and then fill out the form.

This form will ask for basic information along with request links to your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, ask about story ideas or themes you would like to write about and why you consider yourself an expert in the topic, along with links to work samples.

If videos are more your thing, you can become part of Entrepreneur’s expanding video network. Learn more here.

3. Contribute to Inc

The online publication Inc.com publishes mostly information pertaining to small business growth. These topics include pieces on small business services, tools and advice.

Jack's first article for Inc spoke directly to one of our target audiences…speakers. We are able to leverage this to bring in more high quality leads.

The online publication Inc.com publishes mostly information pertaining to small business growth. These topics include pieces on small business services, tools and advice.

To contribute to Inc.com, pitch your story idea first (link below). Also, it’s advisable to keep email pitches as pitchy as possible. Make them straightforward and simple.

To Contribute:

Pitch your story idea at pitches@inc.com
Become a regular columnist by submitting your request to contributors@inc.com

BONUS DOWNLOAD

Get every step-by-step guide on this page plus over 100 more as a handy PDF you can print out or save on your computer. Instantly download it here.

4. Blog for the Huffington Post

While joining the ranks of Huffington Post bloggers isn’t the easiest task, it is doable.

I know from experience…

This article lead to my appearance on the Howard Stern Show which has 6-8 million listeners. Not bad exposure at all.

For many writers, the ultimate guest-posting goal is a mainstream authority publication such as The Huffington Post. It’s not easy to become published on this site, but in my experience it’s certainly worth the effort.

The SEO power on this site is INSANE.   Your article will rank for just about any 3-5 word term within hours of going live.

To Contribute:

Model your post after the style of one of the bloggers in the targeted section. Sent a short pitch, emphasizing the most interesting aspects of your idea

Submit your pitch idea using this Google Form. 

5. Be A Business Insider Contributor

This site is a technology, celebrity and American business website. Most of its contributors are experts in one or more of the topics they cover.

Interesting profile pieces do really well here. If you have a compelling personal story, this may be the place for you.

To Contribute:

Read their “How to Contribute to Business Insider” page.

Send in the final draft of your completed piece to contributors@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include links to other pieces of content you have published, a brief bio and a headline with your content.

Although they can’t ensure publication, their team will review your proposal and get back to you if interested.

6. Contribute to Fast Company

If you are interested in business, technology and design, Fast Company might be the perfect fit.

They publish topics like innovation, strategy, career development, creativity and productivity. They love articles that promote conversation and present new ideas to readers.

It is better to think in the style of op-ed instead of marketing pieces when writing pieces for Fast Company.

Fast Company representatives say the following about the type of content they prefer on their site:

“We appreciate lively, polished writing that balances research or news with fun and memorable anecdotes or examples that help illustrate your point of view.”

To Contribute:

Read over the Guidelines for Submission page.

When ready, send completed article to Leadership Editor Rich Bellis at rbellis@fastcompany.com.

In general, articles are around 1,000 words or less.

Unlike other sites, you can reprint your content once it’s published on Fast Company.

They only ask for you to wait 24 hours after they post the article before you do so. They also prefer you link back to their site when you post your work elsewhere. They will take articles already on other websites on occasion, but they like new content.

The review process typically takes around a week. If they are interested in your article, they will likely communicate with you in a few days. They will not respond to all inquires, and they are open to one follow up email. Yet, if you don’t hear anything from them after this, you can assume that your work wasn’t a good fit for their site.

Fast Company’s print magazine contains content written by their staff or other professional journalists. Your contributed article will run on their online site only.

Now, a word of warning…

Your chances of being accepted at those places is very low if you don't have a portfolio of your work.

I recommend you start with these sites first, because you don't have to be approved.  You can just create an account and start submitting.

7. LinkedIn Pulse

This is the easiest one of them all. From your LinkedIn profile, you just click the “Publish a Post” button.

Then, you just add your content, an image and choose 3 tags.

A big benefit of posting here is that it can get a decent number of views, even if you're not v