Here’s what most bloggers do when they want to learn how to write for Huffington Post:
1. Do a Google search for “how to write for huffington post” or something similar
2. After a bit of digging, find the blogger submission form and send in their article
3. Cross their fingers and pray it gets accepted
4. When it goes live (yay!), get an initial high of exhilaration from being published on Huffington Post. Blogger bucket list item checked off!
5. Refresh their blog analytics a zillion times looking for the flood of traffic that’s bound to come their way.
6. After a couple days of little to no new blog traffic, end up feeling deflated and wondering what went wrong.
If that sounds like you or a blogger friend you know, then you’re not alone. This is the story for most bloggers who write for Huffington Post.
Admittedly, it’s pretty cool just to get published on Huffington Post – but “pretty cool” doesn’t grow your blog or put money in the bank.
Want to know a better way for how to write for Huffington Post? (It includes blog traffic, subscribers and even sales if you’re super smart about it).
If so, read on mama, read on.
How To Write For Huffington Post and Get Blog Traffic, Subscribers and Sales
Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of what you should do to make your Huffington Post article rock your blog, let’s make sure to get your article pitch accepted in the first place.
(Already accepted to write for HuffPo? Skip ahead to the traffic tips >>)
Don’t Use Their Blogger Submission Form
When searching for how to write for Huffington Post, your first inclination will probably be to Google something like “write for Huffington Post”.
Pretty straightforward, right?
This will lead you to their contact page, and after some poking around a bit, you’ll find this standard blogger submission form and submit your article:
Don’t do that.
I’ve heard from frustrated blogger after frustrated blogger that this method takes weeks to hear back from, and many never hear back at all.
Do Pitch Arianna Directly
Yes, Arianna Huffington.
Her public email address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com, and this is exactly where you should send your article pitch. I’m pretty sure it’s not actually her at the other end of the line (she’s a pretty busy lady running a media empire and all), but it works nonetheless.
Here are some tips to increase your chances of getting a “yes”:
- Make your pitch personal and friendly (there’s an actual person on the other end of it)
- Clearly outline the benefit that your article will deliver to the Huffington Post readers
- Make it short and sweet – respect the editors’ time and show that you have the skill to craft a great pitch.
- Sign off with a friendly farewell
Even though I know from personal experience that it works, I can’t take credit for this pitch outline. I learned it from guest posting expert, Mary Fernandez, who successfully used it to get her own HuffPo pitch accepted.
The point is, there are no magic words (that I know of!) that will get your article pitch accepted, but if you use this outline as inspiration for your own pitch, then you’ll be well on your way.
Here’s What Happens Next
**IMPORTANT UPDATE: A new Huffington Post blogger platform has just started rolling out at the beginning of May, 2016. If you receive a welcome email to the new platform “Athena”, be sure to read this post for updated instructions. But don’t miss the traffic tips at the end of this post – they still apply and are very important for getting the most out out of your HuffPo article!
After you send in your email pitch, one of two things will happen:
1) You never hear back. If this happens, don’t give up! You know that Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he got the light bulb to work, right? And Arianna herself suggests you dare to fail? If you don’t hear back within 2 weeks, rework your article angle and email pitch and try again.
OR
2) You get an email response from Arianna saying you’re in! It took 8 days for me to hear back after my first pitch, but I’ve seen many others hear back the next day. Here’s what the email will look like:
At this point, it’s completely appropriate to dance the Futterwacken and take a brownie break. You’re in!
A Bit More Waiting
After getting your “Yes”, you don’t get to post right away. For me, this part was hard! Once I saw Arianna’s “yes” email I was ready to roll, but there’s a few more hoops to jump through.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the timeline and what happens before your article goes live:
EMAIL #1: You get an email from the Huffington Post blog editor welcoming you. For me, this happened 4 days after my “yes” email, but this can vary depending on how busy the editors are at the time.
EMAIL #2: You get another email (same day) with a link to set up your blogger profile.
BIO SET UP: When you click the link, you’ll have to set up and submit your profile. Take a close look at the screenshot below to see the appropriate setup. After filling this out and submitting it, you may have to wait a few more days to get the final approval (it took 2 more days for me).
EMAIL # 3: You get another email with your blogger login credentials and a few simple instructions. Now you can start writing!
WRITE YOUR ARTICLE: Once you’ve written your article, you need to submit it for approval (make sure you read my blog traffic tips below BEFORE submitting your article). The final approval may happen that same day, or a few days later.
YOUR ARTICLE GETS PUBLISHED (FINALLY!): You’ll get an email notification with link to your LIVE article.
Tips For Getting Traffic, Subscribers & Sales From Your Article
Now that you know how to write for Huffington Post, I’m going to share some of my best tips for actually getting traffic, subscribers and sales from your efforts.
If you follow the simple flow outlined below, you’ll be able to do just that. Sound good? Let’s go!
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Step #1: Getting Traffic TO Your Huffington Post Article
Even if you write an awesome article that you just know your ideal audience will love, there’s no guarantee that it’ll get traffic. After all, there are hundreds (or more??) of articles published on Huffington Post every day.
Follow these rules for every article you write to increase your chances of getting the best visibility and traffic to your article:
- Grab Their Attention: Give your article an attention-grabbing title. Now is not the time to be boring… make them click!
- Break It Up: To get readers to stick with your article after the title and share it, be sure to make it’s easy on the eyes by including plenty of white space and interesting breaks. This can be done with bullet points, numbered lists, images, blockquotes and limiting the length of your paragraphs to no more than 1-3 sentences each.
- Include a Social Share Image: (this only applies to the old HuffPost blogger platform) – Huffington Post has a library of images you can choose from for free, which will display when people share your article on social media. If you don’t select an image before you send it to the editor, no image will show when people share your image on Facebook or Twitter. This has a direct impact on how much your article gets shared (which means less traffic).
- Include Relevant Tags: Type in at least 5-7 tags related to your article topic and ideal audience. This helps the Huffington Post editors place your article in the right sections on the site, giving it better overall visibility and traffic potential.
- Share Your Article: This should go without saying, but be sure to share your Huffington Post article on social media. Utilize Facebook Groups, Twitter and Instagram hashtags, Pinterest Group Boards and your own social following to get that puppy seen!
Step #2: Getting Traffic FROM Your HuffPo Article TO Your Blog
Now that you’re getting traffic TO your HuffPo article, let’s keep that traffic moving right along to your own blog.
- Include Your Blog Link In Your Main Author Bio: This won’t show up on your article, but if anyone clicks through to your author bio from your article, you’ll want to make sure your blog link is ready to go.
- **IMPORTANT! Manually Add Your Blog Link To Your Article: Many bloggers don’t realize this, but your author bio doesn’t automatically show up in your article anywhere (only shows if someone clicks over to your author page). Since most people have no incentive to click on your author name, they’ll never see your blog link and never visit your blog! You have to manually type another author bio at the bottom of your article. Be sure to include a link to your blog in your new author bio.
- Make Your Author Bios Short & Sweet: Many bloggers write a long paragraph (or more) all about themselves and their blog. But the harsh truth is this: people don’t really care… and they’re busy. Make your author bios are short and sweet (1-2 short sentences max), and be sure it includes what benefit the reader might get if they click through to your blog.
Step #3: Getting That Traffic To Become Blog Subscribers
We’re on a roll! You’re getting traffic to your Huffington Post article and moving them right along to your blog. Now, how do you get that traffic to turn into subscribers?
One simple tip:
Make sure that link to your blog (from Step #2 above) leads to an Opt-In Landing Page. If your new traffic is just sent to your home page, they might poke around a bit and read a few things, but then will most likely leave.
Unless you give them a reason to stick with you.
Be sure you have an opt-in form (with an irresistible freebie offer) front and center on the page you link to from your HuffPo article.
Step #4: Making Money From Your Huffington Post Article
And now for the money, mama!
At this point, you’ve gotten new traffic and subscribers to your blog, so you’ve already made great strides towards growing your blog.
And you can do this every time you write for Huffington Post… or any other blog for that matter!
But is there a way to actually make money writing for Huffington Post? I wouldn’t have brought you this far if there wasn’t 😉
I made $250 from my very first Huffington Post article, and I didn’t even have a product to sell or ads on my site.
Here’s how I did it:
- When someone opted in to my freebie offer (see Step #3 above), they were automatically entered into a follow-up email series where I shared tips and resources.
- Some of those articles and resources had affiliate links where I earned a commission if people purchased anything through my links. (Be sure to be completely transparent when using affiliate marketing).
- I earned $250 in affiliate sales over the course of the next month off of traffic from that ONE Huffington Post article!
This is how I did it, but you can also use an email follow-up series to sell your own products or services and make even more!
Surely there are many different reasons you might want to write for Huffington Post: build authority for your blog, reach a personal goal, check off an item on your blogger bucket list…
But if you want to know how to write for Huffington Post AND get blog traffic, subscribers and sales, then make sure to follow the tips in this post so you don’t waste your time.
Can I ask a favor? If you’ve found this helpful, can you please Pin it or share it on your favorite social media channel? That one 5-second gesture goes a long way to help my blog. Thank you! ❤️
Do you submit the article with the pitch or just pitch your idea?
Hi Ashlee – I’d suggest just the pitch (that’s what I did). I think it’s unnecessary to send them the whole article, since they likely won’t read it anyway until you do the formal submission.
By just sending an effective pitch alone, you’ re respecting their time AND showing them that you’re up to the task of writing effectively.
This is great advice. I also have a question, did you pitch an article you had already written?
All my HuffPost articles have been original, but I know many bloggers use posts that have already been published on their blog. It really depends on your goal with being published!
I’ve been featured 4 times but only one got major traffic because it went up on HuffPo Parents & they posted it on their FB AND Twitter pages. That particular post had links to my blog so I got great referral traffic and some new followers on social media, but the other 3 articles that went up got nada. Nothin. Bupkis.
I definitely love seeing my work published there & it’s great for my “blogging resume” but…yeah. That first published article of mine that got little to no attention was a wake-up call for sure. Great tips!
Great to hear your experience, Allison – and congrats to you for having your article featured on the HuffPo Parents main page!
It’s certainly a great feeling regardless to be published on Huffington Post, but if you can get blog traffic & subscribers from it as well, then you’re using your time in the smartest possible way.
Sounds like you figured that out 😉
Great post! I couldn’t find any share buttons to share with my Twitter and facebook. I look forward to the webinar.
Thanks Heather! I don’t officially launch this blog until Summer so don’t have all the bells & whistles on it yet (I’m writing a few posts pre-launch to build up my email list and promote upcoming webinars). Thanks so much for thinking to share it though – I appreciate that!!
So glad to hear you signed up for the webinar! See you there 🙂
Do you pitch only new story ideas? How about something you wrote on your own blog? Is that acceptable?
Hi Christine – Huffington Post DOES accept articles that have already been published on your own blog 🙂
Linking to an opt in page is genius! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Inez! Glad you found it helpful.
Nice tips Candice! Trying to work out all the kinks in my own blog so far-clarifying my thoughts and honing in on my messages. Would love for you to visit!
Hi Kristina – thanks for stopping by! Are you thinking of writing for Huffington Post? What article topics are you brainstorming? Who is your ideal reader/audience?
What a GREAT article, Candis! I’ve never seen this so explicitly written out like this before with screenshots of the emails and exact instructions on how to submit it. Plus the tip about adding an author bio! This post is seriously so, so good. I’ve been thinking about submitting to HuffPo for a while now, but never had the nerve. Honestly I think it was because the whole process seemed really unnerving and hard? But you have spelled everything out so nicely for me that now I definitely have NO excuses!
Hi Miranda! You just made my day 🙂 SO glad to hear that you’re going for it!
P.S. Loving your blog income reports! It’s really helpful to see everything broken down!
Great tips! I’ve heard this a lot lately. Arianna spoke at a conference I attended a couple years ago and gave her email address out telling everyone to email her directly. I haven’t done it yet but I’m planning to this year at some point!
I’ve only seen Arianna speak on video (TED talks) but she’s fantastic! Very cool that you got to see her live.
As for writing for HuffPo – go or it! Make sure you follow the tips in the article to get traffic + subscribers to your blog from it 🙂
Hi Candis,
Thank you for sharing such a great article on how to become an author for Huffington post. The video explains it all remarkably. The author Bio tip at the end of your post is a very good idea to get more visibility and attract traffic.
Hi Tauqir – So glad you found it helpful! Please come back & share your Huffington Post debut link in the comments when it goes live 🙂
Extreme;y helpful as usual.
I had sent in a whole article, which is probably why I never heard back… I’ll try the pitch next time!
Thanks so much, Kandice! You should definitely try again with a simple pitch of your article idea. With the new Athena blogger platform they’re rolling out, it might even be easier to get accepted. Good luck!
Great advice Candis – no short cuts to success!
Thanks Aziza – true! If you put in a bit of time and effort BEFORE you write your article for HuffPost, it can definitely pay off 🙂
Great article. I put a link to my contact page, but I see your point about directing people to my site. And the short bio is a great idea. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Jacqueline! I recommend linking to a freebie opt-in because, as bloggers, one of our most important goals is to build up our email list. However, you certainly could link to a services or sales page with success as long as your article primed your reader enough for them to take action!
I like the freebie opt-in though because you can always follow up with a relevant email series that leads to a sale 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow! Thanks so much for such a thorough guide! I’m so glad I stumbled on this…writing for HuffPost is definitely on my blogging bucket list.
Emma | http://www.creativexplorations.com
Yay – so happy to help, Emma! Now, go get ’em 🙂
Definitely pinning this and saving it for when I have the perfect pitch. Thanks so much!
Awesome, Christine! Good luck!
This is amazing Candis! Thank you so much for sharing! I’m a blogger and a freelance writer and I never really considered trying to write for the Huffington Post but now after reading this, I’m going to put it on my bucket list. Thanks for the inspiration! I’m also checking out your course too!
That’s so great to hear, Amanda! It could really help boost your authority with your clients as well when they see that “Featured in Huffington Post” logo on your site 🙂 Good luck & please come back & share your link to your HuffPost article if you decide to go for it!
I love all the detail in this post!! This is essentially a mini course here!! Really well done, and thanks for the mention! 🙂
Hi Mary – seeing your smiling face in my comments made me smile! Thanks so much for all of your guidance over the past year – you’re an inspiration!
Really detailed and well thought out suggestions that I will be keeping in mind if I ever get up the gumption to post for HuffPo. I’ve heard tons of bloggers get excited about getting a post accepted and then, nothing. After reading your article, it all makes sense.
Hi Rebecca! Yes, there definitely needs to be a strategy in place if your goal is to get traffic + subscribers to your blog 🙂
This is amazing!! I’ve been hesitant in submitting because I wasn’t sure if it was more than just hype yet I still wanted that check on my Blogger checklist. Now I know that making it worth it and getting that check is possible! Thanks so much for such amazing information. Sharing, Pinning, Saving and all!
Thanks so much, Tiffany! It feels great just to be published there regardless and it helps build your authority, but if you can do it in a way that gets you traffic + subscribers to you blog, then why not?! 😉
Great article, thank you!
So glad you found it helpful, Sharon!
Hi Candis,
I was approved to be a blogger and posted two articles so far. None of them have been approved. No one responds to my emails…any suggestions? This is becoming a little discouraging.
I’ve had an article denied before too, so I know it can be super frustrating! When it happened to me, I re-worked it a bit to try and make it a “no-brainer” for them to publish in one of their sections, and it went through.
I’d recommend writing an article that’s a “perfect fit” for one of their sections and seeing how that does.
Another thing you can try is re-pitching Arianna from scratch so you get access to the new blogger platform. Once you get the initial approval then you can publish anytime & don’t have to get each article approved. Here’s more info on that if you’re interested: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/new-huffington-post-blogger-platform-athena/
Good luck!
Thank you…I already recieved an email from Arianna. After reading your this thread some more I see that my problem lies in the new beta platform being used. I thought soneone was going to approve my articles but they’re automatically approved.
Oh good! Glad to hear you’re now officially published on HuffPost 🙂 Congrats Rockell!
I just finished hit publish on my first post… which is fun.
Except that I cannot upload images, and in my bio I cannot add hyperlinks to my social/websites.
Wondering if this is a common problem for new contributors, or if it’s a browser issue?
Appreciate all this helpful info!!
Hi Malinda – Sorry you’re having problems 🙁 . I’ve never experienced that before! It may be a browser issue (don’t those always seem to get in the way? Arrghh.).
If you figure out the problem, please come back & share how you fixed it (and if anyone else reading this knows the solution – please share!).
On the bright side – congrats on being published!!
Hi Candis it is really hard to use New Platform and there are less chances of getting featured and promoted in categories by editors. I signed up using Athena, i have stopped posting on it this sounds to me lolly pop. I am looking for Old platform where at least an editor will ping me for my article using Old platform i am disappointed to get no response like, when it is immediately published on new platform no editors and nothing until i talk on HOT Trends.
I just got that ‘yes’ email from Arianna and am so excited. So, it is good to see this so early in my journey to blogging for them.
Thank you! Great tips.
Am Actually Interested In Publishing My Article On The Huffinghton Post. I Have Good Articles Like” Funny Things About Life” Published On Friendsofthecommunity.Blogspot.Com And ” Neomarxism: Altering The Fundamental Fact In Human History” Etc Published On http://www.Kunlemicrofinance.Blogspot.Com . They Are Not Less 5, 000 Essays Not Yet Published But Sometimes, They Are Often,more Than A Thousand Words . Will H.P. Accept Them? One And Then Two , How Do I Get The Email Of Arianna Huffington So That I Can Pitch My Blog And My Essays Published
thank you.this is so helpful article for huffington post.
Hey Candis,
this guide is extremely helpful! Thank you for putting so much effort in addressing basically every angle of guest blogging 🙂
I’ll be sharing it shortly.
Cheers,
N.
Hi Candis,
The arianna@huffingtonpost.com email address is no longer valid. Any updates?
Thank you so much!
Hi Leslee – Huffington Post shut down their blogger platform some time ago. As far as I know, this option is no longer available.
Exactly. So, no further tips? Thank you.
This is a post I wrote from 2016 and I had leveraged the Huffington Post blogger platform quite a few times. It was great while it lasted! I don’t have any other Huffington Post specific tips, but guest blogging in general is still a great way to get exposure and build your credibility. Best of luck to you, Leslee!