Just when you think you’re ready to pitch an article idea after researching how to write for Huffington Post, you keep hearing about this new Huffington Post blogger platform called Athena.
Geez Louise – does the internet EVER stop moving?! Nope. Nope it doesn’t.
But have no fear! Here’s everything you need to know about getting your article published – and seen – on the new Huffington Post blogger platform.
New Huffington Post Blogger Platform – Athena
Thankfully, the process I recommend for pitching your article hasn’t changed: simply email your idea directly to Arianna at arianna@huffingtonpost.com. You should hear back sometime within the next 2 weeks with 3 separate emails:
1) An acceptance email from Arianna
2) A welcome email from Madeline, the blog editor (this might come a few days after email #1)
3) An email giving you access to login and start publishing (this should come the same time as email #2)
Aaand… here’s where everything changes from the way things used to work before the switch to the new “beta” blogger platform.
There are pros and cons to “Athena”, which I’ll outline below. But for now, here’s what you can expect when publishing on the new Huffington Post blogger platform:
Set Up Your Profile
After logging in for the first time, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can fill out your profile.
Here’s the breakdown:
1. Profile Picture – Upload a picture that’s consistent with your brand and matches your other online profiles (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
2. Name – Self explanatory 😉
3. Title – This will show up next to your name when your article is published. Keep it short and descriptive (takes the place of the “Micro Bio” on the old blogger platform)
4. Social Profiles – If you add your Facebook and Twitter profiles, little social icons will show up next to your name at the top of your article that link to your profiles on those platforms.
5. Full Bio – Here’s where you get a chance to expand about yourself a bit more and include a link to your blog. Currently, this doesn’t show up anywhere when your article goes live, but my guess is that it will. Athena is still in “beta”, only being active for about a week now, so they’re still working out the details. Most likely this Full Bio will show up when someone clicks your name (which is how it worked with the old platform).
Once you have that all dialed in, click the “Save” button at the top and you’ll be able to start writing immediately!
5 Tips For Getting Your HuffPost Article Seen
While the new Huffington Post blogging platform comes with advantages, like making it easier to get published and a more user-friendly interface, it also comes with new challenges.
In the FAQ section of the new Athena blogger dashboard, it says:
“If your post has been promoted it will reach a much wider audience. You may see it on the Contributors page, on relevant section pages (such as Politics, Entertainment, etc.), or on the front page of the site itself. You also may see it shared on HuffPost social media channels.”
This is where you want your post to be.
But it’s now harder to get your articles seen on the site, since they’re not automatically placed in a HuffPost section (eg. HuffPost Parents) like they were before the change.
Huffington Post isn’t clear on which posts they choose to feature or why, but here are some tips to increase your chances of getting your article seen once it’s published:
1. Be strategic about what you write in the first place: Research which Huffington Post sections you’d like to be featured in and write a post for that audience. Spend some time reading titles and articles of the posts that are featured in that section to get a feel for what the editors like.
2. Back up your stats and opinions: Where appropriate, link to other popular HuffPo articles and authoritative sites to reinforce facts and opinions in your article. This shows the editors you’re serious.
3. Format your post to be easily scanned: People don’t read articles anymore; they scan. Make your article scannable by writing shorter paragraphs, using line breaks, and adding bullet-points and numbered lists. This makes your article more shareable, which in turn makes it more attractive to the HuffPo editors.
4. Include images: This is a continuation from the point above, as it also aids in the scannability of your post. Include at least 2-3 images in your post for best results.
5. Add Tags: I briefly mentioned this point above, but it bears repeating. Use tags strategically to help the editors see your article and place it in a featured section.
Of course, you should also share your article with your own audience via email and social media to get the ball rolling once it’s published.
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Writing Your Huffington Post Article
To start writing, just click on the “New Post” button in the top left corner and start writing.
There are options to add text, images, videos and social media profiles.
On the right of the post editor, you’ll notice a box called “Tags”. Don’t ignore this!
Use several tags (5-7 minimum) to describe the topic of your article as well as your ideal reader/audience. This will help the Huffington Post editors place your article in the right section (if it gets chosen to be featured).
You can preview how your article will look by clicking those little mobile and desktop icons above your post (see image above).
Once you’re happy with the way it all looks and sounds, press “Publish”.
Congratulations – your article is now live on Huffington Post!
What Comes Next
Oh, you thought that was it?
It certainly can be it if you want – after all, just getting on Huffington Post is a great accomplishment for a blogger.
But what if you want people to actually see your article?
And what about getting paid? Is that even possible when writing for HuffPost? Yes, but not in the way you think.
HuffPost doesn’t pay its bloggers, and unless you’re on staff there you won’t get a dime… from them. But you can still get paid, even if you don’t have anything to sell.
But for that, you need to be strategic.
Writing for Huffington Post is a great blogging goal and accomplishment, so just getting there feels awesome.
But if you want to elevate your Huffington Post experience to make money from your articles, then the next step is to create a sales and email funnel (it’s actually a lot easier than you think!) and link to it from your blog and HuffPost article.
>>> Here’s a free online video training about how to set up a funnel and use it to create income (about an hour long).
I hope this article helped prepare you to publish your first article on HuffPost! If it did, I’d be so grateful if you shared it on your favorite social media. ❤️
Hi dear, I just read your post and it is pretty awesome. I also recently got an account for the platform but I am facing problems to insert any text. There isn’t any issue with the images, social links and video function, only the text one! Every time I click on it, it only makes another line into the blank sheet but doesn’t let me type in anything. Did you have the same issues?
http://www.confashiontime.com
Hi there! I haven’t run into this issue yet, but I’m going to publish a new post on there this morning and I’ll report back to let you know how it goes 🙂
UPDATE: I was able to work with all the modules okay, even text. It was a little glitchy (took me clicking on it a couple times to work), but it eventually came around. I’d give it another try – good luck!
I am experiencing the same issue. I am using Chrome but I still can’t add any text into it and no one is replying to my emails. Was anyone able to fix the issue themselves?
Hi there Em – Try just hovering over the purple line below the title. That should make the 4 module options appear (text, image, social, video) and you can just click on the text module to start writing. If it’s stuck (which has happened to me before), try to log out & log back in. That did the trick for me!
Hello, Candis
Thank you, for your helpful piece. I published my first post on Huffington and was fortunate, in one week, for it to be liked by nearly 500 folks on Facebook: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/588bb39ee4b06364bb1e2586?timestamp=1486353650162
However my piece has not been “promoted” by them yet, and I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that I did not include any tags, and can’t figure out how to do so. Would really appreciate if you might help out with tags, in the hopes that editors might feature this piece (on what it means to be an immigrant & Muslim).
Much appreciated, Yahia
It could be you are not using Google chrome. I ran I to that same issue.
Thanks for the tip, Ruben!
Candis, I’m curious to know the difference between Athena and Contributor platforms? Im happy to be able to get accepted to HuffPo ‘s contributor platform and now just learned about Athena platform, so I’m curious between the 2. Also for some odd reas, I can’t find any if my stories yet under the contributor platform. I think it’s b/c it’s so new and HuffPo is still working in some technical bugs & kinks? Are you able to find any of your stories via Google search on the new Athena platform?
I am having the same problem!
I’m also having the same issue. Not able to type anything but can add images, video, links etc. Sooooo annoying!!!
I am on the latest version of Google Chrome too as I know this is important.
Even my IT manager husband doesn’t know why it’s doing it!
Any ideas or who I can contact for help?!
I have the exact same problem! I’m going crazy trying to figure it out and HuffPost has stopped answering me. They just said that I should use Chrome (which I do)… Did you manage to solve it somehow?
On the “line” are Sybil’s for: photo, text( like a bunch of lines) *** hit that, then paste.
Candis,
This is amazing! I’ve been trying to get info on this Athena platform (which I am currently using). I love the immediacy of the publishing as opposed to the former “Backstage” area and it’s a lot easier, but there is no bio and my posts are completely unsearchable. Also, my posts are published on a page “HuffPost Contributors” that 404s when you click on it (it should get you to HuffPo home page I think?). Have you had any questions or experience with this?
Thanks so much for this post — very informative.
AK
Hi AK – Yes, this is really the biggest difference so far between the old blogger platform & the new Athena platform. Posts are published immediately (no need for approval each time you post), BUT they’re not automatically placed into a featured HuffPost section. This makes it extremely important to do 2 things to get the most possible exposure when you post on the new platform:
1. Prepare your article as best you can to be selected to be featured in one of the HuffPost sections. This means paying special attention to your article title, type of article you write, formatting of your article, and using proper tags before your publish.
AND
2. Promote your article yourself after it goes live. This can include sharing in relevant FB groups, on your social media channels, to your email list, on Instagram + Twitter with relevant hashtags, etc.
I go over all of that in much more detail in my course (here: https://smartmomblogger.com/huffpost), but that’s the gist of it!
Good luck 🙂
How do you know if you are on the Athena platform? My email says to go here https://blogger.huffingtonpost.com/ to sign up?
Hi there mama 🙂
That’s the sign up link for the older blogger platform, which in all honesty, I like better! I’m on both and the old one definitely has it’s advantages (like placing your article into a HuffPost section automatically – which means better exposure).
Have you filled out your author bio/profile yet? If not, do that asap – even if you don’t plan to write for them right away! That way at least you’ll have access to submit an article when you’re ready (it takes a few days after you fill out your author profile to actually get access to submit a post).
Here’s more details on the old blogger platform: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/how-to-write-for-huffington-post/
Good luck, Elna!
Hi! I just received my invitation for Athena but I have the same issue with text. Does anybody know how to solve it?
Thanks,
Max
For anyone having trouble adding text, watch this short video I made to see if it helps: https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cD12bmiF24
Hi! How do I add a thumbnail to a post I have made? I just have the default Huff Post one, and it looks rather unprofessional. Thanks!
Hi there Julian,
If you’re using Athena (the new blogger platform), then the first image in your post will be used as the thumbnail + social share image. If you don’t have any images in your post, then you’ll see that default geometric greenish one.
If you’re using the older blogger platform, then you need to choose an image from their library (see this post for more details: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/how-to-write-for-huffington-post/). If you’ve already published, however, I don’t think the editors will allow you to change it for that reason alone. (On the new platform you can make changes to your article anytime).
Hope that helps!
Thank you for your help! Do you also know how to change your username on Athena (if possible). Mine has numbers in it currently and I would like to change it, but the box is grayed out.
Mine does the same thing, it looks like I’m an amateur.
Hi,
Can anyone tell me how to add a slideshow? I emailed Huff Po support, and they said you can add slideshow but I don’t see an option, as to how. Please help
Hi Karim,
Are you using Athena or the older blogging platform?
If the older one, you can just add the html embed code into the text editor area.
On the newer one (Athena), there’s not a way to do it as far as I can see. You may want to try using the “add image” module option and uploading your slideshow that way to see if it works.
Good luck!
I have recently started blogging on the Athena Beta Platform. I have several people who have asked me how they can “Follow” me so that they get a notice (like an email) when I post a new blog. Is there a way to do that?
I did check the FAQs and it mentioned a “Follow” button but I can’t find it.
Can you help me out?
Hi there Artie – I don’t think they have a follow option on HuffPost itself (that I know of), but if you fill in your Twitter & Facebook links in your profile then readers can follow you there. I also recommend manuall adding an author bio at the end of your article with a link back to your blog/website so readers can easily find you if they need to.
Great article
I have to say that new platform is really bad. It allows you to supposedly publish instantly but as you have pointed out that your articles are not even searchable through Google.
The exclusivity of Huffington post is all gone
Anyway to get them indexed. I have tried sending alot of traffic too. but no difference
Any advice
Hi Tahir – with the new platform, it’s more important than ever to do research + prep work ahead of time to ensure you’re writing an article that “fits” easily into one of the HuffPost sections. If you can get there then your article will get much more exposure.
If you haven’t already, I recommend reading my other post that goes into a bit more detail on how to prep your article and “build it” into something that drives traffic to your blog/website: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/how-to-write-for-huffington-post/
I also have a detailed course ($37) that goes into each element in detail: https://smartmomblogger.com/huffpost
Best of luck to you!
Hi and thanks for all your help! Are some bloggers still able to use the old platform and use the new as well?
I published and article which I can’t find anywhere on the new one 3 days ago, yet when I look on my phone it is under my blogs; when I try to google it, it is not there. Needless to say not too happy.
How can people find it?
Thats what exactly my point is.
Contribution to Huffington Post become practically useless, as the only way people can know about your post is through you. The whole concept of publishing work on huff post is get your opinion heard by others. By not indexing article in search engine ,Huff post not helping the writers. I emailed huff post blog team yesterday. They didnt answer precisely why they have stopped indexing articles from search engine. Replied this
“Please see our Athena FAQ on Promoted Posts on Huffington Post and our Athena Terms for tips on how to publicize your posts”
Question is when articles will be indexed in search engine.? I have been submitting articles last 2 weeks , You cant find nothing in search engine. I would recmonned you please raise your conern with them and bring this in their knowldege.Here is email.blogteam@huffingtonpost.com
Update back if you hear anything from them.
Hi again Tahir – it’s true that it’s now more challenging to be “seen” on HuffPost, but that’s because they have become more selective with the articles that they choose to feature.
It’s still absolutely possible to be featured on the site & get attention & exposure, but it’s important to do research ahead of time on the types of articles that do well on the site and try to model your article around that.
Good luck!
Hi Isa! Here’s from the FAQ section of the new Athena blogger platform:
“If your post has been promoted it will reach a much wider audience. You may see it on the Contributors page, on relevant section pages (such as Politics, Entertainment, etc.), or on the front page of the site itself. You also may see it shared on HuffPost social media channels.”
So in order to get “seen” on HuffPost your article will have to be chosen to be featured in one of their sections. My advice is to research the section(s) you’d like to be featured in and take notes on the types of articles that are being chosen, as well as the titles (titles are HUGELY important on whether or not you’ll be selected). Also, be sure to use a minimum of 5-7 relevant tags in your post that will help editors find your article & place it appropriately.
Good luck!
Hi there so I just published my first piece but I’m not sure how to get it noticed by editors!
Hi Sara – congrats on getting published! I’d recommend reading through some of my responses to the comments above – there are several suggestions on how to get noticed 🙂
No guarantees, but this advice should help your chances – good luck!
Hi there,
Great article and questions in the comments section-
I’m also having troubles typing the text. Everything else works, the little sidebar drops down etc like in your video but the type option just isn’t there. I’m seriously going crazy because I want my content up! Who can I email from HuffPost?
And yes, I’ve logged off and back on, done it all.
Actually, is it because I’m not using Google Chrome? Could that be the resolution? I’m on Macbook Air, i’ve never really needed Chrome…
Sorry you’re having issues Adriana 🙁 – Another commenter said you do have to use Google Chrome for it to work properly. I haven’t tried using any other browsers so I can’t say for sure. Definitely worth a try!
You should consider a simple option of drafting your article out in Microsoft Word.
Then, copy-pasting it into the text area paragraph by paragraph.
This is what I’ve been doing, I publish faster, and make fewer mistakes.
Best.
I have my latest HuffPost Blog as a post on Facebook. I want to Boost the post but the image that shows up has too much text. I have about 5 photos within the Blog. Is there a way to pick which photo (without text) I can have show up on Facebook?
Hi Artie – on the new Athena platform, it uses the first image in your post as the social share image. On the older blogger platform, you have to choose a photo from their library before you submit it.
Hey there. Yes, this new BETA version is a challenge. I’m finding that my titles are not showing up as I type them but then appear in the preview (?) Also, when I click to edit a draft, nothing happens. I’ve been featured several times on The Huffington and I just published my first Athena blog so we shall see. I’ll try using chrome next time because not being able to edit my drafts or see my title in the draft stage is quite frustrating! Good luck everyone!
I’ve heard from several bloggers that Athena is glitchy, though I’ve not experienced that myself. I use Chrome, and several commenters here say that’s the best way to go to avoid the technical issues. Good luck!
I’m not a fan of this new “Contributor Platform.” It may be convenient to directly publish, but now there is no editorial oversight. Just a cursory glance at the firestorm following the Hillary Clinton racketeering article published via the platform demonstrates why this is bad for everyone.
Unless your article is selected to be featured, it will never be found by search engines. Non-featured articles are completely orphaned from the rest of the site and not indexed in Google. The Huffington Post justified not paying their writers by saying they instead offered exposure. Now there’s no pay, no exposure, and no SEO value. The Huffington Post is turning into Medium – if it continues, “Huffington Post” on a writer’s resume will be equally as worthless.
Hi Frank – I definitely see your point! However, if your article IS featured on one of their section pages, it can be fantastic exposure for your blog/website. I’ve had a few articles featured which resulted in email subscribers & sales to my blog. Of course, getting your content featured is the challenge, but definitely possible if you’re strategic.
You’ll have to of course make the judgement call on whether or not it’s worth it for your own situation. Thanks for sharing your point of view.
Hi Frank,
Actually Medium posts can be great for getting traffic to your site and ARE indexed by Google. So I would say it’s much worse.
That was so helpful. Thank you so much!! I’m on old and new and have been having tins of problems with the new Athena.
Tale of Two articles: one that I published on Athena last night and one that was published this morning by Huffington Post 50. As per the comments, my article (orig publishing platform) came right up in a Google search with only a few search words under top stories. I searched the entire title of my Athena published post and it’s floating around somewhere in the vast unknown. Needless to say, this makes me nervous. I feel like I worked to establish the “look” that I get from an editor or two. Does anyone know if/when we will have to move over?
Yes, it seems like articles published on the new Athena platform aren’t indexed by Google (though maybe they will be eventually??). No word yet on if/when they’ll make everyone on the older platform move over to the new one.
Thank you so much for these tips! I had already gotten a login before reading this article, but I used your tips (linking to studies, adding good tags) and a HuffPost editor picked it up! I was on the Women and Parents section!
Awesome Tiffany – congrats! I’d love to read it – please come back & share the link 🙂
I am having the same text problem. I see the purple lines, hover over them and click text and nothing happens. I just seem to get another purple line. I have tried logging in and out, I have tried it on Google Chrome, Explorer, and Firefox and just cannot enter any text. Images and Social are all ok but no text. I watched your screencast and noticed that when you hit text, you had a text bar come up. I do not get this happening.
Do you have any other suggestions to fix this problem?
Yikes, sorry to hear that Nicole! I know they’re ironing out glitches and making improvements daily… have you tried again recently?
Hi Cndis and thank you so much fro your publications, i actually got your course of how to get publish in Huff Post, i have a question because i am not technical at all, how in the space of my bio, in the new Athena platform i can put the link to my blog or website as an html form? or should i just post my link like: http://www.blablabla.com? could you help me please ?
Hi Monica! Here’s how to make sure your link is clickable in your bio area:
Also, feel free to email me anytime at hi@smartmomblogger.com if you have any other questions about the course 🙂 – The final lesson + bonuses will be available on Monday!
Hey there!
Thanks so much for the info as I am an overwhelmed newbie!
My question is, how do you know if your article is promoted/featured?
Also, I posted yesterday and it was published immediately. Then I returned today and it said updated but I hadn’t touched it. I noticed editing had been done to post adding bolder quotes from it and even a clickable link.
Do they edit all posts? Is this indicative of them using it as a feature in any way?
Thanks!
Hi there Shelby! This is a first for me – I’ve not heard of this happening before, so it just might mean they’ll be featuring it! I can’t think of any other way your article would have had changes made to it if you didn’t do it.
I’ve never been notified when my articles have been featured, and with the amount of content they deal with on a daily basis, I doubt they’ll notify you. BUT, if it’s featured you’ll no doubt notice a big increase in FB likes on your article page, as well as an increase in traffic to your blog (IF you’ve included a strategic link back to your blog within the article somewhere). They’ll also likely share it on their social channels, so keep an eye out!
Congrats on being published & please do feel free to come back & leave a link to your article here in the comments. I’d love to read it 🙂
Thank you so much for the info! So helpful. Here’s a link to the post! https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5772988fe4b06721d4c13328
Yes! Looks like it’s been featured somewhere in the “Voices” section (includes sub-sections such as Parents, Moms, Pregnancy and others, which your article would fit right into). You can tell because of the green line under the “Voices” section at the top of the page, which wouldn’t be there if it weren’t featured somewhere in that overall section.
It also has a high number of social shares & Facebook likes, which is very unlikely unless it’s been featured (most articles get only a handful of these, if any).
HUGE congrats Shelby!
Dear Candice is there a way to see how my post will look in the huff post before i publish it?
Yes 🙂 – You can preview how your article will look by clicking those little mobile and desktop icons above your post (see image above).
Hey, just wondering if you had any more advice on how to get featured. I find it a huge risk trading off between writing something for HuffPost that may get featured, versus pitching it elsewhere. I now have a few pieces that have been shared to my social media via the HuffPost platform, but not directly featured by them, and I’m unclear whether I can repitch them elsewhere or whether editing them and republishing them with HuffPost could help it get featured.
Here is my author page: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/tejus-parikh
Yes, you’ll definitely want to weigh the pros & cons and place your time & effort where you think you’ll get the best return. If your article IS featured though, it can offer a huge boost to your blog (assuming you’ve been strategic with link placement, article topic, and opt-in offer). I have more info on this in my other article here: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/how-to-write-for-huffington-post/ as well as my course here: https://www.smartmomblogger.com/huffpost/
Good luck!
I think one of the most interesting elements I’ve come across is that you can actually “unpublish” a post. I’m not sure if this means it will be permanently unpublished but I supposed if you have a post that didn’t garner much attention, you can “unpublish” it, edit, and then even publish it again.
I also see there is an option to “republish”. I wonder about the problems of duplication if writers start republishing work they’ve already put out there.
Where I was used to being featured on a regular basis before, I can see how it’s more difficult now to both be seen and exposed unless you are featured in the spotlight.
Candis – great post. It’s very informative and well written.
I have an invite to create an account and start publishing via Athena. It sounds like the old platform is still up and running, and many people use both to submit their posts. Would I still need an invite to the old platform to create an account and submit something or can I just do it? If so, how? Can I email the blog team and ask for access, in addition to Athena?
Also, the process for how editors select articles via the old platform hasn’t changed, correct? It’s vetted and doesn’t immediately publish like Athena, but if it does get posted it’s usually in the right section (energy for me) and/or the Contributors page. Is this correct?
Thanks!
Hi Nick – yes, that’s correct. On the old platform, articles are held for moderation and only published once they’ve been reviewed and approved by an editor. To my knowledge, there’s no way to gain access to the old platform anymore… all writers pitching articles now are given access to the new Athena Huffington Post platform.
Hi there, I love your articles and it REALLY helped me to actually publish my article on Huffpost 🙂
One quick question: I’m experiencing a huge problem on Athena. Every time I try to login it just takes me to a page with “Server not found”. Have you heard of this issue before? Any thought would be appreciated.
Shunya
Congrats on being published, Shunya! I’ve not heard of that issue before, but it sounds like it may be a temporary issue with their server. I’d check back again later & it should be fine!
Hi there, Thanks for blogging about Athena since there are definitely some technical issues in the beta version. Using Google Chrome too. Appreciate the bio hyperlinking coding answer above. Any idea about any of these questions?
1. The bio line spacing between paragraphs doesn’t seem to work and it ends up as one long paragraph. Any insight?
2. The bio font is different from others I’ve seen. Can it be changed?
3. There is no way to follow or contact, as we’ve noticed that other contributors have this But our header only has a Twitter account and Facebook account. And no “get updates” button.
Thank you!
Hi Betty! Here are the answers to your questions:
1. Try using a
html tag in between sentences to add spacing
2. Can’t change font as far as I know
3. No, there’s no way to “follow” a blogger on the platform, as far as I know. That’s one of the reasons it’s so important to link back to your blog/website in your author bio at the bottom of your post 🙂
Good luck!
The suggestion to add HTML tags for getting correct profile paragraph spacing does not work. I tried using for each paragraph or between paragraphs, but the profile remained a run-on single paragraph. I used Chrome as my browser for the editing. Any other ideas?
Hi! Do you still blog on the old platform? I have a feeling I am going to want to do that instead of the new platform. I have access to both. Thanks!
Hi Melissa! Yes, I blog on the old platform still since I have access and it doesn’t come with as many obstacles as Athena. I have published on the new platform as well, but prefer the older one.
I have a feeling (though I have no real way of knowing for sure) that they’ll eventually push all of the contributors to the new platform.
Hi Candis, I love your blog and your tips! I’m new on the HuffPo Athena and can’t seem to get anywone to help!
1. Can you please advise how I can view all of my stories when I log onto my page? I’ve been writing for the new platform since 4/28/16. When I log in, I can see all the way up to my story that was published on May 27th only. However, I’m not able to see my first story was published on April 28th. When I log in, I’d like to be able to see all of my stories, and hope you can advise how?
2. How can I and my readers to see all of my stories when they go to my author age? When I’m on my author page, the last story I see when I click on “load more” is the one that was published on May 4th, BUT it doesn’t show all of my stories that I started since April 28th. Do you know how I can see all of my posts that I did since April 28th when I’m on my author page?
Hi Bev – I haven’t come across this issue but I know they’re still working out a lot of the kinks on the new platform. I’d suggest emailing their blog team to let them know. Good luck!
Hi Candis,
Thank you for posting this article. I was able to get most of my questions by just reading this post. As a brand new Blogger ( just one post published in new platform) i had so many questions.
But I still have one more question. My post was under ‘The Blog’ category. But now it is under ‘Contributor’. I am not sure what does that mean. The post was instantly published like this:
The Blog
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ( Headline)
But now it appears like this:
Contributor
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ( Headline)
I would appreciate if you could answer this question.
Hmm, not sure why that happened. Might have something to do with the fact that they are still making changes and improvements in the new Athena platform. I’ve noticed several changes over the last few months.
I have published 2 blogposts on the new Athena platform, but neither of them appears when I use the search function on the HuffPo main page. The URLs that are supplied through Athena work, but aside from that there doesn’t seem to be any way to know that these posts exist, to find them through the search engine or that I even have anything on HuffPo since January of 2016. Any suggestions?
Any idea on when to give up hope that an article will be promoted on the new Athena system? I am guessing if it is not promoted within 3 to 5 days, that it probably will not be promoted. Have you seen any promotions longer than that?
Thanks!
Not sure my previous comment went through about our use of the old system vs the new one. Candis, I did want to thank you for the informative article and inspiration. We have been using the older system for a while and have had great success with that.
On the new Athena system, not so much, so far. I am hoping we can continue to use the old system for a while longer, but I think I may get your training on how to get promoted on Huff in the new system.
Thanks!
Not true. Sometimes it can be promoted much later. I published a blog post with huffpost in June that was promoted in August. I found out when HuffPost Parents followed me on Twitter and tweeted my article, as well as shared it on HuffPost Parents’ Facebook Page.
Hi there Michal. As far as I know, unless your article gets featured in one of the Huffington Post sections, articles published through Athena are not indexed by Google or searchable on Huffington Post.
Thanks for writing such an informative post, Candis!
I was wondering if you or any of your readers upload Huff Post blogposts via an iPhone rather than/along with a desktop?
Can ‘Chrome’ be used on an iPhone too?
I received my Huff Post login deets last week and want to be able to login & post using my iPhone.
Many thanks!
Amelia
Candis– thanks for a great post and website. I was on the old platform and created an account on the new one– with the same email address and info. But the two profiles are syncing. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance. 🙂
Hi Candis,
Just a little confused. Do we send just the idea or the complete article to Arianna at arianna@huffingtonpost.com?
Thanks SO MUCH for writing this!!! I’m on the new ‘Contributor’ platform and noticed that nothing has been picked up by google, and worse, when you click on my article it says “This post is hosted on the Huffington Post’s Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.”
Does everyone have this issue?
I have exactly the same issue. I can send a link to my list for a “page” where my videoblog appears, but that is the only way anyone can find it. It is not searchable in any way, and my archive has stopped at January 2016.
Hi,
Thanks for this amazing tutorial but i am really not getting trick which others users are following that how they are making there links dofollow in Beat Version + there posts are going to Australian Edition.
Can you help me in knowing what i have to do to make our links dofollow and get my posts published in Australian Edition.
Thanks!
My author page suddenly shows none of my articles. Its incredibly frustrating, particularly when the blog editing team aren’t responsive. It normally shows all 4 of my pieces, then today it showed 1, then now, none. The links still exist, but just wondering if anyone has encountered something similar?
TP – the same thing happened to me, but I just went on to my author section right now and my last two blog posts are there, so maybe it just takes a bit longer. Hopefully the same will happen for you!
Is there a way I can be notified (via email for example) when someone posts a comment to one of my blogs?
The links on Huff post Athena are do follow or no follow. Would I get any benefit out of it?
I have been working as a blogger for https://citrusbits.com and I having difficult time to post on websites like Huff.
Thanks all
I’ve never had this much trouble writing content for inclusion in a website. The technical obstacles are awesome. To begin with, it didn’t like my password, which included numbers and uppercase letters with over 8 characters. Just kept being rejected. When I finally got in, it said I was out of time, and I had to ask for the invitation to be resubmitted. Finally created an account, then copy/pasted my article from my Word file. Then I had difficulty editing it, as the curser position inclusion wasn’t accepted. I had to delete and re-paste several times. Is it too much to say “Athena sucks?”
Well, my blog was posted today, so I guess I have to say “All is forgiven”. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/another-look-at-trump_us_57bbc6cfe4b007f181999892?
Does anyone know how to get in touch with the Blog Team. They are unresponsive and I’ve been trying for some time now…thanks for all the helpful tips.
Also does anyone know how to delete an Athena account?
HI,
I recently signed up to Athena platform. The first post I wrote was indexed within 48 hours in google but all other post I wrote didn’t show up. I found that all post contains Meta No-Index tag which doesn’t allow google to index the page. However when I did the same check for a different country extension for example, huffingtonpost.in/post it does not have any no-index tag which means it can be indexed.
So is there any chances that if huffingtonpost.com/post is not going to index then huffingtonpost.in/post or huffingtonpost.com.au/post may index?
Avneet, does your first post still have indexed in com version? I am curious about that.
Wow Nice and well written article. i am looking for this that to publish post on huff. Thanks you so much for this
Where can I find my body of work on the old platform. I switched to contributor not realizing that the existing work would be deleted.
I was reading your article about Huff Post and I was hoping you could help me. I am trying to sign on to my account but it is not letting me access any of my articles. Are you having issues with the site also.
Hi,
I have been featured in Huffington Post on the old platform multiple times before the beta version of the new platform was introduced. When the new platform came online, I signed up and created my profile but when I tried to copy/paste a new article from my word processing software (which is what I would do with all my drafts before submitting them on the “backstage” platform) there was no functionality. Understanding it was in beta form, I emailed the blogteam my concerns on July 11 and continued using the old platform instead (never received a response).
This past week, I tried to log in and retry the new system to see if the bugs were fixed but I received a message saying my credentials were invalid. I hadn’t changed anything since the initial set up so I thought maybe I had just forgotten the password. After resetting the password I still received the same “the credentials you entered are invalid” message, meaning I no longer have any way to access the new platform (I have sent another email to the blogteam about this issue, but again no response).
Is there any way to delete my initial Athena account and resend the invite to myself from Backstage to start over? Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
D.C.
Really great article Candis, I have found it very helpful in getting my articles picked up using Athena. Do you know of any way to still get into “backstage” instead of Athena?
Thank you!
Hi there. Thanks for the article. I wanted to have a friend proofread my article, but there doesn’t appear to be any way to print the article or send a link. I see nothing on the FAQ about this. Do you have any tips?
Hi,
Thanks for this post Candis. I have access to both the old and new platform. But here is one thing I’ve not tried, and I’d love to see if you have knowledge of whether this works before I try it. If I post on the old one, and if it is not accepted/not published, could I then post it on the NEW one, or would that post somehow get blocked from publication due to them understanding that I’d first attempted to post it on the old platform?
Hi,
Thank you so much for the article. It gave some great insight and helped me achieve me goal of being published on Huffington Post! I was given an Athena account and then my article was promoted both in the Voices section and on the Huff Po Parents Facebook page. Your tips definitely helped me get there! Quick question – When Scary Mommy accepted an article, they sent me a code to get a button that could be displayed on my blog. Do you know if there is a code for Huff Po? I would prefer not to bother an editor with something so trivial so figured I would check here first. Thanks!!
Hi Caitlin – HUGE congrats on getting published AND promoted on their Voices section & FB Page. That’s fantastic, and I’m so glad I could help 🙂 – As to your question regarding a “featured in” button for HuffPost, no, they don’t have that. But if you search Google for “Huffington Post logo”, you can just place that on your site. Congrats again!
Thanks for your help! 🙂
Hi Candis,
Awesome post. Thanks! I published a few blog posts using the new platform. The latest ones has more shares and likes than many others written by editors or promoted. I saw 1.8k shares and 2k likes within 12 hours of publishing a film review.
Possible to get an entertainment editor’s attention? May be through Twitter or email and ask them to consider promoting it? Or is it their choice if and when to do that?
Thanks.
How do I add an image to the body of the article? I scan the purple line and am able to upload an image but it remains at the top of the post. I can’t figure out how to insert it into the body. It won’t copy and paste. Any advice?
Hi there, thank you for the information. So I published a blog on the new HP platform and I can’t even find it when I search the post title. What gives? Any ideas on how to make it visible. I used appropriate tags. Thank you, Shawn
HI Candis, Thanks for this great post. I followed your advice and had a post featured on the front page and education section a few months ago! This week, another post was ‘promoted’ but it wasn’t actually on HP anywhere. I can search it and it has now been edited and is searchable on the HP site and on Google. I am wondering if maybe something went wrong. When I am logged into my contributor page the post is definitely ‘promoted.’ When I click on it, it says ‘this story has changes that have not yet been published.’ Do you know if I need to do anything so it will show up on one of HP sections? It seems weird they would promote it, but never actually put it anywhere. Should I email someone in blogging support? Thanks so much for any insight you have, I am a newbie! Oh, and here’s the link: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trumps-locker-room-banter-is-the-sex-talk-i-was_us_57fda280e4b0210c1faea8f7
Hello there. I have been a contributor on the new platform for approximately two months, but today my content appears to be gone and I cannot log on. To my knowledge I have not violated any terms, so I do not understand what happened to my articles. Please advise on how I may get my content back up.
Here’s a link to my articles. Only two are still live. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/kpearsonb-189
I’m trying to find proper information about huffington post no index no follow issues. I sent an article to the Huffington Post 2 weeks before and it was accepted: The UN Sustainable Development Goals: 5 Tips for Engaging Youth on Digital Platforms. My post appears to be on the Huffington Post site but instead of being on their blog it is on their “Contributors” platform. Contribution to Huffington Post become practically useless, as the only way people can know about your post is through you. The whole concept of publishing work on huff post is get your opinion heard by others. By not indexing article in search engine ,Huff post not helping the writers. Question is when articles will be indexed in search engine.?
Hi Candace-thanks so much for this-hugely helpful. I’ve been blogging for Huffpo for ages but wanted to get onto the new platform and have now signed up for it. However, everytime I try to edit my profile I am unable to. Any advice or is this one of the bugs? Many thanks
Delia
now with website link!
Hi,
My name is Nadir. i have contributor account. i signup in the same way as you told. but after publishing my first post i can’t login to my account even my first post is on top in every search engine. please tell me what should i do for login again.
Thanks
Hello! For the sake of scrolling, I’m just going to ask this question even it was already asked. Is there a way to create a slideshow? They are crucial to my articles because I write event coverage. I tried to make one in the old platform and copy and paste the code into the new Athena platform but that didn’t work. Is there something I am missing?
Hi,
I am not sure if I am a chosen to be a blogger on Huffpost or not.
I’d share what I have received as of now, A mail from Arianna and Madeline (but it doesn’t looks like a welcome mail to me, i have been given a path to submit my pitch for possible publication) I don’t know what this means, am i in?
This is the mail:
Arianna Huffington
to Madeline, me
Dear Preeti, many thanks for your note and for sharing your pitch. I’m ccing HuffPost blog editor Madeline Wahl to send you a password so you can share your voice in a blog on the HuffPost site.
_____________________________________________________________________
Madeline: to Arianna, me
Thanks, Arianna!
Hi Preeti,
If you’d like to pitch a blog post for possible publication on The
Huffington Post, please go here:
https://docs.google.com/a/huffingtonpost.com/forms/d/1TN3g-_R-q41cEgBIpnr1a6xZYlzU4yBUjp-BK7cp8n8/viewform
Hi,
I got an acceptance email from Ariana(where she mentioned that I’ll be getting a password) and can share my voice.
She has sent a cc to Madeline. I got a mail from Madeline where she gave me a link to pitch for my blog for possible publication.
Am I in? Will I get any welcome email and password or it was a generic email to post a pitch.
Any insight would be great!
Yes! You should be getting your welcome email soon. Can take a few days or a few weeks, depending on how busy they are. Congrats!
Thank u so much for your reply. So, what about the pitch that I sent them. Will they upload it or I will do it on my own once I get a password.
As I want to make some changes in my post. So wanted to know are we allowed to edit a pitch after posting it.
Hi there, so when I first got the invite it was pre Athena platform and my articles while not necessarily featured (one was featured for 1 day before being archived) received up to 900 likes on the Huffpost site. Now with the change to contributors platform I noticed since the article hasn’t been promoted/featured and even though I have socialized it through my media channels I have very few likes so very few eyeballs reading it. So what is the point – why would any blogger than spend the time and energy writing a post for the Huff if we aren’t getting any visibility/interest. If no one is reading it….why bother writing?
Hi, where did you pitch and how dis you get invite??
Hello
I signed up for Huffington post Contributor Platform few months ago
But Now I am facing problem at login
It Shows:
Oops. Looks like you may have tried to access something you don’t have permission to view.
Can anyone help me
Thank you so much for this very helpful article. I received a message in November 2016 from Mrs. Huffington, in which she copied Ms. Wahl, so that she could send me the password. I have emailed Ms. Wahl several times over the last month but received no response. Any advice? Many thanks, Alexandra
Hi,
Is Huffington post contributor platform dead?
I have a contributor access. Last few days ago I published a post on Huffington post. After published post preview and link show. But few minutes later I see a message Your Contributor platform is n longer available. I don’t know what’s the reason.
Please let me know details.
Thanks
Mike David
Author of 1birthdaygreetings.com
Has anyone had the “tag” box not appear? I published a piece yesterday through the platform, but there was no tag box. I tried it on three different computers (I thought perhaps it was an issue with the version of Chrome), and it never appeared. As a result, I fear no editor will look at it. Does anyone know what the problem might be, if there’s a fix to this, etc? Thanks very much!
Just asked the same question! 🙂
Thank you for such a great article! I have just published my first HuffPo article and I could not find the place to “add the tags”. It’s not obvious where to add them that’s for sure! Where do I find them please?
Hey everyone! I wanted to pop in and leave a quick update on the HuffPost Athena platform (& whether or not I still think it’s worth it to publish there):
As some of you have noted, there is no longer an option to add “tags” on your posts, which, in my opinion, will make it even harder to get visibility for your writing.
Can you still get featured if you’re on the Contributor Platform? Yes! Some of the comments above are from people who have had it happen. And IF you do get featured, it’s HUFFINGTON POST, which has millions of readers every day. So there’s definitely still potential. BUT, it’s tough.
You need to write an article that appeals to the editors, and that will take time & research on your part. In addition, if you want to get traffic & sales back to your blog from it, you’ll need to understand how to write the type of article that your ideal audience would love to read, give them a compelling reason to click over to your blog from the article, be able to capture that traffic with an opt-in form, and understand how to create a followup email series that leads to sales. It’s a lot of work and learning to be able to leverage the HuffPost for that kind of benefit.
So, is it still worth it to write for HuffPost? Well, that depends on your goals. It should still give you a credibility boost (most people don’t know the difference between the HuffPost contributor platform & the main site), so if that’s your goal than I’d suggest still going for it. BUT, if you hope to get traffic & sales from your HuffPost article, then I suggest you learn a bit about marketing & sales funnels before spending your time writing for them. Here’s a great free web class that teaches all about that: https://webclass.clickfunnels.com/signup-now?cf_affiliate_id=541126&affiliate_id=541126.
Good luck with your blog!
Hello Candis,
I am looking for Huffington contributor, so if you know anyone then let me know
How can i publish huffington post anyone here can publish my article huffingtonpost for my website ?
Hi,
I am writing my first piece in the new platform. I am wondering about photos. In the old platform I could select a photo that would connect to my post. I don’t see that option here? It seems that I would have to upload my own photo. Is that correct? Im confused and would definitely appreciate any help. Thanks for all of this information.
Hi Todd – In the new Athena platform, the first image in your post will be used as the social share image. Good luck!
HI,
Thanks for responding. Huff used to have options to select pics and then they would link to the article. Is that not the case anymore? Do I need to find and upload my own pics? Also I don’t see any spot to put in tags. What am I missing? I really appreciate your help.
Todd
Yes, in the new platform you need to find & upload your own pics. I like Pixabay – tons of free images that are high quality to choose from. And since I published this article, it looks like they removed tags for the time being.
Hi Candice, do you know now in the huff post new platform is the option to like a post? i cant seem to find it, or this is also have been change?
thanks alot
I am a Huffington Post contributor. My draft is finished, but there’s no “Save” tab for drafts. Usually you can save a draft every few minutes. Thanks!
Hi Candis,
I have been having serious problems trying to log into my contributor platform. Every time I enter my login credentials I get a message that says “Oops. Looks like you may have tried to access something you don’t have permission to view.” Has anyone else experienced this problem? I’ve been unable to log in to post anything since December 2016. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have emailed The Huffington Post numerous times with no response.
Thank you!
Thank you for the information. I am reading how to upload images and it easily states to hover over the purple (+) to upload. I do not see it. I wish someone could point out exactly where it is located. And yes, I am using Google Chrome. Thank you.
This is great advice. It’s tough to get a article viral and if nobody sees it, well, all that marketing advice goes by the wayside. Great blog hope to see more great stuff in the future.
Does anyone know how to edit or delete blog posts created on the old platform? I can’t find a way to do this. I only get the new platform when I log on. thank you.
Thanks for great tips. I hate blogs are no longer indexed and don’t show up in Google search though. I hope that changes. I have some questions; I see blogs with a subtitle in large but regular (not bolded) type below the title. How do you add those. 2. What are the restrictions regarding adding photos etc. can you use any photo from the web? Can you add your own?
Too many articles around the web but few of them are worth reading like this one. Thanks for sharing
Hello do any of you guys know how what the numbers on the blogger social media icon section are?
They dont appear to be facebook shares. Thanks
Thanks, Candis for sharing this article/blog submission platform, I have tried this, it is much easier and user-friendly, related to other sites or platforms it’s much easier to get index your article in google.
The links on Huff post Athena are do follow or no follow. Would I get any benefit out of it?
I have been working as a blogger for https://irisvision.com and I having difficult time to post on websites like Huff.
Thanks all
The links on Huff post Athena are do follow or no follow. Would I get any benefit out of it?
I have been working as a blogger for https://irisvision.com and I having difficult time to post on websites like Huff.
Thanks for sharing knowledgeable post, I have read it very carefully.