Guest blogging at HWD

As you know, HWD does not allow ads on our group page.  While we are glad to keep it that way, there has always been a part of us who acknowledged that our members may actually enjoy hearing about some dog related products.  In coming weeks and months, we will be trying a pilot program where you can participate in our companion site as a guest blogger, and in your blog we will allow a little banner (“about the author”) which can contain a quick plug and a link to your product webpage.

HWD Companion Site

This Companion Site has existed for quite some time.  It has been used to post contest announcements and group policies, and we can extend it for whatever the purposes that cannot be fulfilled in our FB group page.  It also has a potential to generate revenue of its own, although that feature has not been turned on yet.  If we ever do so in the future, we are pledging 100% of the proceeds (absolutely no administration fee) will be donated to shelters. 

 

About Hiking with Dogs

HWD is not just growing, but we are growing at ever faster pace.  We have more than doubled our member base since last year, and the pace at which we are adding new members has also doubled.  In 2015 we are projecting to top 10,000 members, and we have a real shot at doubling that by 2017.    

Contents you can contribute

There are two basic rules about the contents you can contribute.
·        It has to be relevant to Hiking and/or Dogs in some way
·        It cannot be a direct advertisement for your (or any other) products

At its most basic level you can just blog about your interests just as most bloggers do. Other ideas we can consider includes…

·        Trip report
·        Photo Gallery
·        Hiking destination guide (i.e. Hiking with Dogs in Sedona)
·        Your expertise (Backpacking with Dogs, Taking great picture of your dogs…)
·        Organized section – where you gather and edit writing of others who share your interest

Please discuss with me if you have other ideas you would like to implement.

In that blog (or page, or article, etc…), you can have a sliver of personal introduction titled “about the author”.  This should most likely take a form of banner with a picture of you if you like, a quick description of what you do, and a link to your product page.  This banner can appear at the middle of your article, but not at the top (must not be the first thing reader sees).  You can also have a slightly larger section (perhaps no more than half a page height) at the end of your blog to talk about who you are.

You can then post about that blog to our group wall (i.e. “hey, I just posted a trip report here”).  The more interesting the article is, more people will read it and see your ads there.

Launching process…

·        The program will be offered via invitation only.  We encourage you to tell us about others who may want to participate, but their participation is not automatic

·        We ask you let us review the contents, banners, and your webpage before publishing.  We hope to not have to do so forever, but we would like a chance to discuss and fine tune how it is done at least initially

·        This is a pilot program and highly experimental.  We reserve the right to pull the plug on any or all contents if we decide the program is not working well

·        Let us avoid “shocking” our members – let’s make our initial launch go slow and easy.  Perhaps no more than one blog every other week.  Being consistent and building an audience over time, however, may be the best road to success.

·        This write up is a draft, and it will be refined as we hammer out more details

 

Please contact me directly with any questions you have.

Thank you
~ ro