Writing Guide for Finnoy Travel Contributors
Introduction
Follow these guidelines to make your article popular. It is especially important to select and use keywords in a proper way to make the article findable on search engines. That is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
This guide describes only upper-level principles so we may agree on different/additional terms with the writers.
Tone
Every contributor's tone differs which is natural. However, we expect the article to follow our two main principles:
- The article is informational. It must share detailed information and facts about the topic.
- In addition, it is recommended to share personal experiences or at least, give concrete examples about the topic.
- Artificial intelligence is a great help but you must be careful with automatically generated text. Confirm all facts manually, make sure that the text is logical and add some personal touch.
Topic and Keywords
The article must be written around well-selected keywords. Try to identify the most important keywords of the topic before you start writing. For example, use Ubersuggest.
The keywords must be repeated naturally. A single keyword can consist of many combined words, for example, Tallinn Old Town.
We can help to find the best keywords around your topic. It is enough to choose 3 to 5 keywords that are popular but not too competitive.
Article Structure
Articles must contain at least 1000 words, preferably even more. It is necessary to stay strictly on the topic in the whole article.
Headings
The article should have a name that is also its main headline. Create an interesting headline between 1 and 8 words but less than 71 characters together. Include important keywords at the beginning of the main headline. For example, if you are writing about Tallinn, the word Tallinn should be included in the headline. The important keywords are those that you would enter into Google when searching for information about the topic. The most important keywords should be at the beginning of the title.
The article should also include subheadings, preferably level 2 and 3 headings. The same rules apply. Try to include the main keywords but at the same time, make the headings interesting and easily readable by a human. Use short paragraphs below the subheadings. Repeat the main keywords but avoid unnatural keyword stuffing. Stay on the topic in every paragraph!
Effects
In the body text, use emphasis, bold or italics to take the most important words or sentences out from the article. People tend to scroll the text, not reading every single word. Try to target these effects to your keywords.
Links
Add a few links to other websites. The more links the better. Link only to relevant and reputable sites. For example, if you are writing about Tallinn, you could add a link to the Tallinn tourist information site.
Agree with us on all commercial links.
Descriptions
The article must have the following summaries.
Intro
This 300-character summary will be shown in the article list on the Finnoy Travel website. Keep it interesting and end with a call to action!
Google Description
This is the most important summary. It should be a maximum of 150 characters long. It will be shown on the Google search results. It must be attractive, including the most important keywords at the beginning and have a clear call-to-action (CTA) at the end. Remember, you are competing with other search results so your summary should be the best.
Images
At least, one main article photo is required. Avoid using stock photos. Never provide any copyrighted photo if you are not the owner.
Deliver only high-resolution images. They will be resized by us. Images should include a clear caption and the image filename should contain keywords. Images should include an alternative text that is meant for search engines. For example, if the image is from Tallinn Old Town, the filename could be tallinn_old_town.jpeg and the ALT text A view from Tallinn Old Town. We accept JPEG and PNG.
Depending on the article, the optimal number of images varies between 1 and 40.
Provide only photos with a straight horizontal line and crop them to look attractive. Save the files with descriptive names.
Grammar and Spelling
As non-native English speakers, grammar and spelling errors are common. For example, use Grammarly to check your text. We use British English on the Finnoy Travel website.
