Guidelines

Thanks for being a PLUS OR PRO MEMBER of RBI and contributing to Velocity News. We are 100% focused on Retail Brands (private brand, private label, store brand, own brand). By partnering together, we want to showcase your thought leadership while promoting your brand as a trusted resource in our industry.

Below are the guidelines and recommendations for each piece of content that you submit.

Themes and Topics

Posts we accept for guest content must be specific to our industry. We are 100% focused on Retail Brands (private brand, private label, store brand, own brand). We do not accept general interest articles or articles that do not specifically address our industry.

When in doubt, get in touch with me at [email protected]

Other Things to Include

• Statistics. Research shows that 94 percent of people are 53 percent more likely to believe content that’s supported by 26 percent more data. (Okay, that’s made up. But try to include verifiable first or third-party research, statistics, and data in your post.)
• Outbound Links. Does somebody else have a great point of view on a topic? Want to make sure people know a certain definition of a word or concept? Link to it. Make sure these links are to authoritative sites. Only link to your site if it’s a highly relevant blog post.
• Lists and Bullets. We’re fans. Readers are fans. Most people skim articles until they find the value. Bullet points make this easy.
• Actionable Takeaways. Recap the takeaways of your article as bullet points at the end of your post.

NOTE: VELOCITY INSTITUTE reserves full editorial control and may edit or tweak submissions as appropriate. These tweaks include anything from removing too much self-promotion to optimizing for SEO, edits both small and large, and more.

Content Tips

Being overly self-promotional destroys that trust, even if your advice is good. Instead, use Velocity News to showcase your expertise. If people find your content valuable, reach out.

Posts should be 300 – 1,000+ words in length. We find this is a sweet spot with our readership, and you’ll fit in with the rest of the site this way. Shorter is better.

Break up your content, so it’s easy to read. This means including headings, subheadings, bullets, and any other visual elements to increase the readability of your piece.

All content MUST BE ORIGINAL. We do not accept duplicate or syndicated content as guest posts. If your post has appeared anywhere else on the web, we can’t publish it on our site. If you quote other content, link to it.

Always name your sources. We understand that you’re an expert, but our audience might not be so sure. If you’re going to drop some stats (ie: “open rates jumped 55% overnight”), link back to the original source within the text – DO NOT USE FOOTNOTES.

Take a position. If you disagree with common wisdom on a topic, talk about why the mainstream point of view is wrong or misleading. Back up your perspective with facts. Take screenshots. Include interesting data. Support your arguments with external references.