Write for Us

So you have an awesome idea that you want to share with Inspirational basketball readers?

Read the general submission guidelines below to learn how to submit articles for consideration and what Inspirational Basketball is looking for in contributing writer submissions.

General Guidelines

What Inspirational Basketball is Looking for…

1. Will ONLY accept Original Content. We want original content that hasn’t been shared or published anywhere else. All content will be submitted through Copyscape for a originality check.

2. Write Unique and Authentic content.  The content should be written by you and demonstrate uniqueness, passion, knowledge and insight about youth basketball or basketball in general. Use the first-person voice when appropriate and provide personal experiences if applicable.

We should be able to differentiate your content from other articles on the Web. IMPORTANT: Email inspirationalbasketball20@gmail.com before submitting content and provide your article topic.

3. Content should be Relevant, Informative, Useful, and Engaging. This is a must, the content should be relevant to youth basketball or basketball in general! This website’s audience consists of basketball players, basketball fanatics, coaches and parents.

The content should target these groups and be engaging for this type of readership. The article should be conversational and informative. The idea is to get readers to comment and make Inspirational Basketball a useful website for the youth basketball community.

4. Content should be Succinct.  The article should be between 500-1000 words in length. Construct your articles with a few key points and expanding upon them in the body of the article. Use page formatting by directing the readers to your most important points.

5. Proofread your Content. We require correct grammar, structure, spelling, and punctuation. If your work is approved we will also review the content for proper grammar and structure.
6. Create an Awesome Headline. Create an awesome headline that summarizes your content and makes readers want to read your content. Your headline should be no more than 65 characters (only 65 characters of your headline will appear on most search engine results pages). Your headline should solve an issue for readers and engage them to keep reading.
 
7. Provide Accurate Content and cite your sources. Any information you provide that is neither common knowledge nor clearly established as something you’ve personally experienced must be drawn from a credible, cited source.
 
In your content, immediately attribute any specific facts and quotes to their source, and link to the specific page that verifies your assertion.
 
What Inspirational Basketball is NOT Looking for…
 
1. Don’t Rehash. You must provide a fresh and unique angle on every story. Do not reword or rehash information from other sources and call it your own. This rule applies even when you cite your sources; if you’re not creating a unique and original piece of content, don’t submit to us.
 
Sources should inform your content, and not be cobbled together to form the majority of your content. Don’t stuff your content with keywords. We encourage you to optimize your content for search-engine discovery, but not at the expense of readability.
 
Keyword phrases must be used naturally. Don’t generalize excessively. People search the Web for specific information. Content that covers an overly broad topic tends to be pedestrian and unsatisfying. Your topics should usually be highly specific (“Summer Basketball Tips that will get you ready for the Season” over “Summer Basketball Tips”).
 
2. Don’t go “there”. Examples of content we won’t publish or link to: Anything pornographic, threatening, obscene, defamatory, or abusive; hate speech; anything that encourages illegal or discriminatory conduct; anything containing potentially offensive generalizations about a group of people; anything that promotes online gambling sites; anything that infringes on the rights of a third party; anything that constitutes or encourages cyber-bullying.
 
Commercial links that are not relevant to basketball. This list is not exhaustive. (We recognize that many of these descriptors are necessarily subjective, but in order to maintain a library of great content that’s safe for all Web readers, we will apply these standards at our sole discretion, as necessary.)
 
3. Don’t over-link. We encourage relevant links that make your content more valuable and informative. Avoid excessive hyper-linking that compromises readability. Links to external sites must be relevant to the content and must not lead readers to any content forbidden by these guidelines.
 
4. Don’t over-promote. We welcome your genuine enthusiasm for the things you love, but if your content reads more like an advertisement or press release than thoughtful firsthand insight, it’s not for us. And although our platform is a great way to find an audience for your expertise and build your personal brand, we don’t publish content that is primarily intended to sell something, build backlinks, or drive traffic to other websites.
 
Highly relevant links to personal websites are appropriate if, and only if, they add to the usefulness and authority of your content and do not come across as jarring self-promotion. Affiliate links (links that result in compensation to you or an affiliated party in the form of sales, clicks, memberships, visits, etc.) are prohibited.
 
5. Don’t fake it. Don’t choose a topic merely because it’s trending and you think it’s likely to bring in lots of search traffic. Don’t claim assignments unless you are uniquely qualified to fulfill them.
 
Your unique knowledge, experience, and passion should be evident in every piece of content you create. If you don’t have something valuable, compelling, and personal to add, avoid the subject.
 

Formatting Text

Please use these guidelines to format the content you submit to Inspirational Basketball.

• Use double-spacing between paragraphs.
• Use line breaks only at the end of paragraphs. The text that you copy and paste into our system should fill the width of the screen, unless you’re writing poetry, creating a numbered list, or creating a bulleted list.
• All text should be left-justified.
• Limit use of bold and italicized words to section headers or highlighting of key points. Underlining should only be used for links.
• Avoid excessive capitalization. In general, only proper nouns, the first letter of each sentence, and acronyms should be capitalized. TEXT WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS (like that) is considered shouting on the Internet – use your inside voice.
• Do not use line breaks in the “interesting/fun fact” or “takeaway” field.
• Include your pen name into your submissions and a bio or “about me” section.
• Place the headline of your article in the title field only.
• All images attached to an article must be relevant to the content and must be cited if the image is not yours. Any copyrighted images should not be used in your article.
• Videos are accepted but must have an embed code within the body of article.

Important: Every submission guideline must be adhered to unless you receive different instruction in a specific assignment or submission template. We will decline any submission or remove published content that violates these guidelines.

Repeated violations may result in your contributing writing status on Inspirational Basketball. At our sole discretion, serious violations (such as plagiarism or the publication of spam) may result in the immediate closure of your account and status. If you have questions about any of these guidelines, please email inspirationalbasketball20@gmail.com.

We love inspiring writers, not specific to basketball but has a passion for sports and has some basic knowledge of the game. Inspirational Basketball is looking for contributing writers who want to write on a monthly basis, there is currently no payment option for submitted content.

Inspirational Basketball will help promote your writing style to our readers through the blog and email subscribers.

BLOG STATS

• 12,000+ monthly visitors
• 33,500+ monthly page views
• 550+ highly targeted basketball email subscribers
• Rank for 250+ valuable basketball keywords on the 1st page of Google

We will also link back to your content if it is relevant and will also accept author bylines with one link back to your personal blog. You will be approved to be a contributing writer after your 2nd written article.

You will receive a contributing writer author page on Inspirational Basketball and your name will appear on the sidebar as a contributing writer with a link back to your blog.

Thanks for your interests and looking forward to working with you. Email inspirationalbasketball20@gmail.com and use the subject line, “Contributing Writer” for your submission.