softwareceo.comEditorial Guidelines

softwareceo.comis the largest online community serving CEOs and executives of the software industry - and we're glad you want to become a part of this ever-growing resource.

There are two main areas of editorial content* on SoftwareCEO:

Interviews and articles written by softwareceo.comstaff writers, and
Blogs authored by software CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professionals.

Interviews and Articles

Articles are brief (about 1,500 words), and focus on "actionable advice": Tips, tricks, and tactics that our readers can use to improve their own software companies.

Our 10 general topic areas are (in alpha order, not importance):

Human Resources
International Focus
M&A and Financing
Marketing and PR
Operations and Legal
Pricing and Licensing
R&D and Quality
Sales and Distribution
Services & Support
Strategy & Leadership

Usually, these stories start when an executive from your company -- usually the CEO, but could be anyone -- from your company picks from these 10 the areas where s/he thinks s/he has the most concrete and demonstrable expertise.

For example, maybe a VP Marketing or Sales can point to a particular campaign that put his/her company on the map, or drastically boosted sales, and s/he will spend 30 minutes on the phone with us outlining the particular points of success in that campaign.

Or, as another example, maybe a VP Engineering thinks that a company's ability to attract and retain the region's top developers has been key to success -- in which case s/he would spend 30 minutes on the phone with us explaining exactly what was done to build that talent pool.

You can feel free to focus on as many topics as you like, and you are free to choose any topic.

Here are some examples of the type of content we're looking for, and the "voice" of SoftwareCEO:

You can also view "live" examples of current content; visit the site homepage and view the recent articles section.

Blogs

Our blogs area is where we want you -- the software CEO, software professional, or consultant -- to speak in your own voice and share your advice with our readers.

Blog content must be relevant and practical, and targeted towards our audience of software company founders, CEOs, executives, and consultants.
softwareceo.comaims to "cut the BS" as much as possible. We encourage a conversational, straightforward tone that gets to the point, without missing crucial details.
Blogs should not be blatantly "advertorial"; these are not the place to plug your product or company. (We do have paid advertisement opportunities available)
As with articles, you are not limited to a specific topic or theme, but you should clearly state your focus in the required blog description, and, preferably, reference that focus in the title as well.
There is no required update interval -- however, we encourage at least one post every two weeks.
Blog posts are meant to be "short and sweet," typically much shorter than a formal article; the norm is under 500 words, and less is OK.
We have the option of syndicating content from an existing blog you may have elsewhere; we can discuss that with you to see if your blog would be a good fit for our community.

Starting your own blog at softwareceo.comis simple, and updating the blog is very quick and straightforward. Your blog will get its own RSS feed, exposure in the SoftwareCEO community and, in many cases, visibility on the homepage. There is no cost to starting a blog -- only the time you take to contribute to the community.

Here are some examples of popular blogs on the community to give you an idea of what we're looking for.

*A few notes about advertisement:

At SoftwareCEO, we understand that "editorial content" means just that: Editorial -- as opposed to Advertising, Advertorials, and other similar scenarios. We're devoted to keeping the line between them clear for our members.

We do have a variety of advertising options available - if you're interested in more info, please check out our advertising info and media kit .

Also, while we deeply appreciate our relationships with advertisers, purchase of ad space does not guarantee editorial coverage. On the same note, we will never solicit our contributors and partners to purchase ads.