how to get published on huffington post {and what to expect once you are}

Honestly? I wasn’t going to add another “how to get published on Huffington Post” post when blogland seems fairly saturated with them already. A friend reminded me, though, that people who read my blog might want to hear my experience specifically, and that’s proven to be true over the last few days with readers contacting me to ask exactly how I did it, and, of course, how they can do it, too.

Getting an article published on the Huffington Post entails a couple different steps. 1) Pitching your article and getting it accepted. 2) Being invited to the HuffPost blogging platform. 3) Submitting your article through the platform. 4) *Hopefully* having it featured on one of their main sites.

I didn’t get this at first, but submitting to their blog, even if they accept your post, doesn’t guarantee that your post will be featured. Featured, meaning that your post ends up on one of Huffington Posts main pages. There’s absolutely some value to having your post get published on their blog, naturally, but the real value comes from having your post featured on their site.

But back to the beginning. There are many ways to submit to Huffington Post, such as pitching them a blog post, pitching directly to one of their editors, or emailing Arianna Huffington directly ([email protected]). I chose the latter route, and while it felt a bit presumptuous, it worked. I sent a pitch on a Thursday, and heard back from her less than 48 hours later!

When emailing her, I included a few brief sentences introducing myself, explaining my article, and thanking her for her time. I attached, in Word documents, my full post and my bio. I also attached my headshot. The more info about me she had, I figured, the better.

Within 48 hours, I received a very kind response from Arianna thanking me for my submission, telling me she’d love to feature it on the site, and letting me know I’d receive a follow-up email with blogging platform information.

After setting up my blogging account, I submitted this post on 10 Amazing Ways to Give New Life to Your Coloring Book Pages. Less than 48 hours later, it was published. A little while after that, it was featured on Huffington Post’s Home page, and, four days later, it’s still there!

Over the weekend, I submitted my second article, Blogging is the New Black (5 Reasons to Blog + 5 Ways to Begin), which was published Tuesday afternoon.

A few tips on submitting posts:

• Make sure to include your bio at the end of your piece, hyperlinked, of course, to your blog and social media channels. This is not done automatically; you need to include it yourself.
• Affiliate links ARE allowed. Be sure to link to appropriate products to make the most of your feature.
• Be sure to hyperlink throughout your article to posts on your own blog, thereby sending valuable traffic to your blog.
• Once published, promote your post. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but from what I understand, posts with the most engagement seem to be featured for the longest amount of time.

What to expect once you’ve been published:

• Increased blog traffic. This, of course, is the end goal of blogging for Huffington Post. My blog received at least a 25% increase of traffic once my post was published. Increased traffic=increased ad income.
• An increase in social media followers (especially if you’ve hyperlinked your profiles in your bio).
• Lots of comments on your post. Try to read these occasionally and respond, if necessary. Lots of engagement may increase your changes of having your post “featured”.

In short, getting published on Huffington Post has been one of the BEST things I’ve done for my blog and my profile AND it was so much easier than I thought it would be. If you’re debating whether or not to try it, I encourage you to give it a go! If it isn’t a good fit, you do not have to continue to write for them.

Have more questions on how to get published on Huffington Post? Feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!