Here’s what you need to know about being a content contributor on HotCopper. This page is regularly updated with revised and new editorial guidelines.

HotCopper Editorial Guidelines

We invite you to contribute to HotCopper.com.au about investment topics and insights related to the capital markets. Your topic can be accepted for publication on HotCopper or any other presentation on our web pages. 

Contributors are expected to post original content on HotCopper before it is available anywhere else, that content can then be posted elsewhere after 48 hours.

HotCopper neither pays for guest posts nor charges for posting. However, you must meet our contributors’ guidelines to publish on our blog. We also have a paid option to guarantee top story carousel exposure for $1,500 per article, which includes 24 hours of exposure on our highest visibility sections, please contact submissions@hotcopper.com.au.

What to Write About

Our contributor program is designed to enhance collaboration with expert writers in the Australasia investment market, with a focus on Australia. 

We encourage contributors to showcase their expertise by pitching ideas in small-cap investing, the Australian stock market, investment guides, business, making money online, personal finance, current investment trends, economic impacts on the resource sector and more for evaluation. 

HotCopper is the leading small-cap investment forum in Australia, providing affluent investors a platform to discuss their investment insights and novice investors with the tools and resources they need to make sound investment decisions in the stock market. 

By following these guidelines, you’ll play an integral role in creating engaging and relevant content for a large investor audience. 

The most successful articles tend to be: 

• Lists (e.g., examples, tips, tools, tactics)
• How-to articles/guides
• Explainer posts (e.g., what is …/why x matters)
• Expert roundups
• Thought leadership. 
• A solution to a problem. 

Always provide actionable tips and practical advice. 

Share your own experiences. Don’t rely heavily on quoting influencers, experts, or authorities from other sites. 

Be the expert! 

What Not to Write About

HotCopper does not publish content about weapons and firearms, pornography, or other industries/topics that may violate  Google’s content policies.  

HotCopper also does not publish sponsored content, if you were paid for the article, we will not repost it for free on HotCopper, you can request a paid submission for $1,500 per article, which includes 24 hours of exposure on our highest visibility sections, please contact submissions@hotcopper.com.au. 

HotCopper also does not publish company news, advertising or sponsored content, if you were paid for the article, we will not repost it for free on HotCopper, you can request a paid submission for $1,500 per article, which includes 24 hours of exposure on our highest visibility sections, please contact submissions@hotcopper.com.au.

Also, HotCopper reserves the right to remove contributors at any time. 

The following guidelines will apply to all guest posts: 

• Submission of your post does not guarantee publication. Your submission will be reviewed, and if it benefits our readers, it will likely be published. 
• All guest posts should offer investment, small-cap stocks, money-saving or innovative earning advice or ideas. 
• We reserve every right to alter/edit the submitted post before publishing. 
• Your post should not promote any product or service. Your post should not present a “visit my site” or “check out my product” feel. 
• Your post must not contain affiliate links. 
• Posts must be of original content (i.e. not published anywhere else online). 
• Your post must be a minimum of 1,000 words or more; 1,500 is more preferable. This is a strict criterion.  
• Text formatting is encouraged; using bullets, lists, and short paragraphs makes reading easier. 
• Please make every effort to remove spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Submissions that require excessive editing might get rejected. 
• Make sure any links in your post are relevant and valid. Dead or irrelevant links to the main idea of your post will be removed without notice. 
• HotCopper does not offer any monetary compensation for guest posts. 
• All guest posts, after submission, will become the sole property of HotCopper. 
• Visual content must match and help the reader to know the material. Images must have a similar format and size. 
• Photos: Follow the Images guidelines below. 

What if Your Post Gets Rejected? 

We will approve any post we would like, even if many are stocked up and waiting to go live. We will only reject a post if we believe it is not a good fit for our website. If this happens, we suggest you repurpose it for another website. Many finance sites are willing to accept guest posts, although  it might be difficult to find many that pay you. 

If your post gets rejected, we will explain why. You can communicate with our staff and determine what ideas would be a good fit. If you have a website, send the link, and we’ll get familiar with what you’re great at writing about. One of our finance experts could suggest a few ideas for you to consider writing instead. 

We look forward to seeing what you have to offer! 

SEO Best Practices

Let’s practice what we preach, folks. 

Headline 

Your headline should be interesting enough to entice people to click on it. It should be optimized for search and social media with a maximum character count of 70. 

URL 

You can edit your URLs (Permalink). Use this to highlight important keywords. 

How to Publish on HotCopper

The WordPress website builder is our publishing tool here at HotCopper, as it’s easy to use and offer extensive features and excellent compatibility all around the web.

Haven’t published with WordPress before? Don’t worry, here, we’ll show you step-by-step how to upload and publish your content on HotCopper.com.au.

By following the steps outlined below, you’ll be able to get your content published. In case you run into any issues publishing your content, please send an email to submissions@hotcopper.com.au.

Step 1: Sign in to our publishing backend.

Go to https://www.themarketonline.com.au/wp-admin/ to login to your contributors backend.

Step 2: Go to Posts > Add New.

Once you are in the dashboard, goto Posts and select “Add New” from the dropdown.

Step 3: Close the popup.

Close the popup to use the editor.

Step 4: Add your content.

Select “SH Article Type” Contributor, pick a category and add your content in the editor field as shown below.

Step 5: Enter keyword and publish.

Enter the keyword of your content and hit the publish button.

Step 6: Submit for review.

Click submit for review. Once this is done, our editor will be notified and review your content. If your content meets our minimum requirement, it will be published.

Step 7: View preview.

Click the “View Preview” link to view your article.

Step 8: Article status.

You can login at anytime to view the status of your content. When your content is published, the status will change to “Published."

Other things to be mindful of

WordPress Categories 

Pick, at minimum, one WordPress category for your article. 

You may pick up to two relevant categories (e.g. if your post covers both Finance and Technology). 

Content Title 

Add the title of your article. Please consider the following factors when adding content titles.

• Content title should not be longer than 70 characters.
• Please include the primary keyword in your content topic.
• Your content title should generate a positive or negative sentiment.

In-Article Links 

Links to third-party authoritative sources tell the reader you are incorporating third-party perspectives and evidence to support your argument. Otherwise, all you’ve got is a theory without substantiation. 

Our editorial team is always looking for links that appear promotional, so our editorial team will remove links that appear promotional or self-serving in some way. 

Generally, you want to ensure the following: 

• No links to people’s company home pages for quotes or cited sources. Linking to sources’ Twitter handles, LinkedIn profiles, or another type of bio page is OK. 
• No self-promotional calls to action. 
• No linking to gated content (i.e., pages requiring users to log in before seeing the content). 
• Any promotional or redundant links will be removed by editorial staff. 
• We reserve the right to add rel=”nofollow” to any link or remove a link at any time before or after an article is published. 
• No links to websites in these areas: pills/RX, pornography, gambling or payday loans. 

Formatting & Grammar Tips 

• Use H2 headings for your subheadings. 
• Use H3 headings for sections within your subheadings. If you need to go another level deeper, use H4. 
• Avoid bolding within sentences. 
• We encourage italics only for navigational elements. Example: Open File > Download and select PDF Document (.pdf). 
• For Pete’s sake: one space after punctuation. Please. 
• Example URLs (e.g. http://example.com) need to be plain text (not hyperlinked). 
• We use start cases (also known as initial caps) for all titles and subheadings. The start case is a simplified version of the title case where every word is capitalized regardless of its function. 

Statistics 

Use recent, relevant statistics supporting your piece’s authority and expertise. (Never use stats older than five years – they’re most likely outdated!) 

• Link to the source only (i.e., study, survey, etc.). Stats roundup posts or third-party infographics don’t count as valid sources. 
• No unattributed stats. If you can’t find the source, don’t use it. 

Images 

• You do not have to include images in your submission. 
• If you must include images, use only original images. Photos must be permitted for use on HotCopper. (HotCopper subscribes to Adobe Stock. You can request our editors to obtain specific photos from Adobe Stock by providing the photo name(s) and file number(s).  
• When using stock performance chart images, please use HotCopper over other sources. 
• Avoid using stock images from free platforms such as Pixabay and Pexels. 
• All images must be in jpeg format. 
• The HotCopper editorial team reserves the right to replace or remove any images you include without notice before publication. 
• Your image dimension must be at least 1600 pixels wide and 1000 pixels tall. 
• Your image must not be over 100 kb in size. 
• If you must include screenshots of a website or tool, please add copyright information to the image’s caption. 
• Include proper photo/image credits. 
• Name your images appropriately, please. Image filenames like IMG_34567.jpg or screenshot18.png are not acceptable to us. 
• Do not include any external links in your images. If external links are found, they will be removed. 
• Captions are optional. 
• Always add Alternative Text. This can be the post title or a succinct description of the photo that fits the post’s topic. 
• Optimize your image file names. IMG_123454646572.png or screenshot3.png is terrible. 

Republishing Content Guidelines

To avoid duplicate content issues with Google, we permit content to be republished 48 hours after publishing on HotCopper. You MUST use a canonical link. 

Editorial Review and Corrections 

• If we find out authors aren’t writing their posts, we reserve the right to reject or delete the post and prohibit the author from writing for HotCopper in the future. 
• We may add a disclaimer at the end of any article to disclose any relationships (or lack thereof) that either HotCopper or the author may have with organizations mentioned in the report. 
• In corrections to bylines, facts, or updates to published articles, HotCopper reserves the right to edit any post at any time. Post changes may be noted with a note from the editor about the change and the reasoning for the update or change, if applicable. 
• Please ensure that you thoroughly edit data, ideas, or text generated by AI so the words, concepts and creativity are yours alone. 

Our Publishing Process 

• Our goal is ~24 to 48 hours from submitting your post’s draft to publication. 
• We regularly send a reminder email to alert contributors that their submission is due soon. 
• An editor will assess your submission and determine whether it fits. If so, the entire squad will analyse and converse about it. This ensures once a week. 
• The editor will gather the team’s response and give it to you with feedback. (We hardly accept a blog the initial time, but we’ll tell you if we’re concerned.) 
• Once you’ve reviewed our comments, send your revised draft back. The crew will converse again and tell you if we need to accept it. 
• If we accept your unique blogs, an editor will work meticulously with you on organization, argument and style. 
• We’ll plan for publication as soon as reviews are done. We can’t give you a precise publication date until the article is ready to publish. 

So, what happens when you’ve finished an excellent post and pressed that blue WordPress button “Submit for Review”? 

Post Status: Submitted to Editor 

When you’ve finished a post-draft, you’ll press the big blue button. Your post will go through the first round of copy editing, link checking, and whether it passes our editorial rules above. 

Post Status: Copy Editor Reviewing 

This stage is where our Copy Editor gets out a red pen and corrects the following: 

• Typos, grammar, content flow 
• Links. If the link is germane to the content, it stays. But don’t include a link more than once. Use keywords or calls to action. Too self-promotional? The red pen will spring into action. 
• Full disclosure. If you reference your company in the article, your connection as the author must be made clear. 

Post Status: Ready for Scheduling 

Get on your mark! Our Senior Editor will double-check this post one last time before it’s sent out on its way into the world. 

Post Status: Scheduled 

It’s going to go live! 

Your Bio

Head to “Edit My Profile”. 

Make sure to fill out your Biographical Info. 

Upload a colour Profile Photo – use a headshot so people can see your face. The image size must be 400×400 pixels. 

Add links to your personal Social Profiles: 

• Twitter. 
• LinkedIn. 
• Facebook. 

Add your Personal/Company Details: 

• Your company. 
• Your position. 
• Your company’s URL.

Disclaimer

We appreciate your expertise and unique perspective. Please be advised that the views and opinions expressed in your contributed content are solely your own and do not necessarily reflect the views of HotCopper.

As an independent contributor, you are responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the information you provide. HotCopper does not endorse or assume any responsibility for the opinions, sources, or content presented by our contributors. We encourage you to ensure that your content is factually accurate and complies with ethical standards.

By submitting your content to HotCopper, you acknowledge and agree that HotCopper will not be held liable for any damages or losses arising from the use of your content. Contributors are expected to adhere to our guidelines, and HotCopper reserves the right to edit or remove content that violates these guidelines.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We look forward to your valuable contributions to HotCopper.

Best regards,

HotCopper Editorial Team

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