Are You Interested to Write for HardTechTV?

Thanks for your interest in blogging for HardTechTV! We love connecting with writers who can help us fulfill our mission: helping makers become better engineers, and helping engineers become better entrepreneurs.

 

Why Write for HardTechTV?

Blogging for HardTechTV may help you build your reputation and further your career. When you write for us, you become part of our “family.” Not only will you get a lot exposure and credibility, you have the potential to connect with some of our influential bloggers if they like your post. Our community is a friendly and active group, and we like to help each other out.

 

Who is HardTechTV’s audience?

While we make content for anyone interested in technology, our ideal readers are makers on the cusp of becoming hardware entrepreneurs. Our audience includes electronics engineers of all shapes and sizes, from grizzled veterans to hobby makers. Our readers are early adopters, social media enthusiasts, hardware entrepreneurs, tech influencers, hardware brands and corporations, hardware marketers and advertising agencies, hardware aficionados and technology journalists. HardTech.TV is also popular with bloggers as well as Twitter and Facebook users — an increasingly influential demographic.

 

What makes a great HardTechTV post?

We get far more submissions than we can publish. To give yourself an edge, consider these tips:

• Read our blog. Develop a sense of what we publish. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our most recent posts.
• Write for hardware makers. Address their needs, fears, challenges, burning questions, pain points.
• Have, and hone, a main message. Edit your intro so that the point of your post is ridiculously clear. (Your teachers weren’t kidding about the value of a thesis sentence.)
• Be prescriptive. Don’t just tell readers to do something. Explain how to do it.
• Tell a story – like a journalist. Cover who, what, when, where, how, and why. Make it personal. Share things you’ve done and seen, lessons you’ve learned, money you’ve saved (or earned), audiences you’ve grown, problems you’ve solved, etc.
• Make it concrete. Give examples, details, metrics. Tell and show. Make it real. Deliver “aha” moments for readers who may be scratching their heads.
• Make it long enough to engage and enrich readers (and no longer):  We don’t have a word-count goal.
• Self-disclosure. Please disclose any relationships / partnerships you have when providing examples, technologies, etc. (e.g. if an example comes from a client or your company, indicate this in the post).
• Avoid or explain buzzwords. Some of our readers feel turned off by geekspeak. If you’re talking tech, help people understand – in a nonscary way – what’s possible and why they should care.
• Be thoughtful when including links. Posts with too many links back to your domain will look spammy and will be rejected.
• Self-promotion. Avoid promoting your tool or company in your post. Your author bio is a good place to do that.
• Use a friendly voice. Say I, we, you. Use contractions as you would normally (you’ll). Write as if talking with a friend.
• Include high res images (PNG or JPGs) and/or video or infographic embed codes.
• Incorporate utility content. Share templates, checklists, step-by-step instructions.
• Give credit. Check your facts and quotations. Cite your sources.
• Let your heart show. Where appropriate, share your feelings!

 

What topics is HardTechTV looking for?

In general, we are looking for posts around these categories – as they relate to hardware:

• Crowdfunding campaigns
• New Product Reviews
• Startups and entrepreneurship
• Engineering teams, tools and processes
• NPI – New Product Introduction
• Hardware Ecosystem from Startup to Scale
• Engaging visual content and design
• Content about companies that have significant influence in hardware.  What sort of social media followings do they have?
• General Topics: Arduino, Components and ICs, Crowdfunding, Design Tools, DFM – Design for Manufacturing, DIY, Drones, FutureTech, Gaming, Electronics History, IoT – Internet of Things, Hardware and DIY Tutorials, M2M – Machine to Machine, Maker Movement, Electronics Manufacturing, Marketing, NPI – New Product Introduction, Product Reviews, Quantified Self, RaspberryPi, RF, Robotics, Smart Cars, Smart Cities, Smart Homes, Venture Funding for Hardware Startups, Wearables

 

How do I submit a post to HardTechTV?

Submit your complete blog post to Travis Simpson in a Google doc format with a brief cover letter explaining who you are and what you are writing about.

NOTE: Your email must use the EXACT subject line: “Guest Blog Post for HardTechTV.”  You will get a confirmation receipt within a few business days.

 

Please include the following with your submission:

Your bio: Bio should be approximately 60 words and should include your Twitter handle, as well as any other relevant links you wish to display: your blog, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, website URL, etc. This is a great place to include any promotional or gated links as we generally don’t allow them in the body copy.

Your headshot: Please send us a square portrait in .png format, make sure that it is no smaller than 300x300px.

Supporting images, interactive content, or videos: Don’t worry about the cover image, we’ll take care of that. But here are tips on the other kinds of media you may want to include:

• Images (PNG, JPG): Provide any high res images you would like to include within your Google doc. When saving your images, please provide a descriptive name (e.g. drone-makers-image1)
• Infographics, videos, and interactive content: Include the embed code for the infographic within your Google doc.

If you’ve got questions you don’t see answers to? Shoot an email to our editor, Travis Simpson at travis@hardtech.tv.