General Questions

 

1. How is CitizenTekk different from other websites?

2. How do you decide what to publish? Can I suggest a topic?

3. What is the story behind CitizenTekk?

4. How many experts write for CitizenTekk?

5. How can I get involved?

For Writers:

 

1. How do I become a writer for CitizenTekk?

2. Does it cost anything to be published on your website? In other words, is this sponsored content?

3. What is your web traffic like?

4. How long should my article be and in what format? Do you need anything else from me?

5. Who from our company should write the article?

6. Who owns the copyright of the content? Also, can I send you a blog post that I published last week?

For Press and Sponsors:

For members of the press or sponsorship inquiries, please contact beth at citizentekk dot com.

 

 General questions:

 

1. How is CitizenTekk different from other websites?

 

CitizenTekk is powered by tech experts and startups. Our premiere website differs in the following ways:

 

• Experts write for us, not journalists. This creates a more thorough article written by writers who have experience creating technology.
• We publish and promote startups. Some of our writers are quite famous, and own companies with over 250 million users. However, 2-person startups have exceeded these companies on our website in terms of publicity. We’re excited to offer this opportunity.
• Thought leadership. We are the only media property where over 100 tech professionals join together to discuss technology.
• High standards. We personally curate and review each article prior to posting. Our policy is against advertorial content. The website is merit based and there is no cost associated with publishing.

 

2. How do you decide what to publish? Can I suggest a topic?

 

We hold appointments and collaborate with our writers prior to each article. We are dedicated to high standards and feel automating the publishing process removes this important piece of human curation.

 

To suggest a topic, please email ardalzn at citizentekk dot com

 

The team at CitizenTekk appreciates hearing from readers and interested writers. You are guaranteed a response.

 

3. What is the story behind CitizenTekk?

 

The vision began in 2012, when Beth Kindig (Founder) was working as a tech analyst, and noticed startups struggle to be heard. As an avid reader, she also found herself visiting and enjoying tech blogs, which at the time, operated like islands on company websites.

 

However, like every startup, CitizenTekk required experimentation.

 

In April of 2013, the website went live and CitizenTekk immediately received thousands of views on each article in the matter of days. This was exciting for a new website, so the team quickly began to scale and build what CitizenTekk is today. The Marketing Manager joined, Ardalan Zandian, and increased our Alexa Ranking by 300% in just 17 days. We knew then we were really on to something.

 

4. How many experts write for CitizenTekk?

 

Over 100 tech experts and startups write for CitizenTekk, and we are growing each day. These experts range from top gaming companies, famous startup acclerators, mobile developers, open-source advocates, international entrepreneurs, controversial analysts, tech veterans, disruptive newbies - and anyone else with a desire to change the world through technology.

 

5. How can I get involved?

 

• Follow us on Twitter, where we tweet about world-changing startups
• Connect on Facebook, where we update you on the best article of the day
• Sign up for our newsletter, where you will be first to receive our free digital magazine
• Connect with the Founder on LinkedIN: Beth Kindig
• Drop us an email: ardalzn at citizentekk dot com

 For Writers:

 

1. How do I become a writer for CitizenTekk?

 

That’s easy. The Founder personally speaks with each writer to discuss potential topics. Once a topic is decided on, submit a Word document to be professionally edited.

 

Founder: beth at citizentekk dot com

 

2. Does it cost anything to be published on your website? In other words, is this sponsored content?

 

CitizenTekk content is strictly merit based. There is no cost to be published on our website. In fact, we often reject writers who try to promote or pitch a product.

 

Our primary concern is thought leadership content. Because of this, we have earned the respect of our readers. In fact, as of August 2013, our time on site is three times longer than competing tech media properties. So, we must be doing something right!

 

3. What is your web traffic like?

 

Although we don’t discuss exact numbers unless you are a paying advertiser, we can share with you a few interesting details:

 

• In just 4 short months, our Alexa Ranking is under 40,000. At this rate, we can be under 10,000 in the next 3-4 months.
• Our time on site is 3x longer than competing tech media properties, so our readers like what they’re seeing
• Our bounce rate is 50% lower than our competitors, so our readers are engaging with multiple articles on each visit.
• Sometimes our web traffic is incredible, with articles receiving up to 8,000 views.
• On average, our articles receive 800-1200 views. This is more than many Forbes articles.
• We are expanding more each day and will update accordingly

 

4. How long should my article be and in what format? Do you need anything else from me?

 

We prefer articles to be 500-1,000 words. If the article is longer, we can discuss splitting the piece into a series.

 

As of now, we prefer Microsoft Word or a Google Drive document. We are active collaborators with our writers, and this allows the team editor to make comments and suggestions. Our last attempt to automate the process resulted in advertorial content, and we have since gone back to a more manual approach.

 

In addition to the article, we need the following information:

 

• A 2 sentence bio for the author on the byline and a photo. If no bio is provided at time of publication, we will use your LinkedIN profile
• 140 character summary of the article. Keep in mind Google keywords so readers can easily find your article
• Some availability the day the article posts. We give you a username and password to make last minute edits.
• Help promoting. You are your best advocate. Use your social media networks, company networks and other methods to grow your audience.

 

5. Who, from our company, should write the article?

 

Although the CEO/Founder from a company tends to garner the most views due to name recognition, CitizenTekk accepts articles from various roles at the company.

 

6. Who owns the copyright of the content? Also, can I send you a blog post that I published last week?

 

We own the copyright and require original content rights. We can not take articles which have already been published elsewhere. The main reason for this is that our product is content. And, we have to win over Google and other crawlers, which will penalize us for duplicate content.

 

However, 7 days after we publish, you are welcome to publish the blog on your own website with a link back stating, “this article originally appeared on CitizenTekk.”