Become a Contributor on SGN!
Are you passionate about sharing your expertise and insights with a community of survey engineers and geospatial experts? At SGN (Surveying Group News), we’re excited to invite professionals like you to join our platform as contributors. By becoming a contributor, you’ll have the opportunity to share the latest geospatial solutions, products, and case studies with our audience while establishing yourself as an industry expert.
Is that you? Perfect, Let’s dive into the details!
SGN Contributor Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in contributing to Surveying Group! We are excited to have you as a potential contributor to our platform. Please read these guidelines carefully to understand the process and expectations for contributing to our website.
How to Contribute to Surveying Group News
Contributors to Surveying Group are invited by our editorial team. We accept contributions from professionals in various fields, including Surveying, GNSS, aerial surveying, bathymetry, GIS and mapping, aerial mapping, indoor mapping, mobile mapping, satellite imagery, photogrammetry, digital twin news, reality capture, lidar, and BIM.
We prefer expert contributors to commit to a recurring publishing schedule, such as monthly, every other month, or quarterly.
Posts Must Be 100% Original to SGN
Posts accepted for publication must be exclusive to Surveying Group and 100% original. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited, and any instances will be addressed by our Executive Editor. Additionally, avoid self-plagiarism by refraining from reusing sentences from your own previously published content or company blog posts without proper attribution.
What to Write About
Surveying Group is a valuable resource for survey engineers and geospatial experts.
Successful articles often fall into categories such as:
Lists (examples, tips, tools, tactics).
How-to articles/guides.
Explainer posts (e.g., what is…/why x matters).
Expert roundups.
Thought leadership.
Solutions to problems.
Always provide actionable tips and practical advice based on your experiences. Minimize reliance on quoting influencers or experts from other sources. Be the expert!
What Not to Write About
We do not publish content related to gambling, weapons and firearms, pornography, or other topics that may violate Google’s content policies. Avoid examples of other marketing publications conducting their marketing activities.
No Sales Pitches
Contributors should refrain from writing to sell a product or recommend specific products or services. Focus on sharing expertise, information, insights, and ideas with our audience.
Disclosures
If you have a relationship with a company or person mentioned in your post, you must disclose it. For example:
“Disclosure: I work for [insert company name here].”
“My case study features the Cleveland Zoo, a client of mine.”
“My business partner, Genevieve Focker, wrote the case study below.”
Client, company, and colleague mentions must be approved in advance by your Managing Editor and must contain a disclosure of the relationship in the article.
Post Length
Our minimum post length for contributors is 1,000 words. Most posts on Surveying Group are between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Longer posts should be approved by your SGN Editor.
Paragraphs
Keep your paragraphs short, ideally one to two sentences. Short paragraphs are easier to understand and encourage readability, especially on mobile devices.
Excerpt
Provide a concise excerpt (maximum 25 words) for your post. This is the description that appears on Surveying Group when your article is published.
In-Article Links
Include links to authoritative third-party sources to support your arguments. Avoid promotional calls to action, links to gated content, or self-promotional links.
Statistics
Use recent, relevant statistics to support your content. Always link to the original source, and use the statistic itself as anchor text.
Formatting & Grammar Tips
Follow formatting and grammar best practices, including the use of H2 and H3 headings for subheadings. Avoid span and div tags and excessive bolding within sentences.
Images
General Guidelines
Stock photos from stock photo websites:
This includes websites such as Shutterstock, Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, et.
Branded images: These are only acceptable in a news context, or in the context of a contributor citing a reputable source (e.g., Forrester, Gartner). Promotional images are not acceptable – images cannot include your company/agency logo or branding.
Disclose any business relationships: If there is an association between the contributor and the copyright owner for a branded image (e.g., contractor, brand ambassador, brand employee) this must be disclosed to the Managing Editor and Executive Editor.
Your own images: You can use relevant, unbranded images in your articles that you created (or your company created on your behalf – as long as any created images do not contain any copyrighted material), such as photographs you took.
- PNGs only: Please.
- Removing/replacing images: The SGN editorial team reserves the right to replace or remove any images that you include without notice prior to publication. This could be because the image is deemed offensive, irrelevant to the post, has a negative connotation, or may violate these guidelines.
Featured Image Usage, Types & Attribution
Required: Upload a featured image that is 1600 pixels wide and 800 pixels tall.
Please preview your post before submitting it to make sure your featured image is formatted correctly.
- One stock photo per article: Unless otherwise approved by the SGN editorial team. You can use the other types of images outlined above to help tell a compelling visual story (see In-post Image Types section, below).
- No memes and GIFs. While we love them, there is debate on whether they fall under ‘fair usage‘. We prefer to play it safe. So avoid these gray areas that could potentially cost you and us time and money.
- All in-post photos must be center-aligned, unless they are aligned with text.
- No external links are allowed on images.
Republishing Content
Content can be republished on other platforms 14 days after publishing on Surveying Group, but you must use a canonical link to avoid duplicate content issues with Google.
Editorial Review and Corrections
Our editorial team reserves the right to edit or remove posts that do not adhere to these guidelines. We may also add disclaimers or corrections when necessary.
Publishing Process
Posts are due 2 business days before your next publishing day for contributors on the writing schedule.
Missing Deadlines
If you’re going to miss your deadline, please give us a heads up.
We know you’re busy. Stuff comes up.
Just let us know. It only takes a couple of minutes to send us an email or private message.
If you miss 2 deadlines in a row, we’ll contact you to make sure you want to continue on as an SGN Contributor.
If you miss 3 deadlines in a row, and fail to respond to communications from us, you will lose your status as an SGN Contributor.
Complete Your Registration
- Write a quick biographical info for your profile.
- Choose a professional profile photo.
- Add links to your social profiles (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook).
- Provide your company details, including your position and company URL.
Thats it! Just shoot us an e-mail (info@surveyinggroup.com) with these items above to complete your contributor registration.
Thank you for considering contributing to Surveying Group! If you have any questions or need further clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact us.