Here at GoDates, we are committed to publishing great writing. We will publish your article, which will be available to our fast-growing audience. All we ask is that your piece is about dating or relationships. And that, before you send us your work, you read the guidelines below.

Original work

We only accept original articles that haven’t been published online before. Once your article appears on GoDates, you can quote it on your blog or website and use excerpts with a link to your article on GoDates.

Tell your own story

Choose something appealing to you personally. Tell real-life stories based on your or your friends’ experiences (whether good or bad) to reinforce your message.

Before drafting your article, check if the topic hasn’t been explored from the very same perspective by other GoDates authors. To help you with that, use the search field that you can find in the top right corner next to each article.

Audience

GoDates’ mission is to provide practical tips, guidance, and advice to our readers and tackle questions on dating and relationships. Choose whom you want to address your article to (young women looking for love, divorced men, single parents, busy professionals, etc.) and have your reader in mind when writing the article by addressing their needs and their concerns.

Headline

Your article headline should intrigue the reader and reflect the problem or question you will analyze in your article. Try to keep it short, snappy, and memorable.

  • Aim for a maximum 6-word headline.
  • Use power words and adjectives (unique, incredible, essential, shocking, etc.).
  • Use numbers. The bigger the number, the better; odd numbers are better than even ones.
  • Use questions that have an answer which may solve a reader’s problem. This is an indication to readers that your article will teach them something.
  • Use negative-sounding words.

Structure

The length of an article:

The minimum required length is 2000 words, but you can write longer articles.

Introduction:

  • Start with a unique message that resonates with your audience.
  • Get to the point as quickly as possible. 3 short paragraphs is a good length for an intro. Give an idea of what you will say and intrigue your reader to continue reading.
  • Use you/I words, talking from your perspective and relating to your reader and their situation.
  • Write about something you (or at least a friend) have experienced and then speak to your reader, assuming they might be in the same position.
  • Keep it conversational and ask questions you will answer throughout the text.
  • In the last sentence of the intro, give your reader a practical reason why they should continue reading your article and what they will learn. It has to be an overview of what you will discuss and an opportunity to convince them why your article will be useful for them.

Body:

Your article should be divided into a few parts with headings. When talking about each point you are discussing, begin with a heading. Your headings must reflect your arguments supporting your main statement defined in the subject line. There should be at least 3-5 headings throughout your post, with a few paragraphs under each.

Closing: 

Every story must have an ending. Wrap your article with a conclusion paragraph reinforcing the message you wanted to convey and summarising the key takeaways for your reader.

Formatting

  • Use single spaces between sentences.
  • Avoid excessive capitalization.
  • Do NOT use any text formatting nor include imagery.

For further information on how to write great articles, see the following presentation.

Submission

When you decide what you want to write about, email us with a title and the date you can submit it. We appreciate this.

When you have your article ready, please pay attention to the following:

  • File format required: *.doc.
  • Filename: your full name and an indication of the topic.

In addition to your article please provide us with a summary of it: 5 sentences with a brief description teaser. It should be a hint about the content of your article that would intrigue your reader.

First-time contributors

If you are submitting your first article for GoDates, please send us the following so we can build an author profile for you:

  • Your full name.
  • Your short bio (3-5 sentences). You can include a link to your website in it.
  • Your headshot: a separate image attachment in .jpg format. The minimum size required is 600×600 pixels.
  • Links to your social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or anything else you use.

Links

You can include a link to your website in your author’s bio. Please notify us upon submission if you wish to place a link in your article. In-article link has to lead to the page relevant to your article’s subject. After we publish your article on GoDates, we kindly ask you to link it to your site.

Advertising

We aim to provide quality content to our readers, so even if you represent a brand or a service, we would still require you to submit an article that falls into the dating or relationship category and adheres to our format and editorial guidelines. It has to be signed with your real name or pseudonym if you wish.

We are open to discussing how we can collaborate with relevant brands, so drop us a line if you have some ideas.