Have you been thinking about submitting to YOUmoz lately, but you're not sure what the benefits are? Or perhaps you have a killer post in your head but are afraid to take the next step. Whatever the reason is that you've been holding back, I have 10 reasons why you should get yourself in gear and get that post written and submitted!

1. Reach tens of thousands of SEOs
   Our subscribers for both the main blog and YOUmoz continue to climb. Every month the numbers grow, just think about how many people will see your work. This is a great way to make yourself known in the industry.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Get great feedback
   People will leave comments and help/suggestions about your issue, or even ideas you hadn't considered before.
   
   
3. Good posts get page views
   If you write a successful post, it can generate lots of traffic. For example, the great post that Aaron Hunter wrote comparing Joomla and Wordpress is still getting over 1,000 page views a month and he wrote the post over a year ago. 
   
   • 6,959 page views from January through July.
   • 11,468 page views since date of post (January 2008)
     
     
     
   
   
4. Get smart SEOs visiting your links
   SEOmoz visitors clickthrough rate is tremendously high compared to other blogs and sites in the field. When we link, people click, so if you want eyeballs, make something compelling. Check out how many members we have on our site, that's a lot of people looking at your work!
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Badge of Honor
   Our bar is set high - just to make it to YOUmoz is tough; getting on the main blog is a real challenge. Our readers' expectations are high and we reject 10 submissions for every 1 we accept. It's a badge of honor and, in many cases, resume-worthy, particularly in the search world.
   
   As an example, check out chenry's post on CAPTCHAs' Effect on Conversion Rates. It was so popular, it was moved to the main blog, and ended up with 58 thumbs up, 0 thumbs down (a feat I never manage myself!) and 73 total comments.
   
   His entry isn't super long, but it is to the point, he shows graphics and pulls the reader into the post quickly.
   
   
6. Get a job!
   Yes, people come to SEOmoz looking for SEOs to hire (see the marketplace, for example). If you can show your knowledge through written word, you are likely to get some calls/emails.
   
   
7. mozPoints 
   When you reach 100 mozPoints, the nofollow is removed from your profile and if you reach 150+ within one month you could get a free SEOmoz PRO membership for a month!
   
   YOUmoz is the best way to earn those points because content gets more thumbs than comments (most of the time). Plus every time your YOUmoz entry gets posted on the site, you get 10 mozPoints, plus whatever thumbs up that post receives. AND if your post gets promoted to the main blog, you'll get an additional 15 mozPoints.
   
   
8. Beat Rand!
   Many of the best YOUmoz writers have authored posts with more thumbs than Rand's posts - just think how you can flaunt it in his sad, bearded face!
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Rank!
   If you want to get top rankings in the engines with a piece of your content, but don't have the appropriate domain for it, SEOmoz has a lot of juice and ability to compete. While we don't allow parasite hosting, we do have YOUmoz :-)
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Umm... you get a frickin' live link!
    We have some serious sweet link juice floating around these pages, why not take advantage. All submissions are subject to our editorial approval of course (more on this below). :-)
    

What we’re looking for when reviewing YOUmoz entries

The fact is, if you submit a post that is clear, concise, well written and thought out, your entry will more than likely be approved. We are happy to post beginner articles along with more seasoned posts. Often times if a post is good, but needs some extra help to make it great, we'll work with you to get the post just right.

Use images!
Photos and images break up the content and help make it more readable. They give your post more “oomph” and  can help you make your point more clear. Plus, great posts with graphics do really well.

For example, just look what feedthebot did back in 2007: How to put Google custom site search into your current website design. He wrote a post about integrating Google custom site search with your current web design and included some great visuals, which made the post engaging. As a result, since the post was published in May 2007, he has gotten over 38,486 page views.

Come up with some sort of unique and relevant image that goes with your post. If the post is short, then one image will do, but if it’s a big longer,  break it up with multiple images. Some examples:

• Screenshots with areas highlighted
• Charts or graphs
• Illustrations
• Photos

Here are a couple recent examples of good use of images/graphics in a post:

Unique Content
We search for duplicate content and if we see the same post on another site, your entry will be automatically rejected.  So it's more beneficial for you to only submit unique content.

Spell check and Grammar check
We read through every entry and will make changes as needed. However if the post is filled with misspellings and grammar changes that would take us a long time to fix, then your post probably won’t get approved. Depending on how good it is we may send it back to you and ask you to redo it, but only if it’s “knock your socks off” good.

When it comes down to it, have fun with your post and don't hold back. It's great to have posts that cover a mix of subjects, just keep them relevant. They don't have to be specifically about SEO, but the general topic of search marketing usually hits the mark! If you have questions feel free to email or send me a private message. I'm happy to help get your entry posted! And don't forget...