Hello and welcome to the HWH team. We’re happy to have you. You can use this article as your onboarding. Once you go down this list, you should have a good understanding of how to use WordPress to write articles. There is also some general admin type stuff we can use your help on.
*BEFORE YOU START WRITING, YOU MUST COMPLETE EACH STEP*
1.) Join Our Slack
You should receive an invite in your email. If not, you can join it here —> http://hardwoodheroics.slack.com —> Please set up your profile and upload a picture.
2.) LIKE Our Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/hardwoodheroics
3.) JOIN Our Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/777857583246171
Please also invite 3-5 friends to join this group. As we add more writers, this group will grow. This will serve as an additional place for your articles to be posted.
4.) FOLLOW us on Twitter
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5.) Go to WordPress, Set-Up your Profile
Hardwood Heroics WordPress —-> https://hardwoodheroics.com/wp-admin/
If you get a weird “password expired” message, DM Keegan or Matt S. on Slack and we will reset your password for you. Once you are logged in, please go to your profile —> https://www.hardwoodheroics.com/wp-admin/profile.php this is where you will need to upload a picture (upload avatar area), write a 2 sentence bio, and you can also link your Twitter handle if you wish. An example of a properly filled out profile should look like the example below….
To publish an article, this must be completed. We want it nice & pretty so you can look good on our writers page which can be found here —> https://hardwoodheroics.com/our-writers/
6.) Watch This Video on How to Write an Article
7.) What Images Can you Use?
You can use any images in the Media Gallery, Public Domain, or from Google Images. When you upload an image, please name the Alt. Text/Title of the image the name of the player or team. This will help other people find images quicker in the future in the Media Gallery. In a year’s time it will be a plethora of images to choose from.
8.) Watch this Video on how to fill out the SEO section of the Article
9.) Watch this video on how to Check Your Views
10.) Watch this video on How Payment Works
Payments are made monthly. Before you watch the video, please put your PayPal Address in this Spreadsheet. If your name isn’t listed, please type it in at the bottom. —> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18l-axdLKtZsm0fVi40xind0pxLChmr4CFbF3uZuOOdg/edit#gid=971028077
11.) What does a Completed Good Article Look Like?
Example 1 – https://gridironheroics.com/two-packers-rookies-projected-to-make-nfl-all-rookie-teams/
Example 2 – https://gridironheroics.com/proposed-trade-sends-pro-bowl-running-back-to-kansas-city/
Example 3 – https://gridironheroics.com/ceedee-lamb-feels-ready-to-be-dallas-no-1-receiver/
Example 4 – https://gridironheroics.com/fantasy-football-why-you-need-to-draft-a-qb-early/
12.) How Do I post my articles in Facebook Groups?
On this sheet, you will see links for every team. You should join all of these groups. When you have a new article, I would recommend making it look like an organic post, as if somebody enjoyed the article and then wanted to share it.
Otherwise they’ll think you’re spamming. Below is a great example, I don’t notate that this is my article, I make the comment look as if it could be the top comment on the article. You can also ask a question to encourage engagement. The way to do this fast is to set-up bookmarks in your browser to a folder of groups. Then you can click “right click, open all” and you’ll have 10+ tabs open up. I then write my comment, copy it, post it, and then paste it in the next 9 tabs quickly. Posting in 10 groups will take you 30 seconds at most.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18l-axdLKtZsm0fVi40xind0pxLChmr4CFbF3uZuOOdg/edit#gid=0
13.) I’m Ready to Publish My Article
To start you’re given contributor access. Once you are able to submit articles that are consistently “double-green” you will be given clearance to publish. Double-green means that Readibility and SEO scores for the article are Green, designating they are good & ready to launch. WHEN IT’S READY FOR EDITING, PLEASE CLICK SUBMIT FOR REVIEW! This will tell us we can now edit & publish it and it’s not in draft form.
14.) Help Categorize Yourself on your Team’s Beat
Our goal is to have coverage for every team in the NFL & NCAA. To help keep this organized we need to know which team’s are lacking in coverage. Please put your name down to the 1-2 teams you plan to focus heavily on for your writing. If you only occasionally plan to write about that team, you can leave it off. This will help us grow the overall site. Please only put your name next to teams you will be writing about multiple times a week.
