If you would like to submit an article for inclusion on our site, here’s how to go about it.
You’ll find the link to submit an article in a box on the bottom left hand corner of your personal dashboard (you’ll need to log in as a member first). The link will take you to a page where you can write, format and create your article using the automated functioning on the page.
You can choose to write the article separately in your own time and then cut and paste into the formatting, or you can write straight into the formatting then and there. You will firstly be asked for a title which will appear at the top of your page and also within the Articles section of the website.
You are then invited to start typing …. which is when you can insert your first piece of text for the article. Throughout you have the option to add an image and also to add in text – this means you can break up your article with pictures along the way. Once you have inserted your image, you can then select the text option and return to writing or pasting in blocks of text.
Images
Please note that there is a size requirement for any photos or images you might want to add in. The details are included in the image upload sections as well as a link to a free third party website you can use to adjust your images to the size our website requires. We suggest using an average of 4 or 5 images to break up your content – based on a 2000-word article – as it makes it much easier to read than one long block of text. We ask that you ensure you have the copyright owner’s permission to use the images or content featured in the article and / or that you credit or cite the originators wherever possible. We may have to take down articles or remove images if you do not have permission and we are contacted by the copyright owners. This is your responsibility and is covered in the membership agreement between us.
Content
We are very interested in articles that could be helpful or useful for members of the public using the site, as well as articles that are targeted at fellow professionals. There will be people visiting our site who might not know much about the different types of therapy or professions included in our Directory so you might like to explain more about the work you do, what it is and how and when it can help. You might also like to write something for your peers and / or from a multi-disciplinary lens that could touch on ways of collaborating that could help to increase awareness or understanding. You might also like to write a personal testimony article about a subject or issue you feel passionately about and that others might benefit from knowing and understanding or be inspired to help or support. We suggest articles of between 1500 – 2500 words are the best length for most readers.
Please Note : Articles cannot simply be an advert for you or your practice – we do welcome content about your work but it must include some helpful take home information and insights rather than simply saying ‘come and see me’. All articles feature a short biog of the author at the end of the piece, which includes a direct link to your profile page – so people will be able to both see your profile and contact you instantly and easily as a result of reading the article so it will definitely increase your visibility.
Once you have finished creating the main content of your article you will see a selection of tick boxes asking for the various areas covered in the article. This is so that anyone searching for information about those different areas will be linked in to your article as a potential resource.
You will then be asked to select a cover photo for your article – this is the image that will accompany the article on the main site. It’s really important that this particular photo is oriented as a landscape image rather than portrait for the formatting. The site works by taking the very centre of the image as its starting point and framing outwards – so anything key that might be around the edge of the frame could be lost which could adversely affect the impact or message of your image. This is why a landscape oriented image is best for this particular choice of photo.
Finally you can choose whether this article can be seen just by our private professional community or whether you are happy to include the public as well. Please consider your content carefully when making this choice as there may be themes, issues, vocabulary and / or ideas in your piece that could have an impact on someone without any therapeutic training or professional insight. If in doubt, we suggest you select professionals only.
The article will then come to the Sunflower team for review, and proof reading. We will get in touch with any queries or questions, and it will be our choice when to publish the article. We will endeavour to publish as soon as possible after submission, but it does just depend on how many articles might be submitted at any one time and how soon we can review each of them. The team at Sunflower are all part time currently so it may well not be an immediate turnaround but we promise to review just as quickly as we possibly can.
If you have any further questions please contact us on [email protected] and we look forward to receiving your articles soon.