office-Hand_and_pen_writing_2Thank-you for your interest in submitting an article for The Coaching Tools Company. We send out a newsletter with article, weekly, to around 45,000 coaches.

To get a feel for our newsletter and articles, see our published guest author posts here >>

We continue to make articles both search engine—and reader—friendly.

On this page:

  1. The Usual Criteria
  2. Article Writing Tips & Style
  3. Editorial Style Notes
  4. 2024 Monthly Themes
  5. In addition, here is some information if you would like to Propose an Article or are a New Author

IMPORTANT for 2024: 6 Tips for Reader—and Search Engine Friendly—Articles

The tips outlined below are not only to make articles easier for the reader, but also for Search Engines. Google now routinely assesses the quality and readability of articles and uses this to decide how to rank a page in its search results!

  1. Use Headings and Sub-headings to break-up text and structure your article for flow (aim for no more than 300 words between sub-headings). Bullets and numbered lists are also great!
  2. Use contractions - for example use "we're" instead of "we are" and "I'll" instead of "I will". It's more friendly - and easier to read.
  3. Shorter is better: Try to keep your Sentences under 20 words (the recommendation is no more than 25% of an article should have 20+ word sentences). Also, try to keep your Paragraphs under 150 words.
  4. Use Transition words. These are words and phrases that improve the flow for the reader - and search engines. Yes, in some cases this breaks "grammar rules" we were taught eg. starting sentences with And or But. Other examples of transition words include: therefore, in other words, in addition, most importantly, in short, as a result and because.
  5. Try to use the more direct Active voice rather than Passive voice.
  6. We have readers from over 200 countries around the world, and for some people, English is not their first language. So be sure to explain any technical concepts or terms, ie. assume people are beginners.

Additional Articles

In addition to the articles you've been invited to write:

  • We'd love to support you in your business goals! So if there's a specific article you'd like to write to support YOUR business goals (eg. to support a product launch/similar), let us know what you have in mind and when for and we'll discuss.
  • Book Reviews are always popular - and people search for them, so it's a good way to be seen! Is there a book or even movie that really spoke to you? Speak from the heart and tell us why coaches should read or see it!

The Usual Criteria:

  • Articles are ideally 500-1500 words in length. But the priority is providing value, so this is up to you.
  • Articles don't need to be totally unique. Don't get me wrong, we love unique articles! However, if you have a great article you know is popular or helpful - feel free to re-work and update it.
  • No promotions/links in the article, but you may have multiple links to your website/social media/an offer in your sign-off.
  • We reserve the right to edit your submission; article title, content and to make formatting changes before publishing.
  • Importantly, articles must be written FOR coaches. Personal development articles are OK – but they must specifically address goals and issues that coaches face - either as a coach or with their clients.

6 General Article Writing Tips:

  1. Be AUTHENTIC and show your PERSONALITY. There are so many articles online - on every topic imaginable. What makes an article highly readable is when it has (your) personality!
  2. PRACTICAL: What can your fellow coaches DO once they have read your article or story? What practical actions/next steps/tips/suggestions/journaling prompts can you leave our readers with? These are good to wrap up with.
  3. INSPIRING: Will our readers feel better/encouraged/not so alone/learn something from reading your article or story?
  4. EDUCATIONAL: Do you have some interesting and useful knowledge or expertise to share? Be sure to tailor your article, so that readers will understand how this thing you're sharing applies to them - and to coaching.
  5. EXPERIENCE LEVELS: For maximum appeal, pitch your article to intermediate coaches (this way it will be useful to everyone from beginners through to experts).
  6. Make it UNIQUE! How can you approach a topic so we learn something new? For example, what new angle can you approach a subject from? How specific will you be? What could we do with this information? Feel free to play with the topics a little or make a suggestion. We’re interested in your unique passions, knowledge, experience, angles and thoughts.

Writing Style/Company Voice:

  • Our style is professional, helpful, lighthearted (mostly) and approachable.
  • Your article should Entertain, Educate or Inspire our readers - or all three! Ask, "Does this article expand the (coach) reader's thinking, give fresh perspectives, solve a problem, inspire, teach or help coaches help themselves or their clients achieve their goals?"
  • We love practical articles with useful tips, follow-up actions or questions to ponder. A thoughtful question or point to ponder can be added onto the end of ANY article!

Editorial Style:

  • SINGLE spacing after the period please, not double.
  • SINGLE dashes please, not double.
  • We do NOT use the Oxford Comma.
  • Switch off "Smart Quotes".
    • Use the plain ' and ", NOT the fancy ‘ and “. Sometimes email providers will have issues with these fancy quote characters and show them as @!^& in your articles.
    • Either change your settings in Microsoft Word or do a "Find and Replace" before sending.
  • To change Microsoft Word settings: Select File, Options, Proofing, Autocorrect options, AutoFormat as you Type, then Turn OFF (unselect) Replace As you Type, "Straight Quotes" with "Smart Quotes".

If you would like to PROPOSE an Article Topic/Idea:

First, have a carefully crafted Article TITLE! An article title should solve a problem or help coaches achieve their goals. So, if you're not keen on the article title suggestions, know that numbers work well eg. 9 Steps to XXX, 3 Things to Know About YYY and you can use this app to get an idea of how your title scores here >>

Here are some Generic/Evergreen Article TOPICS/Ideas:

These are some topics coaches have requested in our surveys:

  • Articles about The Value and Benefits of Coaching: Something so many of us struggle with...
  • Case Studies: Learning from other people's successes and mistakes. NOTE: If mentioning clients respect confidentiality/be sure you have permission as appropriate. Check ICF Ethics here)
  • New (to us) Coaching Tools, Activities or Exercises! Could be for sessions, groups or workshops.
  • New (to us) Coaching Skills, Models and Techniques
  • Coaching and Life Skills: Motivation and Focus, Building Rapport and Trust, Goal-Setting, Visioning, Dreaming, Values and Beliefs, Emotional intelligence, NLP, Neuroscience
  • Coaching Questions: Great Questions, Questioning Skills and Techniques and How to Have Powerful Conversations.
  • Fulfilling our potential as coaches! Dealing with our fears, limiting beliefs, self-doubt or lack of confidence. How to maximise our own potential.
  • Making a difference in the world: How to empower others and help our clients grow and prosper.
  • Helping the client have "Aha" moments: How to share OUR message.
  • Better Organization: Systems, How to Get Help eg. a Virtual (or Personal) Assistant
  • Tools to Build your Business: Growing your client base, coaching practice and income. Also how to find clients and convert prospects and enquiries into clients.
  • Marketing and Sales: Niching, enrolling clients, effective marketing, how to find clients and how to convert prospects and enquiries into clients. (NOTE: Be sure your contribution adds something new - an angle, personal story or tips in a way we haven't heard them before).

We're ALWAYS INTERESTED IN: Success stories, articles on how to improve specific coaching skills, core competencies, (your) coaching niche explained, good book reviews.

For New Authors:

IMPORTANT - we will NOT consider your article if:

  • It feels like a sales pitch.
  • It is not of interest to coaches or people interested in coaching.
  • You mention your business or include website links within the article: All promotion and links MUST go in your bio/article byline which is included at the end of your article.

Your Article MUST be COACH-Specific!

  • We're not interested in generic articles that can be found on any self-development or coaching blog. Your article must specifically address coaches!
  • This means for example, an article on meditation, self-care or time management alone is not of interest (unless you have some unique or refreshing angle). However, an article exploring how to encourage clients to meditate, or the unique issues of self-care or time management for a COACH is more interesting.

PLEASE be aware:

  • ABOUT YOU: We would love for you to include links to your website, social media page or a product you offer - but only in your sign-off.
  • We reserve the right to edit your submission; article title, content and to make formatting changes before publishing.
  • We only contact the authors of successful submissions. If you want to email us and follow up, we will respond.
  • Your article may be a reworked article - but must NOT be exactly the same as another one you have already published.
  • Finally, we recommend you review our Inspiring Article Topic Suggestions/Ideas below.

2024 Monthly THEMES:

  • These are "loose" topics - feel free to think broadly/play with the subject!
  • The article MUST BE coach-focused: helping coaches help their coaching clients - or helping the coach themselves.
  • Especially helpful are articles with X number of tips, tools, techniques, ideas, we also love inspiration, how tos, things to avoid – with great examples or stories to back them up.
  • Any time you have a unique angle or perspective or unique wisdom from your experience to share, our coaches love it!
  1. JANUARY: Goal-Setting, Visualising & Taking Action
    Setting goals for the year - with clients or in your business, powerful or surprising goals, real-life stories, motivation, help clients set & meet goals, goal-setting tips, tools & ideas, what makes a great goal? Difference between dreams & goals, importance of dreams and visioning, work/focus/determination/discipline/perseverance to achieve goals, goal-setting models, goals inspiration, goal-setting workshops etc, the importance of accountability.
  2. FEBRUARY: Self-Care, Fierce KINDNESS, Relationships
    1) Self-Love and Acceptance - for Clients or Coaches | How to work with clients around kindness/self-love/self-acceptance,
    2) Kindness Powerful kindness stories kindness week, kindness and compassion in coaching, kindness in the workplace, kindness to self, unusual angles/uses for/benefits of kindness, kindness/compassion tools & techniques, self-acceptance tools etc.
    3) Relationships - Managing difficult people, relationships, setting boundaries - could be in groups/workshops.
    SUBMIT BY 7 January /
  3. MARCH: Spring Clean Your Life! | Coaching Questions
    1) Energising - teams/groups/your life/your marketing!, spring cleaning of life/relationships/career/de-cluttering (aimed at coaches helping clients!), de-cluttering the mind, spring clean your coaching practice to focus on priorities, ideas to wake people up
    2) What makes a powerful coaching question? Your favourite coaching questions & why, how to develop the skill of questioning, the power of coaching questions, the power of silence.

  4. APRIL: Confidence | Leadership
    1) Stories of client or your confidence building, confidence building tools, growing your confidence as a coach, how clients can build confidence, how to feel confident running groups/workshops. Tips, tools, techniques, ideas, inspiration etc. Things to avoid if you want to be confident, identifying strengths to build confidence
    2) Leadership stories, leadership tools, how clients can be a leader in their own life, lead in your coaching practice, what makes a great/terrible leader, challenges of leadership, leadership qualities, how to develop leaders. 

  5. MAY: Celebrate Coaches/ing | Life Coaching | Coaching Tools | Coaching Best Practice | Coaching Models
    1) International Coaching Week, coaching success stories, the benefits of coaching (why it works),coaches as leaders, why coaching? What is at the heart of coaching? Core competencies, coaching models, listening, coaching mastery.
    2) Help us - and your fellow coach - celebrate coaching! The benefits, the power of coaching, why people should get a coach etc.
    3) Favourite coaching tools, games, using metaphor, using cards in coaching, techniques, exercises etc.

  6. JUNE: Grow Your Coaching Biz | Coaching Niches
    1) Helping coaches market themselves/their businesses better. How to get more clients/ leads,where to find new clients, how to attract clients, how to convert into paying clients, dealing with common sales objections, niching/finding ideal client, creating a signature program, best practices, business planning, group dynamics.
    2)How to Find Your Ideal Coaching Niche, Featured Niches, Questions to identify your niche, Great niches and examples etc.
  7. JULY: Group-Coaching | Workshops & Webinars | Virtual/Online Coaching
    How to make group coaching work in your practice, workshop tips, tools (could be even be an article about the technicalities - comparing zoom/free conference call and facebook live!) How to run workshops, effective workshop tips, group coaching how tos and ideas, anything about workshops or groups! How to run virtual retreats, coaching retreat ideas, best practices. 
  8. AUGUST: Inspiration: Journaling | Coaching Books (Reading & Writing) | Quotes
    1) Journaling as a power tool for work-life balance and de-stress.
    2) Best Books to make you a better Coach
    3) How/Why to use quotes in Coaching.
  9. SEPTEMBER: Motivation, Focus and Productivity (Back to School)
    Back-to-school, time management, refocusing, motivation, productivity, what motivates people? How to help people be more motivated. Using humor in coaching, employee motivation, career coaching, finding purpose in life/work, coaching students, time management & prioritization, focus, procrastination, habits for success, how to find more time, dealing with procrastination! Importance of prioritization, how to prioritise, dealing with overwhelm. 
  10. OCTOBER: Strengths | Inner Critics & Gremlins | Resilience
    1) Helping clients identify & use unique strengths and qualities, vulnerability as strength, power in using our strengths!
    2) The inner critic & letting go (tips, tools, techniques, ideas, inspiration etc), specifically how to help clients manage inner critics/gremlins, also embracing, identifying, growing, benefits of knowing strengths… for ourselves as coaches or our clients!
    3) Building Resilience in our clients.
     
  11. NOVEMBER: Work/Life Balance & Self-Care | Meditation & Mindfulness
    Focus on how coaches can help clients. Set boundaries with self & others, take time out to recharge/alone time, how to bring mindfulness/meditation into coaching, practical tips & ideas, meditation/mindfulness tools. Benefits of solitude. 
  12. DECEMBER: Celebrate Life & You!
    Help coaches & clients celebrate everything they do/who they are/what they’ve achieved! Coaching success stories, our own success stories (overcoming a challenge or plain old success! Can be with a client or in your business – the main thing is the inspiring story!), coaching exercises, tools, techniques to celebrate etc.