How do I get my post on the home page in "Featured on The Local Tourist"?
To get your post in the "Featured on TLT" section, you need just three things:
- A Contributor account on The Local Tourist
To be a Contributor, register and then email links to 3 writing samples, why you love Chicago, & why you love TLT to contributors at thelocaltourist.com. - A great story
- A great picture to go with it
Once you're a Contributer, write a post using the Blog Post form.
Title
Pretty self-explanatory...
Cities
If your post is about a particular area (or two, or three) of the city, select it here. To select more than one, hold down the CTRL key.
Category
The first four categories have + signs next to them. These are the main "silos". Choose one silo for your post.
Click on the + sign to see the subcategories. You can select as many subcategories as you want within the silo.
For example, you could select Music and Theater in Arts & Culture, but would not also select a category in Events & Things To Do.
Why? These categories are how they're filtered on the front page and if your post is moved to the front page and two silos are chosen, it will appear twice! That may sound like a good thing from a writer's perspective, but it's kind of irritating from a reader's, so we try to avoid it. Choose the main silo that is most appropriate for your post.
The remaining categories can be chosen in addition to the main silos. (You will most likely never use the Press Room or Site Updates categories - these are for administration purposes.)
Attached Images
Images are always good, but if you want your post to be a Featured Post, one is required. First you need to add the image, then you need to attach it.
1. Click on Attached Images
2. Click on Choose File
3. A browser window will open. Select your file & click Open
4. Enter a title under Image title
5. Click Attach
6. Wait for the file to upload. When it's finished, you'll see the message "Created new image to attach to this node" at the top of the screen
7. Scroll through the Existing Images list and select the image you just uploaded. Important! If you don't select it, it won't attach!
8. Click in the Body field and write your post
9. Where Field:
If you're writing about one specific location find out if it's already in TLT first. If it isn't, please add that using the Basic Listing or Basic Restaurant - Bar Listing. Then, when you're adding your blog post you can tie it using the Where field. This makes sure that when someone goes directly to the listing, they'll also see your post!
Then send a DM on Twitter to @thelocaltourist and say you've got a post you want featured! If it's chosen we'll let you know.
Be a Local Tourist
