ARRLSTX Content Writing Guidelines

Thank you for contributing to the STX Amateur Radio public news and blog feed! To maintain the consistent, professional, and community-driven voice that our readers expect, please adhere to the following guidelines when drafting your posts:

1. Tone and Voice

Personal yet Professional: Our articles often read like a conversation among colleagues. Feel free to use first-person narratives ("I", "We") when sharing personal experiences or club history. However, always remain respectful, welcoming, and professional.

Community-Focused: Emphasize teamwork, public service, and the shared mission of amateur radio operators. Acknowledge the hard work of others and frame events around how they benefit the community.

2. Formatting Names and Call Signs

Mandatory Call Signs: Whenever mentioning an amateur radio operator, their call sign must immediately follow their name. Do not use parentheses or commas to separate them.
Correct: John Smith AB1CD
Incorrect: John Smith (AB1CD) or John Smith, AB1CD

3. Article Structure and Length

Clear and Concise: Aim for a length of 200 to 450 words. Break up large blocks of text into smaller, easily digestible paragraphs.

No Sign-Offs: Do not sign-off articles being published; these are not letters to your mother, these are professional published articles. You are already cited in the system as the article author, there is no need to have any personal sign-off, 73’s, regards, your name, or call sign, etc.

Mandatory Sourcing: Rather, what is important is the source of the information or a link to the original article content. Cite this at the very bottom in the following format:
Source: www.website.com (ensure the link is set to open in a new tab).

4. Core Messaging

Ensure your content aligns with our core pillars: Emergency preparedness, ongoing training, public service events, and celebrating the history and achievements of our local ARES units and leadership.

5. Understanding the Content Workflow

As a writer, you are a crucial piece of a much larger content engine. Understanding where your article comes from and where it goes next will help you write better content and collaborate effectively with the rest of the team:

• Phase 1: Contributors (The Spark)
  Our Contributors are the eyes and ears of the community. They scour the internet for interesting news, tools, and updates, submitting the best links via the Submit Inspiration module. These submissions are the seeds you will use as the foundation or inspiration for your articles.
• Phase 2: Writers (The Storytellers)
  This is you! You take the raw inspiration provided by Contributors and craft it into a compelling, locally relevant article using the formatting and tone guidelines outlined above.
• Phase 3: Graphic Designers (The Visuals)
  Once your draft is complete, it is handed off to our Graphic Design team. They will read your work and create tailored, high-quality feature artwork and graphics designed specifically to elevate your message and draw the reader in visually.
• Phase 4: Publishers (The Polish)
  Finally, your completed article and its accompanying artwork move to the Publishers. They handle the final polish—optimizing for SEO, tweaking formatting, assigning categories, and ultimately scheduling the article to go live for the public to enjoy.

6. The Writers Widget

As a final note, all writers will have exclusive access to a pool of article ideas that have been submitted by our Contributors. You can easily browse these submissions by using the Writers Widget, which is conveniently located in the bottom footer section of the website. Through this widget, you can choose to accept or decline the various article ideas that come in. This means there will almost always be an article idea waiting for you when you are ready to tackle the task!