Everything You Need To Know About Using SWAAY

The ultimate guide to being a SWAAY Voice !

SWAAY is democratizing publishing for women. Our all-in-one platform provides our members with access to industry-leading editorial guidance, optimization tools, and distribution that can elevate both content creation and reach. Here, at SWAAY, you are not only joining a publishing platform, but you are also gaining access to a community of thought-leaders who are collectively raising their voices. It's what we have been doing since SWAAY was founded in 2016: amplifying voices that are unapologetically themselves both personally and professionally.

This is the only digital platform where women own the conversation. We make it easy to write and publish your experiences, opinions, and advice with the right audience. People want to hear your voice— and we're here to elevate it.

But it's more than just a place to post your writing, it's an opportunity to hone your voice with the guidance of your own dedicated editorial team as well as a like-minded community of fellow thought-leaders. We combine the insight of a networking group with the supportive enthusiasm of the tightest girl gang. Plus it's no fuss, no mysteries, and no add-ons, all you need to worry about is your next piece!

So if you're wondering where to start, here's our must-read guide on how to use SWAAY to its fullest. Not a member yet? Now's the perfect time to join!

Don't you just want to tell the world all about you? We want to see it! You can just click right on the bio content to edit it whenever you want, the same goes for your name and profile picture. Remember, you can't be featured on our homepage, unless you have this information filled out! Your bio can include what your writing interests are, what your current role or job is, or what industry you are an expert in. Check out of Influential Voices for some inspiration!

If you find yourself reading a lot from one SWAAY Voice in particular or maybe even looking forward to some of their ongoing columns, you can follow that Voice so you'll be the first to know whenever they publish something new. (Pro tip: check out those Voices spotlights on the homepage for some top picks.)

Plus, following an author sends them a notification that they have a fan! Why not make someone's day, right? Show them some love.

Yes, the headlining content and the Editor's Picks are still up to the SWAAY team, but The Latest is all you! Here's where all the new content from Voices you follow will appear as it is posted. If you don't follow anyone, any of the site's newest content will automatically pop up here, but it's even better when it's all coming from your very own favorite Voices!

Click that little bookmark button on the bottom right-hand corner of every article preview if you don't have time to read it right away! Any bookmarked articles will have a pink flag (like above) Non-bookmarked ones will be white.

If you scroll down on your profile, passed your bio and your written articles, and you'll find your list of Saved Articles. This way, you can have a bunch of content just waiting for you to read whenever you have the time!

SWAAY is all about women owning the conversation, so what better way to do that than commenting on other SWAAY Voice's articles? Comment what you're thinking on a certain piece or if you have a question for the author. Let's start some conversations, y'all!

This is what we're really here for, right? Let's get sharing!

If you click Submit New Story in either your profile or on the setting tab on every page, it will take you to our Entry Editor so you can get to typing. Our system guides you through the step by step process automatically. Here's how it works.

Here's what the entry editor looks like before you've filled it out with all your amazing content. Our system requires you to upload a headliner image. We recommend using the built-in-search bar for Giphy to get gifs or using free image websites such as Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay to source your copyright-compliant images! Don't worry, the editor will double-check all uploads, just in case! You also need to add a headline, a subheadline, and (of course) the content! The editors may opt to change your headline based on what we know about content optimization, but we always take your preferences into account. And if you have any problems with our changes or are curious about our decision-making process, feel free to shoot us an email. We're happy to talk it out with you! Click "Next" in the top right corner when you're done.

It's easy to tag your article with relevant words or phrases! Just type something in and hit enter, try to focus on words that you mention in your articles or that are relevant to people who may be searching for content like yours.

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Test out how your article appears in different searches and add links to related content that will appear at the bottom of your article! This also makes your post more searchable. Try to choose a few articles from around the web and a few articles from SWAAY; it's always nice to support your fellow SWAAY Voices. Customize your URL Slug, Update your SEO Headline, and Description with keywords that are related to your article and that are highly searchable.

If this is all sounding like too much, then forget about it! No need to fill this stuff out and stress yourself out more, the SWAAY editors review and optimize all of this content to do what best we can to make sure the maximum number of people can find and read your article. No matter how much or how little you fill out, we'll give it the official publisher's once over.

Once you're done, just click the button on the top right corner to submit it for review to our editors! We'll get in touch with you once we've edited, optimized, and scheduled it to publish.

Click My Stories to review your dashboard. You can keep track of the status of each individual article (such as whether they're drafts or not) and how many people have viewed them each individually on your Dashboard. On the top, you can also review your overall viewership by the hour, day, and all time. Our site even automatically calculates how much your views are increasing!

This might sound like a lot, but we want to give you the most customizable experience possible to better serve your content goals. If you have any questions about this process or any of these tools, feel free to reach out to our team and we're happy to walk you through via call or email.

Check back to this article for any procedure or functionality updates!