Interviews

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The ReadWrite Mission

ReadWrite is the leading media platform dedicated to IoT and the Connected World. We work with the industry’s top technologies, thinkers, and companies to tell the stories that drive this world forward. We strive on a daily basis to answer the critical questions on your minds – about the data, privacy, security, and platform issues, and how all these ecosystems come together for you. Our content lives at the intersection of entrepreneurs and enterprise, the birthplace of these new technologies that will impact every industry they touch.

Our Focus

We cover IoT and the Connected World…exclusively
We cover new topics that no one has covered or even thought of yet
We also cover existing topics, but with a new angle or insight
We are provocative, but backed by data and rigor
We are controversial and sometimes combative, but always driving towards a conclusion
Why does someone need to read this (in other words, did we answer a question)

Not Our Focus

We don’t cover apps (RARE exception: An app that has connected a whole of new things into a community…which probably means it’s not really an app story, right?)
We don’t follow individual crowdfunding campaigns (although we do periodic roundups of interesting crowdfunding campaigns)
We don’t do games (sadly)
We cover AR (as a great interface topic) but not VR (see “games” above)

ReadWrite Interview Guidelines

ReadWrite is seeking interviews from industry experts, executives, and influencers to share with our community. The content should help our readers understand today’s technology, including how to invest in, apply, and benefit from it.

The content should attract those founders and inventors who are building the disruptive technologies and bringing those solutions to the masses around the world.

Interview Lengths

We like to have interview between 1,000 to 3,000 words. Preferably, we aim for 1,500 words.
Longer interview lengths provide more relevant information that readers can use and helps bring them back to read more on our site.
Longer, in-depth posts are also more likely to be picked up by some of our media partners.

Citations, Links, and Relationships

Please have the first two links in every post point to relevant internal ReadWrite content that relates to your topic.
Use external links for any third-party perspectives, evidence, and statistics.
Only use credible sources, including research studies and major publications. Do not use Wikipedia.
Disclose the nature of any relationship with a company or person that is mentioned in your content.
If your post is a non-sponsored, non-affiliated product review, there needs to be a disclosure included at the top and bottom of the post.
If you use a quote within an article, you may only link to their Twitter handle unless previously approved by our editorial staff.
Please do not overly self-promote your own business if you include it in any of your content. We will remove anything that we deem too promotional.
Our editorial staff reserves to right to add rel=”nofollow” to any link or remove a link attached to words or images before or after publication
Do not link to any questionable sources or industries, such as pharmaceuticals, casinos, payday loans, or pornography.
Buying, selling, or trading links that appear in posts is strictly prohibited.

SEO Best Practices

HTML formatting related to bulleted lists, headers, bolding, etc.
1 WordPress category
Shortened titles in the meta title section
Alt tags for any images used in the blog post
No keyword linking
All quotes must be cited properly
If there is a link in the post that isn’t valuable to the reader, it’ll be removed.
We do NOT accept the following types of links in articles: Gambling, Casino, Drugs, Violence, Real Estate, Lawyers, Porn, Adult, etc. We reserve the right to remove every and all links in every post. We rarely do this but occasionally we do.

Formatting

Write out numbers from 1, 2, 3, etc.
Write percentages as digits.
Use one space after all punctuation.
Use the Oxford comma format.
Capitalize first and last words in headings. All other words are capitalized in a heading except articles (an, a, the, etc.), coordinating conjunctions (for, and, or, but, etc.), and prepositions that contain three or fewer letters (in, one, at, etc.).
Headers in H2 tags and sub-headers in H3 and H4 tags.
No spam or div tags

Images

A featured image should be least 1280 pixels and 853 pixels tall. Make sure that the featured image appears correctly before submitting your post.
Use center alignment for photos within the blog post unless they are aligned with text.
Set the display size for all images to “large.”
Upload at least one image per blog post and place it within the first approximately 150 words.
If you want to include images, please also share them via an online service (Flickr, Dropbox, etc.) and include the link. You can use your own images, but please note that. Note the source if you are using an image from a photo licensing service like AP, Getty, or Shutterstock. Also, include the name and email address of your representative so we can verify that you have rights to the image. You are solely responsible for obtaining these rights. By submitting a post, you represent and warrant to ReadWrite that you have done so.
All images must have alt tags and title attributes. Use the title of the post or a brief photo description.
Do not use charts, graphs, or illustrations from other websites unless our editorial staff has approved it.
We do not accept any images that have a brand, logo, or external links displayed on them. There should not be any branded images that may appear to make the post into sponsored content.
Memes are not acceptable images for our site.

Example Questions

What are some of the biggest changes you have made to your marketing strategies in the last five years
Do you ever look at the software metrics compiled by any of your programs? If so, have you used them to make any changes to your marketing processes?
Has your sales team moved toward more video meetings rather than phone calls and in-person meetings? If so, do you feel this has been an improvement or detriment to communication?
If you could choose one mistake to correct when first starting your business, what would it be?
Do you use any software apps to help generate sales leads? If so, which have you found to be the most and least effective?
Do you generally find it more useful to hire highly experienced marketing employees or ones with less experience but potential for growth?
How important would you consider mentorship to be to new entrepreneurs? Did it impact your career path?
What sources do you use to stay on top of upcoming business trends and opportunities?
What is one book you would recommend to every business owner or professional?
What non-work related activity do you find essential to maintaining your drive for success?
What are some adaptations your business has made in the past three years in response to situations out of your control?
Have you ever had a situation arise where there was a disconnect in strategy between your sales and marketing teams? If so, what was the result of that?
When choosing the focus of a business, do you recommend following a passion or looking for opportunities wherever they might be found?
Has your business evolved over time regarding what services or products you offer, or has your focus remained consistent since commencement?
What is one business expense area you spend on very generously? What is one area where you might be especially cost conscious?
What are 2-3 business leaders you consider to be admirable? Why?
What do you think is the best way to make someone stand out from their competitors?
How important is social media to your personal branding strategy?
What is your #1 lifetime goal, either personally or professionally?
How has your personal branding strategy changed over the last few years?
What do you think are the most common errors in the process of creating a personal brand?
What is an unpopular opinion you have within your industry?
What are some adjustments you’ve made throughout your career in order to adapt to changes in the world around you?
Which credentials or skills do you possess that have been most useful in opening doors in your field?
Do you think it is more effective to have an iconic product or an iconic persona when building your brand?
What is a long term and a short term goal for your career?
What tools do you find to be essential in staying organized?
What have you found to be the best way to build professional relationships?
Do you mainly focus on establishing your brand within your area, or do you hope to expand your recognition internationally?
In the beginning stages of forming an advantageous professional relationship, what are some red flags to look out for?
What was the first major milestone you achieved in your career?
What is an example of a time when you were able to solve a problem using creative or out-of-the-box methods?
How paperless is your business?
When it comes to hiring IT support, how do you rank the importance of the following traits: cost, response time, cybersecurity expertise, knowledge of tech advancements?
Do you tend to always be on the lookout for better software program options, or do you tend to stick with what you’re comfortable with?
Have you set up remote work options? If so, what were the main technology changes you made to accomplish this?
Do you have protocols in place for which apps employees should use for specific types of communication (e.g. use only email for task requests)?
What is a favorite program you wish was still available or supported? What did you like about it, and what did you find to replace it?
Have you found software or remote sourcing options that have allowed you to reduce overhead costs? If so, what were they?
How important is it that programs you use are compatible with your mobile device?
Do you ever look at the software metrics compiled by any of your programs? If so, have you used them to make any changes to your business processes?
Has your business moved toward more video meetings rather than phone calls and in-person meetings? If so, do you feel this has been an improvement or detriment to communication?
Would you describe your business as being tech savvy, or do you still use some hardware or software that most people might consider to be outdated?
What do you feel is the most important technology upgrade you’ve made in the past three years?
Do you use a third party IT support provider or do you have in-house service?
Is your client base open to using technology when interacting with you, or are they somewhat resistant? Explain.

Get Published

To publish an interview on ReadWrite, follow our publish process below:

Review ReadWrite’s guidelines, example interviews, and standard topic focuses.
Create a list of questions that are similar to our example questions. These questions should engage the ReadWrite audience with your EXPERTISE – NOT be an advert for your company.
Answer your questions in a format that follows our example posts. Write an intro, conclusion. This is an article, not a list of questions and answers! (Example Post 1, Example Post 2 )
Submit your article and payment to Readwrite. Note, if you do not follow guidelines and format, we will NOT post your article. Further, we will NOT be providing refunds. Just follow our rules!
Expect your article published within 7-12 business days. We will send you a publish notification via the email contact you specify!