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Guest posts · Reviewed by engineers · No paid placements

Write for us: guest posting guidelines for the QalbIT software development blog.

We publish a small number of guest articles from people who have built, run or paid for software and have something specific to say about it. This page is the whole agreement: what we publish, what we turn down, how links are handled, what happens to your draft and how to pitch. Read it before you write: most rejections are pitches that skipped it.

No paid placements, no link exchanges, no exceptions. Every article is edited by a QalbIT engineer and carries a real, named author.

Pitch an article →Read the guidelines

1,200+

Words, minimum

2

Links to you, both nofollow

10

Working days to a decision

0

Paid placements, ever

Topics we publish

Guest post topics: the blog categories we run, and the work behind each one.

Every category maps to work QalbIT actually does, which is why we can edit it properly and why a reader trusts it. Pitch inside one of these. If your idea sits between two, say which one it serves.

What we turn down

Guest posts we do not publish, whoever sends them.

These are not judgement calls. Each one is a fixed rule, and a pitch that falls under one is declined without a review round.

  • Anything written to place a link

    If the article exists so a URL can appear in it, we can tell by the second paragraph, and so can the reader.

    Declined on sight. See the link policy below for what is allowed.

  • Generic overviews, listicles and rewrites

    "Top 10 benefits of custom software" has been written ten thousand times. We publish what only you could have written.

    Bring a project, a number, a mistake or a decision.

  • AI-generated drafts

    Use whatever tools help you think and edit. A draft that a model wrote and a person skimmed is not a contribution, and we run every submission through a human read that catches it.

    You are the author, and you sign your name to every claim.

  • Promotion of a product, service or agency

    Yours, a client’s or a competitor’s. A guest article on QalbIT is not an advertising slot, and no development company gets to sell its services on this site.

    A neutral mention where it is the honest example is fine; a pitch is not.

  • Sponsored, paid or exchanged content

    We do not sell placements, accept payment for articles, swap links or publish "partner" content. An offer of money ends the conversation.

    Every published link is editorial, or it is not published.

  • Off-topic or restricted subjects

    Gambling, crypto speculation, adult content, loans and lending, supplements, and anything unrelated to software and the businesses that run on it.

    Also: anything previously published anywhere, including your own blog.

Editorial standards

What a guest article has to meet before it goes live.

The bar is the one our own posts clear. We edit for clarity, accuracy and house style; substantive edits go back to you for approval, and a piece we cannot bring to standard is returned, not published.

  • Substance

    • One specific argument or lesson, stated in the first hundred words
    • First-hand experience: a project, a decision, a measurement, a failure
    • Numbers, examples or code where the claim needs them
    • Sources cited and linked for anything you did not measure yourself
    • 1,200 to 2,200 words: long enough to be useful, short enough to finish

  • Author

    • A real, named person with a verifiable public profile
    • A short bio stating your role and where you did the work
    • You wrote it, and you can answer questions about it on a call
    • One author per article; agencies do not submit on a client’s behalf

  • Writing

    • Plain English, active voice, no marketing adjectives
    • Headings that say what the section proves, not what it is about
    • No first-person plural about QalbIT: "we" in your article means your team
    • British or American spelling, consistently; we do not mind which

  • Format

    • A Google Doc or Markdown, with comment access for the editor
    • Two or three title options, and a two-sentence summary
    • Images you own or have the right to publish, with alt text
    • Code as text, not screenshots; tables as tables

On silence

We reply to every pitch that follows this page. Pitches that ignore it are not answered, which is not rudeness: it is the only way a small team keeps the door open at all.

How submissions work

From pitch to published: the guest post process, step by step.

Five steps, one editor, no chasing needed. Timings are working days and they are the ones we keep.

  1. Pitch, using the form on this page

    Category, working title, a three-line outline, the problem, your angle, what the reader leaves with, and one published piece of yours. Not a draft. A pitch is a page; a draft written before we say yes is a draft nobody asked for.

    Five minutes

  2. A yes, a short no, or a question

    An editor who works on this kind of software reads it and replies within ten working days. A yes comes with the angle we want and a deadline. A no is a short no: we do not give reasons or feedback on declined pitches, and we do not re-review them.

    Within 10 working days

  3. Write the draft

    Three weeks from the yes, in a shared document. If life intervenes, tell us and we move the date; a draft that arrives silently two months later starts again as a pitch.

    3 weeks

  4. Edit and fact-check

    One editing round. We check the claims, tighten the prose and mark anything we want changed. Substantive changes are yours to approve; house-style changes are ours to make.

    5 to 10 working days

  5. Publish and promote

    Published in the category it belongs to and shared on our channels, with you credited as the author. Guest articles carry the author’s name and bio; if a credit is ever missing or wrong, tell us and it is fixed the same day. You get the link the moment it is live and are welcome to share it anywhere.

    Next publishing slot

Rights, edits and removal

Who owns a guest post, what we may change, and when it comes down.

Written plainly so nobody has to ask a lawyer. If you need different terms, say so in the pitch; the answer will usually be no, but it will be quick.

  • You keep the copyright

    By submitting, you grant QalbIT a perpetual, worldwide licence to publish, edit, format, translate and promote the article on qalbit.com and its own channels, crediting you as the author. You confirm it is your original work and that you have the right to every image and quotation in it.

  • It stays exclusive to this site

    Do not republish the article elsewhere, including your own blog, LinkedIn articles or Medium. Excerpts with a link back are fine. If you ever want it removed so you can publish it yourself, ask; we will usually agree and redirect the URL.

  • We may edit, update and correct

    Before publication, with your approval on anything substantive. After publication, we fix errors, refresh dates and figures, and update links without asking. We never change your argument or put words in your mouth.

  • We may unpublish

    If a claim proves wrong and cannot be corrected, if the author’s identity turns out to be false, if the piece was published elsewhere, or if a linked destination becomes something we will not send readers to. We tell you when it happens and why.

FAQs · writing for QalbIT

Guest posting FAQs: before you pitch the QalbIT blog

Payment, links, AI, who can write, what happens to your draft, and the questions we get from agencies that have not read the page.

Ask us directly →
No. We do not sell placements, accept payment for publishing, swap links or run "partner content", and an offer of money ends the conversation. Every article on the QalbIT blog is there because an editor thought readers needed it, and every link in it is editorial. That is what makes a byline here worth having.
No. Both links to you, one in the bio, one in the body where it is genuinely the best source, carry rel="nofollow". Links to documentation, studies and sources you cite are followed at the editor's discretion. This is deliberate: it removes the only reason a link-builder would write for us and leaves the people who write because they have something to say.
You can write about what you learned building or running it, with the disclosure stated in the first paragraph. You cannot write a case for buying it. The test we use: if every mention of the product were replaced with a generic one, would the article still be worth reading? Development agencies cannot pitch their services on this site at all: that is QalbIT's business, and the blog is not a marketplace for it.
Use whatever helps you outline, research and edit. The draft has to be yours: your experience, your numbers, your argument, in your words, and you have to be able to defend every claim on a call. A submission that reads as an unedited model draft is declined, and repeated submissions of that kind close the door for the sender.
Practitioners: founders, product and engineering leads, designers, operations and finance people who have lived a software decision, and engineers with something specific and measured to show. You need a real name, a public profile we can verify, and first-hand experience of what you are writing about. Content agencies and ghostwriters submitting on a client's behalf are not accepted.
Between 1,200 and 2,200 words, in a Google Doc or Markdown with comment access. Two or three title options, a two-sentence summary, headings that state what each section proves, code as text and tables as tables. Images must be yours or licensed, with alt text. The length is a floor and a ceiling for a reason: shorter is rarely useful, longer is rarely read.
An editor replies to a complete pitch within ten working days with a yes and an angle, a short no, or a question. We do not give reasons or feedback on declined pitches: a small team cannot, and a reason invites a second round we have already decided against. After a yes you have three weeks for the draft, we take five to ten working days for the edit and fact-check, and the piece runs in the next publishing slot. Silence for longer than that means your pitch skipped the guidelines, which is the one kind we do not answer.
You keep the copyright. QalbIT gets a perpetual, worldwide licence to publish, edit, format, translate and promote it on qalbit.com and its own channels, crediting you as the author, and if a credit is ever missing or wrong, tell us and it is fixed. It stays exclusive to this site: no republishing on your blog, LinkedIn or Medium, though excerpts with a link back are welcome. If you later want it taken down so you can publish it yourself, ask and we will normally agree.
Yes to both, within limits written on this page. Before publication we edit for clarity, accuracy and house style, and you approve anything substantive. After publication we correct errors, refresh figures and fix links without asking. We unpublish only if a claim cannot be corrected, the author turns out not to be who they said, the piece was published elsewhere, or a linked destination becomes something we will not send readers to, and we tell you when that happens.
No, and the author credit and bio make that clear. A guest article carries its author's name and opinions; QalbIT's own positions are in the posts written by our team. You may say you have been published on the QalbIT blog. You may not describe QalbIT as a partner, client, customer or endorser on the strength of it, and we will ask you to correct any statement that does.
Specific, first-hand pieces inside the categories we run: what a CRM or ERP decision cost by year three, how an MVP was scoped and what happened after launch, a delivery problem and how it was fixed, an architecture or stack choice with the trade-offs shown, UX work with before-and-after evidence, or how a software decision played out in a sector. The category pages linked on this page show what we have already covered: the strongest pitches add to that rather than repeat it.

Pitch a guest post

Send the pitch, not the draft.

Five fields, five minutes. An editor who works on the kind of software you are writing about reads it and replies within ten working days: with a yes and an angle, a short no, or a question.

  • The category, from the list above
  • A working title and a three-line outline
  • What you did, built or measured that the article draws on
  • One published piece of yours we can read

Guest post pitchTakes five minutes

A public profile we can verify. This is the bio link, nofollow.

No paid placements. Both links to you are nofollow. Pitches that skip the guidelines are not answered.

Next step

Have a build to talk about instead?

If what you actually need is software rather than a byline, send two lines about it. You get a written scope, timeline and price range within 48 hours, free, and yours to keep either way.

Discuss your project