As a LifeTips writer, you may have noticed that the editors generally assign two different types of projects: the Tip & Advice Center (TAC) and the tip site sponsorship. Like twin sisters, these projects look identical. But fail to recognize their nuances and you’ll have snotty-nosed temper tantrums (from your editor).   

TACs are 100 tips in length. A TAC lives on the client’s website, usually in a section apart from the rest of the website’s main content in its own space, sometimes simply labeled “Knowledge Center.” Fifty of the 100 tips feature client keywords that link to other interior pages on the website, strengthening the SEO value of those pages. The client commands the style, tone, and language restrictions of the tips that will appear in knowledge center, and every one of the 100 tips must be approved by the client.

Like the TAC, a tip site sponsorship is 100 tips; the similarities end there. These 100 tips will live on a specific niche section of LifeTips.com, such as Gardening.LifeTips.com. The main editorial difference between the TAC and the tip site sponsorship is that the client has control over only 30 tips which contain keyword phrases that link back to the client’s website landing pages. These 30 tips must reflect the tone and style of the client’s choosing; the other 70 belong to LifeTips.com, are not linked, and dually serve as 1) enlightenment for our curious browsers and 2) SEO support for the linked tips.

The main thing to remember is to treat the tip site sponsorship a little bit differently than you’re used to with a TAC: thirty tips to the client’s specifications, the rest informational, without any mention of the client or product/service plug. Get this right and your editor will give you a cookie.