Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats

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You can get paid to write for Itchmo

We’re looking for writers to provide diverse perspectives and creative stories. If you’re a pet parent, you’ve come to the right place. Itchmo is the place for you to share your experiences as a pet parent and earn money for your writing.

Your stories, tips and news will be shared with hundreds of thousands of visitors each month — and you can earn money doing it. Become one of our writers and join the great pet parent community.

Frequently Asked Questions about writing for Itchmo:

• What are the benefits of writing for Itchmo?
• How do I get paid?
• What qualifications do I need?
• How do I start?
• Why did you start Itchmo?

Benefits Of Writing For Itchmo

• Community
  • We believe we are the largest pet news site (as measured by Alexa). That means you get instant access to a huge audience (as well as their feedback). We’ve been recognized for our coverage of the pet food recalls and have been expanding our news to cover all that a pet parent should know. Writing for Itchmo means growing with our dedicated readers as well as benefiting from the community of our writers. We’ve learned that blogging with other writers have made us better and sharper.
• Traffic
  • In less than 6 months, we have gathered more than 35,000 inbound links to this site (according to Google and Yahoo), which generate a steady stream of traffic.
  • Search engines like Google, Yahoo and others favor sites with lots of content. With more than 2,100 articles and counting, we’re rapidly becoming a huge source of pet-related content. This means more traffic to your stories.
  • Technorati ranks us among the top 10,000 blogs.
    (#7,103 as of 8/6/2007)
    
  • We’re well-versed in how to optimize our content for search engines so that your stories get read long after they’re published.
• Support
  • We have other writers and editors who can provide great feedback and help with editing. Some sentences take on a totally different meaning when you miss a word. A sounding board is always appreciated.
  • We handle all the technical and advertising headaches. We make sure the site gets the right ad placements, the best paid networks, is indexed by Google, etc. All you have to do is cash the check.
  • Our editors manage the offensive comments or spam to foster a vibrant community.
• Better Ads
  • Being bigger means more advertisers and higher advertising rates. Many major advertisers refuse to deal with smaller blogs. For example, to sign up for Chitika, you need 10,000 page views or more per month.
  • We are always on the lookout for irritating, annoying or offensive ads so you don’t have to.

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How You Get Paid

• 100% Of Google Ads
  • Itchmo uses Google Adsense advertising. Google pays a few cents to several dollars every time a reader clicks on an ad on your page. You get 100% of the Google advertising revenue on your posts. This means you keep all the Google ad revenue from your permalink post pages. There is no cap on the amount of money you can earn or the amount of posts you can write.
  • This arrangement works well when social bookmarking sites like Digg or StumbleUpon pick up your post as all of that traffic is directed at the page and not the site’s homepage. You will continue to see income from a popular post you wrote months ago.
• How We Get Paid
  • We pay for the server, bandwidth, support, editing and other costs from the ads that are posted elsewhere such as the homepage, the category pages. Our goal is creating a sustainable community with a variety of opinions and points of view.
• Other Ad Networks
  • Itchmo is always looking for other sources of income. For non-Google ad networks, you’ll receive a revenue share of the traffic your posts bring in. For example, if your post pages comprise 20% of the pageviews for our site, we’ll send you 20% of the non-Google revenue.

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What Qualifications Do You Need?

• Passion For Writing
  • Do you enjoy writing? Do people like your writing? We’re looking for writers who can write on a consistent basis. The more you write, the better you get. We want Internet-savvy people who can write creative content about new and interesting topics and opinions.
• Love Of Pets
  • Do you love pets? You don’t need to be a veterinarian or an expert, just a smart, savvy and fun pet owner. And we don’t care what pets you have right now. We cover new products, tips for pet parenting, humor, having fun with your pets, do-it-yourself projects, medical issues, reviews, and lots more.

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How Do I Start?

• To apply, email us at itchmotips@gmail.com with the following:
  • Your phone number and where you live.
  • Include three (3) writing samples. Must be longer than 300 words.
  • Links to your best work online — such as your personal blog, published articles, etc.

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Why We Got Started

Why? Because we wanted a site like Itchmo — a place where pet parents can get all the news they need about their cats or dogs. It was first a hobby, then a passion, then a mission. Our goal is to create a sustainable, growing resource site that’s fed by a community of pet parents.

(Thanks to Wisebread, the personal finance blog, for the inspiration.)

Subscribe to our daily pet news digest email.
We respect your privacy, because we hate spam too.

About Itchmo Pets Network

Itchmo Pets Network is a group of web sites dedicated to informing and serving pet owners. Started by a husband and wife team (and their awesome dog), the main news site, Itchmo.com, received national attention through the extensive and in-depth coverage of the pet food recalls that started on March 16, 2007.

Itchmo has supplied pet-related news to US Senate and Congressional staff, as well as dozens of national and local news outlets. Itchmo was also featured on USA Today and the Los Angeles Times for our coverage of the pet food recall.

Itchmo is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with a network of tipsters, writers and moderators spread out across the country. We provide essential news for pet owners as well as original articles, editorials, humor, pictures, videos and more.

News reports from Itchmo can be heard every week on WGN Radio (Tribune Broadcasting) and is syndicated to hundreds of local radio stations though the Animal News program. Itchmo editors make frequent appearances as guests on Seattle’s own KIRO Radio.

Itchmo also operates the ItchmoForums where more than a thousand dedicated pet owners discuss issues that are important to their family’s well being. Itchmo Pets Network also provides pet-related product reviews on CatStuffReviews.com and DogStuffReviews.com.

We love what we do because we love our cats and dogs — just like you.

Editorial and Management Staff:

Ben Huh - Editor and Publisher, Itchmo Pets Network

Ben holds a BS in journalism from the prestigious Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. His articles and photos have been published in newspapers like The Oregonian, The Baltimore Sun, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and dozens of others. After leaving the newspaper industry, Ben has spent extensive time working for Internet and software companies. This is Ben’s second start-up. Besides the Seattle area, Ben has also lived in Chicago, Seoul, Hong Kong, New Orleans, Ft. Lauderdale, Portland, and Sacramento.

Emily Huh - Editor, Itchmo Pets Network

Emily is the news engine that drives Itchmo.com She’s an avid reader of the news and the official ombudsman for the Itchmo Pets Network community and an expert on pet news. Her previous career was in management in the early-childhood education industry. She applies her considerable experience in educating children to pet care. Emily graduated cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles and is a native of the Bay Area and has also lived in Colorado, Chicago and Singapore.

Terry Bain - Writer, Itchmo Pets Network

Terry Bain is a humorist and author of the books You Are a Dog and We Are the Cat. He’s also an accomplished fiction writer, whose stories have appeared in Book Magazine, The Gettysburg Review, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. Terry lives in Spokane, Washington with his wife, three kids, two dogs, and a cat. He blogs about books and writing and other blessings at bainbooks.com, and his other collected and sundry thoughts and explanations syndicate themselves here: Terry Bain’s Amazon.com Author Blog. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, in his spare time he’s teaching himself to play the ukulele.

Andrea Dickson - Writer, Itchmo Pets Network

Jennifer L. Moore - Writer, Itchmo Pets Network

Jennifer L. Moore is a freelance writer and animal advocate located in the Washington, DC area. She can be contacted at jmoore@audiodef.com. Samples and notes about her work can be viewed at http://paper_clip.livejournal.com.

Patty Richard - Writer, Itchmo Pets Network

Patty Richard is a native of Rhode Island and currently lives on Prudence Island, where she waits anxiously for tourist season to be over, then waits anxiously for hunting season to be over. Although most of her professional life has been geared to printing and publishing, she has a shockingly short attention span and has performed all manner of unrelated tasks ranging from peeling potatoes to monitoring seawater quality parameters for NOAA. Somehow she always ends up back in the publishing business.

She has always shared her home with pets. Her current pet family consists of two cats: a 20-year-old tiger tabby named Rochester (alias “King of Beasts”) and an adopted feral, approximately 7 years old, named Nermal. She is also the de facto guardian of 6 chickens: Bertha, Gimpy, Big Red, Little Red, Little Blackie and Psycho-Chicken.

Patty’s ambition is to win Powerball, buy a small island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and retire into obscurity. She’s already accomplished the obscurity part.

Phillip “Fil” Tsai - Writer and Administrator, Itchmo Pets Network

Fil is the curator of the ItchmoForums community and serves as the official referee and superintendent. He is an avid enthusiast of pets, cars and cooking. Fil graduated with a Computer Science degree from Northwestern University and is a St. Louis native.

Dr. Edward Wu, MD - Contributing Writer, Itchmo Pets Network

Dr. Edward Wu covers the happenings of the trend-setting New York pet scene for Itchmo. He received his MBA and MD from Northwestern University and currently practices in Brooklyn. He is also an avid photographer, well-versed in wines and a fan of all things technology-related.

Advisory Pet Member

Nemo, a cream-colored miniature Poodle-mix, is the Official Dog of Itchmo. He serves as the inspiration for the company and reminds us to smell the roses — that he peed on.

Itchmo Pets Network is expanding and looking for writers as well as an Official Cat. Applications are accepted at our tips email address.

Press Contact:
Contact Name: Ben Huh
Contact Email: ben@itchmo.com
Contact Phone: (425) 444-3766

Looking for pet-related sites? Check out these sites for dog and cat information, products, and more!

• CatStuffReviews.com - Comprehensive real user reviews of products for cats.
  Read expertly compiled reviews from real users on the products your dog will love. Read our reviews before you buy anything for your cat.
• DogStuffReviews.com - Comprehensive real user reviews of products for dogs.
  Read expertly compiled reviews from real users on the products your dog will love. Read our reviews before you buy anything for your dog.
• ItchmoForums.com - A forum for dog and cat lovers.
  Speak your minds and share with other pet parents. Comprehensive reports on pet foods by brand, health and wellness tips, and much more!
• Petpop.com - A site for pet owners to show off their cats and dogs.
  PetPop.com allows members to customize their profile page with their own style and the ability to add widgets such as music players, games, clocks and slideshows.
• TerrificPets.com - Dog Accessories
  Thousands of dog accessories and supplies to shop through at discount prices. Many indoor and outdoor accessories to choose from, dog apparel, dog houses and more.
• VetLocator.com - Find a vet in your area

Did you find something amusing or interesting about dogs and cats on our site?

Here’s how you can use our content and link to us:

Linking to a specific post

We provide easy linking below the ratings area on every story. Feel free to post a link to any of our articles. Link to us in your blog, company site, etc. It’s a great way to provide vital info on cats and dogs to your readers.

You can even use some of our content (under fair-use laws)

Yes. You can use any portion our content on your site. What does that mean? You can quote portion of a post (not the entire post) as long as it is attributed and linked to Itchmo. That means if you want to talk about something mentioned on Itchmo, you can cut and paste sections of our post, link to us and add your commentary.

Want to use an entire post?

We allow you to use one of our posts per month per site in its entirety — without any expressed written consent — as long as you use this exact link to provide us with credit at the bottom or the top of the article:

<a href=”http://www.itchmo.com”>News for cats and dogs from Itchmo.</a>

Linking to the homepage or sections

For easy organization, we created separate category pages such as one for cats, dogs, humor, new york, etc. Those links can be found on the right side of the page. You can right-click on the link and copy the link location.

Or Grab This Widget And Put The Latest Pet News On Your Site

Enjoy!