WANTED: Guest Bloggers

It's almost the start of "model train season" again (mid September through the holidays into late winter). If you're like me, the season never ends. OGaugeWatch experienced a considerable increase in visitor traffic during the model train season last year and I expect even more this year.  When I started OGaugeWatch back in the beginning of 2006, one of my primary goals was to help develop more interest in the O Gauge hobby by presenting a free source of O Gauge news and information.  Every blogger knows the best way to build an audience and generate interest in the blog's subject is to post good content.  There's no better time to present good content than when a blog's traffic is up.  To that end, I want to post as much original O Gauge content as possible in the upcoming months.  To achieve my goal, I need some help.  That's why I'm looking for guest bloggers.   

What does it take to become a guest blogger?  Not much if you're passionate about the O Gauge hobby and have something you want to write about it.  I'll accept any O Gauge related article that you feel may be interesting to others.  I'd like the article to be at least 100 words in length and, of course, it has to be your own original work.  Photos to accompany the piece are encouraged but not necessary.  If you're unfamiliar with digital photos but have prints, let me know and we'll work out the logistics to get them to me.  I can scan prints and work them into the article.

Anything O Gauge related is acceptable.  One topic that is very popular is O Gauge track plans.  If you have plans, especially for smaller layouts like 4' x 8' or 5' x 9', send them to me and I'll post them.  Here are some other ideas:

• Reviews of your favorite locomotives, rolling stock, track, buildings or accessories
• Photos of your layout with the story of its theme and how you built it.
• O Gauge tips and tricks that would be useful to beginners and/or enthusiasts
• A story about your memories of O Gauge trains when you were a child, especially around the holidays.
• Stories about how your participation in the O Gauge hobby helped you or others cope during difficult times.
• Write about interesting or rare pieces in your collection.

You can submit as many stories as you like but I can't guarantee all submissions will be posted on OGaugeWatch.  Submissions that are posted will be credited with a by-line of the author and all submissions are subject to editorial changes by the editor (that's me).  If you wrote some material in the past and posted it on an O Gauge forum, feel free to submit it because OGaugeWatch reaches readers that don't participate in those venues.

Since its inception, OGaugeWatch has had over 109,000 unique visitors, with over 68,000 of them visiting in 2007 so your stories will be seen by thousands of O Gauge fans.  Hopefully more and more of those visitors are potential newcomers to the hobby and who knows, maybe they will take the plunge after reading a guest blogger's post. 

Send your submissions to dave@ogaugewatch.com.

Dave