How we decide what gets published on eCommerce Fastlane.
200k+
50,000+
DR 73
483
3M+
6,519
Four stages of merchant, one article.
Launching or early
Finding repeatable growth
Building the operation
Eight figures and beyond
Launching or early
What earns a place on the site.
It answers first. The reader gets the conclusion in the opening paragraph, then the reasoning. Curiosity-gap openings that withhold the point belong in newsletters and social posts, not in an article a merchant is scanning between meetings.
It is grounded in specifics. Real numbers, real timeframes, real outcomes. "Improve your email marketing" is not insight. "Send a winback email 45 days after purchase with a 15% code that expires in 72 hours" is something a reader can run on Monday. If a figure is illustrative rather than measured, say so in the sentence.
It teaches the thinking, not just the tactic. Explain why something works and where it stops working. A tactic ages in months. The reasoning behind it is what a reader carries into the next decision.
It is written by a person who is accountable for it. Every piece carries a real author who stands behind the claims. See our AI policy below for what that means in practice.
It is original and unpublished. Not posted on your own blog, Medium, LinkedIn, or anywhere else, before or after. We check.
It is not a sales pitch wearing an article. Content whose main job is to promote a product, service, or personal brand gets declined, even when it is well written. Your company can be mentioned where it is relevant to the reader's problem. It cannot be the reason the piece exists.
The anatomy of a Fastlane article.
Every published article follows the same shape so readers, search engines, and AI assistants can all find the answer quickly. Build your draft to this shape and editing goes faster.
Open with the answer
Your first paragraph, 25 to 50 words, states the conclusion of the piece in plain language. A reader who stops there should still leave with the point.
Tell them what they'll learn
H2 sections that answer on the first line
Each main section opens with one sentence that answers the heading, then earns it. Keep sections between 200 and 400 words and use H3s to break down anything longer.
Show the data
Close with the next step
Five FAQ questions
Write them the way a merchant would actually ask an AI assistant ("Is Klaviyo worth it under $50K a month?"), and answer each in two to four sentences that stand on their own.
What our editorial team adds. On top of your draft we layer the house elements: the quick decision framework near the top, a pull-quote hook, formatted comparison tables, FAQ schema markup, and internal links into related Fastlane coverage. You do not need to build these. You do need to leave room for them by keeping your draft focused.
Write like a founder talking to a founder.
"Most Shopify stores lose 70% of first-time buyers before a second order. Here is the three-email sequence that brought that down to 52% for a $1.2M skincare brand in one quarter."
A real number, a real timeframe, a claim the writer stands behind.
"Leverage cutting-edge AI solutions to unlock next-level personalization and revolutionize your customer journey."
Vendor language. Our readers have heard it a thousand times and stopped listening.
"Think of checkout extensions like LEGO blocks for your checkout page: you snap in the piece you need, and only that piece."
A concrete picture that makes a technical idea usable.
House style, the short version. No em dashes or en dashes anywhere in the text; use a comma, colon, semicolon, or parentheses instead. Hyphens in compound adjectives are fine where they help the reader parse ("stage-specific", "real-time"). Number ranges can use "to" or a hyphen. No hedge words ("might", "could potentially", "it's possible that"). Name the apps, the integrations, and the workflows. Write in prose paragraphs; bullet lists are for genuinely list-shaped content, not for the body of the argument.
What to include with your draft.
1,500 to 2,500 words
Excluding the FAQ. Below 1,500 does not publish. Above 3,000, talk to us first; it may be two pieces.
The query, plus one open question
Put the phrase a merchant would search in the first 60 characters, name the subject and the stakes, and leave the conclusion unresolved. Title Case.
150 to 160 characters
Includes the primary phrase and states what the reader gets. Written as a sentence, not a keyword list.
Short and descriptive
H2 for sections, H3 to break them down
One H1 only, and that is the title. Headings are questions or claims a reader would search, not clever labels.
Screenshots and charts you have rights to
Supply descriptive alt text and a file name that says what it is. We create the featured image in-house to match the site.
Optional
A relevant YouTube tutorial or demo can be embedded if it adds something the text cannot. Do not force it.
Real name, real role
Google Doc, comment access on
Links placed inline on the anchor text. Images either embedded in the doc or shared in a folder alongside it.
Every link has to earn its place.
Links exist to help the reader understand the topic or check the claim. That is the test for all three kinds below.
Your link
A contextual link to your site or your client's, placed at the first natural mention in the section where it is relevant. Anchor text describes the destination. Additional links are agreed in advance, not added in the draft.
Internal links
External authority links
Worked example. You are writing about email automation. You link Klaviyo's benchmark report where you cite its open-rate figure (external authority), link our segmentation strategy article where you mention segmentation (internal), and link your client's template library in the paragraph where templates come up (your link). Three links, three different jobs, none of them forced.
The rules we hold ourselves to.
These apply to everything on the site: pieces written in-house, guest contributions, and sponsored content alike.
We use AI tools in our own production and we expect many contributors do too. The line is authorship, not tooling. The experience, the examples, the numbers, and the opinions in your piece have to be yours, and you have to be able to stand behind every claim if a reader challenges it.
Using AI to research, outline, tighten sentences, or check grammar is fine and needs no disclosure. Submitting a piece that was generated end to end, with a byline attached after the fact, is not. Those drafts read as generic to our editors and to our readers, and they get declined regardless of how clean the prose is.
Sponsors and partners do not get a say in our editorial opinions, our reviews, or which competitors we cover. Contributed and sponsored pieces are held to the same standards as our own writing and are edited by the same team.
Where a piece is a paid placement, a partner spotlight, or contains affiliate links, that relationship is disclosed on the page. Our affiliate disclaimer explains how affiliate links work across the site. We may add relevant Fastlane resource links to any published article; those are editorial additions and are not part of the contributor's placement.
Every statistic links to its primary source, not to a blog that cited it. Vendor claims are labelled as vendor claims until independently verified. Case studies use real outcomes; where a name or brand has to be anonymized for the client's privacy, say so, and never invent a named person to carry a made-up result. If a number is a reasonable estimate rather than a measured figure, the sentence says "illustrative".
We verify sources during editing. A claim we cannot trace gets cut or rewritten, and a piece that leans on untraceable claims gets sent back.
If we publish something inaccurate, we fix it and note the correction on the article. To request a correction, contact us with the article URL, the passage, and what the accurate version is, with a source where possible.
Articles are also refreshed on a rotation. When platform pricing, features, or data change, we update the piece and its "Updated" date so it stays accurate. Contributor links are preserved through refreshes.
Tell us up front if you are writing about your employer, a client, a company you have invested in, or a product you are paid to promote. The relationship does not disqualify the piece. Hiding it does. We disclose relevant relationships in the byline or the body where a reader would reasonably want to know.
Regulated or off-brand categories: CBD, casino and online betting, vaping, payday or high-risk loans, dating, or adult. Press releases and product announcements dressed as articles. Rewrites of other people's articles. Anything off-topic for founders and marketers running Shopify and DTC brands.
Crypto, forex, trading, and Web3 topics are reviewed under separate terms; note your vertical when you reach out.
What happens after you hit send.
Pitch first
Reach out through our contact page with your angle, your site, and who you are. We reply within one business day.
Draft to this page
Length, structure, voice, links, and bio as above. Run the self-check below before you share.
We edit
We publish
It keeps working
Articles enter our refresh rotation and may be featured in Fastlane Insider or on social when they fit.
Before you share the doc, check: the opening paragraph answers the question; every H2 opens with its answer; at least three internal links and two external authority links are placed and working; every named source is linked; there are five FAQ questions; there are no em or en dashes; no paragraph is longer than four sentences; the title carries the search phrase in its first 60 characters; the author bio is a real person; and the piece has not been published anywhere else.
Publication terms.
Rights. You own, or have full rights to, everything you submit, including images. You grant eCommerce Fastlane the right to publish, edit, and distribute the piece across our properties.
Editing. We edit every piece for clarity, accuracy, structure, and house style, and we may adjust or add images. Editing is not optional and we do not send every change back for sign-off.
Exclusivity. The piece is original and stays exclusive to eCommerce Fastlane. Republishing it elsewhere, including on your own site, is not permitted.
Placement and links. Published placements are permanent. Link destinations and anchors are fixed at publication and are not changed afterward. If a linked destination later breaks, goes off-topic, or violates these guidelines, we may remove the link.
Removal. We reserve the right to decline any submission before publication and to remove any content that violates these guidelines after it.
Commercial terms for contributed placements are confirmed directly when we reply to your pitch. See Write for Us for how guest publishing works.
Have a piece that fits?
Tell us the angle, who you are, and who it helps. If it is a fit, we will send terms and next steps within one business day.
Guidelines last updated September 2026.
