Kristi Anderson is Managing Editor of the AOL Living sites, including ParentDish.com, Lemondrop.com, StyleList.com, and PawNation.com.


Since you've joined SEED, it's clear you're interested in being a part of the next phase of content creation -- where you can share your expertise, reach a large audience, and reap rewards for it. SEED offers an unrivaled opportunity for creative, passionate and qualified people (like you!) who have a voice and opinion to be seen, heard, and read.

At SEED, we are committed to enabling talented, professional writers, photographers, and content creators to produce quality content. SEED Academy represents our intention to meet that commitment, with our team of experienced editors offering you tools and insights to take your writing to new heights. If our goal is to help SEED grow, then think of the Academy as the greenhouse where we can nurture our writing community and watch good ideas take root.

We named this training effort the SEED Academy, because we realize that you are coming to us with a strong skill set to begin with. The word 'academy' connotes higher learning, with best practices and key learnings shared by voices of authority -- and that includes you.

As we bring you new articles on content creation, process, SEO and other relevant writing topics, we want to hear from you -- as the professionals you are -- in our comments section. We want to provide you with truly helpful content, so it's your thoughtful feedback that will make the Academy grow and serve as a rich repository of helpful information.

As you start your journey at SEED, I invite you to read through our selection of articles devoted to the cornerstones of the writing process. My colleague Chris beautifully captures how to write about your passion, while Deidre shares how to keep an evergreen topic fresh. And, Bruce provides pointers for creating compelling narrative.

As you accept assignments, you'll also find our articles on the content creation process helpful. My friend Willy adeptly offers insight into how to find your writing voice and edit your own work.

We believe that SEO copywriting as an essential element of good article writing, and it helps you better promote your work. So, you'll find helpful articles on key SEO concepts like linking, social networking -- plus SEO myths and must-do's -- in our SEO and Promotion section.

Please also visit our Resources section, which provides additional guidance in our FAQs, Contributor Guidelines, Photography Guidelines, and other helpful tools and links. You'll also enjoy meeting some of our featured AOL network contributors, and see how they succeeded in getting their voices heard.

As SEED evolves, you can participate in new features like webinars, incentive and recognition programs, and community forums. Please stay plugged into the Academy for updates as we introduce these new opportunities and offerings.

All of these articles and resources can be of great service as you start creating your own articles here at SEED. So, take some time to read before you write. Think about how these tutorials can guide you as you start taking on SEED assignments. You're already a talented writer. At SEED Academy, we invite you to join us as at the table -- where we'll share key learnings and enjoy an ongoing conversation about how to help us as a collective of writers to do our best work. To help you create, be heard by the widest audience possible, and get paid for your passion.

Let's help SEED grow ... together.