How Do I Launch a Seeking Alpha Investing Group?


Our approval process is based on three primary factors:

  • Your current following of readers on Seeking Alpha - and/or a large following elsewhere
  • Your ability to communicate investing ideas clearly - as well as to interact with fellow investors in a constructive manner - as measured by Seeking Alpha’s editorial team
  • A clear and unique value proposition for potential subscribers via your proposed service

Below are the most important metrics. If you meet these benchmarks we can begin the process of working together on a Investing Group. If you do not meet these benchmarks then please continue to write for Seeking Alpha and then write to us once you have achieved these benchmarks.

  • How large is your following? We currently require a following of over 7,000 “Real Time” followers and over 10,000 “Total Followers” in order to begin the onboarding process for Investing Groups. The “Real Time Follower” metric is most crucial, these are the readers who follow and who have their notifications turned on so they get alerts for your articles. We’ve found that having 7,000+ “Real Time” followers is a good indicator that if you launch a service, you will have readers interested in subscribing. You are able to review these metrics yourself on your Analyst Stats Dashboard. Another important metric is your Follower to Article ratio - how many followers you gain per article (divide the number of your Followers by the number of Articles you have published). We are looking for contributors that are ideally 15+. If yours is less, then that indicates you may not grow your followers at a strong enough rate to be successful with an Investing Group. We can make exceptions in rare cases for authors who have a very large social and/or email following, and/or for authors able to migrate subscribers over to Seeking Alpha from other platforms.

  • When did you last publish and how often have you been publishing? We have found that authors who publish regularly and interact with their readers in the comments section of articles tend to do well. With this in mind, we ask that you’ve published at least 15 total articles on Seeking Alpha and that you have published at least 3 times in the past 3 months prior to our moving forward with plans for an Investing Group Service. Frequent publishing and interaction with your readers in the comments section of your articles is a great way to become viable for Seeking Alpha Investing Groups sooner.

  • How good is your working relationship with our editorial team? How have your interactions with readers been in the comments section of your articles? We have found that authors who do well taking feedback from our editors as well as readers and react positively to constructive criticism tend to do well managing their own subscription communities in Investing Group services. There is a high likelihood that some subscribers in your service will criticize and challenge some ideas, and so we need to be sure that you have a solid track record of collaboration with our editorial team as an indicator of your viability to lead a community of subscribers and deliver high-quality research. Similarly, it’s key that you interact with commenters in ways that are constructive and positive as you will be challenged in similar ways by subscribers to your service.

  • How much time do you have? Our pitch, onboarding and launch process generally takes around 1-2 weeks of work, and while we are here to support you every step of the way, we need to make sure you have the time to commit to setting things up for success. We also need to make sure that you are able to commit at least 1 new piece of content per week for your new service subscribers. Beyond that, you only need to deliver what you advertise, so consider your availability and be clear about that when pitching your idea for a service as well as in your promotional materials once things go live.

  • How does revenue work for Investing Groups? Revenue is dependent on the type of subscriber.

    - New Subscriber: 90% to IG Leader, 10% to Seeking Alpha
    - Existing Subscriber: Year 1: 30% to IG Leader and 70% to SA, Year 2+: 50% to IG Leader and 50% to SA.

    New Subscriber
    - No current paid subscriptions or free trials to any SA product, and no paid subscriptions during the previous 12 months. As well, any subscribers who sign up through designated service affiliate links that can be shared offsite and in certain onsite marketing units.

    Existing Subscriber
    - Currently a paying subscriber to any SA - or that was a paid subscriber at any point during the previous 12 months. Also includes any user with a currently active free trial.

    More details are available should we move ahead together, full terms will be shared for your review and sign off before we launch your Investing Group.

If you meet the above benchmarks and are ready to start working on a service, email us at marketplace@seekingalpha.com and include the below information in your email:

  1. Please state your metrics: “Total Follower” and “Real Time Follower” numbers and/or where we can view a large following you have elsewhere if you don’t meet the required metrics on Seeking Alpha. Please also calculate your “Follower to Article” ratio (divide the number of your Followers by the number of Articles you have published) and state that metric as well.

  2. How many articles have you published on Seeking Alpha and when did you first publish?

  3. Please explain in 100 words or less the type of Investing Group you’d like to run by explaining your specific sector(s) of coverage or your unique methodology. Whatever you feel the approach and/or brand of your service will be. This should be brief, if we move ahead together we will be sending you a comprehensive pitch document to fill out.

  4. Please let us know when you feel you’ll be ready to commit to setting things up. As mentioned above, our onboarding process takes 1-2 weeks and has several stages. Please explain when you’d like to get started on setup as well as your ideal launch date.

  5. Provided you can answer all of the above, please advise on 3 meeting times that work for you in the next few weeks. All times should be Eastern Time (ET).

  6. We will review and provide feedback at each stage of the process, based on what we've seen work for our readers. We encourage you to continue writing on Seeking Alpha to maintain your profile during the launch process. Once you have the launch article and the other elements completed, we'll coordinate on the date to launch your Investing Group and set you live on Seeking Alpha.

Related posts:

How big is the commitment to being a Investing Groups Contributor?

What is Investing Groups?

Seeking Alpha's Investor Group Hits The $10 Million Mark

Seeking Alpha's First Millionaire

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