Work With Us
Working with CIOPages
Most of what people write to ask us about is available, free, and takes about ten minutes. This guide covers all of it in three parts, so you can read the one that applies to you and skip the rest.
Read by CIOs, CTOs, enterprise architects and their teams at mid-market and enterprise organizations — people comparing platforms, not browsing.
Three parts — read the one that’s yours
Nobody should have to read someone else’s answers to find their own.
Vendor Listings
For vendors, product marketers, and the agencies working with them
- Directory Listing & Enhancements
- Buyer Guide Spotlight Purchases
Editorial Contributions
For technology executives and practitioners who'd like to write for us
- Writing for CIOPages
Our Editorial Principles
For communications and PR teams, SEO agencies, and anyone curious how we stay independent while selling advertising
- Independence
- Links, PR & Coverage
- Corrections
Or go straight there
Part One
Vendor Listings
For vendors, product marketers, and the agencies working with them
Two different things live here, and they're worth keeping separate in your head. The first is your record — the profile buyers see when they look your category up. That's free, it's yours to correct, and it always will be. The second is reach — appearing on the Buyer Guides where CIOs are actively shortlisting. That one we sell, openly, at a published price.
Directory Listing & Enhancements
Getting listed, claiming the record, keeping it accurate, and the optional Enhanced Listing that adds lead capture.
Get listed in the Directory
Worth having to hand
- Your work email on the company's own domain — it's how we know you're really there
- The company name exactly as you'd like it published
- The canonical website URL, including https://
- One category and one subcategory — pick where a buyer would look for you, which isn't always where you'd like to compete
- A tagline of ten words or fewer: what the product does, in plain language
- A description of roughly 400–1,000 characters: the problem it solves, who buys it, what makes it different
How it goes
- 1Search the Directory first1,700+ companies are already in there. If you're one of them, claiming the existing record is faster than starting a new one — and it avoids a duplicate, which is the most common reason a submission stalls.
- 2Fill in the submission formCompany details, category, tagline, description, plus your name and work email so we can come back to you.
- 3We read itAn editor checks the company is real, the category fits, and the copy describes rather than sells. We may tidy it for consistency — we'll always keep the meaning.
- 4Claim the published listingOnce it's live, claim it with your company email to earn the verified badge and take control of the record.
- 5Come back when things changeFunding, a rename, an acquisition, a new product line. A current profile converts far better than a complete one that's two years old.
What tends to send one back
- Superlatives — "leading", "best-in-class", "world's #1". We take them out, so it saves us both a round if they're not in there
- A description that never quite says what the product does
- A category picked for search volume rather than fit — buyers notice, and it costs you the inquiry
- Consultancies or resellers submitted as software products
- A submission from a personal email on behalf of an unnamed client
Claim and verify an existing listing
Worth having to hand
- An email address on the company's domain — that's what proves control
- The corrections you'd like to make, gathered in one go
- Your logo, if you'd like it on the profile
How it goes
- 1Find your companySearch by name on the vendor page. Every active listing can be claimed.
- 2Submit the claimWe email a verification link to your company address; one click confirms it.
- 3Set your portal passwordYour vendor portal opens — profile, submitted corrections, and placement management if you buy one.
- 4Send us your correctionsEdits are reviewed before publishing, the same as any change on the site. Factual corrections are rarely refused.
- 5Decide what you need nextClaiming is free and complete on its own — plenty of vendors stop here. Enhanced ($299/yr) adds lead capture; a guide placement adds reach.
Buyer Guide Spotlight Purchases
Disclosed placements on the guides your buyers are reading — how they work, what they cost, and how the review goes.
On what’s coming: What's for sale changes as we add formats — newsletter sponsorships and other placements may well open later, and this page is where they'll appear first. What doesn't change is the line: advertising is disclosed and sits beside the analysis, and the analysis itself is never for sale.
Buy a Spotlight or Featured Sponsor placement
Worth having to hand
- A shortlist of the Buyer Guides your buyers actually read — open slots are shown per guide
- A view on Spotlight (one of five cards) versus Featured Sponsor (the single exclusive slot above them)
- An accurate Directory profile — the card renders from it, so it's worth a read-through first
- A company logo, for the Featured Sponsor treatment
- A card. You don't need an existing Enhanced Listing; one is included
How it goes
- 1Pick your company and your guidesThe shop shows how many of the five Spotlight slots are open on each live guide, and whether the Featured slot is taken.
- 2Check out onceOne checkout covers every placement plus your Enhanced Listing. Your card is authorized and held — nothing is taken yet.
- 3We check the fitAn editor confirms you genuinely belong in that guide's category and that your profile facts hold up. Usually within one business day.
- 4You go liveThe card publishes in the guide's Spotlight module, the annual charge goes through, and your portal opens.
- 5Or we release the holdIf we can't run it, nothing is charged and we'll tell you why — category fit is nearly always the reason, and often another guide is the better home.
- 6Renew, change or stop at renewalPlacements are annual and managed from the portal. Cancel any time to stop the next renewal.
What tends to send one back
- A guide whose category your product doesn't really serve — we'd rather move you than take the money
- Profile facts that don't match your own website
- Supplied ad copy for the card: it renders the same reviewed profile fields as every other listing, which is what keeps it credible
- A placement bought in the hope of also entering the guide's analysis — those are separate by design
The full disclosure — how placements are labeled and separated — is here →
Part Two
Editorial Contributions
For technology executives and practitioners who'd like to write for us
We publish guest bylines, and the ones that land are always the same shape: a senior operator writing about something they were personally on the hook for. We keep the bar high and the process short — a few paragraphs of pitch, not a finished draft.
Writing for CIOPages
Who we publish, what makes a piece work, what you get, and how to put yourself forward.
Pitch a contribution
Worth having to hand
- Your role and organization, and what you were accountable for
- A three-sentence thesis — the argument, not the topic
- Three to five bullets on what the piece would cover
- Anything you've published before, if you have
How it goes
- 1Send the pitch, not the pieceA few paragraphs is genuinely enough to tell whether it's a fit, and it saves you writing 1,500 words on spec.
- 2We read it against what's in flightFit is partly the argument and partly timing — what we're already commissioning around that theme.
- 3If it's a yes, we agree an angle and a dateYou write; we edit for clarity and house style and send the final text back before it runs.
- 4It publishes with your bylineYour title, a two-line bio, one link of your choosing in the bio, and promotion through our newsletter and social channels.
What tends to send one back
- A finished draft attached to a cold email — we'll ask for the pitch anyway
- A piece that concludes with the author's product
- Anything already published elsewhere, or syndicated across several sites
- Drafts generated by AI and sent as original work
Who we publish, what we look for, and what a contributor gets — in full here →
Part Three
Our Editorial Principles
For communications and PR teams, SEO agencies, and anyone curious how we stay independent while selling advertising
We sell advertising and publish independent research to the same audience. That only works if the line between the two is drawn in public and holds on a slow month as well as a good one. Here's where we've drawn it, why, and what it means for the requests we get most.
The requests we get most
Each of these has a reason behind it, and in most cases something we can offer instead.
Request a correction
Worth having to hand
- The exact URL, and the sentence or field that's wrong
- What the correct fact is
- A public source we can check it against — your own site counts
How it goes
- 1Send it with the evidenceClaimed vendors can submit from the portal; anyone else can use the contact form. The URL and a source is all we need.
- 2We check the sourceYou don't need to argue the case — just point at it. Anything we can confirm gets corrected.
- 3We fix it, and note it where it mattersTypo-level fixes are silent; a substantive change to an assessment carries a dated note, because readers deserve to see it changed.
The reasoning in full — independence, links, corrections — is on the Editorial Policy page →
Take it with you
The same guide as a PDF, in three editions — take the one for your side of the conversation, or the combined copy if you want the lot. Every section carries its live URL. No form, no email required. Updated August 2026.
Vendor Listings & Spotlight Placements
For vendors, product marketers, and the agencies working with them
Everything on listings, claims, the Enhanced Listing and Buyer Guide placements — pricing, checklists, and what a placement deliberately doesn't buy. No contributor material.
Download PDFFocused editionWriting for CIOPages
For technology executives and practitioners who'd like to write for us
The contribution bar, what we're looking for, what a contributor gets, and the pitch format. Short enough to forward to a busy executive.
Download PDFEverythingWorking With CIOPages
For anyone who wants the whole picture
All three parts in one reference document — vendor listings, editorial contributions, and the principles behind both. The one to keep on file.
Download PDFPrefer to read online? Browse the FAQ →