Is It Easy to Upload an Article to Wikipedia
Editor'south annotation: We brought this popular commodity from a few years ago up to date for 2020.
Since 2001, Wikipedia's community of volunteer editors has created more 6 million pages, many of them found on Google's showtime page of search results for that topic. Wikipedia's ubiquity bestows upon it the ability to lend its credibility to other subjects, which is attractive for companies and organizations who require recognition.
But Wikipedia's volunteer editors are focused on edifice a serious encyclopedia, and not so interested in helping a brand's content marketing program. If y'all want to create an entry about a company (or whatever topic related to your business), you need to understand what Wikipedia is looking for and the correct fashion to go about it. This mail service describes the process at a high level, but it'southward only a starting point – follow the links within to acquire more earlier you lot try.
Start with the disharmonize of interest policy
Given that anyone tin edit a Wikipedia entry, content marketers and other communications professionals recall they tin create and publish entries for their visitor or clients. But you really can't do it all if you pay close attention to its conflict of interest policy.
In brusque, transparency is a key requirement. If you are receiving compensation from the company or take another type of interest in seeing an commodity published, you lot are best served by post-obit Wikipedia'south disclosure rules.
Assess likelihood of eligibility
Showtime, y'all need to determine whether your visitor meets Wikipedia's eligibility requirements for "notability," which is admittedly judgmental. (No one wants to hear, "Sorry, you're not notable.") The difficult truth is that nigh companies don't immediately authorize and attempting to create a page in these circumstances can exist immensely frustrating.
What qualifies for a Wikipedia article and what if your visitor is not there yet?
To be considered, your company needs an interesting story almost what it has achieved, and it must be a story that'south been told by working journalists. Wikipedia is not a place for self-published information, but instead what others have written about your brand. Credible news sources are a must. Press releases and company websites don't cut information technology and, for the virtually part, can't be used.
Press releases and your website don't cut it as sources for a @Wikipedia entry, says @williambeutler via @cmicontent. Click To Tweet
Evaluate bachelor sources
A adept early step is to identify all the information about your visitor in the news. Has a big-city newspaper or trade publication written near your business organisation model, your founding story, or your market position relative to competitors? Does the coverage brand a clear instance for why your visitor is doing something interesting or unusual? If y'all have several articles like this, great – you're in the hunt. If you don't, save yourself time dealing with Wikipedia and pursue a PR strategy to earn that in-depth coverage.
Identifying credible news coverage is tricky. National publications are most valuable, but many media outlets publish online contributor web log posts. Forbes, for instance, has a contributor network that looks official simply is not written by Forbes journalists. Wikipedia does not deem the contributor network as a credible source. As well, many brief mentions practice not add up to in-depth coverage nor exercise frequent quotes from your founder or key employees count toward notability.
Create an business relationship
To communicate with Wikipedia editors, create a user account. Do not merely name the business relationship for your visitor (long story). Requite information technology a unique handle or even use your first name with the company proper noun, like "Jane at ContentCo." Fifty-fifty "Snuffleupagus45" is better than "ContentCo."
Adjacent, you'll need to declare your disharmonize of interest – your precise connectedness to the subject of the commodity. The topic of COI is a thorny one on Wikipedia. You may accept heard that yous're not supposed to edit your own page and, while this is broadly true, y'all can mitigate the issue.
The only primal sin is to pretend that youdon't take a conflict of interest; the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of employ require disclosure of any relevant fiscal relationships. If editors doubtable you lot haven't revealed your true human relationship, they will give you a stern warning at best or block your account at worst.
Key sin of @Wikipedia contributions? To pretend you don't have conflict of interest, says @williambeutler via @cmicontent. Click To Tweet
Exist forewarned
You can't solve this conflict trouble simply past handing off the work to a contractor to edit and assume there is no conflict of involvement. There is. And don't just ask friends to do it – that puts them in a bad position.
The thing to do, as Wikipedia's ain Jimmy Wales says:
- Create an business relationship.
- Be up front almost your connection to the subject.
- Take a easily-off approach by requesting the article.
Follow this path, and editors should accept you seriously.
TIP: Learn how give-and-take pages work because this is where y'all talk things over with editors who review your draft.
Larn how @Wikipedia discussion pages work considering this is where you talk things over with editors, says @williambeutler via @cmicontent. Click To Tweet
Request an article
After you lot set up up a user account and disclose any relevant relationships, yous can follow the procedure to asking an commodity.
In your request, depict in a couple sentences the basics of your company and note whatever conflicts of involvement in your request. Include independent reliable sources (equally noted to a higher place). It also can be helpful, Wikipedia notes, to create a draft article on your user page.
Write the draft
Before you write, refer to Wikipedia's lengthy and exacting Manual of Style governing how content should be presented. A good place to start is the entry nearly your outset article.
Organize your draft in successive paragraphs as follows:
- An introduction with a high-level overview of the visitor
- A description of the visitor's history
- A description of its product or services inmodest detail (too much and editors will guess it every bit promotional)
Information technology's important to write in a discrete mode, avoiding marketing clichés like calling yourself a "leading provider of solutions." Stick to the facts and be specific.
Write a @Wikipedia commodity in a detached fashion, avoid clichés and puffery, says @williambeutler via @cmicontent. Click To Tweet
You also should learn the proper format for references and detail them in a references section at the end of the commodity. These references are what Wikipedia editors use to judge whether your commodity meets the notability criteria. Recall, you tin only include information from third-party sources that Wikipedia considers reliable.
You lot can go a long way toward crafting a apparent commodity by studying an existing, high-quality company folio to see what they include. Just be conscientious of creating a page similar to your competitors' Wikipedia pages – simply because they're published doesn't hateful they're good. Wikipedia knows it has lots of bad articles, and it doesn't want more.
Instead look to ane of Wikipedia's designated good articles virtually similar companies. For case, the article about Chuck E. Cheese is well-researched, well-cited, and fairly complete. Every bit a counter example, the Mellow Mushroom article is less well-developed, missing needed sources, and far less informative.
Submit for review
The final pace is taking your typhoon to the manufactures for creation process, and adding it to the review queue. Once you've done that, it will probably take a few weeks for a volunteer to read the draft. Sometimes editors volition come up back with critiques most what else information technology should include or what should exist deleted. Exercise your best to comprise their feedback, and don't take it personally if they don't like something yous've written. Sometimes, what seems reasonable to yous may run afoul of Wikipedia'southward policies and guidelines – and Wikipedia has many of them.
Undoubtedly, this can be a disruptive process, and Wikipedia editors know it. Alas, there simply isn't a better way: Edifice an encyclopedia is hard and reviewing contributions from outsiders tin can be harder still. But if yous tin can effigy out Wikipedia's sourcing requirements, internalize its mode points, and learn the process for writing and submitting an entry, you can help make Wikipedia better and tell your brand'southward story at the same time.
Let the Content Marketing Institute help "unconfuse" you – whether it'due south most Wikipedia, measurement, dandy content, or more. Subscribe to our gratuitous daily (or weekly digest) newsletter.
Cover prototype by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Source: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/05/tips-wikipedia-page-published/
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