Does your digital marketing strategy include a Wikipedia page for your business? If not, you might be missing out on great exposure and an ongoing source of leads. A Wikipedia page can help to not only manage your business’ online reputation, but also to lend credibility when prospective clients look into your business. A Wikipedia page needs to be part of your digital marketing strategy because although it is relatively easy to create a Wikipedia page, it does take some work to keep the page relevant and updated. Here is how to go about it.
Digital Marketing Guide to Creating a Wikipedia Page for Your Business
While these steps are relatively simple, you’ll need to be patient and make an effort to keep your page updated. Think of your business’ Wikipedia page in the same way as your business website; you don’t merely stop at website design, you need to constantly use it as a way to stay top of mind for your audience.
- Step 1: Create Your Account
Visit Wikipedia’s home page, and click on “create account” in the top right corner. Follow the prompts given to finish creating an account. Don’t close any pop-ups from Wikipedia (more on this in the next step).
- Step 2: “Help Improve Wikipedia”
Before creating a page on Wikipedia, you’ll need to become an auto-confirmed user. The easiest way to do this is by editing an article suggested by Wikipedia. You’ll need to make a few edits (according to Wikipedia you’ll need to make at least 10 edits and your account has to be older than 4 days)
If you want to pick a page to edit, stick with something you know and can easily cite information sources. To edit a page, simply click on the section you want to edit and publish changes once you are done. The visual editor is the simplest view for quickly editing information.
- Step 3: Create Your Page
Here is the most difficult part of the process, not because it is technical or complicated, but because Wikipedia has certain guidelines for business pages. For a business page to be accepted, the business needs to be “notable” – read these guidelines before attempting to create a page.
Next, go to the Article Wizard where you can either create a draft article in the “sandbox” or click “next” to proceed with creating your page. Wikipedia will direct you through the process of creating an article, and you will have to disclose that you are writing about a subject you are connected to.
In structuring your page, it is a good idea to review other company pages to understand the layout and decide how much information you might want to add to the page.
- Step 4: Cite Your Resources and Submit
This step refers to the notability guideline mentioned in step 3. Here you will have to add sources that have mentioned your business. These need to be legitimate third party resources with a record of fact checking. They can include newspapers, online journals, magazines and other websites that backlink to your website as a source.
If you have cited resources and you’ve entered all the information on your page, you can submit the page for review.
- Step 5: Keep It Updated and Relevant
If Wikipedia publishes your page, the real work starts in keeping it updated and relevant. Remember to add information about new products and services. Also, check existing information regularly to ensure you have the latest information available.
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