Having an online presence is an amazing feeling, to have your name present on the search engines and on credible sites sounds incredible. To have an online presence there are numerous platforms but one of the best and the eligible platform is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the largest online portal, and as of December 2022 there are 6,426,677 articles on the English Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by Wikipedia editors. it is still the 5th most popular site on the internet and has been maintaining a good name since then.
Wikipedia has 6.6 billion visitors and was the most visited website during the times of pandemic. To maintain credibility now Wikipedia and Wikipedia English have set some rules for the articles to publish. There are certain guidelines and content policies that need to be followed. one of the fundamentals of creating a Wikipedia page is to properly follow all the guidelines and rules set by the organization. If someone is interested in publishing and writing an article on Wikipedia, one of the most crucial guidelines to follow is the neutral point of view (NPOV) , the other two are verifiability and no original research.
The 5 Pillars Of Wikipedia
- Wikipedia is a dictionary and where there is a collection of gazettes and an almanacs
- Wikipedia firmly believes in writing neutral point of view
- Wikipedia is a platform, where there are no editors who own the articles and can be altered and edited but in the respect of copyrights and plagiarism law
- Wikipedia promotes to give mutual understanding and respect between the editors
- Wikipedia does not have strict rules, they may evolve over time and it allows to be brave
Source: Statista
Steps You Should Consider To Qualify For A Wikipedia Page
Since Wikipedia came into being it has been welcoming in allowing users to join the platform and publish themselves. The users available on Wikipedia are around 2.6 billion per month. Wikipedia is considered to be the largest online encyclopedia and,
once Larry Sanger quoted:
“Our goal with Wikipedia is to create a free encyclopedia; indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and in terms of depth. We also want Wikipedia to be a reliable resource”
The best part about Wikipedia is that anyone can join and create their page on Wikipedia and write an article. One of the difficult parts about it is that you have to maintain the integrity of the page. First you need to realize that if you are an individual or a service that people may want to know about. It is one of the major traits to define if you are capable to be on the platform.
Another aspect that is important to consider are references. Have you been credited sources? if you have been credited and recognized by reliable names, you are a good candidate to be on Wikipedia. All of the references must be linked to government websites or prominent publications and news sites. As of now it is clear that getting on Wikipedia is a hard nut to crack, but it is not impossible if you are fitting into their criteria and have understood their list of policies, you are good to go, so let’s get into it.
Here are steps to qualify for a Wikipedia page,
1- Create An Account
Well, without this everything is impossible and you can move forward without tackling this step. To be honest this is one of the easiest steps. You simply need to log onto their website and start with the sign-up process. enter all original details. You may think that why do you need to sign up and enter the personal information well it is important for the verification and to confirm about your existence.
By signing up into a Wikipedia page It gives you some benefits. You get access to the talk pages, where all the editor can talk and discuss about all the important information related to articles, they can discuss how to improve their articles and on other Wikipedia pages. here is what you need to remember when you create an account
- Give a clear and an authentic name to your account and so check if the names exist before
- You need to get your conflict of interest (COI) cleared, communicate with other contributors and let them know ow you have a COI
So, you have created an account now it is time to invest more in building a Wikipedia page there are certain steps that are the fundamentals in creating a Wikipedia page. Some of them are discussed below.
2- Build A Credible Name
Now, that you created an account, and it has been approved. You need to build a credible name in the arena to get yourself published on Wikipedia. It is important to build a reputable and credible name, and get your name off the COI. Contribute to the existing accounts and edit their articles, adding clearer statistical, factual, and updated data. It will make you get familiar with the content management system (CSI) and help in building credibility for your Wikipedia page or company.
With the help of editing, it gives you the chance of publishing and helps in becoming an ‘auto-confirmed user’. The autoconfirmed user allows you to perform certain actions such as uploading and moving pictures
3- Meet The Eligibility Criteria
Now, one of the crucial matters to counter is to be notable. Wikipedia tests and looks if an article is relevant enough to go online. Therefore, you need to meet the notability criteria,
- It should be from a reliable source. it means that whenever you write an article it should be from credible journals, books, written by leading bloggers, and well-established media houses.
- It should be completely unbiased and should be independent and not affiliated with any organizations that are not independent
- All the information should be from secondary sources, it should include authors own thinking, analyses along with primary sources
4- Research The Topic
A well-researched and well-credited article is always praised and has more chance of being valuable and likable. After editing you can get your hands on writing an article but writing a good article is what needs to be achieved. There are key factors that need to be kept in mind. Gather all the sources of the topic you are willing to write about. You will need all the relevant sources from a third party. Gather all the data from magazines, books, websites, and blog posts. Keep in mind that Wikipedia does not support biased and fictional data.
Do not add images subjected to copyrights, use original images. Make sure that you are fulfilling the criteria of notability in the draft. You can use the Wikipedia article wizard from the article for the creation process.
5- Make An Outline
Do no work without giving an outline, write a proper formatted article by indexing the outlines. Add your content to the sandbox and edit it from there and also check how it will look after getting published. You need to focus on the outline around the citations to have better visibility. Once you have collected all of your sources create an outline and lay out all the information separately and into sections so that they can be distinguished properly. Creating an outline can also help in leading to other pages and sources.
6- Write A Draft
So, now after passing though many hurdles and passing all the steps now you need to create a draft. A draft can clear many issues and concepts and make the work easier. As you have understood all the criterion of Wikipedia here are some of the other rules you need to follow in order to create a flawless draft,
- Write a helpful content, make sure that what you write is helpful and thoughtful and is beneficial for the readers
- Be neutral, Wikipedia does not like to be biased or emotional. Keep the tone neutral and without being political or hateful.
- Link the sources, it is the fundamentals, you have to be vigilant and add all the rightful sources
- Write Simple and crisp content, keep it simple and crisp give all the information in a soft tone. don’t go overboard with the use of words or jargons.
7- Format The Article
You must have made assignments or thesis back in the days and may remember that required proper formatting and citation. Well, it is also important to format the article and add citations inn Wikipedia. It runs by the CMS system; Wikipedia cites the content from URL or ISBN. It is also important to categorize the content accordingly so that the content is easy to search. Citation helps in bringing visibility and credibility and ranks the content on the search engine.
Wikipedia warns before submitting an article, that the topic that is being published should come from reliable and independent sources. To understand more about the citation process of Wikipedia type WP: CITE in the search bar and you will lead to the information related to citation.
8- Review The Article
Once you are done with all the processes, the page will take a few days or weeks to get published and will be submitted for the article for the creation process. You may face some rejections before getting your article published. So, keep a close eye on everything and work carefully, the editor may edit your content or reject it. No one likes to face rejection at this stage so, be vigilant and keep the content up to date and error-free.
If the editors’ comebacks to you and ask for some edits, act professionally and do it right away. Sometimes the editors ask to add or delete some content and this is good for you as your content will become neater and more credible. But being familiar with the guidelines of Wikipedia, make sure that you avoid any mistakes by writing a cut and clear article.
9- Work Hard Till The End
There is no end to it this competition, it is fierce and becoming more and more important to tackle now. Once your page is approved and published; you cannot sit and relax. Keep working and reading, check regularly about all the updates. Keep modifying and changing the information regarding the products or services by improvising new features that are at the offer.
The Essentials Of Creating A Wikipedia Page
You will never be able to find any negative aspects when it comes to the creation of a Wikipedia profile, its numerous benefits could help grow the business and give a credible and authentic name. It is the world of the internet thus, having an online presence can bring so many positive prospects. You will be able to gain more traffic on the website, backlinks, visibility, and recognition from credible sources.
The Great Qualities Of Wikipedia
Wikipedia has taken the digital towards to the next level, with its impeccable features and designs it has become the world’s largest online dictionary. Why is Wikipedia so great? here are some of the prestigious qualities of Wikipedia
- It is simple to edit an article, one can just simply click and edit it, it does not even need to be reviewed as it the editor itself is the reviewer
- The online dictionary foes not update annually or is discontinued, you can find all the information and it keeps updating every now and then
- It is an open platform and odes nit charge for the dynamic content it provides
Wikipedia is free from biasness, you will never come across any biased content or any content against, gender, class, religion, or ethnicity
