How to Create a Wikipedia Page for Your Company?
A global platform that allows accessibility to information with ease is Wikipedia, a site which the world recognizes as the number one encyclopedia. However, the functioning of it is not like any regular encyclopedia. It is a platform that allows user-generated content, which means, anyone anytime can access and edit the information if needed. This is one of the major reasons that knowledge is not bound by strict rules, the only thing that is needed is authentication and validation of the sources one writes from. You have to make sure that you do not cross the community guidelines and are providing authentic information.
Nonetheless, the information could be published, edited, or read in 304 languages of the world to be accurate. Though as a whole Wikipedia have launched its services in 314 languages, but due to some reasons, it shut down 10 of them. With such a diversified approach, this platform owns around 53.31 million articles out of which, 52.07 million are pages. Wikipedia continues to achieve the position of a market leader by simultaneously updating the system and by striving every day to make things easier and better for people. According to the rankings of Alexa, Wikipedia is on the list of top fifteen most visited sites in the world with the average annual views of 22.67 billion. In fact, while you are spending time reading this article, 1.9 edits per second have been done already on the site.
Wikipedia and Businesses
The core aim of Wikipedia is/was to provide knowledge free of cost. However, with the engagements on the Wikipedia pages and popularity of the site, businesses have identified the opportunity of promoting themselves to an audience of millions in one go. As the need of digital marketing has enhanced and the customer is aware of the techniques and tactics, businesses have made their ways towards the promotional yet informative approach. It does not matter whether you have a small setup or you own a large organization, a Wikipedia page has become a need today. The article will discuss the emergence of digital presence and its need in the later part. For now, the process of how to create a Wikipedia page for your company is thoroughly explained.
Process of How to Create a Wikipedia Page for A Business
If as a business, you have still not made your move, then here it is your golden chance to clear your queries how to create a Wikipedia page for my business. Remember if you are in the game, you need to learn the rules and apply suitable tactics, and Wikipedia indeed is the required element you need for the good of your business. To ease out things for you, the whole process of how to make a Wikipedia page for an organization/business is divided into three major parts followed by the essential steps
Part One: Register Your Business on Wikipedia
Every good thing needs time and gradual progress; for your Wikipedia business page, you need to learn how to register your company on the platform which means to create an account on Wikipedia. What most businesses believe is that Wikipedia account and Wikipedia page are the same thing, however, it is not like that. There is a major difference between these two, where a Wikipedia account is the first step of the process, page creation is the last. The reason to create an account is to be reliable with your existence, your name needs to be registered in order to do the required activity such as the edits. The steps of how to register a company in Wikipedia are given below
- Go to Wikipedia homepage at wikipedia.org
- Choose your language (mainly English)
- Click on the create account option present on the top right section
- A registration form will appear on your screen, fill it
- To confirm your account, go to the email you provided and click on the confirmation link
- Once the account is confirmed, open the homepage again and log in with your credentials
With this, the basic and most important part of your Wikipedia page creation process is completed. You have now entered in the digital world. Let’s move towards the next part.
Part Two: Show That You Exist
Wikipedia pays strict attention to your reputation as a business. To prove yourself valid and authentic, you have to show activity by editing the existing pages of others. The pages that need serious changes or where the information needs to be updated. You have to make changes with proper citation and sourcing. If as a business you fail to do proper sourcing, then your credibility will be ruined and this will add up in your negative reputation. The more edits (authentic ones) you make the more the chances of your business page being approved. You can opt for the next step with a four day old account that has at least done seven authentic edits on the site.
How to edit a Wikipedia page for a business?
The best way and most convenient way to edit a Wikipedia page as a reader is to use the Wiki Markup (Wikitext) method. For that, you have to do the following
- Go to the page that you want to edit and see if it is accessible
- Click on the ‘Edit’ option on the top right corner of the page
- On the next window, you will see a Wikitext box
- Write your changes there and cite them with references
- Preview the changes you have made
- Click on the publish changes option
One thing to remember is that whatever changes you do, should be backed up by proper research and should not be biased by any means. Your reputation will be ruined if the site founds out that you have been misleading people with wrong information and that you have opted for vandalism. With the succession of edits on the page, your second step of how to make a Wikipedia page for my company is completed.
Part Three: Time for Action
You have come far by creating the account and doing the required changes. It is now time for the page creation time. For that, you will have to follow the following steps
1. Research about the topic
The most essential thing for a page to be started is the title of it. Remember Wikipedia takes strict actions against plagiarism and copying, you have to be careful with the title. To find the feasibility of the title you have to look for the red links. Red link appears when the title is not present on Wikipedia already, which means, you can create a Wikipedia business page with this name. However, if the link appears as a blue link, then this means the name already exists and you will have to search or think of another name. However, two widely used ways to find the red links are as follows
i. Searching the homepage for red link
- Go to Wikipedia homepage
- Choose English as your language
- Tap on the search bar
- Write your preferred title name
- The screen will tell you either it exists or no
Figure 1 Example of a Red Link
Figure 2 Example for a Blue Link
ii. The previewing method for red link
- Go to a page that can be edited
- Click the edit option at the top right of the screen
- Write the title you want in double brackets
- Click on preview button
- You will see the red link or blue link
Your research for the topic name will be done once you do so.
2. Ask for the page to be created
The last step showed that either the title name exists or not. Now if doesn’t exist, you have to click on the ‘ask for the page to be created’ option.
3. Article Wizard and Sandbox
When you clicked the ‘ask for the page to be created’, you are automatically directed to the page with Wikipedia instructions and warnings. You will see an option which will say ‘Article Wizard’, click it. Upon clicking, a new window will appear which will ask you to either post your content about the page or practice writing it in the Sandbox. If you want to practice then do practice, if not, then go directly to write it. Make sure to cite everything if you are using it from somewhere else.
4. Submit the page for review
This is now the show time. Once you check everything, submit your page for review and wait for the approval. The approval process takes a minimum of 3 months and maximum of 6 months. Wikipedia will check your notability and credibility as a business. Therefore, make sure to be original, real, and authentic. Once everything is verified, your wish to make a Wikipedia page for your business will be completed.
5. Do Editing
Submitting your page and getting approved is not enough. You have to make the changes with time and as the information about your business changes. Your audience needs to be updated about the changes. Doing edits will also enhance the reliability and visibility of the business online. The more you inform your audience about your business development, the more transparency you will make with them.
The Eligibility Criterions for a Business Wikipedia Page to be Approved
You may have put in effort to make the Wikipedia page a success. However, there are certain things which you need to focus more in order to be approved instantly. Keep one thing in mind that there are going to be multiple other pages of the same category, and for you to succeed, you have to abide by all these requirements
1. Notability Test
Wikipedia page approval mainly depends on the notability test. Notability simply means that the information is original and you have a good history as a business previously. The three core factors to increase notability of your page are
i. Significance Coverage
For your page to be notable, you have to cover each aspect of the topic clearly. For instance, if you are writing about your fashion business, you will have to explain each and every aspect of it clearly to the audience without any misunderstanding and loops in the content. The better you are with the content, the more chances of you being successful.
ii. Reliability
The information you are using should be reliable and should be cited properly. If your business already has a website or a newsletter which spreads information, you can use that as reference. However, it is better that the sources you use are secondary, which means, that you have written for other platforms such as Forbes etc. to enhance your reliability and that your articles are approved from there. One more important thing is that the sources do not necessary have to be online or in English language. If you have extracted information from another language or source, you can quote/cite it after verifying its authenticity.
iii. Independent of the Subject
The information you use should be independent of the subject. Exclude the work that is produced by the article subject or someone affiliated with it.
2. The Reference Tests
Wikipedia repetitively emphasizes on following the guidelines and not using invalid or unauthentic information. To make sure that the information or sites you have used are verifiable, it runs two references tests on the content. The first test is run to check if the sites you have used exist online or no. You have to cite authentic websites for it. The second seeks if the sources you have used have their own Wikipedia page or no. You have to closely pay attention where do you need a primary source and where a secondary is required.
- Primary source:
It is the information that is close to an event. For instance, the business certificate of a business is its primary source of existence.
- Secondary source
Secondary source is an intermediary source which has conveyed the primary information with proper citation or research.
3. Test for bad Wikipedia sources
The sources which are not considered authentic by Wikipedia are called the bad Wikipedia sources. Make sure to avoid using any such site for referencing the information on your Wikipedia page content. Some examples of the bad sources are: self-published work, user-generated content, reviews, Quora, etc. Wikipedia pays strong attention to citing and sourcing, if your business page fails to do this, then chances of getting approved are quite low.
Content to Write on a Business Wikipedia Page
Keeping all the technicalities aside, as a business, you have to write content that will attract audience on your page. Creating a page with referencing and sourcing is one thing, however, along with that, you have to make sure that you give your audience the information they want to read. People get crazy to know more and more about their favorite brands and hence, as a strong company, you should take advantage of it and inform your audience to create an emotional bond with them. Therefore, to know how to write a Wikipedia page for a company that will impress the audience right away, the instructions are given below. These are the sections you need to cover to generate audience attention which will turn into user engagement and eventually customer loyalty.
The History of Your Business
To build up the curiosity and to bring the interest of the reader, make sure you inform them about your history. Tell them how you have survived in the market, why did you start the business at the first place, what was the motivation for it. Furthermore, how did you overcome the challenges over the years. How have the company developed throughout time etc. Informing your audience about your existence will make them feel connected to you and this is what you need to trigger the customer loyalty aspect in them.
Mention Your Company’s Vision and Mission
No company or business can survive without proper mission or vision. You have to inform the audience about your plans to stay in market. The more transparent you are with them; the better bond you will develop with them. Your mission statement should always follow the vision you have for the company. However, these two should not contradict with each other and should be aligned for one single goal.
Mention your Statistics
If you have ever opened a business Wikipedia page, then you must have seen a box on the right of the screen which highlights the statistics of the business. Why is that? It is because when a business writes about its stats, the chances of audience being impressed are higher. If you are succeeding, it is your time to make things public. This is one of the major steps of how to write a Wikipedia page for your company because the number leave a professional impression on your audience, their level of trust increases on you because of the sales you are doing. Numbers such as totals profits, total revenues, total incomes etc. should be mentioned.
CSR Activities
Any well-known business would do CSR activities mainly because of two reasons. First that they earn their bread and butter from the people and hence it is their responsibility to pay it back to society. And second, to impress the audience. It is important for you to highlight the activities you have been doing for the people around to develop an emotional bond between you and the customers. The better you can explain yourself to the audience the more you will be able to gain their attention.
The Emergence of Digital Means and Need of Wikipedia
With the technological advancements, the ways for companies to conduct basic business operations have changed. They need to be online in order to develop trust with the audience to make them believe in them. Customers have become demanding and as according to the golden rule of business which says “customer is the king”, you have to follow the path and make changes in your ways of conducting business effectively. Nonetheless, a Wikipedia page makes your business credible, reliable, and authentic for people and this is what a business needs to be successful.
Why does a Wikipedia page gets rejected?
Wikipedia follows strict policies and any page which fails to abide by the policies gets rejected. For instance, if you do anything that can hit the privacy of any other competitor or if your page directly targets some other business, then your page will definitely get rejected.
How to enhance the brand reach on my Wikipedia content?
Wikipedia is a great source for information. For your content to reach maximum audience, you have cover each aspect of the business with perfection. Explain everything with ease so that your customers have no ambiguities left. This will also enhance your visibility which means you will eventually be more visible.
What time does it take to make a Wikipedia page?
To follow the policies and to check every little detail takes time. Hence the estimated time to get a page checked and approved lies between three to six months. The time will not exceed the limit. Make sure you follow all the rules for your page to be approved instantly.
