Wikipedia is a free Internet online encyclopedia. Many individuals and businesses long to have articles written about themselves, as it will inevitably result in them ranking higher on search results. If you plan to promote yourself on Wikipedia, you should understand Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest guideline and notability guideline to determine whether you actually merit an article on Wikipedia. Avoid making direct edits to articles connected to you on Wikipedia, and disclose your conflict-of-interest when contributing to Wikipedia.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:
Getting Started
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Determine whether you or your business actually merits an article. Per Wikipedia's general notability guideline: "If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list." [1] X Research source If you or your business does not meet this guideline, then your draft article will be deleted.
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Register an account. To do so, click on "Create account" at the top. Choose a username that meets Wikipedia's username policy.
- Refrain from using a username that implies that you are a company or organization or otherwise sharing your account. For example, it would be inappropriate for you to use the username "wikiHow Inc." as that implies that you are a company. However, "Pat at wikiHow Inc." or "wikiHowFan1011" is an acceptable username as it references you as a person.
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Disclose your conflict-of-interest. If you are paid to edit, either monetarily or with other goods or services, you are required to disclose on your user page your employer/your client and your relationship with the firm paying you. If you are not paid to edit, it is still a good idea to disclose your conflict-of-interest so that other editors can help you write in a neutral tone.Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 3:
Avoiding Spam
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Do not hawk your products or services. Unfortunately, Wikipedia is used very frequently by spammers promoting their goods or services. Using "leading expert" or "best product" is great for marketing advertisements, but do not belong on Wikipedia. If your draft article is found out to be spam, it may be tagged for deletion per Wikipedia's G11 criteria.
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Let the facts speak for themselves. Wikipedia is intended to be a source of encyclopedic information, not a soapbox. You may feel that you or your business has a good product, but other people may not feel the same. The goal of Wikipedia is to show all the facts about your service, the good and the bad. This includes all the positive contributions as well as your criticism and controversy.
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Do not directly edit articles connected to you. This will come off as self-promotion and will be reverted. If you are creating an article about yourself, create it in Draft: space where you can get feedback and improvements from other editors before it is published live.Advertisement
Part 3
Part 3 of 3:
Writing Your Article
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Create your article in Draft: space. It is strongly discouraged that you directly edit articles related to you. In Draft: space, you can get more freedom and expand your article with minimal risk of being deleted.
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Conduct research. Do not rely on you or your company's website as a primary source of information; look for reliable secondary sources, like news articles (not press releases), journal articles, books, pamphlets, magazines, and other sources that have a reputation for credibility and fact checking.
- Let the facts speak for themselves. Anything that comes off as a promotional effort will be deleted per G11.
- Feel free to save and come back later when you are ready. Just add the {{subst:afc draft}} template to the bottom of the page.
- Know that your page is not yours, but Wikipedia's. If you get involved in a controversy, you will have no way to remove that controversy from that page. In fact, as part of being neutral, you will need to include such stuff when you first publish the page to avoid coming out as promotional.
Remember Wikipedia's three core policies when writing your article: Neutral point of view, No Original Research, and Verifiability.
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Submit your article for review when you are ready. When you are done, add {{subst:submit}} to the bottom of the page.
- If your page is deemed to meet Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, it will be moved to main namespace. Remember to not edit articles in mainspace directly related to you.
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Warnings
- If you are found to be spamming Wikipedia, your account will be blocked from editing.Thanks
- If your article is nominated for deletion, remember to explain why your page does or does not violate Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Feel free to ask your page be moved back to draft space so you can continue working on it.Thanks
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About this article
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 976 times.
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