How to Create a Wikipedia Page for Your Company

How to Create a Wikipedia Page for Your Company?

Information about the world at your fingertips is possible with Wikipedia, it is the number one online encyclopedia for the world. However, unlike other encyclopedias, knowledge sharing here is not bounded with some particular individuals. It is a user-generated site which means anyone from anywhere around the globe can access it and pay their contribution to society by sharing knowledge through their pages, articles, or edits. Following that, there have been 1.9 edits made per second, imagine the number of edits while you are here reading this. There is a total of 53.31 million articles present on the site, out of which, 52.07 million are pages.

The number only seems to be growing mainly because of two reasons, first, that it is easily accessible, and second that it removes all language barriers by providing information in around 314 languages of the world. However, 10 languages have been called off, which makes a current total of 304 languages. The information could be read, published, or edited at any time, nonetheless, for anyone to do it, the community guidelines are to be followed religiously. Wikipedia believes in enabling access to information to the world regions where no other site can reach or educate people. With this positive aim this encyclopedia is getting bigger every day, according to Alexa, Wikipedia today is on the list of fifteen most visited sites in the world which gets an average of 22.67 billion views annually.

The Growth of Businesses and Contribution of Wikipedia

The tricks and techniques for businesses have changed over the years with the innovation and advancements of technology. The needs and demands of customers have molded, they are more inclined towards digital means and sources. They wish to know every possible detail about their favorite brand, which means, availability of the brand anytime. What can be a better platform than Wikipedia for information sharing and audience attention. Wikipedia, along with abiding by its core aim, has also become a strong digital resource for businesses. It is one of the finest tools businesses use to enhance their productivity, to increase credibility, and to develop trust between them and the audiences.

As a reader, you must have noticed that for everything you search, the top link appearing on your screen happens to be a Wikipedia page. This is because the cite is trusted by millions and it has retained the position of a market leader since the day it has launched. Businesses have realized the demand for the platform and have taken complete benefit of the opportunity by informing people about them through Wikipedia business pages. You do not have to be a huge business to attain the benefits of the platforms, your productivity, creativity, and authenticity will be what you need to create a Wikipedia page for your business. If you want to know the complete procedure of it, then follow this guide.

The procedure of How to Create a Wikipedia Page for a Business

Wikipedia is your ultimate way of gaining customer attention and making your first step into the digital world. However, if the question of how to write a Wikipedia page for your company has ever stopped you, then do not worry, this guide will resolve it all for you. For your ease, we have divided the guide into three major sections which are followed by multiple other sub-steps.

Section One: Leave Your Footprint on the Platform

For anything to be recognized, and identity is needed. For instance, for your business to enter the market, you have to register yourself at the legal business institute of your region. Similarly, you have to know how to register a business in Wikipedia in order to create an identity. Hence, the first step is to create a Wikipedia account for your business. What a lot of businesses and people assume that a page and an account are the same things. However, it is not the case, a Wikipedia page is what you need for spreading awareness of your business, and a Wikipedia account is what makes you enter the hub of information to create that page later in time. These are the steps to follow for this section

1. Visit wikipedia.org

2. Select English as your language
3. You will see a ‘create account’ option on the right corner of the screen
4. Click the option

5. Fill the registration form appearing on your screen
6. Go to your provided email address and confirm your account
7. Once it is confirmed, go to the homepage again and log in

Make sure you perform every step with attention so that there no confusions or troubles in the process.

Section Two: Prove Your Existence

For a successful Wikipedia page, you need to have a strong reputation on the platform. The site pays strong attention to what you have been doing with your account and how are you reliable enough to be on the platform. To generate a positive reputation on the site, as a business you have to make certain edits or update information on relatable pages. Doing this will inform the admins at the back that you are aware of the market and you know the tactics of conducting a strong business. The more accurate edits you do, the better your reputation will be.

However, make sure that you do not cross the community guidelines and are working within the limits while editing other pages. Everything you write/edit has to be backed up by strong backup support such as references. You can apply for a page when the account you have created is four days old and you have done a minimum of seven edits. Wikipedia allows its users to be bold which means to edit information where it is wrong. This is the best benefit of being on a user-generated platform. Nonetheless, before opting for the editing process, let’s look at the community guidelines of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Community Guidelines for Editing a Page

Avoid Vandalism: When you are editing any other Wikipedia page, make sure you do not disturb or ruin the business’s reputation by destroying their content. If your business page is caught performing vandalism it will add to your negative reputation.

1. Cite Your Sources: Editing an existing page means you are saying that the information present on it is not valid hence you are changing it. However, to prove your point, you have to cite the content and make sure to link the sources.
2. Be Neutral: When you edit another business account, make sure your tone is neutral
3. Verifiability: Make sure the written content is verifiability by an authentic source. If Wikipedia finds out that you have been using the wrong sites, it may affect your reputation
4. Be Informative: Do not forget your aim of creating a Wikipedia page, which was to inform people.
5. Add Comments: It is okay to edit a Wikipedia page, however, make sure you add a comment about why have you made changes. Adding a comment will authenticate your changes.
6. Do Not Argue: You are to share your perspective and knowledge with proper sourcing, therefore, do not argue on any page.
7. Be Bold but Not Reckless: Your survival on Wikipedia needs participation but that does not mean that you will do useless edits.

Steps to Edit a Wikipedia Page

Once you follow the guidelines, your edits will surely get approved. The steps for the editing process through Wiki Markup (Wikitext) method are these

1. Visit any page that you want to edit and which is accessible
2. You will see an edit option on the top right corner of the screen

3. Click the edit option
4. The next screen will take you to the Wikitext box
5. Write the information you want
6. Cite them properly
7. Preview changes
8. Click on the publish changes option

Your information should not mislead people. If you opt for anything wrong, that will harm your business name in the market professionally and ethically.

Section Three: Time to Be Professional

Your business has made a good reputation online by editing multiple pages. It is now time to move to the next step of how to make a Wikipedia page for an organization. This section involves important steps, make sure you follow all of them for effective results.

• Research About Your Topic

Just as a human cannot survive and make its identity without a name, you cannot make a Wikipedia page for your business without the correct title. For a unique title, you have to make sure that it appears in the red link. As a business, it might not be hard for you to find a red link title since every business has a new and different name. However, just to avoid any issues or be on the safe side, you should check for red links. There might be some other business in the world with the same name, you never know. Hence, it is better to check for the feasibility beforehand.

• Red link: A red link appears when a title does not exist on Wikipedia. This means that you can create a Wikipedia page for your company with the title you have inserted.

Figure 1 Example of a Red Link

• Blue Link: A blue link appears when a page already exists. This means you cannot create a Wikipedia page for your business with this title.

Figure 2 Example for a Blue Link

Processes to Find Red Link

1.     Search the Homepage Method

• Go to wikipedia.org
• Select English as your language
• Tap on the search bar
• Write your company’s name
• The screen will show the results, as either of the figures 1 or 2.

2.     The Previewing Method

• Open any accessible page that can be edited
• Click the edit option on the page
• In double brackets, write your title
• Click on the preview button
• The screen will show the results, as either of the figures 1 or 2.

With this, one of the most important steps of your query about how to create a Wikipedia page for my business is resolved and successfully accomplished. We will now move towards the next steps.

2.     Ask for the Page to be Created

In the previous step, you identified either your business name can be registered or no. Now, this is the time to do the simplest thing in the process of how to create a Wikipedia page for your company which is to click on the ‘ask for the page to be created’ right beside your page title’s red link.

3.     Article Wizard or Sandbox

After clicking the ask for the page to be created option, the next screen on your computer will lead you to the page where all the Wikipedia instructions and warnings will be given. On that page, you will see an option of ‘Article Wizard’. Click it to proceed. After clicking, the site will ask you to post the content about your page. It will also give you the option of practicing writing content in the Sandbox. Sandbox allows you to see and edit your content if you want. However, the requirements of what to add in a Wikipedia page content and what guidelines to follow are given below

Guidelines About How to Write a Wikipedia Page for A Company

If you are willing to know how to make a Wikipedia page for my company, then here is what you need to incorporate in your content.

1. Do Not Advertise: The first and the most important element to keep in mind is that you are not on this platform to advertise your business, your aim is to aware people about your existence. Therefore, avoid using promotional content by keeping the tone of the content like that of an encyclopedia.
2. Be Clear: Your audience is going to invest their time in you and your content. Make sure you do not use language or ideas that are not clear to them. If you use any organizational jargon, make sure to explain those.
3. Do Not Attack Competitors: Wikipedia allows you to write about yourself only. Defaming anyone or attacking their business strategies will not do any good to your page or business name.
4. Create Notable Content: Notability is a major factor when it comes to your page content. Make sure your content abides by all the rules of it.
5. Do Proper Sourcing: If you are using data from other sites to hold the interest of the audience, then make sure to cite the sources, if you fail to cite them, your content might get rejected.
6. Be Unique: Your content is going to represent your company, therefore it has to be unique and originally generated by you only. Do not copy what your competitors have done on their pages.
7. Avoid Controversial Material: Wikipedia is a platform to enhance your business functioning and your reputation in the market. Do not attempt doing any controversial content that may become a cause of your competitors defame.
8. Be Precise: Your audience is going to invest time in reading the content. Make sure it is useful, informative, and precise. They should feel they have gained information about their favorite brand instantly.

4.     Submit Your Page for Review

Your content is ready; you are now on the verge of being one of the finest Wikipedia business pages. You have accomplished all the steps and it is finally time to submit the page. However, there are a few things to remember when you opt for the Wikipedia page for your business, which is reliability, notability, and credibility. There are going to be several other pages like yours on the site, make sure you stand out of the crowd. Nonetheless, your page has to abide by the following criteria to be able to be approved by the Wikipedia admins.

• Notability Test

This is the most important factor for your page to be approved. Wikipedia strictly pays attention to the notability of your page. If it seems to be notable enough to be approved they will approve it or else, you will have to face rejection. Notability means to be authentic and unique but with a backup of sources for the information. The three major elements of notability are

• Significance Coverage: Explain everything clearly to your audience without any loopholes or misleading information. Each aspect of your business should be covered completely.
• Reliability: This means that the content you are using should be sited properly and there should be reliable previous work under your business name. For instance, an article in Forbes.
• Independent of the Subject: The content should be independent of the subject. Do not include the words that are affiliated with the article’s subject or anyone affiliated with it.

• The Reference Tests

Wikipedia emphasizes using cited content and proper sourcing repeatedly. If as a business you fail to do so, the page will not be approved at all. To verify your sourcing, the page is run through two reference tests. The first one checks whether the sites you have used exist online or no. The second one checks if your used sites and cited themselves or no. Remember, referencing have to be strong in order to gain approval and later audience attention. Also, make sure that you know where to use a primary source of information and where a secondary source is needed. For instance, your business conducting certificate will be a primary source and the reference to a business guru will be secondary.

• Bad Wikipedia Sources Test

Wikipedia emphasizes using cited content and proper sourcing repeatedly. If as a business you fail to do so, the page will not be approved at all. To verify your sourcing, the page is run through two reference tests. The first one checks whether the sites you have used exist online or no. The second one checks if your used sites and cited themselves or no. Remember, referencing have to be strong in order to gain approval and later audience attention. Also, make sure that you know where to use a primary source of information and where a secondary source is needed. For instance, your business conducting certificate will be a primary source and the reference to a business guru will be secondary.

5.     Keep Editing and Maintaining Your Page

You have come to the end of the process. Your page has been created and approved. However, one thing to remember is that your journey as a business does not end here. You have to do the required changes every now and then. A successful business Wikipedia page is to be updated as the information about your business changes, such as your revenue numbers, your profits, your income, etc. If you want to gain complete attention of your audience, then you have to maintain transparency with them. Be clear in your information and make them feel that you are constantly improving as a business.

How long does it take for a Wikipedia page to be approved?

The estimated time for a Wikipedia page to be approved ranges from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 6 months. The validation and cross-checking process takes time, however, the average time will not exceed more than six months.

How to enhance the visibility of my Wikipedia page?

The visibility of a page can be increased by continually updating and maintaining your business Wikipedia page. Also, the content on your page plays an important role, it has to be effective.

Will a Wikipedia business page help me gain audience trust?

Definitely, it will help you in building healthy relationships with your audience. Wikipedia is a trusted source for millions and a page on it will enhance your credibility.