Syndication Style Guide
One of the best editorial practices I know is to have a checklist for yourself. I enjoy writing Reality TV articles, and so have created this list of suggestions for making your article as usable as possible. I assume you already know how to write! These guidelines are to help you get your articles picked up more easily by newsfeeds, and by other publications such as Reality TV Calendar.
This page is open for comments! If you have questions or suggestions, please add a comment below, so that I can improve this guide!
Bold and Italics
I use boldface type for the headings within the article. I do NOT use the h1, h2, h3 heading labels - because those can get mangled in syndication. If you stick to only using boldface and italics (use either the i or em tag in html to get italics), you should be fine. By using as little formatting as possible, neither the editor nor the search engine will be able to ruin your writing very easily.
Here’s a rule of thumb: If your article was converted to plain text with no formatting at all, would it be as readable? If the answer’s yes, you have a good clean style!
Long paragraphs are harder to read than short paragraphs. See if you can break your longer paragraphs into two shorter paragraphs. Each time you’re making a fresh statement (such as this paragraph and the preceding paragraph), it’s probably a good place to start the new paragraph. When your article is posted on the Web, it will be far easier to read that way! (These three paragraphs could have been a single paragraph, but it would have been “heavier going” for you the reader. Picture them all three together as a single paragraph. Do you see what I mean?)
Article Title and Opening Sentence
I’m sure you’ve seen how a newsreader shows you the title of an article and the first few words. It’s up to you to get the subject into a standard form so that google and the other newsfeed search engines can understand how to best categorize your article.
If you’re doing a Reality TV article, you should:
- Include the name of the show in the article title or headline. For example the recap of America’s Top Model titled Cracks are Beginning to Show could be Cracks Are Beginning to Show on America’s Next Top Model.
- The lead sentence (the first text after the title) should also include the title of the show. For example the recap of Survivor could have the opening sentence In this week’s episode of Survivor Panama: Exile Island Terry, Sally, and Austin face discouraging odds.
- When you’re intermixing blow-by-blow recap with your own running commentary, there is no need to distinguish the two with different type face, italics, whatever. The whole recap is your commentary and observation - so the whole thing can be plain text.
Proof Read
If you’re going to write an article that you want other people to read - after all, that’s why you wrote it - proof read it before you post it, and check it again as you post it! Spell check, or whatever works for you.
There is a reason that commercial airline pilots use check lists. We don’t want them to overlook or forget something important! This page is my article checklist. I check here to make sure I have things right. Whenever I get feedback from the editor, I add it to the checklist, so I’ll remember to have it right the next time.
Reality TV Article Check List
My current check list:
- Is the TV show’s name in the article title? Am I consistently naming the show the same way?
- Does the lead sentence also include the name of the show?
- Are section titles in bold (not h2)? Is anything else bold? If so, why? You might need to add that reason to this checklist!
- Do you use italics for emphasis only? If you use italics for anything else, add that to this style guide.
- Did you proof read the posted version?
- Have you adjusted for any editing feedback received on prior articles?
Additional check list items for my Blog edition of the article:
- Have I marked where to split between the teaser and the rest of the body?
- Have I marked or appended Technorati keywords?
That’s all! If you have suggestions or questions, please contact me or add a comment below! I’d like this to be applicable to all Reality TV Calendar writers.
by VikingBear, 15 April 2006 OnSurvivor.com
Permalink to this Syndication Style Guide: http://www.onsurvivor.com/syndication-style-guide/
[tags]business blogging, best practices, editing, blogs, blogging, style guide, online style guide, writing, syndication, rss syndication, newsfeeds[/tags]