How To Create A Wikipedia Page For Yourself or Someone
Wikipedia has not only become the primary source of information, but also an alluring marketing platform. But, is it wise to use it to gain fame for yourself?
Over the past two decades, Wikipedia has established itself as a trusted platform for information. The largest known encyclopedia in the history of the world has become one of the top websites on the internet. While it usually goes back and forth in the top 10 website rankings, there is no denying its credibility and the aura surrounding it. While how it works and why it works so well are topics for another time, it is imperative to understand that most of the data on Wikipedia is legitimate. In other words, it is scrutinized, vetted and examined by administrators, who are accountable for the legitimacy of each line of information on it.
So, now let us talk about the topic of discussion. You want to start or make a Wikipedia article about yourself, but you do not know where to begin. While the process of creation is far from the main concern, right now you should be worried about something else. Are you worthy of making a Wikipedia page? Does your question of can I make a Wikipedia page for myself has a viable answer? Yes, it does, but I’m afraid it’s not that simple. There are many intricacies, policies, guidelines etc. that you need to understand before you move to Wikipedia and create a page for yourself. So, it is important to understand those as well, but let us understand a few important things first.
Are You Notable Enough?
What is Wikipedia? Well, it is a collective collaboration of experts from around the globe who add and edit information on it. With almost 7 million articles in English, it is carried by a variety of contributors from around the globe. Moreover, it requires following of certain guidelines and policies in order to be able to make a page. Such as the notability guidelines. It states a few things about who can make or start a page on Wikipedia:
- People who are “worthy of notice”
- They do something “remarkable”
- Their achievements being “significant, interesting or unusual enough”
- The feats they achieve “deserve attention or to be recorded”
So, if you are falling into those guidelines, then you are notable enough. But, their content creation and article creation policies are another debate. Therefore, the first thing you need to determine is whether or not you are totally up to their criteria. If you are not, then your page creation process might be hindered.
Who Can Write On Wikipedia?
Wikipedia page creation process is a highly intricate one. You will understand that you don’t get to write your content right away when you find out how to make a Wikipedia page for yourself. But, Wikipedia permits that anyone with website access is allowed to edit Wikipedia. Bear in mind that the word “edit” is implied in the wide picture here, including creating articles, filling them with content and publishing them.
How Should You Make One: The Creation Process
The page creation process on Wikipedia is nothing less than complex. Taking care of a myriad of guidelines and policies, a writer might feel overwhelmed. But these are necessary struggles if you wish to understand how to get a Wikipedia page about yourself. So, the first thing you are going to need is a Wikipedia account. Then, the whole process begins. Let us break it down into a thorough step-by-step process.
How To Make A Wikipedia Page For Someone Not Recognized Online
The real trouble arrives when you have to brainstorm about how to start a Wikipedia page for someone who is not notable on Wikipedia. Notability as you know is the prime ingredient to ensure an instantly approved page. Wikipedia aims to make its information readable and likeable. It makes sure that readers get the guidance that can help, assist and inform them in one way or the other.
To do so, it has placed a long list of policies, which pay great emphasis on the person having some notability. Being notable means, you have a certain audience on the internet that can get fascinated by reading your Wiki page. However, when it’s not the case you have to delve deeper to find out solutions about how to create a Wikipedia page for someone with zero to no notability.
So, first, you have to think about where you can do it on your own or not. If you have to expertise to organically bring your name on the internet then it’s great; go for it otherwise, consult a professional agency. You can seek out the help of experts who will build your credibility from scratch. The experts will have to pay attention to finding out means that make the person known. If the person appears on a leading platform let say The New York Times or Forbes, then it will become a breeze to pass the page approval process. If not then it’s better to go for a high traffic site to publish details and achievements of the person.
Create a sort of portfolio of the person that provides every single detail as to where the person is born and what has he be doing in his life. Why anybody would want to read about a person who is not much credible or valuable? Keep this in mind when you set off to create the notability.
Furthermore, you can go for creating a social media existence as well. You can create profiles on the leading platforms that can help Google track your existence. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have taken over the internet so by getting on them you will gain much recognition and notability. Once you become sure about the existence and online footprint you can proceed with the page creation process. If you have any trouble in understanding the process you can get in touch with the professionals.
How To Create or Start a Wikipedia Page For A Person
Do you think you can brag about a person or promote the achievements through a Wikipedia page? Are you searching about how to make a Wikipedia page for a person without getting rejected? Well, do you know if you create a page, you have to make sure you do not have any conflict of interest with the subject.
Let say, you are creating a page for a person and you begin to unleash a plethora of false accusation or controversial aspects, your content will be passed through the evaluation process. It will be rejected in no time. Hence, you must never go for adding controversial, argumentative or untrue information.
Next most important aspect is bragging or talking high about a person. You need to understand that the Wiki page intends to guide the readers not to promote an individual. So, when you begin composing a page you have to stick to relevancy and focus on telling the aspects that can in some way guide the readers and be considered valuable.
Wikipedia strictly asks contributors to pay attention to following its guidelines and policies and in the list, it is clearly mentioned that non-promotional content is allowed. You should not incorporate any promotional aspect about the subject.
Opt-Out The Irrelevancy
In trying to make a page look lengthy and full of content never go for adding verbosity or irrelevancy. You cannot add false or irrelevant content about the person in your content. You have to carry out comprehensive research to know what aspects to add and whatnot. You need to find out most unique chunks and aspects that can keep the audience involved and engaged for longer. This is the reason why Wikipedia emphasize on adding citations and references as well.
You have to make sure that every single aspect about the person is genuine and legit. In case if Wikipedia finds out that your stated information is false it will either reject the page or asks for revisions. As you know that the page approval process last for month and may take more than 6 months to get published, so if after such a long time your page gets rejected, it will a waste of time. Therefore, focus on the things that can help you show the person to be authentic and worth having a presence on such a huge platform. It’s better to leave this hassle on the experts as they have the required skills and expertise to create an immaculate Wiki page.
1. Account creation
Once you head to Wikipedia, in the top left corner, you will find the login and create an account option. If you already made an account, then you simply have to log in. But, if you haven’t, then you will have to create the user account. A simple step by step process will require you to fill forms, and verify it through your email.
2. Establish Yourself As An Editor
Once you head to Wikipedia, in the top left corner, you will find the login and create an account option. If you already made an account, then you simply have to log in. But, if you haven’t, then you will have to create the user account. A simple step by step process will require you to fill forms, and verify it through your email.
3. Creating The Article
First things first, so you don’t get confused with many names of a Wikipedia page. So, when you go about creating a Wikipedia page for yourself, you don’t commit any mishaps. So, an article is an empty entry in the Wikipedia databases. When there is information added to it, making it proper biography or profile, it becomes a Wikipedia page. You might notice that the number of articles on Wikipedia overtakes the numbers of Pages. Because there are so many entries which are not yet qualified as pages.
So, the first thing you have to do is search your name, to understand if you can create a Wikipedia page for yourself. In most cases, pages of a person would not exist unless they are famous. So, you will have to ask Wikipedia to the article for you. It would take about 1-2 weeks before it goes live.
4. Editing Your Wiki Page
Now comes the part where you add vital information about yourself. When you write a Wikipedia article about yourself, make sure you add all the necessary information. Usually, it would begin with the names, birth information and the location of the said person’s birth. Wikipedia presents a template that can help you understand the format.
So, beginning with the basic information, the section on the right side of your hand would require you to add your picture. The section below it would be your profile, name, place of birth, occupation etc. However, this information, particularly the picture, would have to be from a recognized platform.
5. Cite The Sources
The citation part, when you create a wiki page for yourself, is perhaps the most difficult. Aside from the formatting error, many commit the mistake of employing not the right sources. What qualifies a source as legitimate? Their integrity, but we will talk about it in the latter part of this article. For now, it is important to understand that your sources should be cited correctly, imitating your information word by word, stat by stats and facts by facts.
6. Submit Your Page For Approval
The approval process of Wikipedia is not a simple matter of yes or no. For instance, they would not just reject your content if you do not abide by their guidelines. In most cases, they would ask you to fix some mishaps or edit out the errors. The worst it can do is delay the creation process. But, there are ways you can jeopardize the whole process.
7. Maintain Your Page
If you did everything by the book, abided the laws and learned their policies, then your page should be up and running by this point. Now you can rest easy, right? No, you cannot. You need to make sure you are verifying, editing and maintaining your information every now and then.
What Would You Gain From A Wikipedia Page About Yourself?
Now that the guidelines, criteria, policies, costs and creation process are out of the way, let us talk about the predicament here. Are you sure you want to make a page about you? Wikipedia clearly mentions that they have zero tolerance for “myself” articles. So, the question is not whether can you make a Wikipedia page for yourself, but rather it is if you should. Let us examine the things we learned earlier that you are going to need.
- Be notable enough
- Do something remarkable
- Standout in your trade or occupation
- Be worthy of a page
So, if those are indeed the categories that you fall under, then you can and should make a wiki page about yourself. Then, what will you gain from it? Let us break it down further:
- An established online profile
- Credibility and legitimacy
- Great SEO benefits
- Have a profile on the most trusted platform online
If You Are Not Notable, What Can You Do?
Now, all those benefits sound alluring and might make you want to deal with the creation process right away. Because at this point, it is no longer can you make a Wikipedia page about yourself, but how should you. Yet, there is one main affliction here, what if you are not notable? What if you are notable and have no way to prove it? Chances are, if you are running out of ways to prove it, then you are, indeed, not noticeable enough.
There are ways to prove your worth to Wikipedia, by building enough resources. Wikipedia clearly states a lot of guidelines and other standards that qualify the person to be able to make their page. So, the first thing you need to do is to build sources that prove your claim to fame. Including:
- Acknowledgement by established agencies: newspapers, TV or Radio
- Internet presence, proving your fame among people
- Sources to back up the stats, facts and other info
If You Are Notable, Then Why Should You Make A Wiki Page For Yourself?
Now that you have learned how to be notable enough, is there a reason for you to push and learn how to get a Wikipedia page about yourself? We mentioned previously that it has amazing benefits in the online world, for a person to have a wiki page. Some of them include high SEO rankings. The legitimacy and credibility surrounding Wikipedia provide many with a myriad of benefits. So, for a person, it can give them credibility in an otherwise fierce marketing world online. More than that, it would give a person an edge over their competition, if the nature of their occupation or trade is such.
What Happens After?
Now that you have made your page, where do you go from here? You need to do a few things that ensure it remains pure from vandalism, plagiarism and other sorts of misinformation. So, what you should do is keep an eye on your page every now and then. Ensuring that nobody edits it or makes amendments to it without your approval.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
- How can you make a Wikipedia page about yourself?
The process begins with a simple sign up process. But, as the article states the process and thoroughly lays it out, it is more important to determine if you should.
- Does a Wikipedia page about yourself or Someone prove good for marketing?
Because it has so many benefits in the online world, yes it does prove good for marketing. However, if you are not a business person or not renowned in the marketing world or niche, then your effort might be in vain.
