Top 10 NowPublic Must-dos

For the impatient among you, here's a quick Top 10 list of best practices at a glance. Remember articles should be written in 3rd-person point of view, should be objective, balanced, timely and relevant to a large audience, and clear for a layperson.

1. Identify the keyword phrase you'd enter into a search engine to find the timely and newsworthy article you're about to post.
2. Check if that phrase is attracting traffic by entering it into Google Trends, Insights, or Surchur. Reconfigure accordingly.
3. Use this phrase in your headline – 65 characters max- and make sure it names names and is in title case (capitalize nouns and verbs).
4. Get to the point in the first paragraph with a strong 50-word lede – who, what, when, where, why and maybe even how.
5. Ensure copy is factually correct and build the story from most to least important information -250-word minimum, 600-word max.
6. Link to 3 credible sources using our highlight tool to quote them directly. NowPublic has zero tolerance for plagiarism.
7. Format using 50-word paragraphs, bold keyworded subheadings, and bulleted or numbered lists for easy reading.
8. Link to your or other related onsite articles with keyword anchor text - no exposed urls.
9. Attach a clear, appropriate photo or video you have permission to use from your desktop or from Flickr, YouTube or our library.
10. Give the article 6 navigational tags, including proper names and your target 2-3-word keyword phrase.

While you can get away with this as a cheat sheet, we do recommend you go the distance and read the other pages here in the Newsroom designed to help you get more traffic to your articles and to meet the editorial standards that will build your reputation. Look for help in the forum from some of the veteran members and staff know-it-alls and take a gander at the FAQ as it never hurts to cover your bases. Otherwise, see you in the headlines!