EDITORS GUIDE
The Job of the News Editor
- Review and edit posts submitted by bloggers.
- Correct grammar mistakes.
- Notify the Blogger or formatting errors or sections they forgot to fill out.
- Schedule and publish posts, make sure we have posts appearing every day of the year.
- Read the most recent posts published on the blog and edit any errors that escaped you or editors of the other posts.
- Be a positive coach and ally for Bloggers. Give them constructive feedback that helps them grow as writers.
- See the good and communicate the good. Email or call Bloggers to compliment them on a great post or cool photo. Personal touches = proud, dedicated writers.
- When there is nothing to edit, write blogs posts.
How to Edit and Approve Posts
1. Login to the website.
2. From the Dashboard select "Posts."
3. Then select "Pending" posts.
4. From there you can see posts that Bloggers have submitted for review.
5. If the posts is ready schedule a time for it to be published.
How to Pre-Date Posts
We want posts appearing 7-days per week, 365 days per year.
- Under the publish box, where it says “publish immediately,” select “edit.”
- From there, you can change the date the select “OK” and “Update.”
- Monitor the scheduled posts to know what days we’re might need the posts appearing. If the post is timely, published immediately. If the post isn’t time sensitive, then schedule it for a weekend or anywhere upcoming days that don’t posts scheduled.
How Deep to Edit
For the most part, light edits that preserve the writers voice are best. That said, we only want good solid content appearing on our site and it’s okay to drastically re-tweak a post if that’s necessary to turn a lemon into lemonade. Some writers are stronger than others and everyone has off days, so use your best judgment.
To Train or To Fix
You’ll want to correct the grammar errors as you edit. But when it comes to styling/formatting errors, it’s important to train bloggers to do it right the first time… After all, you don’t want to be fixing the same error, from the same blogger for their next 70 posts they submit. With new Bloggers it’s usually a case or not reading the directions closely or being confused on the steps. Be sure to email them what’s missing.
Naturally, you emailing them… Them correcting it and emailing you back… Then you logging in and approving it… Is more time consuming then you just fixing the mistake when you first see it. With more experienced Bloggers, if it’s a simple mistake or something that you don’t anticipate seeing again, just fix it yourself.
Sample Changes Email
Hi Jane, I just reviewed your “Poverty Drops in Africa” posts and here’s are the changes to make:
- Your name should be in Italics with a space after the dash, like so – Jane Smith.
- The picture is currently called screenshot545.jpg, so it should be renamed something that is SEO friendly like Poverty_In_Africa.jpg.
That should cover it. Let me know when it’s corrected and I’ll get it scheduled for publishing.
Thank you,
Sally
EDITORS CHECK LIST BEFORE POSTING
1. Grammar mistakes corrected.
2. Photo is styled, the right size (400-500 wide) and the size is under 100kb… With Firefox, if you right click the photo and select “view image info” you can view the photo’s size.
3. SEO box is filled out correctly.
4. Tags used and the first letter of each word is capitalized.
5. A “Category” is selected in the Categories box. Not listed as “uncategorized” unless it’s necessary.
6. All formatting looks professional.
7. There’s no space between the photo and the text.
8. The first letters in title words are capitalized.
9. The source is in small text with a link.
10. Authors name is in italic.
11. Post is published or pre-dated to publish,