Editorial Guidelines

WCTO Editorial Guidelines

Site Objectives

  • To share content about speakers, sponsors and volunteers
  • Encourage people to attend WordCamp
  • Show people the value of being in the WordPress community

Content Objectives

  • Provide actionable advice
  • Connect with the author or person profiled in the post
  • Showcase WP solutions and integrations
  • All content must be unique

Content Length

  • News = minimum 400 words
  • Profile = minimum 500 words
  • Include names of places and people

Our Audience

Skill levels

  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
  • Coder/Developer

Purpose

  • Personal blog
  • Business site
  • Networking
  • Developing Business

Posts for all skill levels and interests are welcome so long as they relate to WordCamp and WordPress.

Approving Topics

Any WordPress topic is eligible for inclusion on the site. This includes writing about having heard a speaker at another WordCamp who is also speaking at #WCTO.

Writing about sponsors is inherently promotional. This is okay. We want people to know the good things our sponsors do. Please avoid linking to a sales or landing page from inside the post.

Link Policy

  • Non-promotional (i.e. an About or Contact page is okay, but avoid any landing or sales page)
  • Reference links only
  • Internal links are encouraged (to relevant content)
  • Link to people, events and places mentioned

We absolutely link to the sites of sponsors, speakers and volunteers. Please link to sources that support what you’re writing as well. For example, when someone you interview mentions a fact or figure, find a reference for that information.

There is no limit to the number of reference links you can have in a post. Just make sure every link is relevant to the post. We do, however, ask you to limit the number of self-promotional links to two (2).

Image Policy

  • Images must be credited
  • Alt Text must be provided with image
  • We recommend Flickr for finding photos with creative commons license

Please do include images with your post. When you interview someone, ask them to send you a photo to be used.

Style Policy

We recommend dropping your post into your own blog’s editor to see the Yoast SEO recommendations

Divide your article with sub-headings

Make use of bullet points

Invest effort into a strong headline

  • Actionable
  • Brief
  • Keyword conscious
  • Clear
  • Definitive
  • Intriguing

Content Review Process

Submit your post by creating a Draft on the #WCTO site

Send an email to wctoauthors@gmail.com to let everyone know a Draft has been submitted (include the title)

When an editor chooses to review a post, send a Reply to the email letting everyone know you are reviewing the post

Review only one post at a time

When a post has been reviewed, you have two choices:

  • Send the author suggestions for changes, or
  • Make the post live

We require exclusive rights to the post until after #WCTO has finished

You are welcome to direct questions to the organisers.

WordCamp Toronto 2017 is over. Check out the next edition!