Ten Reasons to Edit Your Online Newspaper

Why you should edit your online services to enhance your internet brand

There are several services that offer online news collections. I prefer paper.li which is a great service. One thing that some people appreciate is that it can be a set-it-and-forget-it service but I find that a couple of minutes editing can bring great results. See why.

Your internet brand

Everything we do online is part of our brand. This is true for individuals as well as businesses and organisations.

Setting up services and then letting automation take over might seem like a great idea but you'll see otherwise from the examples below. This is a great service when used properly.

Here are some examples from unedited paper.li online newspapers

Tips

1. See the image below. This looks fine, doesn't it? Well, no. You see these are the top two headline stories in this paper and they have nothing whatsoever to do with the paper's owner's business. I always edit my own so that stories that are at the top of the page are leading to my sites. Why bother otherwise? The point of most of our online activities is to promote our businesses or our work. True, it doesn't take long to set up a daily paper such as this but why on earth do it unless you're benefiting? Even if they were my own articles, I still wouldn't have them side by side as the subjects aren't at all related.

2. This is a video section. Video sections can be great - especially if your paper is about the theatre or music - but I choose not to have one.The reason is that you never know which videos your sources will be uploading. To be on the safe side, and to cut down on editing time, I don't use this facility.You'd think that this was the paper of a real estate company but it isn't. Because this paper isn't edited, the content has nothing to do with the owner's business.

3. Who will click on this link? The blurb is already telling us - rightly or wrongly - that we need upgraded software to view it.If I see anything like this, or a message about cookies or other teckie nonsense, I delete it. The blurb should encourage click throughs not discourage them.

4. Again, there seems to be nothing wrong with this entry. But what the paper is doing here is promoting its competition.The paper belongs to a hotel that serves lovely, but not cheap, breakfasts to both residents and non-residents.This cafe is just a short walk away and vastly cheaper.

5. When I'm editing, I want to do it as quickly as possibly. This is one reason why I use impeccable sources.I don't have the time to click through to every single site so I'd get rid of this one simply because of the strange symbols.Leaving articles like this does my internet brand no good at all because it makes me look as though I don't care.

6. Similarly, I delete any messages that I don't understand.I have a tiny bit of knowledge of Spanish - enough to probably misunderstand things completely but nevertheless 'falsos hermanos' could well mean 'cross-dressers' to me.Add to that 'fijaron' which simply looks dodgy and 'cuyo' which is very similar to the worst Spanish swear word I know, then I'm just not going to risk it. It's probably perfectly OK but I'm in a hurry. Note that you can set your paper to only publish messages in the language of your choice.

7. Cast a quick glance at the photographs section and edit accordingly.I am fed up of seeing Instagrams and Twitpics of people's feet or their half eaten lunch. Sometimes, as has happened here, the photographs might have been removed for some reason so if you see anything like this, they are easy to delete.

8. Pay attention to the date. On April 1st, in my own paper, I had the daftest stories, particularly in the headlines section.Some were mine, some were from other sources. Some were oddments that might have been true or might not but they entered into the spirit of the day.

9. This has two problems. The first is that one image has appeared twice.That my be a problem with the paper or it may have been uploaded twice to Twitter but whatever the reason, leaving them both there shows a lack of attention to detail. And there's another problem.In the shot, we see a rear view of a woman wearing a thong. This does not offend me but we never know just who our readers are. For safety's sake, I would delete it.

10. This screenshot has been edited by me to hide the company name and logo. The reason is that this paper is hopeless.

What you see here is the FULL extent of the articles for one edition.I suspect that what's happened here is that someone has set this up, arranged for it to be automatically tweeted and then forgotten all about it.

This means that it is being sent, via Twitter, to all their followers every day and is damaging their reputation rather than enhancing it.Such a shame when editing would take just a few minutes a day.

Your online reputation is incredibly important. This is the case for individuals as well as businesses and organisations.An online reputation doesn't mean being squeaky clean and it doesn't mean conforming and being like everyone else.

In fact, enhance your quirks, peculiarities and eccentricities to create your unique personal brand.