How to Write Editorial Guidelines

Editorial guidelines provide your team with a framework to create consistent quality of content. They specify rules and requirements on grammar, style, tone, image contributions, type of material you wish to publish and your editorial process.

Without formal guidelines in place, guest blogging can become disorganized and contributors uncertain about what you expect of them. This may result in inconsistent and poor-quality work that negatively impacts your brand reputation.

Style

A style guide is an indispensable asset to maintain consistency across your brand’s content. It enables all writers, from in-house to freelancers, to comprehend the tone and purpose of what needs to be written.

Additionally, it ensures all content produced for your company adheres to the brand’s voice and values. This is especially critical when you have multiple content creators on staff as inconsistencies can occur quickly.

To start creating an editorial style guide, identify the primary confusions associated with different types of content you write. Start by recognizing cliches, industry jargon, or overused words you want to avoid in your written material. This will help ensure consistency throughout all elements.

You should include a section that outlines the grammar and style requirements for your brand’s content, such as capitalization, punctuation, numbers, dates, and abbreviations. This should be organized separately for each type of material you create – for instance, different formatting standards might apply to blog posts, white papers, or videos.

Formatting

An editorial style guide is a tool that guarantees your content has an integrated voice, tone, and strong brand identity. It also helps customers form connections with your brand by infusing its writing with personality.

A successful editorial should focus on one pressing topic and provide multiple paragraphs to support that contention. Doing this helps readers stay engaged with the article.

Another critical element of an editorial is citing research and data to back up your assertion. Make it simple for writers to cite sources by creating a resource section in their style guide with recommended and approved industry sources as well as competitors whose sources may not be reliable.

An editorial style guide should also contain rules regarding date formatting and measurements, as well as a list of words you do not wish your writers to use. It’s essential that your style guide remain up-to-date; therefore, keep it active!

Citations

In-text citations are used to recognize sources within your paper. They come in two varieties: parenthetical and narrative (APA, 2019).

A parenthetical citation is composed of the author’s name and date, separated by a comma. The date indicated should correspond to when the source was published.

Page numbers are not required for in-text citations in academic works. However, it can be helpful to include the page number when quoting from a lengthy book or journal article.

For books and magazines, include the volume and issue number as well as any page numbers (if available). Please be aware that pagination may differ between editions, making it essential to identify which version you are referencing.

References are listed at the end of your paper in a section called the Works Cited list. Here, you’ll find full citations for all sources cited throughout your work.

Sources

If your content team consists of multiple contributors, creating an editorial guidelines system is paramount to maintaining the quality of your writing. These rules will guarantee your writers adhere to a standard style and give them the tools they need to produce consistent work.

A comprehensive set of editorial guidelines should outline the type of content your brand will create, as well as requirements related to written tone & voice, grammar & style, image contributions, and how your editorial process operates.

Your guide should also contain an extensive resource section, as this will prepare your writers for success. A carefully curated list of resources will give them all of the knowledge necessary to craft high-quality content and make it simple for them to get started.

Establishing the correct set of guidelines is a vital first step in building an effective content team and will produce better-written material that outranks your competition.