Editorial Standards
1. Editorial
Spelling/Grammar
Testimonies/ lifestories should be 800-1000 words, contemporary issues such as parenting or relationships should be 800-1000 words and lifestyle issues such as beauty or money should be 600-800 words.
Taglines/ links
Only the first letter should be capitalized.
Homepage
Images
Persons should face towards the body of the text (inward). Images should be appropriate to audience of the site (age, gender and ethnicity if appropriate) Sites that are not ethnically specific should maintain racial diversity.
Images that accompany lifestories – the image does NOT have to be of the person in the lifestory, however, if it is a stock image the author’s name should not appear on the image.
Image sizes
Articles: 150×90 pixels (horizontal) or 90×150 pixels (vertical)
Author biography image: 55×55 pixels
Thumbnails: 55×55 pixels
Site-specific standards:
o MTO
§ Homepage feature: 400×265 pixels; horizontal
§ Bottom articles: 100×60 pixels; horizontal
§ Index feature: 165×150 pixels; horizontal
o CWT
§ Homepage feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
§ Index feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
o WTM
§ Homepage feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
§ Index feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
o ChWT
§ Homepage feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
§ Index feature: 150×165 pixels; vertical
o P2C (and all P2C simplified sites)
§ Photo banner with name of person in feature lifestory
§ Indexes: Uses thumbnails only
o RWAP
§ Homepage feature: 165×110 pixels; horizontal
§ Homepage right side articles: 95×140 pixels; vertical
§ Index: 140×190 pixels; vertical
Hotspots
All hook articles should have one hotspot placed above the fold.
Tagging Articles
All articles need to be tagged for statistical tagging purposes. The tags identify exposures, indicated decisions etc.
The *only* DCR that should be tagged as ‘decision for Christ’ is the DCR that directly follows when someone clicks on the “yes” button. In other words, the page that has the form where a person writes us to indicate they have prayed the prayer. Most of the time the “decision for Christ” form will be on a DCR in the “landing” file.
The DCR *with* the yes button on it should be tagged exposure.
Related
On evangelistic sties: All non-exposure articles should have 2-3 Links at the end of the article, before the author bio information. At least one of the articles must be a lifestory or article with a Gospel close and yes button. Related readings are not used on articles with a Gospel close.
On discipleship sites the links should like to Holy Spirit testimonies or articles with a Holy Spirit close. Format is the same as above.
Opening a link in a New Window
All links that lead a reader off the site should open in a new window.
Exception to this: “offlink sites” on the new TruthMedia site.
Off site Links on Truthmedia do NOT open in a new window.
Author Bios
Bios should average 2-3 sentences in length and can include an image of the author (55×55 pixels) where possible. In some special cases bio may be longer.
Contacting the Author
Personal e-mail address for the author should never be given. If the option for contacting the author will be provided it should be in the form of mailto:editor@website.com?subject=Attn:Author’s_Name
Editorial Procedure for Rushed Articles
If an article is needed right away and it cannot go through the usual process of CGM it still needs to go through some kind of editorial process before it goes on the site. If the article is coming from an internal source – ie you, or someone in TM wrote it – the site editor can review the article. If you wrote the article, have at least one other editor take a look at it. If management requested a rush article, remind them that we need a minimum of four hours to allow the article to be edited. ALL articles must be reviewed before they are posted.
Indexes
Correction Documentation Procedures
|
Category |
Includes |
Action |
|
3 |
- typos on any page other than the home page - missing author inserts - formatting mistakes – italics, lists, spacing |
Fix only if there is time to do so. |
|
4 |
- missing images - length of articles - choice of hotspot unless there’s a strong reason to mention it - choice of image |
None, this is within the Editor’s area of freedom |
2. Gospel Effectiveness
Hotspots
Every hook article should have one hotspot placed above the fold. Hotspots are linked to a Gospel article, lifestory with a Gospel prayer and yes button, mentoring information or a place to ask for advice. Hotspots should be chosen on the basis of felt needs of the reader, article subject matter and the theme/season of the issue. Some hotspots require tracking, see below. Traditionally only hotspots in the top 10 articles are tracked but this is subject to change.
Tracking a Hotspot
To track a hotspot you need to send an email to Kim.chen@truthmedia.com to request a tracking number. Each instance of a hotspot gets its own number so if you have one “how to catch fish” hotspot and you use it on seven pages you’ll need seven separate tracking numbers. In the email to Kim you need to send him:
- The artwork i.e. attach a .jpg of the “how to catch fish” hotspot
- The LINK you want the hotspot to go TO i.e. when someone clicks on the hotspot, where do you want them to go?
Once you have the tracking numbers from Kim you can go back into IW to add them.
- Open the page in IW and click the image button as usual (note, if the hotspot is already in the page, you need to delete it and follow this process to add it back in).
- Instead of browsing to the image of the hotspot, type the following code directly in to the location field. Replace the ### with the tracking code from Kim:
http://phpads.truthmedia.com/adview.php?what=###
- The image should now appear in your DCR. To add the link, click on the link button as usual and use this code, again replacing the ### with the ID number from Kim:
http://phpads.truthmedia.com/adclick.php?bannerid=###
Once the tracking is in place you can look up the effectiveness of the hotspot in the weekly stats report. At the bottom of the report is a page tab for hotspots. The hotspots are listed by site.
Gospel/Salvation Decision Yes buttons
The buttons states “I have just prayed to receive Christ”. Yes buttons accompany the prayer at the end of a Gospel article or lifestory that ends with a Gospel presentation. It should link to a page containing a form where the reader can indicate their salvation decision or have their questions answered. Creating an insert is the easiest and most time saving way to do this.
Text Links
Text links can be placed at the top of an article, between the title and the body of the text. Primarily these links go to interactive elements, specifically upcoming chats or mentoring opportunities. If chats are used there must be a schedule to take the links out once the chat has passed.
Lifestories
Linking from Recipes
Holy Spirit Articles/Yes buttons
The HS yes button wording is “I prayed this prayer”; treated the same as the Gospel yes button.
Number of Gospel or Holy Spirit Articles on Homepage
A minimum 3 articles on the homepage must end with a Gospel close or Holy Spirit close (depending on site).
3. Building a New Website
Standards
How-To
Marketing
4. Interviewing Tips and Guidelines
1. Do your research
It’s quite obvious if you don’t know what the interviewee is talking about. If the interview is about rally racing, make sure you know about it. It also helps in coming up with more questions.
2. Come up with questions beforehand
Don’t send the questions to the interviewee before the interview, but come up with them for yourself and have them ready. Feel free to deviate from the questions you had before the interview. Feel free to ask follow-up questions. Don’t be afraid to get clarification on something. Make it a conversation, not a stiff Q&A period.
3. The last question
Remember to ask, “anything you would like to add?” or “anything I missed?” after your last question. You never know what other comments or great information the interviewee would have that didn’t get expressed earlier.
4. Have the story in mind
Try to know how you want to structure the story before you go into the interview. For example, most articles online have bullets or numbers for tips, etc. Ask them something like, “can you give me three or more tips on how you stay energized?” That way, you know you can structure bullets or numbering in.
5. Ask for a contact
Always ask if you can contact the interviewee if you have more questions. Get an e-mail address in case you need it later while writing. Sometimes there are holes in stories that you might have missed.
LIFE STORIES
Follow the above, but with a few tips below:
1. Questions
Remember to ask before, during and after. What was life like for this person before knowing Jesus? What about after? How did they view God before?
2. Think theme
Is there a theme for this life story? For eg. Depression, suicide, anorexia, emptiness, etc. Remember to get information for the theme and how the life issue affected the interviewee
3. Fill in the holes
People tend to miss telling you a lot of things when they tell their testimony. Either that, or they tell you too much that you don’t need to know! So remember to listen carefully and ask questions that help you fill in the hole. For eg. A man says, “and then I came to Christ and prayed the prayer.” So how did he do that? What led him to do that? Why did he do that?
4. HAVE FUN WITH IT!
Remember, it’s a conversation. Confidence can go a long way too! J
