1 What’s A Style Guide? A style guide is an in-house document that defines the rules, tone, and best practices for creating a publication –– in this case, the Weekly Yelp. Week after week, our readers count on consistency of message, tone, and design; a style guide is the backbone of creating that kind of professional reliability in written communication. Every major publication uses one. The style guide is one step toward effectively “franchising” our brand, making Yelp the premier source of local business information, no matter what city or country we appear in. This is our ultimate goal for the Weekly Yelp. This searchable PDF provides guidance on elusive subjects like tone and writing for the Yelp audience, technical guidelines to follow when creating the Weekly, and how-tos for basic grammar and punctuation. It provides clarification for some frequently misspelled, misused, and confused words, and delves into the proper forms of Weekly-specific terms and ideas. 2 Table Of Contents I. Weekly­Specific Technical Guidelines Breakdown Stage 4 And 5 Weird Code Decision Making Other Weekly Formats II. Strategies For Achieving The Yelp Voice Weekly Audience What Is “Yelpy”? Themes III. Best Practices For Journalism Deadlines Syntax Legal Issues Aligning Sponsors And Themes IV. Photos Step­By­Step Tutorial Credit Guidelines And Permissions V. Cliched Language And Navigating Nonsense Writing Pitfalls Offensive Content Banned/Dead Yelp Thesaurus Yelper Wisdom VI. General Usage Word Format Reference Guide Numbers Punctuation Italics Grammar Abbreviations Symbols And Typography UK/IE Punctuation And Spelling VII. Resources Yelp Categories Boilerplate Sponsor Copy Notes Template 3 I. Weekly­Specific Technical Guidelines Breakdown Below we break down the technical specs of the seven core pieces of the Weekly Yelp –– titles, images, intros, body copy, bylines, OTRs, and sponsor sections. Note: Some of the terminology in admin is incorrect... for example, the byline is called “suggestion.” Don’t go by what is stated in admin, go by the terminology and guidelines in this document. Titles ● Your Weekly Yelp title should be witty and enticing. ● It usually contains the word “Yelp,” but inclusion is not mandatory. ● Capitalize all words in the title. Images ● It’s attractive and cropped to 165 x 150 pixels using PicMonkey. ● It’s linked to your Talk thread. ● There is credit given to the photographer with a link going to the location of the photo source. Do not punctuate the Yelper’s last initial. ● If the photo source is at Flickr, credit the actual name of the person if possible. If no actual name is given, credit the username. ● The caption should be formatted like a sentence. 4 Intros The intro sets your theme up for your reader. ● It shouldn’t be so lengthy that it extends below the main image. ● Always link back to your issue on the words “Weekly,” “Weekly Yelp,” or “this week.” ○ “This week we're going to rev up your relationship...” ○ “So take a gander at this Weekly, and find the best camel rides in the QC!” ○ “This Weekly Yelp's found fish so good it's impossible to ig-nori.” 5 Body Copy ● The body of the Weekly contains five businesses, each with 4–5 lines of dedicated copy (250–300 words) full of compelling details and heavily researched specifics. ● Use a nickname for a business (Al’s) instead of formal names (Al’s Restaurant And Grill) to keep the issue’s voice conversational. ● A set of parentheses containing the businesses location follows the name of business. In the case of neighborhood spotlights, specify an exact address or cross street –– whatever makes more sense. ○ Exception: If you are writing a food truck issue, no need to include location. ● Both the business location and the business name receive bold formatting. 6 Business names link to a featured review on a complete business listing. A complete business page has a... ● Business name (e.g., The Peasantry, not The Peasantry Restaurant). ● Specific category (up to three). If you see “restaurant” or “bar,” swap it for something more specific. ● Current and correct address. ● Website. (No Facebook links, please. Twitter is okay for food trucks.) ● Opening hours. ○ Exception: A music venue or a place that offers classes that does not have regular hours of operation. ● Photo (no logos). If a business storefront is inside another, different business (e.g., a café inside a hotel), include the outside business on Address Line 1. 7 Bylines Aside from swapping out the Talk URL on the word “Yelper,” bylines stay the same every week. Link to your personal Yelp profile on your name. You will always be referred to as the “Community Manager,” even if you are a Senior CM or a Community Director. Those are internal titles. Sponsor Sections ● The 75 x 75 image is provided by the sponsor, as are the 80 words or less of copy. ● All words in the headline should be capitalized, and it should be no longer than one line. ● The “sponsor logo text” (which appears at the top of your issue, i.e., “This Weekly Yelp brought to you by... “) should only be one line. ● The image always links to a Yelp Event listing unless it is impossible to post your sponsor on Yelp Events. ● There is one link in the copy and one in the call to action –– link both to the sponsor’s official website if they have one, or both to the Yelp listing again if they don’t have one. ● Please do not write out the entire hyperlink in the call to action. Instead, attach the web address to one word (e.g., “Visit Yelp for more information,” not “Visit www.yelp.com for more information”). ● Also: You do not need to italicize the call to action when you write it in admin. It will do this automatically. 8 On The Radar These are the five (three for part-time markets) hippest, most exciting events going on in your metro. The headlines are playful and snappy, while the text link is descriptive and straightforward. The first letter of every word is capitalized. On The Radar picks are linked to complete Yelp Event listings. Complete listings have: ● Clickable venue link. ● Link to an official website and ticket page (if applicable). ● Real poster (real photo, real name). ● Attractive image and a clean, compelling description. 9 Stage 4 And 5 If you’re the mayor of a stage 4 or 5 market, your Weeklies contain these extra treasures. Top Yelpers ● These are locals with real names and primary photos of themselves. ● They have recently been active on the site and have no less than five reviews. ● They are a mix of both males and females. ● Do not feature Yelpers with offense headlines on their profiles, as these appear automatically in the Weekly. Picks Of The Week (POTW) ● Your picks tie into the theme, have a positive business rating (at least 3.5 stars), and have complete business listings. ● The reviews are recent (written within the last three months) and written by local Yelpers with real names and real primary photos. ● These Yelpers can not be featured anywhere else in the Weekly 10 Fresh Lists Your lists tie into the theme and are penned by authentic Yelpers with real primary photos. These Yelpers have not been featured in any other part of the Weekly that shows their photo (POTW and Top Yelpers). 11 Weird Code Admin isn’t easy to work in. Unfortunately, no matter what text program you use, when copy is pasted into admin, a lot of weird code comes along with it. This causes formatting problems. Go through these steps before you commit your issues. Failure to do so may cause an engineering problem that will result in your issue not publishing. ● Click Source on the top left corner of your text box. Highlight all of the text and copy it into a blank TextEdit document. ● Next, perform a “Find/Search” in TextEdit using Command+F for the each of the following bolded terms. “Replace” those bolded terms with their corresponding unbolded terms: ” ---> " “ ---> " ’ ---> ' ‘ ---> '   ---> replace with one space </p> ---> <br /> </div> ---> <br /> <p> ---> just delete - normally found only at the very top of the issue <div> ---> just delete - same as above <span style=”font-size: etc etc etc”> ––> just delete - this will only appear if you are not pasting in plaintext ● Copy your issue with all its replaced coding and paste it back into admin using the Source button. 12 Decision Making Choosing Businesses Featuring the right businesses is the most important part of writing the Weekly Yelp. ● Choose five locally-owned picks. No major national chains! ● Look for under-the-radar spots most people haven’t heard of. If you are featuring a well-known business, find out a detail that most people probably don’t know. ● Every business needs a standout fact. ● Yelp.com is only the jumping point; look on the business website, or pick up the phone and call the business to uncover compelling details for your editorial. ● Poll your community and search through Talk. ● Businesses need at least a 3.5 star rating. Choosing Quotes Follow these guidelines when sifting through reviews. ● Yelper names should be real, in bold, and written as First Name, Last Initial (no period). Fix any creative capitalizing: weNdy l ––> Wendy L ● The Yelper must have a real picture in their profile. It doesn't need to be the default image, but it has to be there. ● They should be locals, i.e., they live in the general vicinity of your metro. Use your best judgement. ● Confirm that their recommendations are up-to-date.