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Editing After Publishing

Published October 04, 2023

Once you've published your article, you may consider it a "done deal". There may be instances, however, in which you think about what you wrote (sometimes almost immediately after you hit the "publish" button or upload it to your site. If this happens, don't be afraid of changing what you wrote. Just let the users know you've updated something on that page so they are aware. A good practice is to make sure each article has a "Created By" date as well as a "Last Revised" or "Last Updated" date on it. This lets everyone know that something has changed. Some people may even go as far as highlighting or italicizing any updates so the user will know exactly what is changed.

If you're running a blog with very frequent posts, it may not be feasible to constantly revisit your site to see if anything needs to be updated, but if you run a site similar to ours that concentrates on articles, perhaps organized by topic, it would be advisable for you to revisit a topic or set of articles periodically to make sure the following are true:

• The facts within the article are still accurate. This is probably the most important, especially if the area you're writting about are in flux and your users rely on you as an expert source.
• The article still is in alignment with your web site philosophy. You will probaby evolve in your philosophy or focus from time to time and you want to make sure your articles are still in alignment with your overall concept (or at least don't contradict it).
• The article still represents your point of view. Everyone has the right to change their mind on something. If you do change your mind on something that was previously written, it's a good idea to go back and rewrite the article to reflect your feelings now. The web site is a refleciton of you so if you no longer feel a certain way, it's best not to have your site portraying the old way of thinking. For an added service to your users, you may want to expand on your article to let them know why you felt one way before and you feel another way now. If it's a conplete change, you may want to rewrite the article in its entirety, but leave the old article below the new with a message of why you changed your mind.
• The article is still relevant. Things change, especially in technology, but some things remain useful today as they were in the past. Try to stick to those subjects. However, if you are writing about the cutting edge and you know your article is now woefully out date, it may be time to retire it or at least put a message at the top of the article warning that it is no longer current and provide a link to an article that is.

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