{"id":593969,"date":"2020-01-06T19:03:48","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T19:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/?page_id=593969"},"modified":"2023-06-01T20:35:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T20:35:03","slug":"editorial-policy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs\">\n<li class=\"nav-item\"><a class=\"nav-link\" href=\"\/about-us\/\">About Us<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"nav-item\"><a class=\"nav-link active\" href=\"\/editorial-policy\/\">Editorial Policy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"nav-item\"><a class=\"nav-link\" href=\"\/our-partners\/\">Our Partners<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Editorial Policy<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">The Fit Small Business Editorial Policy is driven by our company mission:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cDeliver the best answers to people\u2019s questions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We tie every piece of content we produce back to that mission, with a focus on the questions and answers:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPeople\u2019s Questions\u201d:<\/strong> We use our expertise and research to determine the specific questions people are asking; all of our articles are written with the goal of delivering the best answers to those questions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe Best Answers\u201d:<\/strong> Our expert writers work through a comprehensive editorial process to produce deeply researched articles with information and recommendations on the knowledge, strategy, services, and products our audience needs to answer their questions and build their businesses.<\/p>\n<h4>We use the following parameters to define the \u201cbest\u201d answers:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Accuracy:<\/strong> The best answers are accurate and up-to-date.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clarity:<\/strong> The best answers are clear, easy to read, well written, well organized, and comprehensive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Authority:<\/strong> The best answers are based on expertise and authority that are clearly apparent and trustworthy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Objectivity:<\/strong> The best answers present information objectively, and that objectivity is also clearly apparent and trustworthy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Accessibility:<\/strong> The best answers present information in ways that account for varying levels of time and interest, satisfying people who want their questions answered simply in 30 seconds, succinctly in 3 minutes, or comprehensively in 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<h4>To ensure we\u2019re meeting those parameters, we ask ourselves:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Who?:<\/strong> We identify who is asking the question, and what they need.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What?:<\/strong> We determine the specific question the audience wants answered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What else?:<\/strong> We answer the question that was asked, and also present and answer any crucial related questions that the audience might not have known enough to ask.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where?:<\/strong> We identify and address the goal or the journey the person wants to take &#8212; To learn? To take an action? To make a purchase? &#8212; and deliver all the information needed to meet that goal or complete that journey within an article or by sending them elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How?:<\/strong> We offer recommendations on products, processes, and strategies that we assess to be both good and bad by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. In every case, we deliver all the information we believe is necessary to answer the question and help our audience make good choices. That means we suggest and explain options we believe to be the best while accounting for audience members who need to make choices out of necessity that we do not recommend as the best. We explain how to execute those necessary choices as well.<\/p>\n<h2>Partners and Editorial Independence<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re committed to editorial independence and objective assessment in the products we review and recommend. We also partner with product and service providers to make money.<\/p>\n<p>Our readers&#8217; trust is vitally important to us. When anyone reads an article on Fit Small Business, we want them to know they can trust that the article is accurate and objective, and the recommendations we make are based on the expertise and independent analysis of our expert writers \u2014 not just our partner affiliations.<\/p>\n<p>How can we do that? We start by being transparent about how we make money.<\/p>\n<h3>Our Partners<\/h3>\n<p>We partner with companies that provide products and services that can be helpful to small business owners. We suggest or recommend thousands of products on the site, from partners and non-partners, and we often earn commissions when the audience clicks through to our partners\u2019 sites. These commissions generate the revenue we use to build our own business and continue to deliver the best answers to people\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re committed to partnering with companies that provide quality products and services that we vet to ensure they meet our audience\u2019s needs. In addition to making us money, we view this as a service, much like a store where you would ask for expert help on the best way to achieve a goal or complete a project, and then buy the items you need. We offer expert advice and access to products that answer your questions and help you succeed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/our-partners\/\"><strong>Here\u2019s a list of our partners.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Editorial Independence<\/h3>\n<h4>Buyer\u2019s Guide Recommendations<\/h4>\n<p>The recommendations we make in our buyer\u2019s guides are made independently, with no influence from our partners. Our recommendations are based on research and our writers\u2019 expert assessments of the products or services they&#8217;re evaluating, and nothing else. Though we partner with a lot of great companies, those partnerships have no bearing on these recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>We do evaluate our partners\u2019 products to determine whether they warrant inclusion in buyer\u2019s guides, but they are held to the same standards as the other products we\u2019re reviewing. Any placement or recommendation is based solely on the product\u2019s merit as determined by the writer and editor.<\/p>\n<p>To evaluate accounting software in an unbiased and transparent manner, we developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/evaluating-accounting-software-case-study\/\">case study<\/a> where all general-use bookkeeping software is evaluated on a consistent set of facts and criteria. The results provide an in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each software, which allows us to make recommendations based on business needs and wants.<\/p>\n<h4>Anecdotal Examples<\/h4>\n<p>In our \u201cWhat Is,\u201d \u201cHow To,\u201d and \u201cUltimate Guide\u201d articles, we often use anecdotal examples that feature existing products, including images or videos, to explain and show readers how a particular system or product works. These anecdotal examples can\u2014and often do\u2014feature our partner products.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever we do this, we&#8217;re using the partner product as an example that we believe is representative of the types of products that users would typically use. These examples should in no way be confused with an FSB recommendation, and we\u2019ll work to make that clear.<\/p>\n<h2>Plagiarism and Duplication Policy<\/h2>\n<p>Fit Small Business does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. The copying of other people\u2019s work and\/or ideas is not permitted.<\/p>\n<p>Reusing one\u2019s own writing \u2014 wholly or in part \u2014 on Fit Small Business is also not allowed.<\/p>\n<p>Any acts of plagiarism and duplication will be met with disciplinary action up to and including termination.<\/p>\n<h2>Our Commitment<\/h2>\n<p>More than 4 million monthly readers trust us with their questions, and we are committed to delivering the best answers. Our audience relies on our content to make critical business decisions, and our partners understand that our commitment to editorial independence is what makes affiliation with us valuable. We ask questions and do thousands of hours of data-driven research for our articles. The more information we gather, the more effective we are at delivering on our mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About Us Editorial Policy Our Partners Editorial Policy The Fit Small Business Editorial Policy is driven by our company mission: \u201cDeliver the best answers to people\u2019s questions.\u201d We tie every piece of content we produce back to that mission, with a focus on the questions and answers: \u201cPeople\u2019s Questions\u201d: We use our expertise and research&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30999,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Editorial Policy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editorial Policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About Us Editorial Policy Our Partners Editorial Policy The Fit Small Business Editorial Policy is driven by our company mission: \u201cDeliver the best answers to people\u2019s questions.\u201d We tie every piece of content we produce back to that mission, with a focus on the questions and answers: \u201cPeople\u2019s Questions\u201d: We use our expertise and research...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fit Small Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T20:35:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/\",\"name\":\"Editorial Policy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-06T19:03:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-01T20:35:03+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/editorial-policy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fitsmallbusiness.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fit Small Business\",\"description\":\"Small Business Software &amp; 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