Yoogo uses the Story publishing tool to create and publish blog posts, articles, guides, essays, and other long-form content. In this guide, we explain how to create and format a Story, add images, videos, links, captions, hashtags, Topics, and references to other users, save and reopen drafts, and preview your work before publication.

We also cover several publishing features that can help improve how your Story is presented and discovered. You will learn how to select a thumbnail, add relevant Topics, promote your Story for additional visibility, attach or reference products and services, edit the Story's metadata and description, and add a canonical link when the same or original article is published elsewhere. 

Unlike the temporary "Stories" used on some social media platforms, Yoogo Stories are designed as long-form publications with their own page and URL.

Start a New Story

To create a new Story, blog post, or article, open Yoogo's Story WYSIWYG editor by selecting Story from the Write menu in the application header. The editor allows you to create and format your article while seeing approximately how the content will appear when published.

To start a new Story:

1. Click Write in the application header.
2. Select Story.
3. The Story editor will open.
4. Enter a Story title.
5. Add a main hero image.
6. Enter at least one line of text below the hero image.
7. Continue writing and formatting your Story.

A Story must contain a title, a main hero image, and at least one line of text below the hero image before it can be saved as a draft or published.

You do not need to complete the entire Story in one session. Once you meet these minimum requirements, you can save your work as a draft and return to it later.

As you continue working, you can add and format text, insert additional images and videos, create links, mention other Yoogo users, add hashtags, and use the other Story publishing tools described in the following sections.

Write and Format Your Story

The Yoogo Story editor provides convenient tools for writing and formatting your content and for adding media, links, hashtags, and references to other users and businesses.

The editing and formatting tools are available in the toolbar at the top of the editor. Most of these tools work like those found in other familiar text editors and are straightforward to use. A few features specific to Yoogo are described below.

Add Images and Videos to Your Story

You can insert images and videos directly into your Story wherever they are most relevant to the article.

To add an image or video:

1. Place the cursor on a new line where you want the media to appear.
2. Click the Image/Media icon in the editor toolbar.
3. In the dialog that opens, upload the image or video you want to insert.
4. After inserting the media, continue editing your Story as needed.

To create a new line immediately below an inserted image or video, click the arrow located in the bottom border of the inserted media. This places the cursor below the media so you can continue writing.

You can also add a caption to an image or video. Select the media and enable the Caption toggle in the editor toolbar, then enter the caption you want to display with it.

Captions can help describe an image, add context, identify people or locations, or provide attribution when appropriate.

Mention or Reference Other Yoogo Users and Businesses

Yoogo Stories allow you to mention other Yoogo users and businesses directly within the text of your article.

When you mention a user or business, the reference becomes associated with their Yoogo identity and may also cause the Story to appear in their For Me feed.

To mention someone:

1. Type @ followed immediately by the person's first or last name, or begin typing the name of the business.
2. Yoogo will display a list of matching users or businesses.
3. Select the correct person or business from the list.
4. The reference will appear in your Story.

Use mentions only when the referenced person or business is genuinely relevant to the content of your Story.

Because mentions can show content to referenced users, don't use them just to attract attention or share unrelated content. Repeated unwanted or irrelevant mentions may be reported as spam and can negatively affect your account standing. Repeated violations may result in restrictions or account suspension.

Add Hashtags Within Your Story

You can add hashtags directly within the text of your Story to associate the article with relevant subjects and make it easier for users interested in those subjects to discover.

To add a hashtag, type the # symbol immediately followed by the word or phrase you want to use as the hashtag.

Use hashtags that accurately describe the subject of your Story. Relevant hashtags can improve discoverability, while unrelated or excessive hashtags may make the article less useful to readers.

Yoogo also allows you to associate hashtags with a Story through the Promote for Free feature available during the publishing process. This option is described later in this guide.

Save Your Story as a Draft

If you want to pause while writing your Story, you can save it as a draft and return to it later.

To save a Story as a draft:

1. Click Save in the upper-right corner of the Story editor.
2. Your current work will be saved without being published.

Saving a Story as a draft does not make it public. A draft will not appear in the feed, on your profile, or as a publicly accessible article on the web.

Open and Continue a Draft

To return to a Story you previously saved:

1. Click Write in the application header.
2. Select Story to open the Story editor.
3. Click the menu icon in the upper-left corner of the Story editor.
4. Open your saved Stories and select the draft you want to continue editing.

The same menu also lets you access your previously published Stories.

Preview Your Story

You can preview your Story at any time while you are working on it.

To preview your Story:

1. Click Preview in the header of the Story editor.
2. Yoogo will open the Story preview in a new browser window or tab.
3. Review how your article will appear to readers.
4. Close the Preview when you are finished and return to the Story editor to make any additional changes.

Previewing helps you check the overall layout, text formatting, images, videos, captions, links, and other elements before publication.

Publish Your Story

When your Story is ready, click Publish in the header of the Story editor.

Yoogo will open the publishing dialog, where you can review and complete several settings that affect how your Story is presented and discovered.

Select a Thumbnail

Select an image from your Story or upload a custom thumbnail.

The thumbnail represents your Story in areas such as the feed and your profile, so choose an image that clearly relates to the article's subject.

Add Topics and Discovery References

The publishing dialog allows you to associate your Story with relevant:

• Topics
• People
• Businesses
• Industries
• Hashtags

These references help Yoogo understand what your Story is about and can improve its discoverability in relevant feeds, searches, directories, and other discovery areas.

Use references that are genuinely relevant to the content of your article.

Attach Products and Services

You can also associate relevant products and services listed on Yoogo with your Story.

Attached products or services are displayed with the published article, allowing readers to explore related offerings directly from the Story.

This can be useful when, for example, an article discusses a service you provide, explains how a product is used, presents a case study, or provides information directly related to an offering available on Yoogo.

Add a Canonical Link

If your article was originally published on another website, you can add the URL of the original article as a canonical link.

A canonical link tells search engines which version of substantially identical or republished content to treat as the preferred or original version.

For example, if you first published an article on your own website and later republish it on Yoogo, you can enter the URL of the original article as the canonical link. This helps search engines understand the relationship between the two versions and reduces potential duplicate-content confusion.

If the Story was originally published on Yoogo and you have no other preferred version, you generally don't need to provide an external canonical URL.

Edit the Metadata Description

The publishing dialog also allows you to edit the metadata description for your Story.

The metadata description provides a concise summary of the article that can be read by search engines and other systems that can read and use it to understand web pages. A clear, accurate description helps those systems understand what your article is about and may also be used when the Story appears in search or discovery experiences.

Use the metadata description to briefly and accurately summarize your Story's main subject of your Story.

What Happens When You Publish

After you publish your Story:

• The Story can appear in the Yoogo feed according to its publishing and visibility settings.
• The Story is added to the appropriate area of your profile.
• The article receives its own standalone URL.
• Relevant Topics, hashtags, people, businesses, industries, products, and services can help connect the Story with related content and discovery experiences.
• Publicly accessible Stories can be made available to web crawlers and search engines for discovery and indexing.

The standalone URL also allows you to share your Story outside Yoogo through websites, social media, email, or other channels.

Unpublish a Story

You can unpublish a Story if you no longer want it to be publicly available.

After a Story has been published, an Unpublish button becomes available in the Story editor.

To unpublish the Story:

1. Open the published Story in the Story editor.
2. Click Unpublish.
3. Confirm the action if prompted.

Unpublishing removes the Story from public publication without requiring you to delete the content itself.