Areas of responsibility
- Writing, editing, and commissioning marketing content
- Running the newsletter and growing subscriber list
- Monitoring website and content SEO content visibility
- Identifying technical SEO improvements and issues
- SEO keyword research and optimization of existing content
- General marketing support for social media, paid ads etc.
Quirks
I tend to think "verbally" if I'm unsure what I think about a question or topic. Please question / repeat what I've said back to me if you require more clarity.
Writing requires total focus for me to make meaningful progress, so I reserve my meeting-free days (Tuesdays & Thursdays) for any active writing tasks. This means, for example, if you ask for a review on a Monday, I may not look at it until Wednesday unless it's obviously urgent. That said, don't hesitate to ask me to prioritize a review if you need unblocking.
I'm aggressive about cutting out activities I deem low impact. This can lead to blindspots. Please challenge me if there's something you think I should dedicate more time to.
Readability / aesthetics are more important to me than following grammar to the letter. Case in point, while we use US English, I always use British-style en dashes (like – this) rather than US-style em dashes (like—this) because it looks nicer. Don't get me started on using hyphens instead (like - this) – that's just wrong. Here's that last sentence with an em dash instead... Don't get me started on using hyphens instead (like - this)—that's just wrong. Doesn't that em dash look cramped and nasty? Honestly, though, I don't care that much, but I will find and replace every em dash and orphaned hyphen on the website. It's fine. It's not a big deal. I'm cool about it.
What I value
Strategic focus and discipline are important to me, because (in my experience) it's a major factor in success. Consequently, if you're proposing a major change of direction, I will question it. Please don't take this to mean I'm implacably (good word!) against the change or being negative, I only wish to understand the reasoning properly and feel 100% confident it's the right direction. Without this, my motivation suffers.
Honesty. Years of working in the publishing industry has made me sensitive to success theater and collective delusions! Failure is ok, pretending it's actually a success isn't.
Efficient processes. I'm not anti-process, I'm pro efficient process. Too little process is (almost) as bad as too much.
Beautiful, elegant en dashes – just look at how nice it looks.
How I can help you
Words. I'm all about them words, you see. So, if you need or want to write some, come talk to me. If you don't feel super confident, I'm happy to take a basic outline and turn it into something longer.
I love building dashboards and digging into data generally. If it's about the website and the answer is somewhere in the data, I will relish finding it.
Seen something weird in a search engine? Tell me about it.
Want to know what people search for? I can help with that.
I've spent a lot of my life using analytics tools, so I'm a pretty decent proxy for a non-technical end user. If you need an opinion on something, I can provide that POV for you.
How you can help me
Have you read something interesting recently? Please share it so I can use it in the newsletter.
I've got the basics of GitHub and VSC down, but I'm no coder. I will probably come to you with a problem at some point. All assistance is gratefully received.
Share content ideas. It's ok if you don't have the time to write them yourself. Bung them in #content-ideas whenever the mood strikes.
Point out when I've used a British spelling.
Agree that em dashes are nasty and ugly.