I read masses and masses of articles every week, skim reading some and reading others in great detail. Instead of keeping this great content to myself, this week i'm going to share some of my favourite recent articles with you.
Grammar Police: 12 Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes
This article on grammar came up with some interesting points, which as a relatively new writer, I found interesting. The comments however taught me one thing. Never write an article that attempts to deal with grammar, spelling or punctuation; unless that is, you hold a doctorate in English and are prepared to be harangued by peers who feel the world would be a better place if only everyone wrote perfectly.
Personally, i'm fine with imperfect grammar if the content is coming from the heart, is relevant and interesting, but this article should be read for just the comments alone!
How to Stop Marketing Reporting from Interfering with Marketing Goals
I do a lot of reporting for a lot of different clients so I found this article on KPIs and measuring ROI interesting.
Get Happy: Putting Yourself into Your Brand's Personality
OK, so strictly speaking this isn't an article it's a podcast, but one i'd highly recommend you listening to. I found this particularly interesting as I hated the brand, even though I fall squarely within the brands target audience. I went to visit the brand website (Happy Bitch Wines) that is discussed in the podcast and was very interested to see that it lead not with product information, but with an emotional personal profile of the women behind the brand.
I'm not sure if it's because I am British and therefore less schmaltzy than my US cousins who seem to love personal journeys, I just felt the brand and entire concept was completely charmless, unappealing and dated; akin to the 'girl power' buzz back in the 90s.
It amazed me that such a brand could be doing well - as quite an easy going person I rarely take such an instant dislike to something, but i'm baffled that women are buying into such a naff brand, with a frankly awful name. Why do women feel they have to be 'bitches' to be strong and empowered? Beats me, but that's for an entirely different discussion.
How to Write Better Headlines
I write a lot. Despite only blogging about once a week here on my own blog, when it comes to writing content for my clients I write several thousand words a week and publish on perhaps a dozen websites.
For me writing great headlines is super important and not something I always get right! Any tips and advice I can get on writing winning headlines is welcome, so I found this article really useful.
5 Ways to Sell With Social Media
Conversion optimisation is featuring highly on my agenda currently, I don't just want followers, fans or subscribers for my clients, I want those people to visit the website and make an enquiry or purchase. There are 5 basic tips here on how to achieve that with social media.