TRW Vacancy

A vacancy exists at The Ready Writers Consult for the role of a Web Administrator, full-time or part-time. The suitable candidate must possess cognitive field experience or demonstrable learning potential in the following deliverables:

- Web Development & Design
- Domain Maintenance & Troubleshooting
- Search Engine Optimizations
- Web & Social Algorithms
- eCommerce Management
- Mobile Apps Development
- Software Development

Interested candidates should email their resume and job portfolio to jobs@thereadywriters.com no later than 6 pm Tuesday, February 27, 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted to move their application forward.

Role: Web Administrator

Location: Remote

Suitable Candidate
- Must be able to multitask and manage a bouquet of websites
- Must be able to work under pressure with short turnaround time
- Must be able to work with little or no supervision
- Must be able proactive and attentive to details
- Capable of independent thinking and self-management
- A team player

Technical Requirements
Suitable candidates must be proficient in the use and management of:
- On-page, off-page and technical SEO
- White Hat SEO
- SEMrush SEO tools
- Google Webmaster & SEO tools
- AdSense performance optimization
- Ezoic ads performance optimization
- Setup and administration of AdWords campaign
- Keywords management and campaign
- Web development & design
- Web Analytics Report & Interpretation
- Troubleshooting

Interested candidates should send their application and resume to jobs@trwconsult.com no later than Friday, August 18, 2021

In online writing land, clarity is your best friend. The clearest prose is the type anyone can understand, learn from, and enjoy.

Stuffing your sentences and paragraphs with filler and fluff – words and phrases that add zero meaning to what you’re trying to say – is the opposite of clear writing.

It bores your readers.

It complicates your ideas.

It waters down your message and makes it less impactful.

Online content needs a lighter touch to succeed. Internet users are notorious for their short attention spans, and most of them aren’t reading in depth but scanning for meaning.

Cutting filler words that bloat your online writing is how you hone it to a sharp point. It’s how you ratchet up your words’ value for readers (because clearer content is easier to understand – period).

This list of words and phrases includes the common culprits. When/if you use them, check yourself and ask, “What is this word/phrase adding to what I’m trying to say?”

If the answer is “nothing,” cut it.

With that in mind, let’s get to the list:

1. In order to
This is one of the flabbiest phrases I see in writing. People use it, but not one sentence stops working if “in order to” is deleted (or replaced with “to,” which has the same meaning). This one small change makes the statement clearer.

2. Really
“Really” clogs your content. Think of it this way: If you’re saying something is “really” tall, you’re missing the mark. How tall is it? Quantify it. If something has “really” improved, readers want to know how much. Qualify it.

While the purpose of “really” is to exaggerate something, readers respond better to text that gets more granular in its measurements. With that in mind, swap this vague term for a more accurate descriptor. If you can’t be more descriptive, delete “really.”

3. Believe and think
“Believe” and “think” imply something is opinion or indicate doubt in its validity. Both are bad for your copywriting. People are more interested in the facts and hard information than they are in vague thoughts. Even if you’re writing an opinion piece, readers should understand that based on the context, making “I think” a needless phrase.

These two words also pop up when a writer isn’t sure about the statistic or fact, and that is dangerous. Again, readers want information, and merely “thinking” a statistic is true isn’t enough to get it past the firing squad. Don’t include a fact if it needs to be qualified as a thought or belief.

4. A lot
“A lot” is similar to “really” in terms of vagueness. Saying something is “a lot different than it used to be” robs your readers of an experience. While they understand something has changed, they don’t know what it was or how much it’s shifted. They want more specific information to make good decisions and to connect with your writing on a deeper level.

Instead of using these vague phrases, replace them with hard-and-fast statistics. Go for percentages, pounds, solid units of measurement. Those quantifiable terms perform better than the old standby “a lot.”

5. Always and never
These two aren’t flabby, but they are seldom true. If you say, “Marketers never consider their clients,” you’re horribly off base. Applying an all-inclusive adjective paints with too broad a brush and is reckless. Instead, opt for “few” or “rare” if you need to quantify but don’t have the numbers. The same thing applies to “always.” Instead, opt for words like “most” or “many.”

6. Stuff
“Stuff” is an unprofessional term that harms your content. It’s not descriptive or specific. Instead, define what that “stuff” is. Consider these two headlines: “Stuff You Should Do for a More Successful Blog” or “5 Writing Tricks for a More Successful Blog.” The specificity and clarity of the second headline is more helpful to your readers.

7. Just
The only time “just” has a place in your content is when you’re talking about something being “fair.” For example, “The trial was just.” Uses of “just” to imply something small or inefficient (e.g., “She just couldn’t do it.”) don’t add anything to the sentence. In most cases, you can remove the word “just” without affecting the sentence’s meaning.

8. That
“That” may seem like an inoffensive word, but it’s usually not necessary. For example, “It’s the most delicious cake that I’ve eaten” could easily be “It’s the most delicious cake I’ve eaten.” In similar instances, remove it for more streamlined content.

9. Then
“Then” makes your writing stammer, which is the opposite of what you want. To smooth your text, remove the word “then” whenever the sentence makes sense without it. And don’t start sentences with “then” because it makes them clunky and difficult to read.

10. Literally
People frequently misuse the word “literally.” It means exactly. Whether used correctly or incorrectly, the word often is superfluous. Get rid of it or replace it with something more descriptive and precise.

11. Virtually
Virtually means nearly or almost, or by means of virtual reality technique. In most cases, the sentence makes sense without this flabby addition. Unless you’re talking about someone who works remotely, “virtually” has no place in your writing.

12. Completely and entirely
You can remove “completely” and “entirely” from your sentences without affecting their meaning. To emphasize or visualize completeness, use more descriptive terms. For example, “the cup was filled to the brim with water,” works much better than “the cup was filled completely with water.”

13. So
“So” is another word that doesn’t do much. Despite this, many people use it, particularly as a transition or explanatory word. Delete it without affecting the sentence’s meaning.

14. Got
“Got” is a lazy word because it doesn’t tell people much about how or why someone got something. Instead, use words that add power such as “obtained” and “earned.”

15. Often
“Often” teases readers by telling them that something happens frequently without being clear. Replace “often” with specific descriptions such as “five times a week” or “every year.”

16. Very
Perhaps the laziest descriptive word of all, “very” can be deleted in any sentence without taking away the intended meaning. Where you might use “very” plus an adjective, replace the combination with a single, stronger adjective. For example, instead of saying “very beautiful,” use “gorgeous.” Instead of “very intelligent,” say “brilliant.”

17. The fact of the matter, as a matter of fact
“The fact of the matter” can be deleted in any context, as well as the phrase “as a matter of fact.” Both emphasize a point about to be made, but there are more creative ways to do that.

18. The thing is
“The thing is” is another unnecessary phrase you can eliminate without harming the meaning of your sentences. If anything, “the thing is” weakens your sentences because it sounds and looks strange and can be grammatically incorrect: “The thing is is I never got the memo.”

… Huh? (My point.)

19. Absolutely
In many cases, you can leave out the word “absolutely” because it’s redundant. For example, “The conclusion she reached was absolutely final.” Final IS final – it can’t go further. Or, “You have absolutely no reason not to try.” Last time I checked, “no” is absolute. It doesn’t need a useless adverb to make it stronger. Consensus: Ditch “absolutely.”

20. Anyway
Want to know the laziest way to change the subject? Use “anyway” as an introductory word. Get rid of it and work on making your transitions sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph flow better.

21. It, here, or there plus to be verb
“It was a sunny day.” “There was no good reason for the mistake.” “Here we have a beautiful rose.” While these sentences look fine, the convention of combining “it,” “here,” or “there” with a to-be verb like “is” or “was” in a sentence is called an expletive construction. This phrasing adds no meaning and makes sentences unnecessarily longer. For instance, let’s rewrite the above sentences so they’re tighter:

“The day was sunny.” “The mistake was avoidable.” “This rose is beautiful.”

22. Kind of, sort of
These filler phrases make your writing sound uncertain. Something either is or isn’t. If you say, “Her behavior was kind of rude,” what do you mean? Is there a scale of rude behavior? Did she score a five out of 10? Say what you mean without hedging: “Her behavior was rude.”

23. Thing
A common, fluffy way to write about an object is to refer to it as a “thing.” For example, “A lily is a thing of beauty,” or “Feeling embarrassed is a thing we can all relate to.”

“Thing” is a nondescript, non-committal word that takes away from the strength of a sentence. Find another word descriptive of your subject or remove “thing,” e.g., “We can all relate to feeling embarrassed.” “Lilies are graceful blooms.”

24. Obviously, undoubtedly
If the point you’re making is obvious or indubitable, then why do you use one of those words? You don’t.

25. When it comes to
This sneaky phrase creeps into even the most skilled writer’s sentences. It’s not incorrect, but you can use fewer words. For example, “When it comes to ice cream, strawberry is my favorite” can be shortened to “Strawberry ice cream is my favorite.”

Strive for stronger writing
To improve your writing, aim to cut or replace words that act as filler. They add nothing.

The best way to weed them? Edit without mercy. As you read each word or sentence, consider whether it adds to the meaning. If not, get rid of it.

As you get rid of the fluff, you can build up the muscles in your content:

Use action verbs.
Limit the use of adjectives.
Avoid clichés and overused phrases.
When you write in a way that’s easier for people to understand, your content is likely to attract more readers. It’s a surefire way to achieve greater results for your content marketing.

Culled from Content Marketing Institute

Post Tags:
#Content Marketing
#Marketing
#Social media
#words and phrases
#writing tricks

One visible difference between a 20th-century and the 21st-century marketplace is the ability to play smart in the latter.

To work hard was fashionable advice given to business owners to get them to promote their business in the old time. But now, this advice has seen better days and working smart is the new normal.

A necessary skill that every entrepreneur – whether greenhorn or expert – needs in the 21st-century business space is the ability to play smart in the digital space. And playing smart requires learning and acquiring vital information to help you maximise the digital space potential and be relevant. Social media in particular is crucial to business success.

To this end, below is some relevant information that you need to have about some popular social media applications in order to be a smart digital market player.
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Commoditization is a fact of market. I always remember that great observation by VJ Govindarajan that “Strategy starts dying the moment it is created”. It dies because its (potential) effectiveness dies and with that, its relative value.

That idea, transposed to a brand, is in reality, what commoditization is: the (slow) death of relevant value. However, there are strategies you can put in place to reverse the speed and/or pace of that commoditizing effect. Here are nine ways I outlined to a leadership forum in Malaysia recently to decommoditize your offering and reassert its branded value.

In the presentation itself, I focused on actual commodities, but the principles are in fact applicable to any brand that doesn’t command the value that it needs to, or once did:

1. Think of the product in new ways – [/b]when you redefine what something is or could be, you reframe its context and it’s much easier to redefine what it can be used for. When you stop thinking of milk as a drink, for example, and start thinking of it as a food, as Fonterra did, you change the scope of the product you’re working with in so many ways.

[b]2. Redefine who you want to be a brand to
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When a product becomes so trendy and popular competitors steal it and manufacturers can’t keep up with demand, expanding the product’s reach, scope and audience makes economic sense. There’s no shortage of marketing strategies available, but you want some that are tried and true. Try one — or all of them. A fifth strategy at the end of the article may be worth considering too.

Strategy One: Penetrate New Domestic Markets
When the folks at Avon discovered their Skin So Soft lotion had become a wildly popular insect repellent, they embraced the news. In addition to keeping it in their beauty product line, they opened new markets by advertising the brand to campers, vacationers and people spending time outdoors. Adopt this type of strategy to open new avenues for your product if you’ve discovered new use for it. Consider rolling out a second package design with copy, art and colors targeting the new audience, because you’re re-purposing, not re-formulating, your product.

Strategy Two: Export Your Product
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A company with a well-executed branding strategy gains important competitive advantages over its rivals. An effective branding strategy creates a clear and consistent identity for your products, based on qualities that are important to the market. Your branding strategy positions your products clearly in the minds of customers and prospects, and differentiates your products from competitive offerings. A well-executed branding strategy builds on the strengths of your brand by communicating brand values clearly and consistently. The measure of a well-executed branding strategy is immediate recognition by your target audience with a consequent impact on your sales success.

Purchasing
A well-executed branding strategy makes it easier for your customers to make purchasing decisions about your products. They have a clear perception of the performance, benefits and quality of your products. The confidence that the brand will continue to meet its expectations minimizes customers’ risk in purchasing your product. A strong brand helps you build long-term relationships with your customers. Customers continue to buy from companies they trust, so it is important to continually reinforce the brand values that are important.

Distribution
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What does it mean to create loyal customers in a world where your competitors can be everywhere at once, shopping habits are increasingly search driven, and a single social misstep can quickly erode the favorable reputation it took your brand years to build?

It has become all too common for brands to promote brand loyalty simply by lavishing reward points on anybody willing to identify as a customer or load an app on their phone. And when the appeal of earning exclusive deals and discounts doesn’t do the trick, there’s always the option to fall back on scare tactics that point out your competitors’ shortcomings (remember those old I’m a Mac/I’m a PC chestnuts?).

However, today’s consumers – particularly digital natives like millennials and Gen Zers – may be more concerned with fear of missing out (FOMO) than fear of messing up. And with online reviews, social referrals, and comparison shopping tools readily available to influence every purchase decision, marketers are facing an uncomfortable new reality: Even our most loyal customers may ditch us as their bestie brand friend whenever something new and more appealing pops up in their social news feeds or gets deeply discounted in an Amazon Prime Day sale.

Shifting consumer behaviors, combined with an ever increasing need to keep costs contained, are causing brands to rethink their definitions of loyalty and reinvent their strategies for incentivizing it. If you’re looking to strengthen your post-purchase customer relationships through content, here are some key considerations and helpful conversations you should check out:

Are some actions “more loyal” than others?
Businesses have begun to expand their view of the loyalty value proposition, including how to quantify it, reward it, and maximize returns from it. As a recent MarketingWeek podcast discusses, U.K.-based brands like Virgin, Sainsbury’s, and Sky now factor in location, tenure, and frequency of purchase into their loyalty program calculations. In addition, U.S. companies like Sephora and Subway are leveling the engagement potential of their programs by adding weighted tiers, community-activation features, and exclusive live experiences, helping them distinguish random acts of fandom from passionate evangelism – and reward both behaviors accordingly.

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Looking for ways to improve your customer engagement on social media? Here are 8.

First off, if you have experience in social media marketing, you know that engaging users is no easy task.

The biggest mistake people make when promoting their brand, company or even themselves on social media is thinking that simply posting is enough. However, that’s far from the case. Managing a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account means having to strategize ways to keep your current audience captivated, while simultaneously attracting new users to your page.

Both of these activities can be full-time jobs. And, unfortunately, most people struggle to do either well. After all, how many times have you heard the words: “We just need to post better content”?

But because building a loyal following on social media isn’t easy, that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Some of the best digital marketers today started building Instagram pages as a hobby — until suddenly they were boasting hundreds of thousands of followers. What they did was double down on their strengths and learn how to work on their weaknesses.

Here are eight ways you can increase your engagement on social media and make your pages a destination worth following.

8 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement on Social Media
1. Always post.
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One of the most lucrative ways to improve your business is to attract your competitor’s customers to your business. Consumers will switch brands and businesses if they can see real value, so you need to give them a pretty good reason to choose your business over your competitors.

Thorough competitor analysis is the strategic way of developing a clearer picture of what’s happening in the market and giving you a basis to develop your own action plan. Follow the steps below to make your business irresistible to your competitor’s customers.



How to Attract More Customers (While Pulling Them Away from Your Competitors)

1. Lower your prices
Simply being the cheapest supplier can be an effective way to attract new customers, but what your business sells will have a major impact on how effective this technique will be. If your business sells commodity items such as books, CDs, DVDs etc., which are identical no matter which retailer sells them, consumers will look for the cheapest price.

Value, however, is often related to price. An item that has a very low price can frequently be perceived as inferior. Look closely at the pricing structure of your competitors before slashing your own prices, as this could damage the brand value of your company.

And value for money doesn’t simply mean more for your money, as the equation consumers use to decide what price they want to pay for any goods is complex. Attracting customers away from competitors may have a price component, but this isn’t the only factor consumers will use for goods that are not seen as commodities.


2. Create brand loyalty
Inviting customers to become part of your brand can be a powerful attractor. Companies such as Apple illustrate how successful strong brand values can be. Consumers want to be part of a group or tribe that not only delivers great goods or services but, also shows the people in their network they support the values of the brand they associate themselves with.

Trust and interest in a business’ customers and what they do are strong ways your business’ brand can become highly attractive to your competitor’s customers. The emotional ties your business can make via social media for instance can be highly effective. In addition, it has been shown that consumers who are emotionally connected to a brand are less price sensitive, which is why Apple can charge so much more for its products.


3. Raise your profile
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Being a social media manager is a multifaceted job: You’re a data analyst one minute, a community moderator the next and an innovator and entrepreneur after that. Whether you’re a freelancer looking to score your next big client or a job seeker eager to land a new opportunity, here are tactics you can employ right now to rise up in social media management.

How to Succeed as a Social Media Manager
1. Know Your Channels
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No entrepreneur has a perfect first marketing campaign. Even if you’re experienced as a marketer or entrepreneur, you can’t really dial things in until you have data to inform your campaign.

So let’s say you have a marketing strategy that’s, for the most part, “failing.” You aren’t seeing the results you predicted, and from what you can tell, your return on investment (ROI) is either negligible or negative. I’m going to assume that this isn’t just a gut feeling or an early reaction, either – you’ve looked up the hard numbers, and can objectively demonstrate that your marketing strategy isn’t working the way you’d hoped.

You don’t want to abandon your strategy altogether, so what can you do to correct it?


1. Give it more time.
First, I want to acknowledge that some strategies – like SEO – take a long time to start paying off. If you’re investing in your brand image, or if you’re relying on inbound channels of traffic to bring you more customers, don’t get discouraged after only a few weeks of effort.

On the other hand, some strategies – like PPC advertising – should start working immediately and improve over time as you make adjustments based on the data. If you’re working on a long-term strategy, consider giving your campaign more time to develop. Otherwise, try one of the approaches below.


2. Differentiate it.
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Have you ever stopped to think about what content marketing is really all about?

Sure, it is about telling the story of your brand and answering questions that your customers have about your products and services in a “non-salesly” fashion, but deep down, brands that do content marketing well do it for something more than those things.

The brands that do content marketing better than their competition are the companies that realize at the end of the day that content marketing is about building trust.

Whether you are creating content for new prospects, current customers, industry analysts or someone else entirely, the real purpose behind those efforts should be to build a higher level of trust between the consumer of the content and the brand creating it.

How to ensure content marketing gets through the online noise