Avoiding Plagiarism - Paraphrasing

In writing papers, you will paraphrase more than you will quote. For a report or research paper, you may need to gather background information that is important to the paper but not worthy of direct quotation. Indeed, in technical writing direct quotation is rarely used.

Exactly what does "paraphrase" mean?

It means taking the words of another source and restating them, using your own vocabulary. In this way, you keep the meaning of the original text, but do not copy its exact wording.

Because of their unique perspective, Americans fear globalization less than anyone else, and as a consequence they think about it less than anyone else. When Americans do think about globalization, they think of the global economy as an enlarged version of the American economy.

According to Lester Thurow (1993) Americans fear globalization less than people from other countries and as a consequence spend less time thinking about it. Indeed, Americans see globalization as an enlarged version of their own economy.

The writer has used Thurow's exact words without enclosing them in quotation marks. S/he has only substituted synonyms here and there. Even though Thurow is credited with a citation, this would be considered plagiarism.

Lester Thurow (1993) maintains that because Americans see globalization simply as a bigger form of their own economy, they are less concerned about it than is the rest of the world.

The writer has kept the meaning of the original passage without copying words or structure. Words like globalization and Americans are generic terms (i.e., terms that are commonly used for the concept they illustrate - it is difficult to find synonyms for them). Thus you may use these words without placing them in quotation marks.

What strategies can I use to paraphrase?

Use synonyms for all words that are not generic. Words like world, food, or science are so basic to our vocabulary that is difficult to find a synonym.

Like drought, excess rainfall and flooding can also contribute to epidemics of waterborne infectious diseases, in this case due to poor sanitation resulting from runoff from overwhelmed sewage lines or the contamination of water by livestock.

(Source: Shuman, E., M.D. (2010, March 25). Global climate change and infectious diseases. New England Journal of Medicine; 362, 12, 1061-1063. Retrieved from nejm.org at MIT Libraries.)

An overabundance of rainfall can also be a factor in spreading infectious diseases carried by water, usually as a result of overflowing sewers and pollution from farm animals (Shuman, 2010).

When there is an overabundance of rainfall, two situations can occur: sewers can overflow and water can become polluted by the presence of livestock, both of which can lead to outbreaks of waterborne diseases (Shuman, 2010).

(Source: Venkat Narayan, K.M., Ali, M.K., and Koplan, J. (2010, September 23). Global noncomunicable diseases – where worlds meet. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363; 13. 1196-1198. Retrieved from nejm.org at MIT Libraries.)

Researchers point out that in attempting to implement economic growth, industry is often favored over health: government may subsidize certain forms of agriculture and food production, contribute to tobacco consumption in nations where it owns the industry and otherwise promote growth of industries that pollute. (Venkat Narayan et. al, 2011).

(Source: Venkat Narayan, K.M., , Ali, M.K., and Koplan, J. (2010, September 23). Global noncomunicable diseases – where worlds meet. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363; 13. 1196-1198. Retrieved from nejm.org at MIT Libraries.)

A good paraphrase combines a number of strategies: the goal is to rephrase the information so that it appears in your words, not those of the author.

(Source: Siegel, B. (1986).
Love, Medicine and Miracles (p. 69). New York: Harper and Row.)

(Source: Siegel, B. (1986).
Love, Medicine and Miracles (p. 69). New York: Harper and Row.)

The writer had only substituted synonyms in certain places; in others the wording is exactly the same as that of the original.

Even though the writer mentions the original source in the introductory phrase, the result is plagiarism.

Although the writer has changed the structure of the sentence, key phrases have been taken directly from the original.

Even though the writer mentions the original source in the introductory phrase, the result is plagiarism.

Avoiding Plagiarism - Paraphrasing

In writing papers, you will paraphrase more than you will quote. For a report or research paper, you may need to gather background information that is important to the paper but not worthy of direct quotation. Indeed, in technical writing direct quotation is rarely used.

It means taking the words of another source and restating them, using your own vocabulary. In this way, you keep the meaning of the original text, but do not copy its exact wording.

Because of their unique perspective, Americans fear globalization less than anyone else, and as a consequence they think about it less than anyone else. When Americans do think about globalization, they think of the global economy as an enlarged version of the American economy.

According to Lester Thurow (1993) Americans fear globalization less than people from other countries and as a consequence spend less time thinking about it. Indeed, Americans see globalization as an enlarged version of their own economy.

The writer has used Thurow's exact words without enclosing them in quotation marks. S/he has only substituted synonyms here and there. Even though Thurow is credited with a citation, this would be considered plagiarism.

Lester Thurow (1993) maintains that because Americans see globalization simply as a bigger form of their own economy, they are less concerned about it than is the rest of the world.

The writer has kept the meaning of the original passage without copying words or structure. Words like globalization and Americans are generic terms (i.e., terms that are commonly used for the concept they illustrate - it is difficult to find synonyms for them). Thus you may use these words without placing them in quotation marks.

📌 Is Rewording Plagiarism?

Readers may not feel motivated towards a piece if the writer uses incorrect phrases or failing to appreciate the varied shades of meaning in the English language. Lester Thurow 1993 maintains that because Americans see globalization simply as a bigger form of their own economy, they are less concerned about it than is the rest of the world.

This version has synonyms and adds an extra preposition. Unfortunately, the alternatives "problematic" and "explain" tamper with the original meaning. Let's see how to paraphrase this paragraph properly:

Resources:

https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/academic-writing/avoiding-plagiarism-paraphrasing

How to Avoid Paraphrasing Plagiarism?

https://www.standoutessay.com/study-tools/free-paraphrasing-tool
]

You must complete your thesis including the exam no later than June 30 the same year, if you started on February 1 or January 31 the following year, if you started on September 1.

Master's Thesis

The master’s thesis is meant to prove the student’s ability to work independently on an advanced problem from the bioinformatical field using scientific methods, as well as the student's ability to evaluate the findings appropriately and to depict them both orally and in written form in an adequate manner. (SPO 2019, § 9)

• Students can only be admitted to the master's thesis if they have successfully completed modules totaling 60 credits or more within the master's degree program.
• For the registration of the master thesis please use the form "Registration for the master thesis". You can find it on the pages of the examination office!
  Important: Be sure to register your master thesis right at the beginning of work! Otherwise you risk that the examiner combination or the topic will not be accepted!
• The master's thesis should be approximately 70 pages in length.
• The processing time is 23 weeks. Note: An extension is not possible. If your thesis is delayed for an important reason (for which you are not responsible), please contact the Examination Office with the relevant supporting documents.
• The written part must be written in English.
• The master's thesis must be evaluated by two authorized examiners. One of the two examiners should be the supervisor of the master's thesis. At least one of the two authorized examiners* must be involved in teaching the master's program and simultaneously be a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science or the Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy of the Freie Universität Berlin or at Charité.
• If approved by the examining board, the work on the master's thesis can also be done externally at a suitable business or scientific or research institution, as long as scientific and scholarly supervision by an examiner in the program in bioinformatics is ensured.
• The master's thesis is accompanied by a colloquium, which usually takes place in the assigned working group during the processing time. Students are expected to give a one-time presentation lasting approximately 30 minutes on the progress of their master's thesis.
• The master's thesis must be submitted in electronic form (PDF), by e-mail to the examination office. When submitting the thesis, the student must certify in writing that he or she has written the thesis independently and has not used any sources or aids other than those specified. Use the Declaration of Authorship provided by the examination office for this purpose.

*These are usually all PhD scientists involved in teaching in the Master's program in Bioinformatics. However, persons who are not directly involved in teaching may also be authorized. In case of doubt, please contact the examination office, which can check if a certain examiner or combination of examiners is possible or not.
Note: The two examiners of a master thesis should come from different working groups.

The Informationen & Anleitungen of the examination office offer further information concerning the registration and submitting regulations of the master’s thesis (in german). The registration form is available in English.

It is advisable to make an appointment with the examination office towards the end of your studies, i.e. around the start of your Master's thesis. There it can be clarified whether your courses are complete or which courses you still need to complete. Your questions about the Master's thesis (registration, examiners, submission, defense) can be answered. In addition, the further steps towards graduation will be explained to you in detail. Then you have a good basis for planning and can concentrate on your master's thesis without fearing unpleasant surprises.

Please note: If you have completed all the coursework and only need to finish the master's thesis, you no longer need to be enrolled, (but you are allowed to, of course).

Every summer semester the Mentoring organizes the workshop “How to write a bachelor’s / master’s thesis in bioinformatics”. Here you receive helpful tips and are free to ask your questions.

Chromatin Determinants of the Eukaryotic DNA Replication Program 

Leukotrienes are arachidonic acid derivatives long known for their inflammatory properties and their involvement with a number of human diseases, most notably asthma. If approved by the examining board, the work on the master s thesis can also be done externally at a suitable business or scientific or research institution, as long as scientific and scholarly supervision by an examiner in the program in bioinformatics is ensured.

Transcriptional regulation has been studied intensively in recent decades. One important aspect of this regulation is the interaction between regulatory proteins, such as transcription factors (TF) and nucleosomes, .

Resources:

https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/en/bioinf/stud/master/masterarbeit/index.html
https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/handle/10161/1/browse?type=department&value=Computational+Biology+and+Bioinformatics
https://birc.au.dk/studies/msc-thesis/
]

Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests

GSE scholar Denise Pope finds that students in high-achieving schools who spend too much time on homework experience more stress and health problems.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

"Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education.

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

"The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

• Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

• Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

• Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.

"This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..

Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

"Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."

The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

The history of homework

The most spectacular success this movement had was in the state of California, where in 1901 the legislature passed a law abolishing homework in grades K-8. This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points, said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students educational experiences.

One homework fact that educators do agree upon is that the young child today is doing more homework than ever before.

Resources:

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/homework-is-too-much/
https://ed.stanford.edu/news/more-two-hours-homework-may-be-counterproductive-research-suggests
https://www.playgroundequipment.com/are-students-in-the-united-states-getting-too-much-homework/
]

Do our kids have too much homework

Your child does not know how to do the assignment. If your child or teen does not know how to do the work, they may take a very long time trying to complete it. Sit down with your child and watch them try to do their work. Do they understand the directions for the assignment? Are they missing skills they need to complete the work?

[/once]

Resources:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/whats-right-amount-homework/
https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/homework-is-too-much/
]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that focuses on the creation of intelligent machines that work and think like humans.

In the context of content writing, AI can be used to:

- Automate the process of content creation

- Improve the quality of content

- Reduce the workload of content writers

- Increase the productivity of content creators

This guide will introduce you to the impacts of AI in content writing and how you can use it to improve your content creation process.

What is AI?

AI is a broad term that covers a wide range of technologies that are used to create intelligent machines.

There are many different types of AI, such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), computer vision (CV), and deep learning (DL).

Machine learning is a sub-field of AI that is used to teach computers how to learn without being explicitly programmed. For example, a machine learning model can be trained to recognize patterns in data and make predictions based on those patterns. Machine learning is used in many different fields, including but not limited to: speech recognition, computer vision, and natural language understanding.

Natural language processing is the use of computers to understand and process human language. Natural language processing can be applied to a wide variety of tasks, including machine translation, text summarization, and question answering.

Computer vision is the field of artificial intelligence that deals with the design and development of computer systems that can process visual information. Computer vision is used for tasks such as facial recognition, object detection, and image captioning.

Deep learning is an area of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) to create models that can learn from large amounts of data. Deep learning is one of the most powerful forms of AI because it is able to learn complex patterns and relationships from large data sets.

AI in Content Creation

Content creation is a process that involves a lot of manual work. Content writers spend a significant amount of time creating content that is of high quality and meets the needs of their target audience. This can be a time-consuming and tedious process that can be made easier with the help of AI.

Automating the Content Creation Process

One of the biggest benefits of AI is that it can automate many of the manual tasks that are required to create high-quality content. This means that content writers can spend more time focusing on higher-level tasks and less time on the low-level content creation tasks. AI can also help content writers create content faster and more efficiently, which can lead to an increase in the quality and quantity of the content that they create.

Improving the Quality of Content

The quality of a piece of content is determined by a number of factors, including the writer’s skill, the subject matter, and the context in which the content is being created. AI can help content creators improve the overall quality of their content by automating some of the tasks that they perform on a regular basis. This includes tasks like proofreading, editing, and proofreading.

Reducing the Workload of Content Writers

Another benefit of using AI to automate content creation is that content creators can spend less time writing content and more time working on other projects. This frees up time for content creators to focus on more important tasks, like researching and creating new content.

How to Use AI to Improve Content Creation

AI can be integrated into content creation in a variety of ways, including:

- Using AI to create content from scratch

- Integrating AI into the content creation workflow

- Combining AI with other content creation tools

Using AI To Create Content From Scratch

If you are a content creator who is looking for a way to use AI to improve content creation, you can start by creating your own AI-powered content creation tool. This will allow you to take advantage of the many benefits that AI has to offer, without having to learn how to code. If you want to learn more about how to create your own tool.

Using AI in Your Content Creation Workflow

You can use AI in your content writing workflow in one of two ways:

- You can integrate AI into your existing content creation processes

- Or you can create a completely new workflow that uses AI to help you create content

Integrate AI into Your Existing Content Creation Flow

For content creators who already have a workflow that they use to create and publish content, integrating AI into that workflow can be an effective way to improve the quality, speed, and efficiency of your content. Here are a few ways that you can do this:

- Use AI as a pre-writing tool

- Use AI during the writing process

- Combine AI with a content management system (CMS)

Use AI As A Pre-Writing Tool

Pre-writing is an important step in the content writing process. Pre-writing involves creating an outline of the main points that you plan to include in your piece. This helps you to make sure that your content is structured in a way that will make it easy for your audience to understand. It also helps to ensure that you don’t miss any important points when you are writing the actual content.

Using AI to pre-write your content can help you to:

- Make sure that you are structuring your content in a logical way

- Help you to avoid missing important points

- Make it easier for you to come up with ideas for your content

- Improve the quality of your pre-written content

AI is a great tool to use for this purpose because it can:

- Identify patterns and trends in the data that you provide it

- Create an outline based on the information that it has gathered

- Help you identify the most important points in your data

- Make suggestions about how you can improve your content based on what it has learned

Use AI During the Writing Process

Once you have created an outline for your piece, it is time to start writing. This is where AI can really come in handy. You can use it to:

- Identify important words and phrases that you may have missed when you created your outline

- Find new ways to express the same ideas that you have already included in your outline

- Provide feedback on your content as you are creating it

- Suggest new ideas for content that you might not have thought of before

- Generate ideas for new content that can be added to your content library

Combine AI With a Content Management System

There are many benefits to using AI in combination with a CMS. Here are just a few of the reasons why you might want to combine AI and a CMS:

- AI can make it easier to create, edit, and manage content

- It can help to make your content more searchable and findable

- Your content can be updated in real-time as it is being written

- The content you create can be easily shared with your audience

- Content can be automatically published to your website, blog, or social media channels

Use AI To Make Your Content More Searchable and Findable

One of the biggest benefits of using a CMS is that it makes your content easier to find and share. This can be especially helpful if you have a large number of pieces of content that need to be shared. Using AI as part of your CMS can help your content to be more findable and shareable. For example, if you use a CMS that allows you to tag your content, then you can tag your AI-generated content with the same tags that you use for your other content. This means that your AI generated content will be more likely to be found by people who are searching for content with those same tags.

AI Can Help You To Update Your Content In Real-Time As It Is Being Written

Another benefit of using AI is that you will be able to update your content while it is still in the process of being written. This is an especially useful feature if you are working on a piece of content as a team. You can each work on different parts of the content at the same time, and then once you are done, you can combine all of your work into a single piece.

Content Can Be Automatically Published To Your Website, Blog, or Social Media Channels

When you use AI to create content, it can automatically be published to a variety of different channels. This makes it easy to share your content with a wide range of different audiences.

For example, you could create an AI-powered blog post that is automatically posted to your blog.

What is SEO Writing

SEO writing is the process of writing content that search engines can easily understand. This is done by intelligently adding search phrases or keywords in your content without doing keyword stuffing. SEO writing is also known as SEO copywriting or search engine optimization writing.

Step 1: Choose your keywords (both head and long tail keywords)

This process is known as keyword research and its very important for a simple reason. You need to write content around topics that people search for and keyword research will tell you that.

By following this process every time you write new content, you help search engines understand your content better and if your content satisfies what users want, this will eventually translate to higher rankings, social media shares and more incoming links.

Step 2: Craft your page title

The next step is to start thinking about your page title. Choosing a good page title is critical for the success of your page or post, so allocate the necessary time to come up with a title that:

Your goal is to create a title that is unique otherwise you limit your chances of getting a top-10 position since Google rarely shows pages with the same title in the first 10 results.

Step 3: Create an SEO Friendly URL (add your main keyword)

Step 4: Write the content (long enough)

It all depends on the topic and keywords. For some topics, you might need to write articles that are over 2000 words, for other topics you can provide a comprehensive answer in 800 words.

But, this is a general guideline and not applicable for all cases. My recommendation is to find the average length of the first 10 results and try to provide a bit more content but better than what is already published.

Step 5: Add your keywords in the first paragraph

By adding your keywords in the first paragraph, you give a big clue to Google as to which keywords to associate this page with. It’s also good for the users since you can help them understand that they are on the right page.

Step 6: Create headings using long tail keywords

Search engines follow the same pattern, especially for long form content. They scan the page and they look for certain elements to understand how a page is structure and what topics or keywords the content is covering.

To further improve the SEO friendliness of your copy, try to use some of your long tail keywords in the headings. Take a closer look at the headings of this article and notice how I have added long-tail keywords in my headings.

Step 7: Add LSI related keywords in your content

With the introduction of machine learning to Google search algorithms (known as RankBrain), Google is trying to truly understand what the searcher wants by using natural language processing.

Semantic keywords are keywords that have the same or similar meaning. You can find these keywords using tools like LSI Graph. Here is a screenshot of the LSI keywords for “SEO writing”.

So, you need to go back to your copy and enrich it with LSI keywords in a natural way. You may have to re-phrase some of your sentences but it’s a step that can improve the relevancy of your content.

Step 8: Link to other pages on your website using relevant anchor text

When you publish a new page, it has to match your site’s topics. This improves relevancy and rankings. One of the ways to ‘tell’ Google that your content is relevant with the rest of the site, is to use internal links.

Internal links although they are not as powerful as SEO backlinks, they are still used by Google as a way to understand what the linked page is about, especially if the right anchor text was used in the link.

They also help users learn more about a topic (look at this article again and notice how I have used internal links to give users a way to find out more information about a topic).

How to Write the Most Engaging Social Media Posts

Globally, as of July 2021, there are an estimated 4.48 billion social media users (almost 57% of the world’s population). Facebook still reigns supreme with an estimated 2.853 million users, followed by YouTube in second place.

Here’s where it gets tricky – each social media platform has its own tips, tricks, algorithms, and best practices. Content that performs well on LinkedIn isn’t likely to see that same success on Twitter or Pinterest if posts are simply copied and pasted uniformly across every channel.

How to Write Social Media Posts That Won’t Fail

You can (and should) still monitor your social media analytics to see which posts engage with your unique audience the most, but as far as coming up with a tried-and-true formula, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.

1. How to Write Facebook Posts That Get Liked and Shared

The #1 social media platform isn’t exactly a one-and-done content formula because it handles multiple types of media, and different posting techniques can work well depending on the goal you’re hoping to accomplish.

• Video is the best performing content. However, Facebook campaigns are most effective when you vary your types of posts, so mix it up with photos, infographics, text, gifs, memes, blog posts, press releases, links, et cetera.
• The ideal length for a post is around 40-80 characters. As a general rule, short posts on social media perform better than long ones.
• End with a question. People are more likely to engage when you reach out to them for their opinions or feedback.
• Post interesting content, even if it doesn’t pertain directly to your brand. Facebook’s audience has a limited tolerance for self-promotion, which means if you want to keep your followers engaged, it doesn’t hurt to post about more than just your business. Be sure to keep your topics related to your niche, though.
• Make it visual. Text is easy to scroll past, but graphics help to make people pause while they’re skimming through their newsfeed. Even if you’re publishing a post that’s strictly text, Facebook makes it easy to transform it into a visual graphic.

2. How to Write Effective Tweets on Twitter

Posting on Twitter requires smart, concise word choices to convey your message within a limited space. It can take a little extra practice, but once you get the hang of it, your tweets will take off.

3. How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions

Instagram is all about visual content, but that doesn’t mean you can skate by with insufficient captions. If you want your audience to interact with your content, your words do matter.

• Use emojis. Instagram + emojis = ? For real, though, emojis have proven to be incredibly effective on Instagram.
• Use relevant hashtags. You’re allowed up to 30 hashtags, but don’t just pick the ones that are currently trending (especially if they don’t really pertain to your media). Instead, try to vary your hashtag use. Select a few broad, popular ones but also mix in some niche-specific hashtags, plus one or two branded ones. For example, Coca-Cola created the branded hashtag #ShareACoke for an Instagram campaign.
• Break up long text into paragraphs. Instagram is still a bit tricky about this. If you want to have paragraphs with white space in between them, you have to hit Enter, then add a space on the blank line before you tap Enter again. But the extra step is worth it, because big blocks of text are difficult to read.

4. How to Write LinkedIn Posts That Perform

LinkedIn is primarily a networking platform where business professionals and brands share industry insights, news, and updates. The latest “epic fail” video going viral on Facebook isn’t going to fit in with what LinkedIn’s audience expects.

• Long-form content works well. Don’t hesitate to share articles and blog posts on LinkedIn. This audience is more likely to take their time and read what you have to say, so you can also type longer posts than you normally would on other platforms that are meant to be skimmed. Just be sure to stay organized and professional.
• Add a handful of hashtags. While hashtags dominate Instagram and Twitter, they fell flat when it came to Facebook. LinkedIn falls somewhere in between. Relevant hashtags are good to include, but in moderation and preferably tucked at the end of your post.
• Brand your content and graphics. Professionals are likely to share studies, research, infographics, statistics, and industry updates. If you’re posting content, make sure it’s branded so you get the credit when it’s shared. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk always includes his signature and Instagram/Twitter handle on his content.

Resource:

https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-writing/
https://expresswriters.com/how-to-write-social-media-posts/

How to Write Product Descriptions (with Examples)

Who really reads the copy on your product pages, anyway? There are so many other things to do on a website in terms of conversion rate optimization that a product description can’t really make an impact on sales, right?

Why is it wrong? Because great product descriptions need to augment your product pages by selling your products to real people, not just acting as back-of-the-box dispensers of information for search engines (though SEO can’t be an afterthought, of course).

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How to write job descriptions that sell

Your candidates are younger, they’re filled with energy and explosive passion, and they view the world very differently from older generations. They’re here not just to work but to hustle , and it goes without saying that your job descriptions ought to reflect that – accurately, concisely, and uniquely.

The greatest job descriptions get straight to the point and have a strong voice . They tell your millennial candidates about what’s exactly in store for them, right down to the salary range. Don’t waste words , but don’t waste time either – young jobseekers want to know about their role, what your expectations are, who they’re going to interact with daily, and how much they can expect from compensation.

Related: The Singaporean employer’s guide to copywriting for effective job descriptions

Resource:

https://www.shopify.com/blog/8211159-9-simple-ways-to-write-product-descriptions-that-sell
https://employers.glints.com/en-sg/blog/how-write-job-descriptions-attract-millennial-candidates/

How to Send a Letter: The Ultimate Guide

You may have noticed that handwritten mail seems to be making a slight comeback after years of being overshadowed by the speed and ease of email. However, despite this slow return to the communication forefront, sixty percent of adults have sent fewer than five handwritten letters in the past decade. So, if you’re part of that statistic, you may be wondering how to send a letter, or need a reminder of the details, or may just want to learn a little bit more about the process. If so, this step-by-step guide is just the tool for you.

Unlike the early days of the postal service, when envelopes and stamps did not yet exist, these days you need to choose what envelope to put your letter in. Gone are the days when you could simply fold the paper and seal it shut; now you need an extra piece of paper to hold and protect your mail.

So, first thing’s first: you need to get the letter ready to send. While this may seem like the most straightforward thing you can do, there are (maybe surprisingly) multiple factors you need to consider. For instance:

- Durability: The envelope needs to be strong enough to hold whatever contents are inside. A thin envelope could be destroyed in transit if what it contains is fairly heavy in comparison to the envelope itself. Ever put a bunch of printed photographs into an envelope which wasn’t quite big enough for the stack of pictures? You don’t want these photos scattered all over the sidewalk just because you didn’t choose the right envelope for the job.

- Size: The envelope’s size should match that of its contents. If a letter can be folded into thirds and mailed in a business-size envelope, perfect! If it can’t be folded, you’ll need a bigger envelope, and contrarily, if the paper or note is smaller, choose a little envelope.

- Purpose: Why are you mailing this letter? If it is for business reasons, such as mailing a resume and/or cover letter, you won’t want to send it in a colourful envelope with decorations; you will want a professional-looking envelope. Alternatively, if you’re sending a personal birthday card to a friend, you wouldn’t want it in a white commercial envelope. Pick the envelope style which suits your intended recipient.

- Destination: Where is the letter going? If it isn’t traveling far, there is less need to worry about how tough it is; whereas if it is headed overseas, you’ll want a sturdier envelope to ensure it won’t be damaged en route.

- Cost: Keep in mind that postage cost depends on the size, shape, and weight of your item. You can save money by sending mail which fits through letter slots; envelopes larger than letter-size will be charged package rates.

- Shape: In order for your envelope to fit through the automated mail-processing machines, they must be flat. If they don’t fit, they are considered non-machinable and will cost extra to send. This includes any envelopes with clasps, strings, or buttons, as well as lumpy, unusually shaped square or vertical envelopes.

The Premier Paper Group has this handy Essential Guide to Envelopes to give you even more advice on the matter. For more information on envelope requirements, including size and weight, check your country’s postal service website.

Side Note: Postcards

If you are mailing a postcard, they can be written on directly and posted without an envelope. That is, unless you have glued an attachment onto it, or added any projecting parts, which will then require the postcard to be enclosed in an envelope and mailed as a letter.

While on the topic of postcards, it may be worthwhile to mention that I have personally been told by a postal worker that I am better off mailing postcards as a letter, as postcards quite frequently get lost in the mail; in fact, lost items remain the most common cause of complaint Royal Mail receives. Letters are more likely to be successfully delivered than postcards, according to the lovely postal worker I spoke with.

While this may be due to factors such as (a) people writing their message first, not taking into account how small postcards are, thus running their message into the area where the recipient address is supposed to go, and not having enough space to neatly write the address down… or (b) the postcard getting a bit wet and blurring the ink to an undistinguishable state… or (c) postcards being non-machine-readable, thus requiring manual processing… putting a postcard into an envelope sort of negates the point of sending one, no?

Enclose the Letter and Seal the Envelope

Start by writing the name and address of the recipient on the front of the envelope, right in the middle. Be sure to include their full name or company name, apartment or house number and street name, city, state/province, and zip/post code, with each deserving their own line – there should typically be just three lines. For example:

However, every country seems to have their own little unique address traits. For instance, US zip codes may be 5 or 9 digits. If it’s 9 digits, you need to add a hyphen to separate the 5th and 6th digits. Conversely, don’t ever use a hyphen for a Canadian postal code, it’ll cause delays. Again, best to confirm with your country’s postal service guidelines.

Address Writing Tips

If you aren’t sure of the post code, many countries have free online tools to help you, such as Royal Mail’s in the UK (you may find our How to mail a letter: UK guide helpful), or Canada Post’s page, or the USPS tool, or Australia Post’s, or… you get the point.

You are welcome to use the two-letter post code for the province if you prefer. Or, if you’d rather take up more space and use more ink, write it all out. For example, in Canada, you may use NS instead of Nova Scotia. If this seems lazy to you, you clearly don’t live in a province like Prince Edward Island (PEI) or Saskatchewan (SK).

Adversely, for US addresses, you should always use the 2-character state symbol rather than the full state name. I suppose the “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” is a bit wordy in comparison to “RI”.

In order to ensure it reaches its destination, use clear, printed writing in dark ink. You don’t want the postal employee as confused as a patient trying to read a doctor’s handwriting. You may even want to use a label with the address printed on it, just to be clear.

Why does this matter so much? Well, do you want to cause a delay in delivery (Royal Mail received nearly 70,000 complaints for delays in 2018/19), or do you want to help make the postal worker’s life easier and reduce the risk of your letter getting lost (Royal Mail received over 237,000 loss complaints in 2018/19)?

How to Send a Follow-Up Email After an Interview

You want to keep the follow-up email relatively brief. This isn’t the time to ramble on about all the reasons you should get the job, or answer a bunch of questions you wish they had asked during the interview. It’s also not the time to simply state “thank you!” and sign off. Your follow-up email should be a few brief paragraphs, 3-4 sentences each, and stay focused on the topic at hand.

This is a small but mighty detail. Make sure you spell their name correctly in your email and get their title right. A small mistake like this could make you seem careless and hasty, neither of which are descriptors you want. Spend an extra 10 seconds after you draft the email ensuring these details are correct.

We’ve included a template below, but make sure you personalize it to your interviewer, the job you want, you and your specific conversation. It shouldn’t read like a generic message you’re sending to 10 different interviewers for a variety of other positions (even if you are).

Julia Pollack, Chief Economist at ZipRecruiter notes that you should “Always emal interviewers and thank them for their time” and that a “winning move is to show your interviewers you were engaged in the conversation by noting something they said and mentioning why it has increased you enthusiasm for the role and for the mission of the company.”

If you’re in the interview process and still aren’t sold on the job prospects ahead of you, there are plenty of resources for finding your next great opportunity on ZipRecruiter‘s website. Follow the link below for more details.

Resource:

https://www.postseal.com/blog/how-to-send-letter/
https://www.usglobalmail.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-mail-a-letter-to-another-state/
https://spy.com/articles/lifestyle/personal-finance/follow-up-email-after-interview-1202864816/

Interview Questions About Writing Skills With Sample Answers

Writing is a significant skill for conveying information in a clear manner in various industries. There can be different types of writing skills depending on the job role such as content writing, technical writing, publishing or medical writing. Interviewers may ask several questions related to writing skills to evaluate your ability to express your thoughts through writing. In this article, we discuss some general and in-depth interview questions about writing skills and provide sample answers to some popular questions.

Preparing some common interview questions about writing skills can allow you to improve your skills and perform better during the interview. There can be many questions that an interviewer may ask during an interview to evaluate your writing ability. Many interviewers start the interviewing process by asking some basic and general questions to learn more about candidates, their interests, background and work experience.

Different writing job roles may require different levels of experience and background in writing. Interviewers can also ask some in-depth questions to gain a better understanding of your writing skills. During the interview, be passionate and energetic while answering the question. Here are some examples of interview questions related to writing skills along with their sample answers:

1. According to you, what are the main components of good content?

There can be various things that combine to make great content. Interviewers may ask this question to know your perspective about the different components of content. Take this question as an opportunity to share the creative thinking you put together while writing excellent content. You can also mention credibility, engagement and uniqueness in your answer.

Example: " As a writer, I believe deciding the tone of your writing can help in creating engaging and relevant content. While writing content, I always focus on the meaning and the purpose of the information I want to share. Each paragraph should reflect the true meaning of the piece. Zero plagiarism free and error-free content are the two factors that I put my focus on while writing something. Over the years, I have developed my own main components required for writing good content. These are relations between each paragraph, correct grammar and spellings, coherence and idea."

2. How do you capture the narrative in your content?

Every writer may have their own way of expressing thoughts and putting them into their work. A writer working for a company may require narrating the content according to the demands of their clients. Try answering in a way that reflects your flexibility to work according to the demand. Answering in a very polite way can be very helpful. Demonstrate yourself as a candidate who can work on different types of projects and is able to adapt.

Example: " When I start working on content, I always take my time to analyse if the references provided by the client make sense to the content. I try to gather as much information as possible about the data and the materials by talking to clients and searching on the web. For example, before coming to this interview I looked at your blogs and websites to learn more about the company I wish to work for.

I have found that the tone and voice of the content you provide are very genuine and authentic. It provides a warm feel and sticks to the core of the subject very deeply. I will try my best to bring these things into my content."

3. Explain how you schedule your writing projects?

Candidates applying for a job role that involves written content production can benefit from learning how to balance or organise various writing projects. Many interviewers ask this question to understand how you prioritise tasks and evaluate whether you complete them in time. Answer this question to highlight your time management and organisational skills. This question can also allow you to reflect on your abilities to work under pressure. You can also mention a few examples of handling multiple projects from your previous work experience.

Example: " I make good use of technology in tracking the project deadlines and updates as it helps me in managing multiple projects with ease at the same time. I use software that sends me an update every morning about the projects I have to finish before this week. It gives me an opportunity to re-organise my projects based on their priorities. For tracking progress fastly, I use separate folders for large projects and small projects. In my opinion, these are the things that allow me to finish every writing project on time."

4. How do you know if your content is performing well?

Many hiring managers ask this question to determine whether candidates understand their own work and know if their content aligns with the goals of the organisation. You can provide some examples explaining how you track the progress of your content. Include the steps you take to track content performance such as clicks, views and visitors.

Strategic interview questions

1. Describe a time when you proactively identified and addressed an issue at your company.
2. Describe a time when you failed to achieve your goals and had to follow a different approach. What happened?
3. Describe a time when you had to measure the success of a workplace change or campaign. What were your steps and ultimate findings?
4. Imagine that you receive $50,000 and have one month to implement a major organizational change. What project do you choose and what approach do you employ?
5. You ask for $5,000 to solve a problem, but upper management only allocates 800,000 for your solution. What is your plan of attack?
6. Describe a time you failed and had to alter course and adopt a new approach. How did you know change was necessary? What actions did you take? What was the result?
7. Walk me through your time management system.
8. What do you think are the most important elements to consider when making a decision in our industry?
9. Imagine you need to implement a new system that you do not have much experience with. What steps do you take to gather information and ensure successful execution?
10. Share a time when you made a decision that involved great risk. What was the situation, the final verdict, and the result?

1. What is the most difficult lesson you have had to learn thus far?
2. What piece of critical feedback do you receive most often?
3. If you could redo your career, what would you change?
4. What have been your most positive and negative management experiences?
5. Walk me through your approach to workplace conflict.
6. Talk about a time when you had to work with someone whose personality was very different from yours.
7. What is the farthest out of your comfort zone you have been while on the job?
8. Give me an example of a time when you had to think or react quickly in response to a delicate situation.
9. How do you deal with failure?
10. Walk me through a time when you had to adapt to major change within your organization.

Final Thoughts

Interviews can be daunting processes, but asking great interview questions to candidates improves the experience for interviewers and interviewees alike. A company’s choice mix of strategic and the most common interview questions can reveal organizational priorities and company culture, helping candidates make informed decisions about offers.

What are the best interview questions to ask candidates?

The best interview questions to ask candidates depend on the role and the type of candidate you hope to attract. At minimum, you should ask the most common interview questions such as:

Additional questions should evaluate whether the candidate is a good skill and culture fit for the position. Feel free to tailor your top interview questions to suit your organization and industry.

What interview questions are illegal?

If a candidate brings these topics up, then it is advisable to steer the conversation onto other subjects. A candidate may inquire about reasonable accommodations and the inclusivity of your work culture, at which point it may be pertinent to outline your organization’s benefits, diversity efforts, and willingness to support underrepresented employees. However, as a rule, you should never pose interview questions related to these topics, and should defer these discussions if the candidate initiates them.

The legality of asking about criminal background during interviews is more complex. In most places, it is not illegal to ask candidates about criminal records, but employers may not deny applicants based solely on conviction history without conducting an individualized assessment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warns against placing conviction questions on job application forms. Most employers wait to ask about criminal conviction until the late stages of the interview process.

What is the STAR method in interviewing?

This interview structure ensures that the interviewer receives comprehensive answers that provide a more complete picture of applicant’s work styles. Though situations should ideally be from past jobs, entry-level applicants or candidates pursuing career changes may draw on from experiences from school, internships, volunteer work, or other industries.

What are some good questions for a candidate to ask an interviewer?

Remember that an interview is a two-way street where the candidate evaluates whether to join the company. Preparing thoughtful, thorough, and confident responses to common applicant questions makes a positive impression. Of course, a candidate may pose a unique or interesting question that catches you off guard, in which case you can buy time to think by commenting, “that is a great question!”

Common Job Interview Questions

1. “Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?”

This is not exactly a ‘job interview question’, but a typical interview opener especially when the job interview is being conducted by an inexperienced or unskilled interviewer. Logically, a good interviewee would think of asking the interviewer to confirm exactly what information they want answered, but there is a better way to answer this question professionally and succinctly.

The key point is to not repeat everything you’ve stated in your resume. Recruiters will have read your resume prior to asking you this interview question, therefore you don’t need to recite it. However, you should make reference to impressive achievements or relevant work experience when touching down on your professional background.

I suggest you learn to answer this question with a three part, pre-planned marketing statement that can more or less be reused from interview to interview. Start with a brief summary of your career history – “I am a Marketing Manager with 10 years of experience working for global software companies in the UK and abroad.”

Then, talk them through briefly how your career developed but don’t just repeat what they can see on your resume. Talk to the interviewer more in terms of what you’ve learnt or achieved. Mention a recent accomplishment that you are proud of that will also capture the potential employer’s attention (i.e. cost savings, revenue increase). You really want to focus on what makes you exceptional and how your skills and experience match the requirements of the job.

A brief summary of specifically what you want to do next in your career or why you’re interested in this specific role. Finally, end your answer with a one-sentence statement that indicates what you’re looking to do next in your career, ensuring of course that it matches exactly what the employer is looking for.

2. “How did you find out about the job?”

This is a simple question that can be answered in a short sentence, although you can also use it to get your foot in your door by stating that you keep up to date with company activity or that you’ve had your eye on a position in the IT Department for a long time etc.

If you’ve been genuinely following the company for a while, you might want to mention here what specific activities of the company really appeal to you or if you’ve spoken to some employees of the company and heard great things about working for them, you can comment on that here, too.

3. “Why should we give you this job?”

This isn’t the most common interview question, but it is still probable that you’re asked this question in a job interview. They might also ask you: “What are your main skills and strengths” or “Why do you think you’re the best candidate for the role?”

When a company hires a good person, they are making it harder for their competitors to compete with them. Basically, you want to try to answer this question by letting the interviewer know what you can do that other candidates can’t. Companies hire people to solve problems so let the interviewer know what problems you’ve solved and how your employers benefited as a result.

Back your answers up with examples. Anyone can say that they have good organizational skills for example, but if you say something specific e.g. “I have excellent organizational skills and in the past 12 months I have personally organized and supervised 6 corporate events with up to 300 participants on each one”, you are definitely going to make a better impression than someone giving a generic answer.

4. “How much do you know about the company?”

This interview question is one of the most common interview questions asked and is essentially a test to check that you’ve done your research and know your stuff. If you can prove that you’ve dug a little deeper than the company website and refer to a company achievement, press release or recent update, you’ll be sure to win extra brownie points.

Researching the company is a must, and almost all job candidates do it to some degree today. But the interview is not a test to see whether you read the company website. Instead, you want to identify opportunities and demonstrate how you can add value to the company, if they hire you. Take the information you gain through your research and prepare insightful questions and observations that can serve as discussion points during the interview. Here are some ways to do that:

• Check the company website for information – but not just in the usual places. Look at every page on the website and try to deduce where the company is headed and how you can contribute to their mission. Review the company’s products and services and get a handle on how they present themselves to the marketplace.
• Google the company’s name for articles written by third parties. How is the third-party information different or similar to the company’s take on the same subjects? Also, research stories about the company on major news outlets and industry publications.
• Look up the firm on glassdoor.com for what is said about the firm by its employees. If you find negative points, are these things you can live with—or better yet, would you thrive within that type of environment? Remember to take the information in its context, as every firm has unhappy employees and these may be the ones who take the time to write negative commentary.
• Follow the company prior to the interview on Twitter and on its Facebook and LinkedIn pages. What is the company talking about? What are they tweeting and posting? Can you apply any of your previous experiences to some of these topics being discussed in social media channels?

Resource:

https://in.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/interview-questions-about-writing-skills
https://teambuilding.com/blog/interview-questions
https://www.resumecoach.com/how-to-answer-job-interview-questions/

25 Best Email Marketing Tips To Power Up Your Strategy [2022]

As experience has shown, email is a major customer acquisition weapon, with marketers reporting that business email is 40X more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined. So, it’s a shame not knowing the tips and tricks to maximize it.

1. Lead with value
2. Segment your email lists
3. Hyper-personalize your content
4. Time your email marketing campaigns
5. Let unengaged subscribers go
6. Take advantage of double unsubscribe opt-ins
7. Don’t buy email lists
8. Use email newsletter templates wisely
9. Write clear and compelling subject lines
10. Don’t forget your preview text
11. Come up with entertaining email content
12. Target the holiday season
13. Create campaigns using trending topics
14. Plan social-infused emails
15. Reward customer loyalty
16. Equip your emails with interactive elements
17. Take care of email deliverability
18. Collect customer feedback
19. Match your emails with your landing pages
20. Embrace RSS Campaigns
21. Optimize your emails through A/B Testing
22. Use email testing tools
23. Pass the ‘5-second test’
24. Measure your results
25. Automate your email campaigns

1. Lead with Value

To provide value, though, you need to adopt customer-centric practices that will nurture them into your brand advocates. Start by asking yourself who your audience actually is. Do you have buyer personas in place?

This ideal representation will show you what your target audience wants from you and help you address their pain points. Knowing who to target will result in designing a content marketing strategy that will provide the most benefit to your prospects and maximize your email marketing efforts.

If you are constantly spamming your prospects with sales pitch after sales pitch with no value included to increase conversions, you will quickly lose subscribers and reduce your chances of making the sale.

2. Segment Your Email Lists

Segmenting your email list involves splitting up your contacts depending on where they are in their customer journey. Email marketers can create different customer segments based on their recipients’ demographics, lifestyle, location, website activity, job title, psychographics, etc.

A great example of segmentation comes from Avocode. The brand has created a specific segment to deliver targeted discounts to students, making the offer as irresistible as possible to help them nail their assignments:

As you can see, segmenting your contact list ensures that people receive deals and offers that will be of interest to them, making them more likely to buy and less likely to unsubscribe! If you want to make your messages effective, keep this email marketing tip on top of your mind, segment your list, and deliver your campaigns. It’ll be an instant win!

3. Hyper-Personalize Your Content

I’m sure you’ve heard about personalization already. This practice is pretty simple since all you need is to add your subscriber’s name in the subject line or email copy, and, voila, your email is now more personal!

To hyper-personalize your campaigns, you need to combine the power of data, consumer insights, analytics, and automation. The more you know about your recipient, the better your campaigns will be. Consequently, your message will feel less salesy and more natural, providing an instant solution to your customer’s pain points.

For example, BareMinerals often uses this practice in the form of a “We saw you looking” campaign. These automated messages leverage online behavior to target users with the right content at the right time:

4. Time Your Email Marketing Campaigns

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean this will be right for your email list. The more you know about your prospects’ behavior, the better it will help you determine the best timing and frequency of your email campaigns.

Email marketing trend #2. Don’t sweat the open rate

Tracking open rates was a widely accepted method of assessing campaign success until now. Apple has introduced new privacy settings which render the open rate figure comparatively meaningless. This is because emails now appear opened regardless of whether the user opens them or not.

Moreover, you can no longer divine information like where and when an email was opened and what device it was opened on. If one considers the dominance that Apple has on mobile devices, it becomes clear that this change has profoundly impacted the ability to track email data.

Other metrics will need to be considered. These might include conversion rates or other ways to measure the immediate success rate of your campaign. To ensure comparative data validity, this same metric will need to be applied to android and PC users too.

Email marketing trend #3. Adapt and advance with AI

AI is making its presence felt in a multitude of business activities, especially if you manage small business marketing campaigns. AI is employed to help marketers with many activities, including decision making, especially over the provision of optimal UX.

Overview of the ways different kinds of companies use AI for marketing purposes; source: Digital Marketing Community

The fact is, AI is rapidly becoming indispensable. This is mainly down to the sheer volume of data out there. Most marketers don’t have the time or resources to wade through information regarding customer behavior, demographics, psychographic segmentation, etc. This, however, is AI’s meat and drink.

When trying to sell through a product retargeting email campaign, having as much historical data as possible can really hit home. AI will accumulate data from a wealth of sources and quickly cultivate insights that can be put into action in the next email campaign and, in time, monetized. All the while, some marketers are still stirring sugar into their first coffee of the day. This will result in a marketing campaign that is implemented more quickly hence will be more relevant.

8. Reward More

It pays to include free content in your emails. In fact, a study completed by Bluewire Media revealed that click-through rates were as much as three times higher when free resources like templates were included.

When it comes to email marketing, timing matters a lot. Optimizing your send time can have a significant impact on open rates, click-through rates, and revenue per subscriber. According to online data, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to send marketing emails. All in all, it’s better to send it during the workweek, but those two days in particular can offer the highest click-through rates and open rates respectively.

Though, you’ll still need to do your own testing to determine which day and time will get the best results for your target audience. At the end of the day, your goal for 2022 should be to find that sweet spot so that your email will be right at the top when your subscribers check their messages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are email newsletters important?

Email newsletters play a crucial role in any successful email marketing strategy. It helps your brand to share information that's important to your subscribers and you can also use it to promote products and offer discounts. Sharing this type of content will essentially help to build stronger relationships with your subscribers. Email newsletters should be sent on a regular basis. You can send them using whatever frequency works for you and your subscribers, but once a week is recommended.

What is email personalization?

Email personalization is when you aim an email campaign at specific subscribers by using the data you’ve already gathered about them. Data that you can use include information like their names, products they’ve bought, their location, how active they are on your website, gender, age, etc. Simply adding the name of a subscriber to the subject line of an email is an example of personalization. It can help to boost sales, improve customer experience and satisfaction, and increase brand loyalty.

How can you make your email marketing more inclusive?

Firstly, it’s important that you work with a diverse team of email marketers that are inclusive of the customers who make up your target audience. By working with marketers who have a comprehensive understanding of your target audience, you’ll be better able to create email newsletters that connect instead of offend. When it comes to creating content for your emails, your goal should be to create a sense of belonging for all. In short, you should speak to different user types so that everyone feels welcome.

When should you remove inactive subscribers from your subscriber list?

According to online data, the majority of marketers remove inactive subscribers from their email lists after a period of 15 months of inactivity. Ideally, you should update your email list every 6 months by removing those subscribers who’ve always been inactive or stopped engaging. If you don’t, it can hurt email deliverability. However, before you delete them, first send a win-back email. This way you might be able to get some subscribers to start engaging with your email content again.

Sources:

https://moosend.com/blog/email-marketing-tips/
https://sendpulse.com/blog/email-marketing-trends
https://influencermarketinghub.com/email-marketing-tips-2022/

Tips for beginner bloggers

Categories

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We saw a 400% growth in website traffic in one month.

I received emails and phone calls where potential clients literally said:

40 of My Best Blogging Tips For Beginners

1. Set defined goals for your business blogging.

2. Build a blog component into your current website.

3. Invest in your blog user experience & design.

Or if you are not able to hire someone to help design your website, consider a high-quality WordPress theme from Squarespace. They host the website, and charge a monthly subscription fee. Just remember that later on may give you frustration if you want to migrate to WordPress as a more robust platform.

The Harvest blog user experience is simple, clean, and branded well. Content is the focus, but they also offer clear call-to-action in the global navigation and sidebar (Sign Up and Try It Free).

4. Install Google Analytics to measure results.

5. Your blog posts should not be fluff.

6. Make a list of topics you feel confident writing about.

If you can break topics up into high-level categories, even better. Set those categories up as your blog navigation, so that your readers can explore specific areas of content if they choose to.

7. Alleviate blog writer’s block by exploring these areas:

8. Use a blog topic generator tool.

9. Develop and use an editorial calendar for blogging.

10. Find the right keyword phrase for your blog post.

In the case of this article, we could have targeted a more general phrase “blogging tips“. But, the competition on that search from more established sources was likely insurmountable for a new blog like ours.

11. Create blog posts that are 1,500 words or more.

12. Write “how-to” blog posts, with ordered steps.

13. Write blog posts focused on case studies.

14. Write blog posts with numbered tips or guidelines.

15. Write blog posts that are long lists.

16. Deep dive into your blog content, to create more blog content.

17. Break up blog content to increase readability.

18. Emphasize key points in a blockquote or italics/ bold.

19. Always add images that support your story.

20. Use images and graphics that you have rights to, or are royalty-free.

21. Create a unique image for your social media posts.

22. End your blog post with a conclusion and a question.

23. Don’t be boring with your headline, but keep it simple.

24. Write your blog post headline, then analyze it!

25. Get Yoast installed, if your site uses a WordPress blog.

26. Add social sharing buttons to your blog posts.

27. Allow readers to tweet content within a blog post.

28. Post one to two blog articles a week.

29. Check spelling and grammar on your blog posts.

Publishing a quality post in terms of the subject matter and content is extremely important, but how does it look if it is riddled with spelling mistakes? Or worse, bad grammar (shudder)!

30. Proofread and edit your blog post.

When I finish writing a post, I step away for at least 24 hours, and come back to it. The break gives me a fresh look, and the ability to detect errors I may not have seen while in the thick of it.

31. Fact check your blog post to make sure all statements are true.

32. Post your blog on Monday or Thursday mornings.

33. Email your subscriber list with the latest blog post.

34. Email your blog post to the people that are mentioned.

It’s always nice to hear that a quote, or original content has been included somewhere else on the web. Send a message or tweet to people that contributed to making your post a solid piece of work.

Find a niche

When choosing a creative topic to blog about, try and find a niche. Make your blog about something very specific and you'll please both the search engines and your readers. Try not to be too general and really focus on one specialist topic and stick to it. Find your own niche and go for it – just remember to stay on topic.

Write about something you love, otherwise you'll show no passion in your writing. And if there's no passion, your content will suffer, so find a topic you are comfortable with and only write about that. For example, if you're a museum curator, talk about the industry, emerging trends and other museums or exhibitions you love. And if you're a theatre director, you could write about industry folk you admire or share your working day with your followers.

Offer value

It goes without saying but if you don't provide something the public wants, your creative blog will never be a success. Give people what they're after and offer real value to their web browsing experience. What do I mean by this? Well, value is demonstrated in the content you publish. If your content isn't valuable people won't read it or return to read more. Really think about what you're putting out there and give the people what they want.

You won't get anywhere if you just launch a blog and hope that people will come without any marketing effort. You have to actively market your blog and you can do that through a variety of ways. You can start chatting with other bloggers by leaving valuable comments on other people's blog posts – this will help draw people back to your own site. Or you can make use of the search engines and write about topics that are popular in the searches, like this very feature. Or you could even offer to contribute to influential e-zines or blogs to help raise your profile. Whatever you choose to do, just get out there and market yourself like mad. There's really no excuse not to.

4 Blogging Resources

How do you make money blogging? How much do bloggers make? Can I make money blogging? Are blogs still profitable in 2022?

1. Creations. By building an audience who finds value in our message, we’ve been able to offer our three books and our documentary, Minimalism, to an audience who is willing to support our creative work. Consequently, all three books have been bestsellers and are now translated into more than a dozen languages; and thanks to Netflix, our documentary is available in 190 countries. (For more information about our book-publishing process, read this blog post series: How to Publish an Indie Book.)
2. Audience Contributions. Since we refuse to clutter our blog or popular podcast with ads, we depend on audience support to fund production of our podcast. With more than 5,000 supporters on Patreon and many others via PayPal, The Minimalists Podcast is fully funded with audience support, which means we’re able to pay for our podcast producer, filmmaker, and studio space without advertisements on our platforms.
3. Speaking. As we built our audience, many organizations, universities, and conferences began contacting us about speaking at their events. At first, we starting speaking for free just to build a name for ourselves. Then, we started charging a few hundred dollars per event. Now, we’re able to charge significantly more money because the demand for our talks is high.So far, The Minimalists have spoken at Harvard, Apple, Google, Allstate, SAP, SXSW, TEDx, and many other organizations. We speak about a wide array of topics, from simple living and “simple work,” to health, relationships, writing, publishing, social media, personal growth, and contribution—and it all started because we started this blog. (Anyone who is interested in hiring us to speak can visit our speaking page for details.)
4. Tours. Over the past eight years, The Minimalists, have embarked on eight speaking tours, including 2017’s 50-city “Less Is Now” theater tour, which attracted an average of more than 1,000 people a night, with considerably larger audiences in bigger cities. Our 2014 “Everything That Remains” bookstore tour spanned 119 cities in eight countries and attracted 75,000 attendees.
5. Writing Classes. I get countless questions about writing, so I’ve been able to transfer that skillset to help hundreds of students improve their writing over the years. I teach a four-week online writing class designed to improve the writing of people at any skill level—beginner, intermediate, or professional.
6. Amazon Links. If The Minimalists recommend a product like this photo scanner, and then a reader purchases that product, we receive a small commission for that sale at no additional cost to our audience. We’re careful about what we recommend, however, because, as minimalists, we want you to consume less and to consume intentionally.
7. Affiliate Sales. When we recommend services such as Bluehost and Constant Contact, we receive a referral fee. Once again, though, that’s obviously not why we recommend these services. Virtually every hosting company has an affiliate program, so we think it’s best to recommend the companies we use.

Through these various means, Ryan and I are able to earn a full-time income through blogging. But it’s worth noting that making money from your blog is not the best place to start.

While there’s nothing wrong with making money—which you can do through affiliate links, advertisements, and your own products and services—the best reason to start blogging is because you have something to express.

If you make money along the way, that’s great. In fact, if you help people solve their problems, you’re all but guaranteed to make money from your blog—eventually. Let’s just remember there are at least four resources that are more important than money: skills, time, energy, and attention.

That said, let’s not kid ourselves by acting as if making money is irrelevant—it’s not. Making money from our blog is simply not the primary driver for our creativity or why we became bloggers. Although people often think of money as the ultimate resource, it is the least important of the five mentioned above.

Money won’t necessarily improve your life, but it will amplify your existing behaviors. If you have bad habits, then more money will make your life considerably worse. And if you’re already a generous person, then more money can help you be more loving, caring, and considerate.

What does blog stand for? What does blog mean?

According to Wikipedia, a blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of “discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts).” The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. The short form, “blog,” was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog in 1999.

Sources:

https://freshsparks.com/blogging-tips-and-tricks-for-beginners/
https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2011/nov/17/top-tips-successful-blog
https://www.theminimalists.com/blog/