Work history
Editor
My role as the Editor of a regional news, views and events website franchise is to produce regular digital content that is both engaging and relevant for our users. My job includes writing, editing and proofreading articles, blogs, features and reviews whilst also uploading them via our Content Management System (Wordpress) in line with our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) guidelines.
I have taken the website from its inception in October 2013 to where it stands now as the market leader in the region as a purely digital platform; providing information on a variety of topics such as Sport, Lifestyle, Food & Drink and Culture. I also manage a multitude of writers, both in-house and freelance who provide potential content for the website, whilst also sourcing my own material through conducting interviews or using my connections that I have built with local businesses and influential institutions such as Guildford Borough Council, the Tourism Information Centre, and Surrey Police.
With the use of Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, we can highlight and monitor how much web traffic we have as well as what the key demographics of our users are to deliver targeted content. The latest figures show that there are approximately 40,000 page visits, 15,000 unique users and 400,000 page impressions per month for the website via PC’s and mobile devices. On top of this, there are over 1,000 people following us on our Twitter account and we have more than 7,500 likes on our Facebook page, with some posts having had a reach of almost 100,000 people.
The copy I write is in line with our in-house style guide and each accompanying image is re-sized, edited and optimized for web by our image technicians or by myself using GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) software, which is similar to Photoshop.
On the commercial side of things, I work hand in hand with the Head of Sales and company Owner to help attract paid advertisers to the business. I often attend sales meetings, negotiating bespoke financial and editorial packages, whilst working with a variety of clients on a regular basis to provide advertorial content, exclusive offers and running competitions through our social media reach to help boost their digital profile.
In general, I act as a brand ambassador when attending various events in regards to networking, business and leisure as I try to build the profile of our company within the locale. We now have such a presence within the local media and online that crucial local establishments, restaurants, businesses and entertainment venues come to us in order to publish information.
Copywriter
-
This Is Our Town (TIOT) is a consortium of community websites in the Surrey and South West London area that discuss the news, views and events in and around local areas, whilst providing information for residents on a range of areas such as sports, culture, food & drink, what’s on and lifestyle. They bring world-class digital media skills to local regions and have helped promote independent business through digital media marketing methods. There are currently websites in Putney & Fulham, Wimbledon, Guildford, Kingston, Weybridge, Esher & Cobham, Molesey, Richmond & Twickenham and Thames Ditton; with more popping up constantly.
I was originally brought in to work as a copywriter/journalist, but after impressing sufficiently I was offered the position of heading up a franchise of my own. During this time I predominantly wrote for the Richmond & Twickenham and Putney & Fulham sites, but I also contributed content to the Esher, Thames Ditton, Kingston and Wimbledon sites, whilst also running their social media platforms. We used Joomla Content Management System (CMS) and I uploaded all articles myself once trained on the program.
I wrote copy on a mixture of events, sports clubs, local politics, restaurants, museums and news. I created my articles by researching, getting out and about in these areas and by interviewing relevant people. In my time there, I did everything from interviewing an eye-witness in a local stabbing, to reviewing shows at the theatre, from editing other employees work, to writing advertorial copy for local businesses that were looking to raise their digital profile.
+ Show more
Skills
- Advertising
- Marketing PR
- Writing
- Copywriting
- Editing
- Blogs
- Online
- Creative
- Social Media Marketing
- News
- Web Content
- Content and Media Writing
- Copywriting
- Copy Writing and Editing
Education
Modern History Politics
-