In 2004, when I returned from a teaching stint in Egypt and began working as a copywriter for a health company in Clearwater, Florida, my manager insisted that I track something related to my writing. We decided that I would track word count, because this was the easiest thing to track. Each week, I graphed the number of words I published, and during a weekly … more »

At a recent Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference, keynote speaker Avinash Kaushik said Mormons have done a “marvelous job” with the SEO for the word church. If you google “church,” lds.org is the third result after two wikipedia entries. The sixth result is Mormon.org, just after Church’s Chicken. You can watch the full SES video here. Avinash says, “One of the key strategies to win at … more »

Most people take time off during the holidays, so if you don’t, you end up mostly sitting alone at work, wondering why you’re not taking time off too. I wanted to follow Penelope Trunk’s advice about pursuing your pet projects while working during the holidays, but instead I was trying to finish a project with an end-of-year deadline. The project I’m working on is critical, … more »

As part of the solution to STC’s financial situation, some members have talked about making Intercom an online magazine only, removing the printed version that is mailed out to thousands of members each month. Many people think the move from paper to online would be a tremendous blow to the STC, one that would significantly decrease member value towards one of STC’s most attractive assets. … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 (to download, right-click and select Save Target As) Length: 35 min. Richard Hamilton is the author of Managing Writers: A Real World Guide to Managing Technical Documentation. His book, published in 2009, is one of the few books written specifically for managers that addresses the diversity of issues that managers face today – everything from hiring … more »

I sometimes feel that my life online varies drastically from my life at work. Online, I blog and publish podcasts and write about wikis and Web 2.0. But at work, I used Flare, InDesign, Word, and other tools to create standard help deliverables, such as the User Guide, the Quick Reference Guide, and the Video Tutorial. For a long time, I’ve wanted to take my … more »