Andy Vandervell's README

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Areas of responsibility

  • Writing, editing, and commissioning marketing content
  • Running the newsletter and growing subscriber list
  • Monitoring website and content SEO content visibility
  • Identifying technical SEO improvements and issues
  • SEO keyword research and optimization of existing content
  • General marketing support for social media, paid ads etc.

Quirks

  • I tend to think "verbally" if I'm unsure what I think about a question or topic. Please question / repeat what I've said back to me if you require more clarity.

  • Writing requires total focus for me to make meaningful progress, so I reserve my meeting-free days (Tuesdays & Thursdays) for any active writing tasks. This means, for example, if you ask for a review on a Monday, I may not look at it until Wednesday unless it's obviously urgent. That said, don't hesitate to ask me to prioritize a review if you need unblocking.

  • I'm aggressive about cutting out activities I deem low impact. This can lead to blindspots. Please challenge me if there's something you think I should dedicate more time to.

  • Readability / aesthetics are more important to me than following grammar to the letter. Case in point, while we use US English, I always use British-style en dashes (like – this) rather than US-style em dashes (like—this) because it looks nicer. Don't get me started on using hyphens instead (like - this) – that's just wrong. Here's that last sentence with an em dash instead... Don't get me started on using hyphens instead (like - this)—that's just wrong. Doesn't that em dash look cramped and nasty? Honestly, though, I don't care that much, but I will find and replace every em dash and orphaned hyphen on the website. It's fine. It's not a big deal. I'm cool about it.

What I value

  • Strategic focus and discipline are important to me, because (in my experience) it's a major factor in success. Consequently, if you're proposing a major change of direction, I will question it. Please don't take this to mean I'm implacably (good word!) against the change or being negative, I only wish to understand the reasoning properly and feel 100% confident it's the right direction. Without this, my motivation suffers.

  • Honesty. Years of working in the publishing industry has made me sensitive to success theater and collective delusions! Failure is ok, pretending it's actually a success isn't.

  • Efficient processes. I'm not anti-process, I'm pro efficient process. Too little process is (almost) as bad as too much.

  • Beautiful, elegant en dashes – just look at how nice it looks.

How I can help you

  • Words. I'm all about them words, you see. So, if you need or want to write some, come talk to me. If you don't feel super confident, I'm happy to take a basic outline and turn it into something longer.

  • I love building dashboards and digging into data generally. If it's about the website and the answer is somewhere in the data, I will relish finding it.

  • Seen something weird in a search engine? Tell me about it.

  • Want to know what people search for? I can help with that.

  • I've spent a lot of my life using analytics tools, so I'm a pretty decent proxy for a non-technical end user. If you need an opinion on something, I can provide that POV for you.

How you can help me

  • Have you read something interesting recently? Please share it so I can use it in the newsletter.

  • I've got the basics of GitHub and VSC down, but I'm no coder. I will probably come to you with a problem at some point. All assistance is gratefully received.

  • Share content ideas. It's ok if you don't have the time to write them yourself. Bung them in #content-ideas whenever the mood strikes.

  • Point out when I've used a British spelling.

  • Agree that em dashes are nasty and ugly.

Questions?

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