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Project management for small business (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of a complete guide to implementing effective project management in a small business.

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About this content

Learn about the main concepts of project management, what project managers do, and how your small business can benefit in this easy to understand guide.




How project management can help your small business

Great products, services, and processes are at the heart of every successful small business. Developing your ideas into something that you can sell requires effort, discipline, and a guided framework to get things right: that framework is project management.

Project management can help you manage many aspects of your small business including product development, testing, customer service, advertising, marketing, payroll, and invoicing. Used well, it's an excellent way to refine, tweak, and create more effective and efficient ways of doing things.

Don't be put off by the rather grandiose title of project management; it's not something that should scare you. At a basic level, it’s really about applied common sense: knowing and planning what needs to happen when, who should do it, and what you expect the outcome to be.

In this article we'll explore some of the main concepts of project management in a small business including:

  • What is project management?

  • How does it all fit together?

  • What does a project manager do?

  • Tasks and to do lists

  • Resources and software applications for project management

Benefits you'll get from reading this article include:

  • Finding out about the key parts of a successful project

  • Learning how project and task management can help you achieve your business goals

  • Discovering how everything fits together

  • Download and try out software to help you with project and task management

What is project management?

Project management is a vast subject and there are hundreds of books, training courses, online resources, and methodologies dedicated to teaching people how to become good project managers. Although you’ll certainly learn a lot from reading books and getting training, there are some simple elements of project management that you can learn without formal courses.

Definitions of project management include:

“Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals.” - Wikipedia

“At its most fundamental, project management is about people getting things done.” - Association for Project Management

“It’s a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result.” - Project Management Institute

Let's explore some of the key elements that make something a project. Projects are:

  • Temporary

  • Unique

  • Constrained

  • Planned

  • A series of steps

  • Outcome based

A project is temporary and doesn't go on indefinitely

Projects don't last forever (although some of the bigger ones can take years). Projects should have a defined beginning, when work starts, and a planned end, when work is delivered and everyone is (hopefully) happy with the results.

Projects are unique, not business as usual

There are generally two types of business activities - business as usual and projects:

  • Business as usual - Ongoing business functions and processes that need to take place for a business to function (e.g. manufacturing, administration, financial control, employee processes, customer services).

  • Projects - A project has unique outcomes. It doesn't produce the same things time after time, but has distinct inputs (time, money, requirements, resources), processes (planning, project management, analysis, testing, implementation etc.), and outputs (milestones and deliverables).

Projects are constrained by time, resources, and scope

A project is constrained or bounded by several areas:

  • Time - Most projects have to deliver something in a planned, specific amount of time.

  • Budget / Resources - There is only a finite amount of money or other resources that can be spent on a project.

  • Scope - The scope details exactly what areas a project will affect, what it will deliver, and is generally what the project is setting out to accomplish.

These three things together are known as the OTOBOS triangle - On Time, On Budget, On Scope - and if you can deliver a project to those three things, you are doing well!

At the center of the OTOBOS triangle is quality and you generally can't affect one point of the triangle (e.g. time), without also affecting the quality of the project (for good or bad). You can mitigate this by changing one of the other points of the triangle; for example, if you reduce the time, you can maintain quality by also reducing scope or by increasing resources.

OTOBOS.jpg
 

Projects are planned

All successful projects have a plan, created at the beginning of the project and regularly reviewed and updated as the project continues. The plan will normally show:

  • What needs to be accomplished (scope, outcomes, and quality).

  • Key deliverables (what's being created) and milestones (goals and deadlines).

  • Who is performing the various tasks (resources).

  • Time expected to be taken (cost and hours spent).

  • What is happening and when (timing).

  • Dependencies (if something relies on something else being completed).

Project plans can be as simple as a document that lists everything, as complicated as a repository of documents, or anywhere in between, as long as it serves your purpose. Project management software will often output project plans as Gantt charts.

Projects are a series of steps

A project will always have more than one task that needs to be accomplished, with larger deliverables and tasks split up into smaller and smaller tasks. As an example, if you were creating a project to move house, you might have part of it that looks like this. [image removed]

The more you can break down a project into deliverables, those deliverables down into tasks, and those tasks down into sub-tasks, the more control you will have and ultimately the more likely your project will be successful.

Projects are outcome based

Projects are designed, created, and managed to achieve change and add value. If a project doesn't achieve one or both of those objectives, it probably isn't worth doing.

Examples of outcomes a project might help with are:

  • Advertising for, interviewing, and taking on a new employee.

  • Decorating your office space.

  • Creating a more efficient invoicing and financial management process.

  • Prototyping and testing a new product idea.

  • Developing effective customer service processes.

  • And many more...

How does it all fit together?

This picture illustrates how project managers, tasks, and projects fit together to deliver your desired outcome. [image removed]

What does a project manager do?

The responsibilities of a project manager can vary widely, but in general they are responsible for:

  • Planning a project, reviewing that plan, and ensuring it goes ahead.

  • Organizing resources, people, and budget so that what needs to happen is achieved when it needs to be by the people who need to do it.

  • Managing people, processes, and other aspects to ensure successful delivery of a project.

  • Leading by example and working to remove barriers, risks, and issues that prevent the project achieving what it needs to.

  • Delegating appropriately to other areas.

  • Controlling different aspects of the project and keeping things on track.

  • Communicating with stakeholders, people impacted by the project, and people working on the project.

  • Reporting on what the project is going to do, how it is progressing, and what it has achieved.

Understanding what you want to achieve

This is about defining what your project is setting out to do, specifically:

  • What does the outcome of your project look like?

  • What type of service, product, or process are you trying to create?

  • How will you be able to tell if you've been successful?

  • What is the scope of what you are trying to do?

Estimating the resources that you will need

You'll need to accurately understand and obtain the resources (people, money etc.) you will need:

  • Do you need someone else to help you achieve this outcome or will you do it yourself?

  • How will you find the right people to help you?

  • Will you need to spend money to achieve it, and if so, how much?

  • What other resources might be needed?

Calculating how long things will take

Working to the right timescales is essential, so calculate how long the various tasks and activities in your project will take:

  • How long, from beginning to end, should the project take?

  • What are the key dates and milestones in the life of the project that you would like to reach?

  • At what points will you review the progress of the project?

  • How will you tell if the project is still on track to deliver?

Planning the project out and breaking it down into tasks

You'll need to plan out the various outcomes, deliverables, milestones, tasks, and sub-tasks that need to be accomplished:

  • What is the overall aim of the project?

  • What are the main things you need to deliver and when?

  • How can you break these deliverables down into distinct tasks?

  • How can you break those tasks down further, into sub-tasks?

These discrete steps and tasks need to occur in a specified order for you to achieve your outcome. Each of these tasks will accomplish a specific thing, which together will deliver your project.

Delegating and doing

Once all the planning is done, the project will get underway. You’ll need to carry out the tasks yourself or delegate them. Keeping track of these tasks, who is doing them, how, and when is a critical part of being a good project manager:

  • Who is the best person to do this work?

  • Do you have their agreement and commitment to complete the work?

  • How will you track who is doing what?

Ensuring quality

You will need to be sure that whatever the project is delivering, it is of the right quality. This means knowing what is good enough for you to achieve what you want and sufficiently controlling the project to achieve that quality:

  • What measures are you using to ensure a good quality outcome?

  • How do you test for quality?

  • What does a successful outcome look like?

  • If something is delivered that isn't of a high enough quality, how will you manage it?

Managing problems

All projects hit problems and snags. The unexpected or unplanned is a fact of life; reacting to these curve-balls in a realistic way and keeping the project on track will help you achieve your goals.

  • How can you understand the risks and issues you might encounter?

  • How will you manage risks and issues that might impact on your project?

Tracking progress

Reviewing and keeping an eye on progress will ensure you’re able to keep moving your project forward.

  • How often will you review your project plan and progress toward outcomes?

  • How will you track activities and keep things moving forward?

Communicating your project

Since communicating is essential to delivering a successful project, the groups you'll want to communicate with are:

  • People working on the project - If it's not just you involved, you'll need to make everyone aware of the goals and tasks expected of them during the project.

  • Your audience / customers - If the project is going to affect a group of people or your customers (internal or external) you will need to keep them informed.

  • Stakeholders - Anyone else who has a vested interest in the outcome of the project is a stakeholder. They might be supplying money or resources or be impacted by what the project is delivering. They can also be powerful decision makers.

project_mgt.JPG

How do tasks and to do lists fit in with project management?

Despite all of the responsibilities of a project manager and the varying degrees of complexity around managing projects, at the most basic level a project is simply a series of tasks that need to be completed to achieve a desired outcome.

Tasks and to do lists are the building blocks of getting stuff done. This means that having an effective way to capture everything you need to do, knowing when it needs to be done, and who is going to do it becomes a critical part of running a successful project.

Some of the software shown below [removed] is great for overall project management, while some of it is good for task management. Ultimately, you should try the software out to see what works best with your approach. There are some good business software solutions to help you plan, track, and manage your projects, tasks, and to do lists so that you can deliver what you need to, with the minimum of fuss.

It's true that project management can be a lot of work, and there are many different approaches you can take. Some aspects of what I've discussed here will work for project management in your small business, some of it might not.

The key to be a successful project manager is objectivity, planning, communicating, and understanding what you want to achieve. If you can accomplish that, you're already on your way to delivering a successful project.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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Marketing principles to grow your business (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of an article on using marketing techniques to increase your chances of success and help your business prosper.

An example of my editing and proofreading services.

It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.

About this content

In an increasingly competitive landscape, it's vital that your business stands out. There are several powerful marketing techniques that you can use right now to increase your chances of success and help your business prosper. In this article we explore the importance of building your audience early, increasing trust with your customers, working with complementary businesses and continual improvement.




As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you know how competitive business can be. Whether you're running a business website or a traditional brick and mortar store, you need to stand out in a very crowded marketplace.

There's so much choice that attracting a customer to your business and encouraging them to buy your products or services is getting increasingly difficult. Fortunately, there are some simple steps that you can take that will help you find your place.

Here are five simple principles that you can put in place right now to help you grow your business:

  • Start building your audience early.

  • Increase trust with your customers.

  • Make your customers your advocates.

  • Find complementary businesses and work with them.

  • Remember that you can only improve what you can measure.

We'll cover each of these in more detail.

Start building your audience early

You want to start telling people about your business as early as you can. If you've not opened your business yet, you can involve them in the creation of your products and services as a beta tester and letting them tell you what they think. Help your potential customers to act as co-creators and they'll be happy to provide feedback and ideas. If you have opened your business, you can use product giveaways, discounted services, behind-the-scenes access, and other incentives to encourage and excite your customers.

The more engaged people feel, the more likely they are to want to be involved. If you're an online business, start collecting email addresses and encouraging people to like your social media accounts. If you're a traditional business, give people loyalty cards or find some other way of collecting their details.

Increase trust with your customers by creating a truly remarkable experience

Marketing doesn't stop with getting a customer to your website or into your store; it affects every aspect of your relationship with your customer, from first contact through purchase and beyond. This could include:

  • Their first impressions of your business and how that's created - This might include the ad copy you use, your SEO description on Google, your product description on the app store or the signage on your shop.

  • Their experience when they start interacting with your business - This might include browsing your website, looking through your store or using your app.

  • The purchasing experience as they buy a product or service - This might include how they're treated by your employees or their route through the ecommerce experience on your website.

  • The after sales experience - This might include how they receive a product or service from you, the customer service experience or how satisfying your products or services are to use.

Think about each of these as a customer would. Put yourself in their position and ask, "How could this be better?" and make those changes.

Make your customers your advocates

Your existing customers can be a great way to attract new business, if you give them the right incentive. This starts by giving them an excellent experience when they first use your business, and you can build on this through good marketing.

Encourage them to introduce your products and services to others by giving them a good reason to do so. This might include a discount on their next purchase, product giveaways, early access to a new service you're developing, the chance to win something or any other benefit that will improve their lives.

Find complementary businesses and work with them

You're going to have competitors, but you're also going to have other businesses that could complement yours. If you're a project management consultancy, you might find another business that produces a fantastic project management app. If you're a garden designer, there might be a great local architecture firm. Get in touch with these businesses and build a relationship with them. Provide introductory products and services to their customers or ask them to recommend you in their newsletter. You can return the favor and build up strong, ongoing partnerships that benefit both businesses.

Remember that you can only improve what you can measure

Look at the statistics, facts and figures behind your business to work out what they are telling you. If you're an online business, look at the analytics for your website. Find out where your visitors are coming from, the pages they are looking at and whether they are buying from you.

If you're running a store, look at how your customers browse through your goods, the types of questions they ask and how easy they can find what they're looking for.

You can run experiments to test all of these areas, and measure the results. You can continually tweak and refine how your customers interact with your business to make every aspect of them finding and buying what they are looking for as effortless and efficient as possible.

In closing

It's vital to give yourself every advantage in business. Putting your customers at the center of your marketing strategy, working with complementary businesses and making continual improvements will all help to enhance your business. In a competitive landscape, these simple, effective principles will improve your chances of success and help you prosper.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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What is a project management plan? (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of an article on creating a project plan, a vital document that guides the overall management and successful running and delivery of a project.

An example of my editing and proofreading services.

It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.

About this content

A project plan is a vital document that guides the overall management and successful running and delivery of a project. In this article we explore the various areas that together make up a project management plan.




In project management, a project management plan is a very important document, created by the project manager and the project team. The plan is effectively the document that guides the project as a whole and contains details on various aspects of the project. A project management plan is normally created in the early stages and is consulted, reviewed, and revised throughout the life cycle of the project. Note that these types of plan apply mainly to traditional, waterfall-style projects.

A project management plan might be just one document or it could be a series of documents and “project artifacts” that together make up the plan. A project plan is used together with a project baseline to establish exactly what a project needs to do, how it is going to do it, and various other aspects important for the successful delivery of the project.

Typically, a project management plan contains the following:

  • Why the project exists - The various drivers and requirements that caused the project to be created in the first place. This could be the reason that new products or services are being created, techniques to avoid risks or unnecessary costs, and impacts on or a desire to improve a particular part of the business.

  • What the project is intended to do - The intended final outcome of the project, the types of solutions that will be created and the business requirements that the project is meant to address.

  • A definition of the project - A high-level overview of the scope, costs, budget, timescales, and quality requirements involved in the project.

  • When the project will delivered - The timescales of various milestones and outcomes delivery; a plan and schedule of when various tasks need to take place.

  • Who is responsible - The individuals, teams, and areas responsible for completing the various parts of the project.

  • How the project will deliver - The various frameworks, methodologies, techniques, and tool-kits that the project will use.

  • Current status - How the project is performing right now; progress made towards goals, resources used, as well as quality and scope.

  • Risk and issue management - The likelihood and impact of risks occurring and steps being taken to deal with outstanding issues.

  • Work that has been completed - Activities and tasks that have been carried out to take the project forward.

  • Work due to be completed - Planned work for the short, medium, and long term to complete the project.

The project plan provides a good basis for reporting, communications, and the smooth management of a project. It is the single most important document (or set of documents) for a project and is essential for the smooth running and delivery of a project so that it meets business needs and expectations.


Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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How to make money from a website (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of an article on generating income from a website. Methods explored include display advertising, affiliate marketing, freelancing, and more.

An example of my editing and proofreading services.

It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.

About this content

Generating an income from a website is a realistic goal for the dedicated entrepreneur or writer. This article explores the five main channels that you can use to create some revenue. Methods explored include display advertising, affiliate marketing, freelancing, and more.




Making money online is an achievable goal for many entrepreneurs. There are several methods you can use to monetize a website, depending on how much work you want to put in. From the simplest to the most complicated, the various channels you can use to earn money include:

  • Display advertising

  • Affiliate marketing

  • Writing and freelancing

  • Selling your own product or service

  • Other methods

Display Advertising

The easiest way to make some money from a website is to publish ads that are relevant to your readers. The most popular display advertising network is Google AdSense. You can sign up for an account and begin publishing ads almost immediately. When a user visits your site and clicks on an ad, Google pays you part of the proceeds for that click. You do need lots of visitors to your site to make reasonable money from display advertising, but it is a passive way to earn income.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing means promoting and selling someone else's products and services. You can earn a commission from creating links and promoting products on your website. The most popular affiliate program is Amazon Associates, where you can earn between 4 percent and 8 percent of sales made through your links. There are several other large affiliate networks including Digital River, Clickbank, and Commission Junction. You do need to research and understand what you want to sell to ensure that you're promoting high-quality goods.

Writing and freelancing

If you can build up your authority and reputation, you could turn this into paying work in your area of expertise. You could be asked to review articles, create content, work on projects, and much more. The key to becoming a successful freelancer is to write original, insightful articles and to publicize your site through guest posting and getting exposure elsewhere.

Selling your own product or service

If you have something you can sell, this is a great way to monetize your site. You could create an eBook, software app, or other product or service. One of the main advantages is that you get to keep 100 percent of what you make; if you hit on a great niche product, you could earn a good income. Creating a product or service does need time, energy, and resources. It's important that you test the market for what you're planning to build before committing - you don't want to waste your time creating something that no one wants.

Other methods

Once you are well known in your field, you might get opportunities to speak at conferences, make presentations, or carry out consultancy work. If you can establish yourself as a trusted authority, you could easily make a living from your expertise. You'll need to create a good network and develop a reputation, but this is a great way to get involved in lots of interesting projects and see where your ideas and insight can take you.

Creating an authentic, trusted website with an original approach and fresh content is good for you and your readers. With the right amount of effort, you could turn that into a reasonable income.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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Project management: How do "What If?" scenarios work? (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of an article on managing risks, issues, and dependencies in an effective way through using project management “What If?” scenarios.

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It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.

About this content

Part of project management involves managing risks, issues, and dependencies in an effective way. This can be accomplished through using “What If?” scenarios. A comprehensive risk and issue management plan that includes these scenarios can help project managers and teams minimize disruptions to the project and help it deliver what it needs to.




A significant part of project management is dealing with circumstances outside normal business operations. By its very nature, a project makes a number of changes to create new products, deliver new services, tweak business processes, or avoid problems.

Part of the successful management of a project is about dealing with risks, issues, and dependencies, and one of the best ways to do this is through “What If?” scenarios. In this article we'll explore what risks, issues, and dependencies are and how these scenarios can minimize a project’s impact and deliver on time, on budget, and in scope.

Risks, issues, and dependencies

What If? scenarios are focused on managing and mitigating risks, issues, and dependencies.

  • Risks - A project risk is something that has not happened yet, but could conceivably happen in the future and have a negative impact on the project.

  • Issues - An issue is something that has or is happening and is causing a negative impact on the project.

  • Dependencies - A dependency is a relationship between a project and something else that needs to take place for the project to be successful.

Risk, issue, and dependency management

Part of managing these three areas is having plans in place to deal with problems if and when they occur. Typically, a risk, issue, or dependency management plan will include the following:

  • A description of the risk, issue, or dependency.

  • The thing(s) that would need to happen to trigger the risk, issue, or dependency.

  • The likelihood of the risk, issue, or dependency happening.

  • The severity or impact of the risk, issue, or dependency on the project.

  • Actions that can be taken to minimize or remove the risk, issue, or dependency.

Resolving or mitigating risks, issues, and dependencies

If there is a negative impact on a project, there are a number of solutions that can be used to remove risks, issues, or dependencies, these include:

  • Putting a work-around in place - Creating a work-around so that the situation that caused the risk, issue, or dependency is avoided, minimizing the impact on the project. This is normally a temporary solution.

  • Fixing the underlying cause - Understanding the root cause that created the risk, issue, or dependency in the first place and fixing it.

  • Changing what the project is going to do - If the risk, issue, or dependency cannot be avoided, the activities, timescale, budget, or other parts of the project might be changed.

  • Remove the risk, issue, or dependency - If there is an option to remove the impact, through prioritization, changes, or other means, these can also be used.

What If? scenarios

A What If? scenario is simply predicting what might happen to cause a risk, issue, or dependency and having contingency plans in place to deal with it. Good project managers are able to pre-empt risks, issues, and dependencies that could occur and create What If? scenarios and mitigating actions that can be deployed quickly and effectively.

In closing

Managing risks, issues, and dependencies, especially using What If? scenarios is a crucial part of effective project management. A comprehensive risk and issue management plan can help project managers and teams minimize disruptions to the project and help it deliver what it needs to.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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Guide to creating quality website content (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of a guide to developing great website content that will attract readers and encourage sharing.

An example of my editing and proofreading services.

It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.


About this content

Great content is essential to the success of your website. This article explores some simple steps you can take to enhance your content. It includes advice on meeting the needs of your audience, getting their attention, being relevant and timely, and encouraging people to share. The article is written in an easy to understand way that lets you quickly create content that works.




The success of your website depends on clear, relevant, useful content meeting the needs of your audience. It's the main factor search engines use when ranking websites, and good content will keep your visitors coming back. The best content:

  • Meets your audience's needs.

  • Grabs their attention.

  • Is easy to read and understand.

  • Stays relevant and timely.

  • Encourages people to share it.

  • Informs, educates, entertains, or inspires.

Great content meets the needs of your audience

Think about why visitors are coming to your website and what you offer. Provide clear, useful content to meet their needs, solve a problem, or provide help. Good content should inform, educate, entertain, or inspire your readers.

You need to get and hold your visitors’ attention

With so many competing websites, it's important to grab your visitors’ attention. Good design can guide your readers to your best content. Combine this with clear headings, a logical structure, and concise text to add value for your audience.

Ensure your content is easy to read and understand

Always create content with your audience in mind, and never assume they have the same level of knowledge as you. Your words should be easy to read and understand, so they're accessible to every visitor.

Keep your content relevant and timely

The best content is "evergreen." This means it's relevant whether a visitor is reading it now or a year or two in the future. It's important to update your website regularly and schedule new articles to publish. One of the signals search engines use is recency, so publishing often will help your search engine results.

Encourage people to share your content

After search engines, social media is the main way many websites get traffic. Make sure every page on your website has social media sharing buttons for the most popular social networks. A good headline and thumbnail image can increase the chances of your content getting shared.

Always include a privacy policy and terms

If you offer products or services to your customers, make sure you have comprehensive terms and conditions in place. Every website should also have a privacy policy explaining how you collect and use data from your visitors.

Inform, educate, entertain, or inspire.

One of the ways to create compelling content is to ask the question, "Will this inform, educate, entertain, or inspire my audience?" Good content should always achieve one of these goals, great content might achieve two or more.

Informative content

This type of content shares advice and information with your visitors. It's designed to increase knowledge and helps your audience explore different topics. This type of content often includes news, research, places, resources, products, services, and tools.

Educational content

Educational content often takes the form of "how to" guides and tutorials. It's designed to help people learn new skills and achieve specific tasks. This type of content often includes support articles, knowledge bases, online courses, and reviews.

Entertaining content

This type of content helps your visitors pass the time in an interesting and fulfilling way. Quizzes, games, humor, stories, videos, memes, and apps are all good examples of entertaining content.

Inspirational content

Finally, inspiring content often creates some type of emotional change in your visitor. This type of content is the most difficult to write, but it's also responsible for some of the most popular and shared stories. Inspiring content often takes the form of personal stories, opinion pieces, and creative writing.

It's worth spending time and resources to source and create great content. Search engines scan your content so they can show the most relevant websites to their visitors. Regularly publishing high-quality content is one of the best ways to get good rankings in search results. This will drive more visitors to your website.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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Advantages and disadvantages of video conferencing (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of a short guide to video conferencing, focusing on advantages and disadvantages.

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It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.


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Advantages and disadvantages of video conferencing

Video conferencing is a powerful technology that allows two or more people to communicate effectively in real time. It uses cameras, monitors, microphones, and sophisticated software and hardware to create a high-quality experience. There are several advantages, and a few disadvantages, to video conferencing.

Advantages of video conferencing

Cost savings

Businesses and individuals don't need to spend money on travel, hotels, meals, and other expenses for people to meet one another. These cost savings can be significant, especially in larger organizations.

Time savings

There are significant time and productivity savings. People can just go to their local video conferencing suite, rather than get in their car or go to a train station or airport. The time that isn't spent traveling can be used to complete other work and personal tasks.

Better communication and commitment

Being able to see the other people in the video conference makes it easier to pick up on subtle cues, body language, and nonverbal communication. This has been shown to enhance communication and build trust. People who can see each other when they speak are more likely to support each other and follow through on their commitments.

Better work-life balance and happier employees

Because people do not need to spend hours traveling, often on their own time, this improves their work-life balance and makes for happier employees. This can help a business build better relationships and means its employees are more likely to put in the extra effort.

Convenience

It's easier to have meetings across different countries, time zones, and international boundaries, plus there's less time wasted on travel and paperwork.

Lower carbon footprint, reduced environmental impact

If people don't have to travel to meetings, they're burning fewer fossil fuels and reducing the carbon footprint for themselves and their business.

A better way to do business

Overall, for people over multiple locations, video conferencing is simply a more efficient, less stressful, more productive and effective way to hold meetings.

Disadvantages of video conferencing

Cost of video conferencing software and hardware

The cost to purchase the specialized hardware, software, and other aspects of the system can be high, with higher-end systems costing significantly more. The hardware will need to be maintained on an ongoing basis and software may require licensing and upgrades.

Technology issues

If there is a problem with the hardware, software, or network, video conferences can suffer in quality, or might not work at all. Regular maintenance and backup plans can reduce these issues.

Training for video conferencing

People need to be trained in the use of video conferencing; this takes time and money.

May not be a substitute for "being there"

People are more productive when they are physically in the same space. Video conferencing might not be suitable for all types of meetings as specialized events such as workshops and seminars are better when conducted face-to-face.

Availability of facilities

The more popular video conferencing becomes, the more likely that video-conferencing facilities in an organization will be booked. A good balance of availability and use means that video conferencing can deliver good value for money.

Ultimately, a business will want to balance the convenience and ongoing cost savings of video conferencing against the costs of installation and maintenance. In most cases, the combination of reduced travel, increased productivity, and better communication outweighs the costs of video conferencing.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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Guide to the right programming platform for your website (full sample)

Copy editing and proofreading of a guide to choosing the right platform to host or develop your website.

An example of my editing and proofreading services.

It can be useful to understand exactly how my proofreading and editing services can help you. Below, you’ll find an article that I copy edited and proofread to give you an idea of how I can enhance your content. Please have a read, and if you like the content then please get in touch or get a quote.


About this content

Choosing the right programming platform is one of the most important decisions when you're building a new website. This article explores several options, frameworks, and languages for web development. It covers areas including blogging frameworks, online website builders, locally installed software, and various programming languages.




Building a great website - Choosing the right programming platform

Choosing the right programming platform and language for your website is vital. The approach affects the functions, technology, and many other aspects of your website. There are dozens of platforms and programming languages available, depending on your needs. Your options include:

  • Blogging frameworks like WordPress and Blogger.

  • Online website builders.

  • Locally installed website building software.

  • Custom languages and development platforms.

Blogging frameworks

There are two main blogging frameworks: Blogger and WordPress. Blogger, by Google, is an online-only platform designed around content creation. It lets bloggers and writers create content quickly, upload images, and design beautiful blogs with a minimum of fuss. Google hosts all blogs created on the platform. You don't need to worry about web hosting, speed, or anything besides creating great content. Customization on Blogger is limited, and you will need to use various widgets for any advanced functionality.

WordPress is the most popular website technology platform in the world. Over 75 million websites publish on WordPress, and half of the world's top blogs use the technology. WordPress isn't limited to blogging, though. The platform is used by many businesses, membership websites, and online stores. WordPress has a vast amount of community support, together with templates, tutorials, and plugins. This makes the platform highly customizable, and it's a good choice, whether you want to build a website yourself or hire a developer.

Online website builders

Another popular option for designing and publishing a website is to use an online website builder. These solutions are focused on the pages, themes, and structure of your website. You can drag and drop various elements onto your pages and create content.

These website builders are easy to use, inexpensive, fast, and functional. The four most popular website builders are Squarespace, Weebly, Jimdo, and Wix. Each has a free trial, so you can try them out and see if they work for you. You can set up shops, membership programs, and more, but they are best for simple websites without unusual requirements.

Locally installed website building software

Locally installed software is often used by professional web developers to create a website on their local machine. They can then upload it to a hosting service. Popular solutions include Adobe Dreamweaver, Aptana Studio, and Microsoft Visual Web Developer.

The software supports many types of programming languages. One of the main features is a "What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)" editor, which shows you exactly how your website will look. The software lets web developers customize websites to a high degree, and allows for great flexibility in web design.

Custom language and development platforms

There are many specialized programming languages used to build websites. These include:

  • Simple languages such as HTML and CSS.

  • Intermediate languages such as JavaScript and Python.

  • Advanced languages such as Drupal or Joomla.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

HTML is the standard language used to build the vast majority of websites. HTML code tells your web browser about the content of your website and where to display it. If you look at the source code of a website, most of what you see will be HTML.

CSS affects the visual elements of your website. The styles in CSS tell your web browser how to display the fonts, colors, spacing, borders, navigation, and other parts of your website. This makes it easy to change styles and colors across a website without having to edit the HTML on each page.

JavaScript and Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)

After HTML and CSS, JavaScript is the most popular web programming language. It's often used to add interactive widgets, quizzes, and other functions to a website. A good JavaScript developer can create entire apps and games.

PHP is another popular choice for web development and runs on a web server (where your website is hosted) rather than in a browser. PHP is a flexible language allowing a website to interact with databases, membership sites, logins, and much more. There's lots of community support and tutorials for the language, although it needs a professional developer to make the most of it.

Python and Ruby

Python is a multi-purpose programming language used for many different types of development. One of its main advantages is a wide variety of pre-coded functions that make writing complex web applications a little easier.

Ruby is a programming language that's growing in popularity due to its ease of use. It's also good at handling large volumes of website traffic, so if you're expecting lots of visitors, it's a good choice.

MySQL

MySQL is a relational database platform designed to allow websites to store and retrieve information. It's an open-source platform, so using it is free. Many websites use MySQL to provide personalized information, products, and services to customers.

Joomla and Drupal

Joomla is a language developed for content management systems (CMS). It specializes in allowing people to create, upload, and share content. Consider using Joomla if you have multiple contributors to your website.

Like Joomla, Drupal is a CMS. It's also extremely customizable, allowing professional developers to create websites to exacting standards. Drupal is specially designed for web developers who want to customize every piece of their code.

Many of these programming languages require specific expertise. If your website needs a more customized approach, think about hiring a professional web developer. The right programming and technology makes a big difference to the functionality, usefulness, and success of your website. If you're not sure what you need, speak to an expert to learn about your options.

Content originally written by Paul Maplesden, a freelance writer, and edited by me.



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