How did you get into editing? What makes it the best work for you?

I totally fell into editing. I studied research psychology in college, did a Master’s in Teaching and then became a teacher for 10 years. I did some copywriting on the side before I had kids and realised it was a lucrative hustle. Post baby number two, I decided I wanted to be at home more and my copywriting business was going well. An agency I worked with at the time asked if I wanted to do some editing for them and I realised I loved it! I then did a course to brush up on my skills and took on more editing work until I stopped writing copy altogether.

I absolutely love it. The work is challenging, and when you work for a content marketing agency with several clients, it changes all the time. A big part of my draw to the profession is the ability to work remotely, but I also love helping to develop our writers’ skills.

What makes your approach to editing unique?

I’m a big stickler for fact-checking information. Probably bigger than most. This probably comes from my background in research and seeing how information can be manipulated. I’m very fortunate to have found a company that will let me fly that flag and protest against the spread of bad information through my fierce checking!

I’m also fairly resourceful. I’ll work to find a source or an angle that provides more value to the reader, probably more than other editors. This is often left to the writer, but I believe in team work.

How do you connect with your clients?

Understanding their goals is the most important thing. It helps you make even the smallest editorial decisions. We meet with clients and I get involved when there’s something editorial to talk about. Mostly we communicate in drafts, Slack and email. Lately, we’ve been communicating via voice message and video too, which adds another human layer to comms. Our vibe at Grizzle is to be like an extension of the client’s team, and I think that mindset really helps to build up positive relationships with clients.

What in your experience makes the content effective and valuable?

I work for a content marketing agency, and a lot of people go straight to SEO, thinking we chase keywords all day. Which is partly true, but there’s a lot of consideration for the reader in what we do. First, we’re always thinking about search intent (What does the reader what to learn? What jobs do they need to accomplish using this information?). That underpins a lot of the decisions we make when it comes to creating angles and outlines. We look at what competing articles are doing and think about what they’re missing (Have they offered an alternative? Have they talked about what to do if it doesn’t work? Where does the reader go next?). Finally, everything comes down to the outline. The outline phase is super important. It’s where we see the narrative take shape and what the argument looks like.

What qualities should a good content writer and editor have to succeed?

Editing in content marketing is quite different to editing elsewhere (book publishing, academia, etc.). A lot more rules can be broken, but often way too many are broken and need to be reined in.

To be a great writer, you need to have excellent research skills. You need to know how to uncover search intent, you need to know what the reader is looking for around a topic and you need to know how to tactfully deliver that information. Sometimes it will be a more thought-leadership piece, where you need to form a logical argument and support it with well-sourced evidence. Sometimes it will be more explanatory or informative and prescriptive. You’ll need to know how to write using different styles of writing and for different audiences and for different tones of voice. It also helps to have a good grasp of grammar and punctuation (and be able to switch between styles if you write for different clients).

As an editor, you’ll need to know how to recognise the quality in the above, so you can give positive feedback alongside requests for changes. This often means wearing different lenses and training yourself to compartmentalize the process: looking at a piece at different levels (a high-level for content issues, a granular level for punctuation errors).

You seem serious about informational hygiene. What are your rules to maintain a clear digital space as well as head?

I am evangelical about informational hygiene! If I could get on a stage and communicate one thing to writers and editors everywhere, it would be to support your arguments with good sources. Easier said than done, right? This is some of what we train our writers to do: maintain a pool of reputable sources (PEW research, Gartner, McKinsey, etc.), search these sources for your information first and avoid round-up blogs (very low editorial standards and easy to get lost in an original source black hole). When you find a good source, keep it somewhere safe (we use a database).

When I’m editing, I’ll check that what we’ve said is contained in the link. I’ll also check that it’s likely to be true. If a source uses a small sample size or doesn’t seem legit, I’ll question it and try to find a better one.

What trends in editing will prevail in the near future?

I think editing for the online space will gather more of a following. At the moment we content editors have to follow general editing spaces that are heavily geared towards books and periodicals. It’s really very different to these fields and I think there’s enough of us now to form our own community. I’m attempting this now through social media but I can see it being bigger in future!

I also think that inclusivity is here to stay. Watch AP Style and CMOS for their updates on issues like pronouns and neurodiversity.

If you decide to change direction, what would you do in life?

Oooh. Interesting question. Mostly because I’ve already changed direction! I think if I was ever to change again, it would be back into an educating role. I’d likely bring editing with me and teach about writing, though. So not too much of a change.

Can you recommend a Spotify Playlist?

Can I!? I listen to a lot of instrumental music because sometimes lyrics distract me when I need to focus. If I’m doing a light edit or something quite administrative, I can get away with words.

This is what I’ve been listening to lately with lyrics:

• Grunge Forever
• 90s acoustic
• This is Tash Sultana

This is what I’ve been listening to lately without lyrics:

• Instrumental Pop Covers 2022
• Sounds good
• Not quite classical

The post Why fact-checking matters: A Conversation with Jenna St John, B2B&SaaS editor appeared first on Linguix Blog.

For our interview we asked Tasmin about her career path and freelance days, how she maintains connection with her clients, what makes up outstanding content marketing,  And, of course, what drives her professionally and as a person to become greater.

You’ve started your journey while studying Psychology. What initially drew you to the mind’s secrets and how did it turn into the love for content marketing?

I studied Psychology at college and was fascinated by all the nuances of human behaviour. That fascination led me to study Psychology at university where I was introduced to Consumer Psychology. Studying Consumer Psychology unlocked a whole new level of love and intrigue for Psychology! I loved learning about the different motivations, emotions and behaviours underlying each and every purchase decision. This consumer psych knowledge complemented my love of writing, allowing me to create content that really speaks to people.

What was your first job in marketing? What was the most challenging for you at that moment?

When I left university, I secured a marketing role for a local B2B manufacturing company where I was responsible for marketing activity across various European countries. Aside from the low pay, the most challenging aspect was learning all of the new skills and processes associated with performing marketing activity that is localised to different regions. It meant working with various languages and global teams. While it was challenging to begin with, it was a fun challenge to have and really helped cement my love for strategy and accuracy.

What inspired Fika? How did you decide it was time for your own business?

I had been freelancing for roughly 18 months before I started Fika Digital. Freelancing had been going well for me and I just knew that it was time to make it “official” by creating a business that was bigger than just me. Building Fika Digital was fuelled by a desire to create an agency that holds community, connection, and well-being at its heart.

Do you miss your freelance days? What did it teach you?

While I may have transitioned to an Agency Owner, I never really left my freelance days behind. So much of what I have learnt from freelancing has followed me into my new journey as a business owner. I’m careful to never lose track of the things that make freelancing so beautiful — the work-life balance, autonomy over your work, and the close relationships you build with clients. Those are the aspects of freelancing that I plan to maintain in my role as an agency owner.

You value connection and community. What allows you to maintain deep bonds between you and your team and your clients?

I believe the success of any business relies on its ability to forge genuine connections and build a community.  Everything I do is focused on building trust and helping my team and clients achieve their goals. 

Fika Digital is actually named after the Swedish tradition of Fika whereby people take a break from whatever they are doing to slow down, eat cake, drink coffee and connect with people. It’s a state of mind and something that I want to embody within Fika Digital — this means always being transparent with my team and clients, making sure everyone can see what we’re working on at all, being down-to-earth, and just speaking to people like humans.  There’s nothing worse than a stuffy, corporate approach. We’re all human, so let’s act that way.

In your opinion, what makes up great content marketing?
Psychology! You need to create content that connects with your target audience. There’s no point writing content for Google, or creating social media posts because they “look good” if they don’t connect with your audience. You’ve got to get clear on who your audience are and what they want — tapping into consumer psychology allows you to explore these emotions, motivations, and behaviours so you can create content that your audience love.

What inspires your growth professionally and as a person?
Everything I do is inspired by possibility and curiosity — what happens if I do this? If someone else can achieve X, why can’t I?

Having a curious mind means you can look at all the opportunities around you and see them as possibilities. Then, it’s just a case of putting those dreams into reality. You need to take action. Curiosity + action = growth.

Do you have any advice for young freelancers and content creators?
Step out of your comfort zone and trust in your power — the feeling of fear never really goes away. So, you’ve got to learn to see that fear as a motivator. See it as an opportunity to push the boundaries of your comfort zone and try something new. Chances are the worst thing that could happen isn’t really that bad at all. Just trust in your power and do the damn thing! 

The post How To Create Compelling Content: Advice by Tasmin Lofhthouse, freelance copywriter and founder of Fika Digital appeared first on Linguix Blog.

When we talk about the skills required for a job; multilingualism is usually considered an important skill for employment in international companies. Around 6500 languages are being spoken around the globe. Out of these 6500 spoken languages; English is considered the most important, as it is the third most widely spoken language. It is being taught in over 118 countries and is considered the most common language for trade and business. Apart from that, English is also the language of science, media, internet, international communication, diplomacy, tourism, computer, and education. Either you have personal or professional reasons; you must learn to speak and understand good English; it will provide you an open door to the world and help you to communicate with people worldwide. 

Therefore, many people focus on how to improve grammar in English speaking. Knowing English increases your chances of securing good job opportunities in overseas multinational companies around the globe. So, learning English is considered vital for socializing, work, and entertainment; as most films, TV shows, books and music are published and produced in English. Therefore, understanding the importance of English will help you out in achieving your goals. 

Learning English can be a little tricky and time-consuming but it is very valuable to open doors of opportunities. It can be a challenge to learn English; here are some great points for you to improve your English. 

1. Motivation: Motivation is the key to success. If you want to achieve something, you’ve to be highly motivated, to begin with. The same is the case for learning English; never stop and work regularly. Even if you learn just 10-15 every week, just learn it properly.
2. Be Fearless: Being confident is very necessary and an interesting thing. Don’t be worried or shy about making mistakes. You’ve to stay confident; if you want to be a good English speaker.
3. Practice: Practice makes a man perfect. Even if you aren’t so good at speaking or understanding English; continue to do it every day. This will help to eliminate the fear factor and help you to be more confident. 
4. Set new goals: Set goals for yourself, decide how many words you want to learn in a week. This will help you to do the extra study to improve your English.
5. Dictionary: Don’t hesitate to take help, if you can’t remember the word or its meaning; simply go and check your dictionary. 
6. Ask people for help: The surrounding people can help a lot in influencing you to do something. Tell your family and friends about your will to improve your English so they can push you to study more.
7. Focus the mains: The main skills in English are; reading, writing, speaking and listening. Make sure to work on all of them to improve.
8. Consistency: Stay consistent even if you’re studying only one hour per day. But stay consistent. 
9. Keep a journal: Keep a journal to determine your improvement.
10. Write a notebook: Keep a notebook to write newly learned words in it. Review your notebook twice a week.
11. Memorization: Try and memorize the words and give them a shot for a vocabulary test. It helps you to sharpen your ability.
12. Sign up for English lectures: Learning new things will never get old. The same is the case for learning English. Go and take lectures from YouTube of other platforms and engage yourself in it to improve.
13. Don’t skip: If you haven’t studied all day; busy in work or anything. study at night before sleeping. 
14. Example sentence: After learning a new word, try to memorize it along with its example sentence. It will help you to remember the word and its use more accurately.
15. Test yourself: Keep on testing yourself, time to time. You’ll get to know if there’s any improvement.
16. Go for Future: Always keep in mind, why are you learning English. What is the bigger picture? How will improving grammar in English speaking is going to help me?
17. Short-term goals: Set easy and short-term goals to learn English. Appreciate yourself after achieving and focus on the next.
18. Long-term goals: Long-term goals help to motivate and continue to strive.
19. Help yourself: Help yourself by creating a good atmosphere in which you want to learn. Study not because you’ve to. You’ll understand things better if you learn because you want to.
20. Get help: If you’re having trouble understanding anything, go for help. Ask your teacher, classmates, or the internet.
21. Review: Keep reviewing your progress report throughout. Repeat the words and review them at the end of the month.
22. Understand yourself: Try and get to know yourself, understand what works best for you. Which method or way is better for you?
23. Figure out your Pattern: Predict and work on your pattern. How you learn things more effectively.
24. Regular breaks: Just like other studies. Learning English can be stressful too. Take regular breaks and boost your will to continue.
25. Don’t hasten: Don’t move quickly to the next levels. Start from the beginning, give time to each section. From word spellings, synonyms, antonyms, and meaning to the grammar section.
26. Go for downloads: Download your favorite English TV shows, and watch them over and over again. It will help you better to catch information you might have missed in the first attempt.
27. Watching TV: You can simply stick with watching TV shows directly on air on TV. But it only allows you to hear and understand at the moment, you can’t repeat it. Therefore, this is for students of improved level in English.
28. Be a reader: If book reading is your taste, then read good English books, novels, magazine or the newspaper. 
29. Start with basic: If you’re having trouble reading high-level books, begin with the basic English books. They will have easier words.
30. Newspapers: Newspaper is a good source of information, but it can also help to improve English. Try and determine passive constructs.
31. Be smart: If there’s a new word, and you don’t know the meaning of it yet. Don’t be confused. Look at the context and other words and try to guess the meaning of the word.
32. Stick with General: Don’t worry about understanding every word in the sentence, look at general meaning first.
33. Dealing with new words: When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms as well as its meaning.
34. Continue learning: After learning new words and improving vocabulary, don’t stop there. Learn prefixes and suffixes as well.
35. Practice English: Don’t hesitate to test your English skill whenever you can.
36. Think in English: With continuous practice of English skills, try and think of statements and thoughts in English. Don’t go with thinking in your language and then translating it into English.
37. Root words: Learn root words. They help a lot in guessing the meaning of words.
38. Be Practical: Just like driving a car, you just can’t learn driving from reading books. You’ve to practice it by actually doing it.
39. Listen and talk: The basic method to engage yourself in improving grammar is simply through talking. 
40. Write blogs: Write a blog for the public, and let people read and understand. Get feedback to determine whether you conveyed your point accurately.
41. Improve your ways: Don’t get stuck in correcting grammar and spelling. If you’ve something in your mind just pour all the ideas and thoughts on paper. Then think of the structure and finally, in the end, write your piece using good grammar.
42. Punctuation: Punctuation is very important, keep a close eye on that. It can change what you’re trying to say.
43. Songs: Listening to English songs can improve your hearing skills, listen along with lyrics and understand the lyrics better.
44. Sing along: Improve your fluency and intonation, listen to English songs and sing along. 
45. Look for Alternatives: If you’re having trouble in face-to-face conversations, go with the text in chat rooms and community sites.
46. Copy the tone: To develop a good sense of English sentences, try and repeat few sentences you heard.
47. Surround yourself with English: Even when you aren’t in the mood to study, play the radio, or stuff in English. Although if you aren’t actively listening to it, you will still be training your ear to understand English.
48. Dictation: Just like childhood, listen to words through the computer, TV, or friends and try to write down what you heard.
49. Record your Voice: Almost most people try to avoid hearing their voice. Be experimental and record yourself. Point out your mistakes in pronunciation and rhythm.
50. Search for stuff: Use the internet to good effect, search English lectures and listen to them. Try reviewing their speed and intonation.
51. Use English/English dictionary: While looking for a word’s meaning, check it out in the English/English dictionary as it will help to keep you in understanding the word in English.
52. Improvise: Predict your level of progress and get help accordingly. 
53. Stay independent: You can get help from the dictionary or the internet, but it shouldn’t be your teacher. First, try yourself and guess the meaning of words rather than being dependent on the dictionary.
54. Stay positive: Being positive helps you a lot in boosting your confidence and will. Don’t give up.
55. Enjoy it: Enjoy learning, look for ways you find learning English more interesting; Movies or games.
56. Relax it’s just words: Take two deep breaths before you say something. You speak better when you’re relaxed.
57. Appreciation: Keep looking at the beginning, it will help you to determine how far you’ve come.
58. Age is just a number: You are never too late to start learning English. Don’t make yourself feel bad. Start it right away.
59. Avoid bad habits: If you’ve bad habits like laziness and procrastinating, cover them up. Don’t allow them to distract you.
60. Be patient: Don’t be disappointed if you haven’t gotten the results, you wanted yet. There may be different reasons behind it.
61. Match your Level: Stay at your level to use different resources. Don’t go with too difficult or too easy exercises.
62. The accent isn’t everything: Don’t worry about having a perfect accent. Keep your cultural identity.
63. Diversity: There are many types of English; British, American, and so on. English is English, none of these are wrong.
64. Expand your Knowledge: Even you’re good at one type of English still look for others, stay aware of the differences in American and British English.
65. Use cards: Writing words down can help a lot in the situation of need. Just like presentations, you can pinpoint the accurate words to remember the topic.
66. Label stuff: Labelling your household items can be a pretty good activity.
67. Sticky notes: Use sticky notes and stick them around your home after writing reminders on them to help yourself.
68. Intuition: Go with your common sense; first guess. Just be confident in guessing the meaning of the words.
69. Gather your thoughts: Before speaking, take a second or two and gather your thoughts. It’ll help you to go with the flow.
70. Meet new people: It happens quite often that we get confused in front of new people. Meet new people and have a conversation with them in English. Make efforts to stick around other English speakers.
71. Debate: Discussing and sharing your point of view helps a lot inactive speaking. When you’re discussing your thoughts with a group of people; a lot of people are going to judge your viewpoint. Debate sessions also help to improve communication skills.
72. Importance of grammar: Grammar has an important role in the understanding of English, only learning and getting the meaning of singular words isn’t enough. Therefore, keep practicing and improving grammar.
73. Verb tenses: Tenses are very important in processing the actual meaning of words and sentences, so continuous drill to improve is necessary.
74. Irregular verbs: English involves a lot of irregular verbs. Practicing and understanding these verbs helps in complex sentences.
75. Keep up the work: Don’t take a long break or pause while learning English, you will decrease your level. So, consistency is the key.
76. Don’t lose hope: There are bad days for everyone, don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes it happens with students that they have the ability and understanding to pass the English test, which still ends up with low scores. So, you’ve to believe yourself and try again.
77. Success story: After completely achieving your goal/target, tell others about your progress; the steps, and ways that helped you more.
78. Have a partner: Learning can be easy when you have a friend involved, it’ll help a lot when you’ve someone to practice with.
79. Pronunciation: Remember the basic stuff of English; the way you write English isn’t the same as how you pronounce it. 
80. High levels: After improving your level from the beginner spot to the upper one, keep in mind that it takes more to improve at high levels to learn English.
81. Don’t be over smart: Understand and decide which situation is appropriate to use the words and phrases you have learned, it’s alright to use slang with friends but you can’t do the same in a business meeting. So, don’t be over smart.
82. Difference: Understand the difference between English in textbooks and movies. The English in the textbook is usually more formal, so to learn casual English watch movies and TV shows.
83. Idioms: Learn idioms, they are fun to use.
84. Don’t get stuck: One of the things which can put you off while learning is plenty of half-finished books/activities waiting to be learned. Simply take care of it and don’t start another one, if you haven’t finished the previous one.
85. Exams: Exams are good to put a little pressure on yourself. So, signup for an English language exam. It’ll help in determining the progress level too.
86. Make use of the internet: The Internet is a very useful source to learn anything you want. So, while learning makes full use of it. Learn new articles on how to improve your English or how to be a good English speaker.
87. Estimate yourself: Give yourself time and think about your weak and strong points. Write down the weak points and work on them to improve those weak areas.
88. Work on mistakes: After English tests, analyze the results and work on the mistakes to improve them. Try and unlearn those mistakes.
89. Article: Using the correct article is considered as the basis of English grammar, start from there.
90. Take short naps: Sleeping is a healthy activity, after short naps you’ll feel a lot fresher and can learn English in a better way.
91. Be prepared: To get more fluent, practice more. Give yourself more time on what you’re going to say. Image the other person and predict his words and actions to help yourself.
92. English courses: Take an English course to improve your flaws and weaknesses.
93. Keep reviewing: When you are on an English Course, give your 100%. Review the classwork after classes, do your homework as soon as possible. Be prepared for the class.
94. Cultural experience: Try mixing with people from different regions and countries, it’ll help you to challenge yourself in understanding different accents and pronunciation techniques.
95. Sentences: Try to find example sentences after learning every new word.
96. Move abroad: Look for a job or internship abroad, it’ll help to improve your English level and communication skills according to different regions.
97. Qualified teacher: Don’t hesitate to take help from qualified teachers. They’re there to help us in getting better, so don’t miss the opportunity.
98. Target shortcuts: Nobody can learn all of the English levels, but don’t worry about that. Keep on trying, look for shortcuts that can certainly help you in improving/learning without wasting much time.
99. Stay Focused: When you’re on your right path and going in the right direction, don’t get distracted. Eventually, one day you’re going to be a good English speaker.
100. Place matters: Look for a comfortable and quiet place to study. You need to be somewhere where no one is coming to bother or distract you.

The post 100 Things You Can Do to Improve Your English appeared first on Linguix Blog.