This past month flew by. Work has been busy, but the stress has returned to manageable levels. Thankfully, we're in one of the small dips in the roller coaster. These usually only last about a week or two, but it's great when they come around. I've had a chance to catch up without having to work on a Sunday!
New happenings are on the move, too! First of all, BNK now has its own domain - BraveNewKitchen.com! I've also finally started getting ideas for what I plan to be my life's work. I've always wanted to publish and the ideas are starting to flow in. Can't get too far into it, but the process has started percolating in me and it's so exciting.
I'm started to open the door into the world of marketing, too. Sure, I used to be a Marketing Coordinator, but it was for an engineering firm. Our marketing consisted of sending proposals to solicit work. It had more in common with the sales department at my current job than the marketing department. I'm learning about search engine optimization (SEO), analytics, marketing plans, social media marketing (which I've already done on a personal level), etc. There is so much to learn, but my work family is keen on helping me through it. I'm just so happy to be learning again. More on that later.
In one of our work discussions about SEO, we decided to check the SEO score of our new website. Leads had been dropping and we wanted to know why. I didn't even know you could do this, but we went to a marketing company's site and checked it for free. It evaluates number of links on your site, readability, search engine results and other details that help or hurt your site and someone's ability to find it. We found some things to fix, but when we came across our readability score, I zoomed in. I wrote all the copy on that site except for 1-2 paragraphs. Now, I have never considered my writing out-of-reach, but the site scored my readability at "advanced/doctoral level." I was shocked! Apparently, you need a Ph.D. to understand what I'm trying to say! There is just no way. I mean, I use exclamation points for goodness' sake.
On the one hand, this may be a good thing because our target market would likely have advanced degrees. On the other hand, text should be approachable when you're trying to generate leads. I started thinking about it and realized one thing; the site we went to for this free score is a marketing company trying to get business. They would want us to think our site is the least reachable site on the internet. Don't get me wrong, but the info has to be taken with a grain of salt.
After some research, it turns out there are scales for readability accessible in Microsoft Word as you type and, of course, all over the internet. (I'm always interested to learn new features in word because I actually have a pretty advanced understanding of the program.) According to the Flesch-Kincaid scale, a senior in high school can understand the same text that marketing site deemed appropriate for those with doctoral degrees.
Going back to my earlier point...
To be honest, I am less concerned with the score my copy got and more excited that I learned new things. In general, I've felt like my mind became almost stagnant after graduating college. I was a gifted child, but I felt like that didn't translate into adulthood. I was still smart. I just didn't feel exceptional anymore. I was starting to feel average, for lack of a better word. Look, I'm still no genius, but at least I feel like I'm growing again. The more I learn, the better I get at learning. I'm a sponge again, sucking up every drop of information I can get my hands on. My mind is active, ideas are flowing and I feel my potential. I'm getting better at disciplining myself, staying efficient and making time to write.
I got a jump-start. I have the drive. Now I get to see how far I go.
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