There are lots of options for going into more detail using subpages – history of the organisation, staff profiles etc.

I joined my company recently as their first Content Manager. As it goes, I joined in the middle of a huge project to launch a brand new site. At this point, I was asked to ‘do’ the content for a site that had already been designed and structured, despite no-one really knowing exactly what the content was going to be or how it would fit.

It has quickly become apparent as I work that many of the sections aren’t relevant, confusing, or simply don’t fit the proposition. But it’s too late – the area of the site had been designed, commissioned and built – so I *have* to make the content fit.

To try and cut this rant short (as I could go on for hours), not having a content person on the project at the initial stages has, as far as I’m concerned, decreased the potential effectiveness of our new site by at least 50%. I only wish I could do something about it retrospectively.

The only thing I have done is tried hard to make my concerns known without simply saying ‘this is rubbish’. I think I’ve opened some eyes and hopefully, the next project we work on will be approached from all angles equally.

Thanks for wishing me well; I’ll probably be back for advice later.

Maz

Thanks very much for your kind comments and for letting me know about my typo (now corrected!).

It just goes to show that we’re all human and also highlights the benefits of having more than one pair of eyes to check content before it goes live (or indeed any copy for that matter).

Good luck in setting up as a freelance content writer — you obviously have an eye for detail, which is a great start!

Helen

I couldn’t help but notice that this line is missing the word ‘to’: ‘Within just an hour, it’s possible TO make a page more readable, accessible and search friendly.’

Take care!

Michael Gove suggested yesterday on Andrew Marr that some sort of change was likely, possibly the replacement of GCSEs with an ‘English Baccalaureate’.

I didn’t think I’d hear a Tory championing foreign languages, but there does seem to be the political appetite for an end to the current farce.

I agree with you; I think that they aren’t a popular choice because they’re difficult for many students to achieve good grades in. And I think that therein lies the problem…

There seems to be so much pressure on schools and students to achieve year-on-year improvements in exam passes and grades to meet government targets that children are being given easier options (by the same government’s education systems) to choose from.

No-one can possibly have missed the yearly blanket coverage of GCSE and A-Level results. It seems a shame that learning appears to be (for the state schools) becoming about getting the highest grades in whatever area, rather than okay grades in useful, challenging and ultimately rewarding subjects.

Perhaps the tables should change focus from numbers of passes overall to passes in specific subjects?

Some people might say ‘you can’t force children to study a subject they don’t like or struggle in’, but everyone has to do maths and science for a reason. Why not a language too?

That’s why soft options like media studies have proliferated.

Unfortunately, in our PC world, nobody is bold enough to say this simple truth.

It’s a downward spiral, of course, because you end up with not enough language teachers to teach those dwindling numbers who do want to learn one.

In schools near me, there are Australian supply teachers who teach French – even though they are not fluent in the subject.

I despair.