#its not that they made a bad style savvy title its just that they’ve completely shifted to a new type of game/experience

[poorlittlevampire]

fashion dreamer is developed by the same studio and was initially developed as a style savvy/girls mode sequel, its very fair to compare them T_T Like i get the desire to promote more fashion games but idk what defending a game with less than the same studio was giving over a decade ago is good for

no believe me i understand that! i grew up with the style savvy games and a new entry in the series is all i have wanted on switch since day one, but the way they marketed fashion dreamer it was just very clearly not meant to be style savvy. i think they really want the focus to be on the online aspect, interacting with other players and sharing clothes.

i agree that the game can feel empty (the choice for absolutely no story, not even smthn extremely simple in offline mode, is strange to me) but i think if it had come from a different studio people would be way less upset. they also seem to have quite a lot planned for their updates so who knows, maybe they’ll start adding in the things players are asking for eventually

[dippedanddripped]

In the first few moments of a YouTube video titled “Admitting I Own Fakes In-Front of My Fashion Class…”, Quentin Caruso, better known as Tripping, does just that. “I’m a sophomore in college and I’m taking a class about fashion, and in that class (we) were talking about fakes and replicas,” he explains, adding that he can “throw up some pictures so you guys know I’m not bullshitting”. Asked by his teacher if he knowingly owns any counterfeit pieces, the 19-year-old confirms the sneakers he’s wearing at that very moment – the highly coveted Travis Scott Jordan 1 Lows – are in fact fake. “And how do you feel about that,” she prompts. “I’m fine with it,” he wryly confirms.

Caruso is part of a growing community of fashion-savvy shoppers searching for ways to look runway ready on a high street budget – and, unlike many die-hard hypebeasts, they’re willing to own up to the fact their luxury garms aren’t exactly legitimate. In fact, many take pride in their ability to score a bargain, taking to subreddit FashionReps to discuss new releases, fawn over faux Yeezys, and ask each other for advice on where to pick up the best knock-off Off-White and Supreme styles.

The forum is a democratised, judgement-free zone in which people share a love of high quality replicas or ‘reps’, where members are friendly and even supportive. They help one another to find the best sellers and sites to buy from, while discussing discrepancies between retail items and their counterfeit counterparts – from stitching and logos, to details and finishes. Most users admit they can’t afford head-to-toe designer looks, and at times they even share budgeting tips. "I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces," redditor godsip2 shared in August. "Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself."  

While a lack of funds and a taste for luxury streetwear is a driving factor for many, for others it isn’t about the money at all. “Not to brag, but if I want a Dior coat, I can get it retail,” Dennis, 19, tells us. “For the same (amount of) money I can get four reps.” Dennis admitted his breaking point came after a shocking moment browsing resale markets where he saw his ‘grail shoes’ – a pair of Off-White Air Jordan 1s – show up for €3000. “I thought ‘Fuck this, I’m never gonna pay that for shoes that originally retailed for €150.”

It’s been almost three years since he came across the FashionReps subreddit, which he was initially skeptical of. However, since joining he hasn’t just sworn off resale products and full-price retail items, but also introduced his friends to reps. “A €500 sweater wasn’t in their price range,” says Dennis. “When I showed them my reps (compared to) my retail Yeezys, they were instantly sold.”

Historically, counterfeit designer items conjure thoughts of poorly imitated handbags on AliExpress, labels that read, ‘Fashing BALISG’ instead of Balenciaga, and stalls in alleyways, but FashionReps members know where the quality replicas are sold and claim that many knock-offs actually tend to be better made.  “The quality is the same, even better,” Netherlands-based 23-year-old Camiel admits. “I’ve heard of some Yeezys being better and a lot of high-end Louis Vuitton reps being way better than retail.” He believes that “retail Louis Vuitton quality is not so great…”

FashionReps members buy in bulk, spending hundreds of dollars on ‘hauls’ that they break up into smaller packages in hopes of evading customs checks. The risk is part of the thrill, and while some are unlucky and have their packages seized, others rejoice when packages filled with thousands of dollars of ‘drip’ arrive in the mail.

Camiel cites his favourite find to be a Palace red slub-neck, “which you can't tell apart from a real one – which I have one of,” he adds. “The quality is amazing and it's super comfortable to wear, it's my favourite (item) I have gotten so far.” But Camiel hasn’t always gotten away with his thrifty finds.

“In the beginning, I wouldn't wear an item if it had the tiniest flaw. Later on, I noticed that people know (very) little about brands and which items even exist,” he explains. While most people who recognise a rep are likely to ask for the seller or pass on a compliment, Camiel concedes he’s been called out before. “Some high schoolers were at the gym and I was wearing my Nike tech fleece joggers, which have some noticeable flaws, like the black stripe being too short and the cords being too short as well. They called me out on the logo, which I know is perfect. Bunch of clowns.”

For all the people excited about reps, their quality, and believability, there are just as many people out there looking to spot a fake. YeezyBusta, who recently gained prominence for spotting fakes on civilians and celebrities has over 760,000 followers on Instagram. He’s busted the likes of Lil Tjay, Blac Chyna, and Soulja Boy for donning fake Supreme and Yeezys, although his faux-detector has been known to malfunction.

"I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces. Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself" – godsip2, FashionReps member

In an episode of Complex’s Full Size Run, hosts tasked the Instagram detective with discerning the difference between fake pairs of shoes from the real thing. After being handed a pair of bone-white Yeezy 500s, YeezyBusta exclaims, “Oh these are real!” Closely inspecting the shoe, he notices “The suede is right…even down to the stitching, the label inside the shoe looks right to me and the insole is right too.” The host, who finds it hard to hide his amusement, blurts out “They’re fake.” Behind his signature black surgical mask, used to hide his identity, YeezyBusta turns bright red.

“I can’t take him seriously,” Tripping admits. In a reaction video to a VICE documentary on YeezyBusta, the fashion student protests his motivation for hunting down counterfeit items so publicly. “It isn’t funny. Does anyone find that funny? To ridicule people online? That isn’t something you should be gloating about.”

Some counterfeit items are so believable that they’ve also slipped past trusted authenticators. The RealReal, one of the world's leading luxury consignment stores, claims that "every item we sell is 100% authenticated by an expert.” However, just last year, Forbes contributor, Richard Kentenbaum claimed the retail giant had sold him a fake Toile de Jouy Dior Book Tote bag for $3,600. What followed was a swift investigation by CNBC, who, after speaking with a dozen former employees and unsatisfied customers, and obtaining internal company documents, revealed that “many of the items on the site were being authenticated by copywriters with limited training.” and those who are doing this work are finding it increasingly difficult to spot counterfeits. Out of 1,400 reviews online for The RealReal, the top complaints are fake items.

It may come as a surprise to learn that this is something FashionReps also stands firmly against. In December, the group came together after Depopuser James’s Closet was spotted selling counterfeit items. Within a day, the subreddit had made efforts to liaise with Depop directly and reported the fake pieces resulting in all the listings being taken down. And this isn’t the only time the forum has rallied against people selling fake items moonlighting as cheap authentic ‘steals’. “People who willingly sell replicas as authentic items are the worst,” Tripping insists. “Knowing that a replica looks so close to retail and not selling it for a lot of profit is challenging for some people.”

Conversely, enjoying replicas as they are comes with its own baggage. Reports indicate that counterfeit fashion is a trillion-dollar industry. "One of the worst stories I read was where they had raided an illegal factory and the children were actually handcuffed to the sewing machines," Ariele Elia, an assistant curator at the Museum at FIT explained in a Complex documentary about the flourishing bootleg industry.

Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit global movement campaigning for the systemic reform of the fashion industry, notes that there’s an “urgent lack of transparency.” Policy Director at Fashion Revolution, Sarah Ditty, told us that counterfeiting doesn’t usually come hand in hand with good rights and wages for workers. “Factories making counterfeit items are doing so illegally so it’s in their interest to operate completely under the radar and in doing so means we have no idea who the workers are making these products, what they are being paid, what conditions they’re working in, and what sort of poor environmental practices are most likely happening in these factories.”

To them, the moral standpoint is clear: “We would definitely encourage people not to buy fake luxury goods or any other counterfeit items because you’re almost guaranteed to be contributing to human exploitation and environmental degradation.” This is an issue that goes beyond fakes: when you look beyond the manufacturing level at the places where fabrics are made, yarns are spun and fibres are grown, even legitimate brands are guilty of obscuring working conditions.

But Tripping insists it's a media smoke-screen. “adidas and Nike were called out for their treatment of workers in the 90s and early 2000s, so now every factory in Asia is associated with bad conditions and child labour.” Tripping also claims that sellers are in fact increasingly transparent about working conditions, their treatment of employees and factories. “They show what their shop looks like, I’ve even asked sellers to show their shops,” he remarked in one of his videos. “And they’ve posted videos on the (subreddit).” One video posted shows a “top quality Yeezy” factory filled with workers. “Actually looks very clean and cool compared to all of the bad warehouse jobs I used to do here in the US,” Redditor highnnmighty comments.

“That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on” – Dennis, on whether or not he will stop buying fakes

Central to what makes FashionReps a great community isn’t the collective middle-finger to resale culture and hypebeasts or the internet-savvy tips, but the irreverent charm and supportive nature of young people who ultimately just want to look cool, and don’t want money to be the reason that they miss out. It’s rare, if not impossible, to find fashion spaces that aren’t hierarchical, based on wealth, social standing, and nepotism, but FashionReps manages to do all of that, and more. Camiel tells me that recently, the subreddit even banded together to target sellers who began taking higher cuts from sales. “I love how we sometimes work together to get something we want.”

Confronted with the fact that buying reps are taking sales away from workers, brands, and designers, Tripping is unfazed. “Once a limited shoe is released, and sold out in seconds, the company has made its profit. The average cost of manufacturing an Air Jordan 1 is $15-$16. The mark up of that shoe is more than 100 per cent. Nike has no problem with this. If you are wearing a replica of that overpriced shoe (on the resell market), you are basically advertising the brand. The culture side of sneakers is bland and fraudulent, replicas are there to stir things up.”

When asked if he’d ever give up replicas and return to buying retail, Dennis scoffed before saying: “That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on.”

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Tongues of Fire- Empire Week Parade Scene

I assure all of you that I am working most diligently on the Magnificent Scoundrels stories.  Currently, I have two just about finished.  However, I feel bad about not posting anything for a while, so I will give you this.  It is the intro scene of Thomas Drake’s galaxy.  I hope you like it.  If you have any requests for stories, please feel free to ask.  

“One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.” -Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Vorketh, Capital of the Empire of Prosium

It was Empire Week.  A celebration of all the achievements of the Empire of Prosium; technology, art, architecture, culture, and, definitely the most important to any proud Imperial citizen: military.  It was day one of the celebration, and today, on the broad streets of Vorketh Prime, the capital city of the capital world, the Empire of Prosium gave a military parade for all to see.  People and aliens from throughout the galaxy came to see the main parade of Empire Week.  Quite simply, there was nothing else like it in the known universe.  The entire Imperial Ninth Army would march through the streets, in a massive display of strength that no one else in the galaxy could even hope to match.  Fighters and gunship transports would buzz overhead in perfect formation, while massive ships of the line, this year led by the dreadnought Executioner, could be seen in low orbit above the planet.  The Emperor himself would be present at the ceremonies, as would every single monarch of the various solar systems of the Empire, including King Alderic of the Zerith System.  

Alderic looked across the raised platform along the parade grounds to where the parade would start, the Citadel of Vorkerth.  The sky was a grey color, lit well enough that people could easily see, and quite common on Vorketh, unlike the rich blue sky of Earth, the original homeworld of the human race.  The white stone architecture of the capital streets stood out against the jet black of the world’s massive planetary defense cannons.  He looked around.  There were a great many Federation humans here, enough to outnumber even the other various species the Empire controlled.  Odd, but it mattered little.  There were always a lot of them here.  He sighed to himself.  The Federation.  So argumentative.  So much...lack or purpose.  Everyone within the Empire of Prosium knew what they wanted to become, and if they didn;t, they served in the military.  Although, he himself never wanted to be King of the Zerith System, oddly enough.  But sometimes, circumstances were out of the control of individuals.  

He was generally thought as a handsome man, and many thought he looked like a more rugged version of the Emperor.  He was wearing his full kingly regalia, complete with cloak, crown, and sword.  His various medals hung on his chest, pinned on what the Empire called a tunshi, or a cross between a tunic and a shirt.  Black pants with a gold stripe running vertically down the leg covered his legs, and black dress boots that ran up to the knee protected his calves.  Next to him stood two of his closest friends.  Queen Naatz wore almost the exact same thing as he did, the only difference being she had several different medals than he did, and the crown from the system she ruled had slight variations in the design.  King Wachek had the same base design, but, fitting his personality, it was much more flamboyant.  Everything was styled and hugged his slim form perfectly, and a shorter crown than Alderic or Naatz covered his slicked back blond hair.  At his side was a thin rapier, unlike the heavy medieval-style Imperial Guard swords carried by Alderic or Naatz.  Each of the three monarchs ruled a somewhat mediocre system, not extremely important to the Empire, but not some backwater hovel, either.  This was what originally had brought the three together.  They were no one extremely important within the Council of Monarchs, but they still held some sway.  They were all savvy enough to realize that by banding together, they could get a lot more done than they ever could separate.  That political alliance had, eventually, turned into a fast friendship.  

Wacheck walked over to where Alderic and Naatz stood, carrying a glass of champagne.  He brandished it like it was some long lost priceless work of art.

“Look at this!  French champagne from Earth.  One of the Federation ambassadors brought an entire cargo crate of it for the festivities.  I must say, I think I like it better than any of the stuff we make.”  He took a sip.  “Of course, they’ve had more practice making it.”  He turned a wry smile towards a group of Federation ambassadors, who were talking with the group of high officials clustered around the Emperor.  The entire pavilion was packed with officials from every major government and race in the galaxy, including every human one.  The Federation ambassadors were being, as per their nature, extremely sauve, lavishing compliments upon all of the high Imperial officials.   The Guild officials were, as per their nature, trying to smooth talk several Imperial generals into buying Guild products and weaponry.  And, of course, the Union ambassadors were glowering in the corner.  Several Imperial officials were smirking in their direction.  Typical Union of Equality.  All bark, no bite.  In contrast, the Empire was all bite, no bark.  

What appeared to be a Dracus general approached Alderic’s group.  The Dracus were a warrior race, and had what most humans thought to be the body and legs of a kangaroo sitting on its haunches with the head of a lizard.  They were bipedal, and while they weren’t close allies with the Empire, they respected the Prosium for their martial traditions.  This one was wearing red ceremonial armor, which made it of very high rank.  Alderic couldn’t tell the difference between the male and female of the species, so generally he just asked Dracus their names and used that.  

“Magnificent parade,” he said, in the growly, guttural voice of the Dracus.  Alderic turned to him, or, at least, he thought it was a him, and smiled, careful not to show his teeth.

“Why, that you, General…”

“Itchernicer, King..”

“Alderic.  King Alderic.”  Itchernicer bowed and gave the traditional Dracus hand gesture greeting, moving his fingers to his lips, then his forehead.  He looked like he was about to say something else, but then the loudspeaker cut in.

“Ladies, gentlemen, species from all over the galaxy, the parade is about to begin.  If you or your species has sensitive hearing, you should wear protection.  Enjoy the parade!” With a flourish, the Emperor, flanked by four members of the Imperial Guard, entered the balcony.  The Emperor waved to the crowd, who let out a massive, roaring cheer.  Commander Robert Rorrenbrand, leader of the Guard, was several steps behind the Emperor with two more Imperial Guardsmen.  He was average height, with a rounded, scarred face and short cut black hair.  He was also, Alderic knew, despite his unimpressive looks, quite simply the best soldier in the galaxy.  Some might think these security measures harsh, unreasonable, but those people were not from the Empire of Prosium.  As any loyal citizen will tell you, the Empire never messes around when security is concerned.   

Itchernicer, Alderic, Naatz, and Watchek turned towards the Citadel.  The massive monument, built of white marble, towered over the wide streets.  White marble steps cascaded from the front of the building, lit by the fires of massive braziers.  Massive statues of Imperial Heros, some twenty feet high, towered above the streets.  Every culture had heroes.  Some thought that heroes were people who came up with new technologies, or those who were pious and strove to help others.  Not Prosium.  While all of those were traits and qualities to be admired, the people of Prosium believed that the only way to tell a true hero from all the rest was to forge them on the battlefield.  Only where shot and shell screamed, where man and alien alike died choking on their own blood and crying in agony, could a true hero come forth.  True heroes were those who fought and often died for the Empire.  True heros were not some scheming politician or sniveling scientist who strove to convince everyone that they and they alone were right; true heroes were the ordinary men, women, and aliens who performed insane feats of bravery in places that shred normal people’s sanity.  True heroes were like Private Stebban Wyric, who fought to the last bullet of his handgun to give the battered remnants of his regiment time to fall back from an overwhelming counterattack.  True heroes were the members of the Imperial 414th Army Regiment who fought to the last man and the last round to protect their standard.  True heroes were like Governor Isin Habbic, who volunteered to ram a cargo ship into a terrorist vessel holding a thermonuclear bomb to save his people and planet.  True heros were like Mary Strolheim, who called in an orbital bombardment on her position to repel an overwhelming enemy force and eventually win the War of Kraken’s Nest.  True heros were the selfless who laid down their lives for their people, and they all had one thing in common.  The exceptionally brave were awarded the medal and title Hero of the Empire, and, if they still lived after their feat, everyone, from the lowest factory worker to the Emperor or Empress themselves would salute them.  And, every single Hero of the Empire had their name, image, and deed emblazoned into the stone walls of the Citadel’s Hall of Heroes, an entire section within the Citadel of Vorketh that was dedicated to the preservation of their legacy and guarded day and night by the elite soldiers of the the Emperor’s personal bodyguard.  Just as the children of the Federation knew the names of human history’s greatest scientists and leaders, and the children of the United Guild of Merchants knew the names of all the great company leaders, and the children of the Union of Equality knew the names of all of Communism’s great heroes and leaders, so too did the children of the Empire of Prosium know the names of most of the Heroes of the Empire.   And it was from the glorious Citadel that housed the Hall of Heroes that the parade began.  

Legions of black uniformed warriors, the dauntless men and women of the Imperial Army’s 9th Army, 56th Regiment, weapons held at the ready, marched in perfect lock-step down the steps of the Citadel.  Massive crimson flags, adorned with the black eagle of Prosium, snaked their way down the buildings bordering the parade ground.  Alderic took in a deep breath of Vorketh’s sweet air.  He was glad to be a part of the Empire.  The sweetness of the air was suddenly snached away, to be replaced by the ozone smell of plasma jets, as a squadron of Naval fighters screamed overhead at a quite frankly alarmingly low altitude.  The crowd cared not, though.  They cheered all the louder at the jets’ arrival.  

The soldiers reached the base of the Citadel, and started to march through the streets themselves.  Loudspeakers placed upon the parade route struck up a military march as the infantry was joined by ranks of vehicles.  Black and grey tanks, armoured carries, and mobile missile launchers drove expertly through the throngs of soldiers, their hatches opened and each commander giving their salute to the Emperor’s box.  Alderic looked around, taking in the entire parade, looking through the clear grey sky at the forms of massive capital ships hoving in low atmosphere.  It was, indeed, a fine day to be a citizen of the Empire of Prosium. 

[sempiternalsandpitturtle]

10 top tips to get the most out of your website content writer

Being a website content writer isn’t easy.

The web page you’re looking at right now is just one of the 15.5 billion built on WordPress. The world’s most popular website platform hosts around a third of the internet, according to its own statistics.

On WordPress sites alone, there are more than 40 million new posts published every month.

That’s almost 1,000 pieces of content every minute.

via GIPHY

Whichever industry you’re in, competition for attention has never been so intense.

That means the bar for the content you publish has never been higher. 

So, how do you make sure your website content writer is up to the job?

In this post, we share 10 insightful and actionable tips for getting the most out of your website content writer. Whether that’s an employee, a freelancer or an agency writer.

We’ve organised our tips around some popular questions on this subject. Enjoy.

What does a website content writer do?

Your website content writer should be able to do more than just new landing page copy. Even if you have a limited content marketing budget, you will want the ability to experiment with different types of content.

A good website content writer will be able to adjust their style and tackle at least some of the following popular writing assignments:

Blogs

Case Studies

Interviews

Search Landing Pages 

Conversion Landing Pages

Ebooks and Whitepapers

Video Scripts

Text Outlines for Infographics

User Personas

Webinar Decks

For some brands, you might be reliant on just one content writer. Or at least a small team.

via GIPHY

That often means the same people need to tackle content beyond your website. This will likely include:

Short blurbs to introduce content on social media

Long-form social media posts

Copy for email newsletters, sales emails and drip email campaigns

Pitch decks, sales scripts and other marketing collateral 

Finding one person who can do all of this can be tricky. 

What you’re looking for is someone who can not only knock out a tight piece of copy. But someone who really understands what it is that makes a piece of copy work.

A content writer who can adjust their style completely from one assignment to the next. And who has the right attitude to take on new challenges.

It can often be easier to give different pieces of content to different writers. That’s only an option internally if you have a big writing team. It’s one of the reasons that 59 per cent of Aussie brands outsource at least part of the content marketing.

What skills does a website content writer need?

Aside from the flexibility to take on different writing assignments, here are the core skills you should look for in a website content writer: 

SEO

Most online journeys start with a Google search. So, SEO is a must-have for anyone working on your website content. 

The evolution of search has meant that ranking for useful keywords now requires genuinely relevant and useful content. 

That means an SEO-savvy content writer is not only more likely to produce content that people will get to see. It also means their content will provide the depth and quality your audience demands.

Based on our experience, the two most important aspects of writing for search are metadata and SERP Analysis.

Metadata: what you’re looking for here is a good understanding of how metadata helps Google crawl and index content.

And then good discipline in the application of best practice. Proper use of H1 and H2 tags, title tags, meta descriptions and image alt tags can make a big difference, especially when applied across your whole site or entire blog archive.

SERP Analysis: your website content writer should be able to analyse search results. 

Before they write anything, they should have a target keyword and they should be looking at the pages currently ranking for that target keyword.

They need the knowledge and experience to be able to decide if and how to compete with and outperform those pages.

And, once they’ve made a decision, they need the writing skill and subject matter expertise to execute on it.

via GIPHY

CRO

This is becoming an acronym-fest.

CRO (conversion rate optimisation) is about increasing the likelihood that a user will take the action or actions you want.

It’s really important that your website content writer is not disconnected from your conversion goals.

Ultimately, users completing forms, subscribing to newsletters or following you on social is why you hired your website content writer in the first place.

So, it’s super important to loop them in on what their content needs to achieve.

Every piece of content should support a conversion goal. That’s a tangible, measurable action by a user not just more traffic or more indexed pages.

Garbage in, garbage out

Proper, fair use of source material is criminally under-valued on the internet.

We have always demanded high standards of sourcing from our website content writers. And you should do the same.

It’s not only ethically right and good professional practice. It’s also likely to become an increasingly important ranking factor.

Think about it. Whatever topic you come up with for your blog, chances are it’s been covered multiple times already.

Google is trying to sift through all that content and serve up the result that offers the most value to users.

As its algorithms get increasingly smart, proper referencing of authoritative, primary sources will be a very good indicator of how reliable a piece of content is likely to be.

One particular bugbear of ours, which is a good test for potential website content writers, works like this:

Give them a broad topic relevant to your industry

Ask them to find 10 stats and link to their sources

If you get links to a bunch of blog articles that have all been cobbled together from second-hand stats from a quick Google search, don’t hire them.

But if they’ve tracked their stats back to where they started, linking to the original sources – and those sources are relevant and authoritative – you’ve got a keeper.

How do you tell if your website content writer is doing a good job?

Once you’ve hired a website content writer you’ll want to set them some KPIs to make sure you’re getting a return on your investment. Here are some ideas:

Feedback from sales

Chances are, your sales team speaks to more people than anyone else in your business.

If your website content writer is doing a good (or bad) job, they’ll probably hear about it.

Our writing teams love hearing positive feedback from sales. When a prospect has said they really enjoyed a piece of content we created it gives everyone a boost.

You should formalise this feedback and make it part of your website content writer’s review process.

Conversions

Earlier in this post we talked about the importance of getting your website content writer to understand and support your conversion goals.

If you’ve done that then you should be able to make achieving those conversions part of their KPIs.

You should set up conversion goals for different stages of your sales funnel. At the top of the funnel, you want softer, low commitment conversions, such as a social media follow, a newsletter subscription or an ebook download.

Then at the bottom of the funnel, more sales-oriented, higher commitment actions, such as a case study download or a call back request. 

Your website content writer can help you achieve all of these conversion goals. Where possible, they should have direct access to the data so they can take ownership of what they need to achieve.

Engagement

Content marketing campaigns should always be built around conversion goals. Tangible, measurable user actions are essential for achieving ROI.

But you also want to track leading indicators. This is where you can start to see evidence that your work is going to pay off even if your sales team is yet to buried in hot leads.

For your website content writer that might include:

Rankings for target keywords

Organic traffic to new or updated pages

Pages per session

Dwell time

Social media shares

Email open rates and click rates

Whitepaper or ebook downloads

How can a website content writer learn about your brand?

Your website content writer needs to understand your brand.

That can be a challenge, whether you’re dealing with an in-house writer, a freelancer or an agency writer.

So how do you get your writer up to speed on your brand?

Brand guidelines

This is an obvious one. But it’s also the best place to start.

Reading your brand guidelines will help your website content writer get a feel for your business, your key messaging and how you want to present yourself to the world.

If your brand guidelines are quite limited, it’s a good idea to expand them to include the tone and style you want to see in your writing.

Ideally what you want is a creative brief, which any writer can use to work out how to write for your brand. This should cover the topics you want to write about and where you stand on recurring stories and issues in your space.

Speak to sales

If your website content writer is in-house, have them listen in on sales calls or go out with your sales team to meet prospects.

Brand guidelines and creative briefs are super helpful. But nothing beats hearing first hand the questions prospects ask, the objections they raise and the language they use.

Spending time with sales will help your website content writer come up with new ideas for blogs, landing pages and other assets that your audience is demanding.

It will also help them build a strong relationship with the people sales. This can be a really useful way to keep your content closely aligned with your commercial goals.

Interview product specialists

Your website content writer should understand your brand. They should also know the products and services you sell and the processes you use to deliver them to clients.

But they will never know as much as the product managers. Especially if the nature of your business is highly technical. 

If you employ a team of engineers or a lab full of scientists, your website content writer is not going to get near their level of expertise.

But you can combine these different skill sets you have at your disposal.

Your writer brings the ability to communicate in an engaging and digestible way with your target audience. And your product specialists and in-house experts bring the deep, technical knowledge that can help earn trust and build authority in your content.

Interviews can be used to provide background and detail for pieces of content. Or they can be presented in a Q&A style, which is also a good way to humanise your brand and raise the profile of your most knowledgeable people.

Our 10 tips in summary

Thank you for reading. Here are our 10 tips for getting the most out of your website content writer in summary:

Tip #1: Your website content writer should be able to adjust their writing style for different types of content.

Tip #2: As well as blogs, landing pages and downloadable assets, this should include content for social media and collateral for your sales team.

Tip #3: SEO is an essential skill for any website content writer. They should understand best practice for using metadata and be able to analyse search results.

Tip #4: Your website content writer should understand your commercial goals. Their KPIs should include driving useful, measurable actions on your site.

Tip #5: Don’t accept sloppy use of source material. Properly researched and referenced articles will become increasingly useful in search and will get a better response from your users.

Tip #6: Canvass your sales team for feedback on what your website content writer is doing. Your sales team has more direct contact with your target audience than anyone else.

Tip #7: As well as more conversions, use softer KPIs and leading indicators to understand if your content is working.

Tip #8: Expand your brand guidelines to include tone, style and topics for your website content writer to follow.

Tip #9: Send your website content writer out with the sales team to give them direct exposure to the market they’re writing for.

Tip #10: Make interviews part of your content strategy. They will help your website content writer learn about your brand and boost the profile of your best people.

from http://bit.ly/2LnmPx0

[contentsharing0]

The top 20 female superheroes of all time

Superhero comics are hardly sexism-free these days, but there’s no denying this is a great time for female superheroes. Wonder Woman made a huge comeback this summer, Kamala Khan is one of the most popular new superheroes of the decade, and everyone seems to be obsessed with Harley Quinn—despite the Suicide Movie movie being kind of a mess.

To help you get acquainted with some of the best female superheroes, we’ve put together a list of our favorites. They run the gamut from weird vintage characters (Ma Hunkel) to modern fan-faves (America Chavez), and several of them have their own screen adaptations in the works.

The best female superheroes of all time

20. She-Hulk

Why isn’t there an Ally McBeal-style legal dramedy about She-Hulk? Seriously, she’d be perfect for it. She-Hulk is an irresistibly fun character with a unique role in Marvel comics: lawyer to the superhero community. She shares her cousin Bruce Banner’s Hulk powers, but unlike him, she retains her original personality after hulking out. Her power manifests as super strength, green skin, and a confident personality, and her legal career fills an interesting niche in a universe where many heroes “solve” their problems with physical fights.

Photo via Marvel Wiki

19. Zatanna

Tuxedo-wearing magician Zatanna has the capacity to be funny, weird, and deeply charming, and while she mostly exists as a team player, she definitely deserves more solo comics. She’s a stage magician with actual magical powers and acts as an entertaining foil for the seriousness of Batman.

Photo via DC Comics

Zatanna in her signature tuxedo

18. Supergirl

Supergirl‘s role overlaps a lot with Superman, and that’s just fine. She represents a kind of cheerful, optimistic heroism that’s kind of rare in modern superhero media, and her ongoing TV show celebrates that legacy. It’s arguably a better adaptation of the Superman mythos than the Justice League movie franchise, benefiting from a healthy dose of family-friendly feminist themes. As for her role in the comics, Supergirl’s vintage back-catalog includes some delightfully wacky storylines, like that one comic where her horse turns into a dude and they fall in love.

Photo via CBS

17. Ma Hunkel

Golden Age Z-lister Ma Hunkel is an early superhero parody, and she’s completely awesome. She’s a sturdy middle-aged mom who dons thermal underwear and a helmet made out of a cooking pot, adopting the name “Red Tornado” to fight petty criminals in her neighborhood.

Photo via Sheldon Mayer/DC Comics

Ma Hunkel in ‘The Red Tornado and the Cycone Kids.’

16. Elektra

This deadly assassin exists on a knife’s edge between hero and villain, not exactly evil but hardly an altruistic role model either. Armed with her trademark sai—a pair of triple-pronged daggers—she often appears alongside Daredevil, with whom she shares a tumultuous love story. She’s one of the few female superheroes to get her own solo movie, although we prefer her depiction in Marvel’s Netflix franchise, both due to Elodie Yung’s sensitive yet menacing performance and her thoughtfully redesigned costume.

Photo via Netflix

15. Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Negasonic Teenage Warhead is on this list because her name is NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD, a truly world-class superhero name. She’s goth as hell, and she’s in the Deadpool movie; that’s all you need to know.

Photo via Fox Movies

READ MORE:

10 deadly facts about Domino, the ‘Deadpool 2’ mercenary

10 things you need to know about Cable, Deadpool’s time-traveling partner

Everything we know about ‘Deadpool 2’

14. Kate Kane (Batwoman)

Batwoman has a rather ironic origin story, given her later role in the comics. She first appeared as Batman’s love-interest in the 1950s, shortly after the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, a book that accused Batman of homosexual propaganda. In recent years she was rewritten to be gay herself, a controversial decision that led to some problems of its own. While her comic’s creators wanted her to marry her girlfriend, DC Comics nixed the decision by saying heroes “shouldn’t have happy personal lives,” a dubious statement that sounds pretty ridiculous in the context of, say, Superman. Despite all this, she’s undoubtedly the most high-profile lesbian superhero around, with a key role in the Bat-family.

13. Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl is officially the most powerful character in the Marvel universe, and unofficially one of the most fun. Born with squirrel-related powers, Doreen Green has a giant, bushy tail and can communicate with squirrels. Her recent solo comics are a cult favorite due to their genre-savvy humor, and she’s about to star in a an ensemble TV sitcom called New Warriors.

Photo via Marvel

12. Fantomah

This one’s a deep cut from the very early days of superhero comics, but we’d love to see some kind of modern reboot. Fantomah is a jungle ghost superhero whose face turns into a skull when she uses her super-strength. What’s not to love?

Photo via Jungle Comics #15/Wikimedia (Public Domain)

Fantomah, a super-strong jungle ghost

11. Ayo and Aneka

These fearsome freedom-fighters met and fell in love as members of the Dora Milaje, the all-female squad of highly trained warriors who guard the king of Wakanda. They act as antagonists in the current Black Panther series, but they’re definitely not the bad guys. It’s a complex story that positions them as vigilante heroes, protecting civilians during a time of political upheaval. And while they aren’t technically acknowledged as superheroes, they definitely qualify due to their heroic role, distinctive costumes, and nickname: the Midnight Angels. It’s just too bad their solo series, World of Wakanda, was canceled in 2017.

Photo via Black Panther #1/Marvel

Ayo and Aneka from the Black Panther comics.

10. America Chavez (Miss America)

America Chavez had a slightly awkward start in a limited series called Vengeance, portrayed in a ludicrously skimpy costume. Her real breakthrough happened in the cult favorite 2013 Young Avengers comics, where she got a cosplay-friendly makeover from artist Jamie McKelvie. She has a bunch of superpowers: strength, flight, interdimensional travel, and the power to punch something and make it dissolve into stars. This made her one of the heavy-hitters of the Young Avengers team, and this year she finally got a long-awaited solo series.

Photo via America #1/Marvel

9. Black Widow

Natasha Romanov (or Romanoff, or Romanova, depending on the comics writer’s familiarity with Russian naming mechanisms) is an enigma, a black-clad Soviet spy whose Cold War storylines sometimes overlap with the Winter Soldier. Her roles range from femme fatale to pragmatic S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, operating with opaque motives and using psychological manipulation to handle her enemies. Unlike most comic book heroes, who remain within the same static age range for decades, Black Widow has a canonical explanation for her eternally youthful appearance. In some versions of her story, she benefits from bioengineering that slowed the aging process—meaning she could actually be in her 60s or 70s. This doesn’t seem to be the case in the MCU, but who knows? They haven’t made a Black Widow movie yet, so her backstory is kind of a mystery.

Photo via Marvel Entertainment/YouTube

READ MORE:

The best order to watch the X-Men movies

What you need to know about 2018 ‘X-Men’ horror spinoff ‘New Mutants’

What to expect when the X-Men return in ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’

8. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle)

Looking at the DC contributions to this list, the Bat-family’s impact is impossible to ignore. Barbara Gordon is one of the most influential examples, as the daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon and protégé to Bruce Wayne. She was the original Batgirl, changing her callsign to Oracle after the Joker infamously broke her spine in The Killing Joke. It’s a dark and controversial moment in Batman canon, but it led to a unique recovery arc for Barbara, as she forged a new role for herself as the information center of Batman’s team. Since she’s one of the only well-known superheroes to use a wheelchair, fans weren’t pleased when DC rebooted her to her pre-Killing Joke state as Batgirl in 2011.

Photo via DC Comics

Barbara Gordon, who has been both Batgirl and Oracle

7. Jean Grey

Jean Grey arrived on the original X-Men team in 1963, and since then she’s gone through a rollercoaster of plot twists and transformations. Introduced as a teenager with telepathic and telekinetic powers, she’s one of the most powerful mutants in Marvel canon, and she plays a central role in decades of iconic X-Men storylines. Along with ongoing friendships with Storm and Charles Xavier, and romances with Cyclops and (kind of) Wolverine, she starred in one of the most influential X-Men storylines: the Dark Phoenix Saga, which is being adapted into a movie starring Sophie Turner.

Screengrab via 20thCenturyFox/YouTube

Sophie Turner as Jean Grey

6. Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel)

Kamala Khan is one of the biggest breakout superheroes of the 21st century, following in the footsteps of teen heroes like Kitty Pryde and Peter Parker. She’s a lovable, dorky kid who just wants to do the right thing, but finds it hard to juggle her newfound shapeshifting powers with her obligations to friends, family, and school. Her comics blend classic superhero themes with a contemporary tone, and they’ve been widely praised for bringing a Muslim hero into the mainstream.

Photo via Ms. Marvel/Marvel

Kamala Khan, the teen superhero Ms. Marvel

5. Captain Marvel

Carol Danvers used to be known as Miss Marvel, holding the title before Kamala Khan took over. While Danvers played a background role in Marvel team comics since the 1970s, her popularity exploded when writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Dexter Roy rebooted her as Captain Marvel in 2012. Her sporty jumpsuit is now a cosplay staple, and her fans are known as the Carol Corps. Her actual powers are pretty conservative—super-strength, flight, and energy projection—but her real strength lies in the quality of her solo comics. Captain Marvel arrived at a time when fans were crying out for a simple, high-quality superhero book about an admirable female hero, and DeConnick and her collaborators delivered. Danvers is now on Marvel’s A-list, featuring heavily in recent crossover events (for better or worse), and soon to appear in a movie franchise starring Brie Larson.

Photo via Marvel

READ MORE:

The complete Marvel Studios movie calendar

The best order to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Why Black Panther is already one of Marvel’s most exciting new movies

4. Harley Quinn

Devised as a side-character in Batman: The Animated Series, no one could have predicted that Harley Quinn would become one of DC’s most recognizable characters. As a quirky sidekick and lover to the Joker, she’s a controversial character whose role means different things to different people. To some she’s just a sexy pin-up; to others she’s a sensitive portrayal of mental illness and survival in an abusive relationship. Her star power is such that when Suicide Squad came out last year, she became the main selling point of an otherwise disappointing movie. She’s basically DC’s Deadpool: a queer and unpredictable antihero with a weird sense of humor and a dark past.

Screengrab via Warner Bros. Pictures / Youtube

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

3. Storm

Ororo Munroe is a queen, a weather goddess, and a mutant leader. She’s also unequivocally cool, from her punk look in the ’80s to her badass lightning powers. While Storm doesn’t have as many solo comics as she should (and wasn’t treated very well by the movie franchise), she remains one of the most beloved X-Men characters. Along with all her adventures as a member and leader of X-Men teams, she also has an epic romance with Black Panther, the superhero king of Wakanda.

Screengrab via 20th Century Fox/YouTube

2. Catwoman

While Marvel leads the field in terms of mainstream superheroines, DC wins in the category of female villains. Catwoman and Harley Quinn both enjoy worldwide popularity as engaging, morally ambiguous characters with a wide range of canonical interpretations. Originating as a burglar, Catwoman is one of Batman’s most well-known antagonists—as well as being a sometimes love-interest.

Superhero comics being what they are, almost every superheroine wears a skin-tight costume and frequently gets drawn in weirdly sexualized poses. However, Catwoman is one of the few characters for whom performative sexuality is a legitimate aspect of her role. This sometimes leads to insultingly exploitative depictions (shout out to the Halle Berry movie), but plenty of creators get the balance right. Michelle Pfeiffer and Eartha Kitt created iconic depiction onscreen, and Catwoman maintains a timeless appeal as a woman who takes what she wants and doesn’t care what other people think.

Screengrab via Mindd Kidzag/YouTube

1. Wonder Woman

The A-list of the A-list. A literal goddess. A feminist icon, to the extent that when her solo movie came out in 2017, people debated whether it somehow “failed” because she couldn’t represent every feminist viewpoint on Earth. (She obviously can’t, but that’s kind of the point.) Created in 1941 as a combination of utopian hero and fetish character, her long career covers everything from Greek mythology to political allegory to conventional superhero team adventures with the Justice League. She’s also canonically queer—something it took DC Comics several decades to admit out loud. 

Photo via Wonder Woman/Warner Bros.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman

Read more: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/female-superheroes/

The post The top 20 female superheroes of all time appeared first on ArticlePoint.

from http://www.articlepoint.info/the-top-20-female-superheroes-of-all-time/ from https://articlepoint0.tumblr.com/post/166479673159