Preparation and Writing of A Monthly Column
The editorial on W+M’s daily composition and presentation of the marketing column.
Hello,
Nostalgia came over me while composing the last publication of 12 columns #itSAMarketingThing. This was booking the first year of publications in the W+M e-Mag.
Is this the last article I’ll compose for this series of reports giving website publishing tips to start up companies? Will these reports be renewed or modified to become something else? Will this be forgotten?
Although content direction is often influenced by spontaneity and the popularity of the actuality, long-run writing on a topic, such as a novel or story, has to be planned way in advance. Chronicle production is part of this long-term composition category.
Throughout this article, it’s my pleasure I share the process of creating a column. So this work doesn’t get ignored.
In this report:
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how we built our #ItSAMarketingThing monthly column.
Understand how a consistent editorial voice builds authority and audience loyalty.
Use our approach to launch your own content series with purpose and structure.
MusicScore: There are two certainties in the life of this webmaster. He enjoys writing and publishing articles, and will never forget the moment he first heard this song from Janet Jackson - Control.
Listen to the MusicScores complete list on YouTube! Boast the Music at Work!
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Make the Decision to Produce Monthly Content
No, it wasn’t decided overnight to write, publish and produce articles for a virtual magazine. The process of searching information, writing content and web programming is learned through training, homework, studies, and professional experiences, tinged with technological knowledge and life experience on the web in general.
Making the decision to invest time, money and talent in implementing publications can easily come to zero when poorly prepared, or promoted. Worse, stain a professional reputation.
Producing content, whether using artificial intelligence or not, must start with market research, prospect niches to explore, the local and international competition. All of this according to our production capacity.
Testing Topics for the Upcoming Chronicles
Whether we write articles for our own or a communications company, it’s necessary to establish a plan of the subjects to publish. This principle of building a content direction chart will also help you look for partners or selling advertisements. Everyone in the advertising field will eventually ask you for your upcoming releases document, because advertisers also need to prepare their materials and web banners.
Although W+M was founded in 2024, article writing began in 2016 at the business level of Jeff Maheux. Through my portfolio and clients. I could test over these years the topics of popular articles and those that aren’t; and the reasons for the non-popularity of certain products! Over the years, I have been able to identify at least 12 recurring tasks in my profession. They’re the subjects of the 2024 itSAMarketingThing columns. The writing, programming and editing of each text is the result of experience acquired since 2016.
Once the topics were found, a page template was programmed with SEO techniques and attributes helping with the indexing of search tools. A keyword search for each topic was done and used in titles, links, promotional texts and alternative texts of images and videos.
We continue with the creation of the images. The twelve article models thus remain in draft form in the CMS, with only text remaining to be written. The writing of the columns can be done quietly in the months to come, or as per the taste of the day. One paragraph at a time, the redaction is done and put through the text correction app installed directly in the CMS.
Tip: Of course, for multi-language writers, only translate your material once the primary language version is completed and proofread. This will help you avoid needlessly translating evolving text in the next 6 months!
You now understand I have about 48 pre-ready templates to write in my CMS at the beginning of each month of September, every year ;). Yes, I like to prepare in advance… I organize the writing of the monthly publications 1 year in advance. I organize the writing of the Monthly e-mag 4 months in advance. I only keep the Article of the Month (the 6 pages report featured as the main article of the Monthly Ticket) as the new material, starting the writing of these articles about 2 weeks before publication. Of course, all these templates and articles already have images produced and placed in templates. I just want to mention that all material is reviewed the day of the publishing, even if they have been programmed a few months in advance. We never know with technologies or major platform updates.
Assignment and Delivery in Advance
Hardworking editors often tell us that a text submitted in advance is more pleasant. Thus, to avoid the symptom of the blank page or lazy writing produced at the last minute under pressure, assigning in advance the subjects of each report, column or article facilitates composing.
From experience, I like to assign topics for the next 12 months of W+M columns and even prepare draft articles directly in the CMS, which allows text correction options and integrated SEO techniques via plug-ins. This way I can prepare the research and sources several months in advance before the final writing of the planned paper.
Find Your Originality
It can be funny to wonder how to be original in our publications. It’s when our articles are put online that everything loses its originality. By adding the homogeneous programming instructions responding to page referencing, the light image format for ideal download speed and the scattering of keywords in our sector that we realize this aspect of the virtual.
The insertion of quotes, the production of personalized images, the use of our banner in the introduction and conclusion of the article, the addition of sections for additional content suggestions or video reports are concepts to use to personalize our content.
Examples of personalizing a column and your content
Here is a monthly column from W+M’s virtual magazine. The #itSAMarketingThing entrepreneur column.
The first 12 editions are published in the e-mag of the year 2024. The production of these texts and visuals was carried out in the fall of 2023. The posts are dedicated to entrepreneurs who use a website for the first time and make their professional entry into the virtual world.
In terms of personalization, the texts are written and programmed with repetitive sections on the budget, tips and free virtual tools used by W+M. The visual appearance of these columns is always the same, but is different from the appearance of other articles on the site. This programming method makes the product (chronicle) visually distinct, but easy to understand for indexing in search tools.
The input image of the articles is personalized, or it doesn’t come from a strip of free images, it was made from scratch with a file name referenced from the general subject of the column. This image should not be very heavy in terms of weight. This image at the opening of each column is also used in the settings to identify the article and share it on social networks. Finally, it’s usually the image of the general campaign promoting the column that is used, since the personalization of each article will be in the title of the columns, and not in the image.
The principle of repetitive programming of a column is the same as the image in the presentation of the weekly newsletter on a merchant’s specials. We don’t change the email template and the header image each week of a weekly mailing, we only change the internal content of the email template, unless your job requires it, you have a full-time graphic designer or that your brand image and logo are already well known throughout the province.
Here is the general picture of the marketing column. Since W+M offers publications in French and English, the text is bilingual and the image is used in both French and English. The referencing text of the image will therefore be words used in both languages: marketing articles web series.
The name of the column comes from the way of writing sentences in programming, i.e. the first word in lowercase and the following words start with a capital letter: theFirstWordOnlyInCaps. itSAMarketingThing.
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Develop Reader Feedback and Returns
Subscription, Facebook events and virtual launch meetings, promotion of your registration splash page, it’s sometimes profitable to develop a strategy for returning readers, prospects and customers.
Although taking out a subscription requires responsibilities that may seem complicated without explanation, everything is simple once acquired and will be profitable. It’s important to have a contact link with regular customers via subscription. The key is a bit like social media management, you have to establish and maintain the habit of producing good content.
In the case of establishing your first collection of customer data in the form of a subscription, this column will help you know your obligations and the confidentiality policies and instructions to be disclosed. (Here is an excerpt:)
Make a list of places where it’s a good idea to put a promo inviting you to subscribe:
As a pop-up message on your website.
As a pinned banner and in the information section of your social media.
Every email signature from your employees.
QR code on your printed and visual campaign documents (poster, counter poster, physical or virtual announcements and employee t-shirts).
Every administrative message, purchase confirmation, automatic email response and even answering machine.
Add a check box in question in your contact forms and contracts: Do you want to add your email to the sending list?
#SplashPage The Presentation Web Page
In life, you have to put all sales possibilities into action. The same goes for announcing an editorial team, a magazine and products and services.
Web pages dedicated to the presentation of the column has been put online. Besides serving as an advertising anchor, this page includes a mission and a word from the editor.
Splash Page Element: A Word From the Editor
Here are articles with ideas and tips on digital marketing. This is dedicated to startups and businesses in the launching period, and self-employed workers and SMEs.
Whether through digital tools such as websites and intranets, social networks and applications, or when searching for prospects and new customers, we all need to write external communications online!
Solutions Mode
I have read lots of comments since the last months of 2023 about the high costs of publications and advertisements in search tools or on social networks.
Are there any solutions? Is it possible to reduce promotional costs throughout the year by adjusting different technical elements in programming and website settings, and even certain adjustments for social media? Can we organize annual planning and how does it work? And yes, there is help!
Here are the columns featuring a different marketing for small businesses! Natural referencing methods, placement of texts in strategic locations and inventive administrative processes, automatic sharing of communications and press releases organization to increase the notoriety and prosperity of your project!
Here are several great reasons to follow #itSAMarketingThing!
Jeff for W+M
Post a Blog Post!
And yes, since you’re reading this, an article on the production process was produced to promote the chronicles. Another means of communication would be the issuance of a press release. Not forgetting the use of social media.
New for 2025 - itSAMarketingThing Is Renewed
Throughout 2024, the analysis of column reading statistics was studied. Some topics were more popular than others and improvements to the programming of articles to improve the referencing and indexing of web pages in the Google Search console were made.
The hashtag #itSAMarketingThing is now established in social media and platforms.
It was then decided that the improved content of the column would be renewed for the year 2025.
Here are the topics and images of the 2025 post articles.
Subscribe to read the whole thing.
Each column will be published on the first of each month at noon on the W+M blog. Also, the column is published in the virtual magazine Monthly Ticket, and is redistributed in W+M communications and annual partner JM Musique.
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Conclusion
Thank you for reading this article and your interest in the columns. From writing to publication, marketing posts will be back for 2025. Twelve new columns to come. This is a road to a white paper, to be read in a future article.
Thank you, see you on the blog,
Jeff
Production: Services W+M
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Websites - creation, management and design
I edit the content of existing sites via CMS in addition to creating sites with WordPress and Squarespace. I have been producing website content as a webmaster since 1998.
I help companies get their first website up and I improve the performance of existing sites.
Yes, I’m Mr. Analytics and my reaction time to new digital marketing is daily, which allows my clients to have optional and trend-cutting tools.
Follow the content of the marketing blog and participate in the articles by commenting, with respect, on the content of the site, intended for Quebec companies operating in the digital market.
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