2007 – A Big Year for Engagement Marketing and The Write Words

The festive season is now over. I can finally check myself into a detox programme and ponder on what the new year has in store.

2006 was a fairly major year in the redirection of my career. Towards the end of 2005 I had realised that being a cog in the corporate machine was not for me. With little more than an English degree, and a hastily assembled portfolio, I cleared my desk and took the plunge into the world of freelance copywriting.

Have I regretted losing the regular pay cheque for living by my wits and wordprocessor? Not once. But then I haven’t had to start worrying about paying for my next meal just yet. Hopefully 2007 will be a year of growth for The Write Words as the internet writers market starts to mature.

Over the course of 2006 I had to learn a lot as well as work out my own area of expertise. Writing brochures and leaflets went out the window as I concentrated on the imminent business blogging explosion I had read so much about.

So far this explosion has yet to detonate in the UK. Many marketers still fail to see the value of engagement compared to the steady barrage of one way advertising they are accustomed to. But the stats continue to pile up with online marketers becoming ever more vocal in support of the engagement philosophy. The Copywriter’s Crucible intends to at least be a standard-bearer, if not quite a herald, in the movement’s army.

My prediction for the next year is that the proliferation of forums and places for people to vent their opinions is making business owners anxious. The fear of negative comments will force them to realise that static brochure websites are no longer adequate for managing their profile online. Then the added opportunities of a more fluid online presence will become apparent; websites will become forums for interaction rather than online brochures.

So on to 2007, that has started with a nice little boost to my blog ranking. My much appreciated nomination in the blogger Z-list meme has seen The Crucible climb to the edges of the Technorati top 100k. Thanks to Sandy at The Purple Wren, this collage of the Z-list has found its way onto many of its members’ blogs. The whole gang has been able to benefit from the exchanging of links and a new year’s injection of traffic .

Just twenty-four more letters to go before I can dream of sitting at the table with the blogging A-list. It looks as though 2007 is going to be a busy year.

















15 thoughts on “2007 – A Big Year for Engagement Marketing and The Write Words

  1. Thanks for mentioning Flooring The Consumer and best of luck to you in 2007 with your ventures!

  2. 2006 was a defining time in my life. Many changes have occurred for me. I would say that the realization that ‘being a cog in the corporate machine’ was an idea I was familiar with but last year was the year I decided to do something about it.

    Also, thanks for linking to Live Your Best Life.

    All the best,

    Tim

  3. Hi Matt, many of us are new to this amazing genre of blogging. I, too, began because I wanted to learn to be a blogger and to share some of my expertise with others. Keep growing and learning in 2007! All the best.

  4. Keep up the good writing.

    One small point, that header image you use – showing the laptop and pad, when I visit your site it always takes longer than it should to download.

    You can easily optimise this image for the web so that it appears instantly rather than appearing from top to bottom as your readers download it.

    At the same time it’ll speed up your site. Let me know if you’d like any help, and all the best for 2007.

  5. In fact I see you have random images, and they could all be optimised for web without losing quality of appearance.

  6. Thanks for the advice David – pages load much quicker now.

    Matt.

  7. Matt good to see another standard-bearer for business blogging marching forth to face those advertising dinosaurs.

    I developed a distaste for corporate life at the end of 2004 and haven’t looked back since. I hope 2007 is a great year for you and for all of us and for the revolution 😉

  8. Thanks Alex. I’m a big fan of your podcast – it certainly inspired me, when I first started freelancing, about creating your own opportunities.

    Matt.

  9. Thanks for keeping the Z-list going and for including the images and CustomersRock! I left the corporate world a little over a year ago to venture out, and I haven’t looked back. Blogging has definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world out there as well. Good luck with it, and keep us all posted!

  10. Thank for the mention and best of luck. It’s taken a lot of hard work and getting recognition like this is so appreciated. Thanks, Again!

  11. Thanks C. B. Whittemore, Tim, Robyn, Becky and Doug. I think the Z list has been a great link building exercise and I hope you’ve all experienced a jump in traffic as a result.

  12. “Never underestimate the power of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. Indeed, it’s all that ever have.”
    by Margaret Mead

    The Z-list is the embodiment of this quote.

    Thanks,
    Chris Kieff
    Editor: Unconventional Thinking
    http://www.msco.com/blog

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