Mahesh Raj Mohan

I recently came across an article  (via Guy Kawasaki on Twitter) about how employers can boost the happiness of their employees.   The article is a Q&A between Matthew May and Gretchen Ruben.  Mr. May is a design/innovation strategist and author, and Ms. Ruben is the author of The Happiness Project, a memoir of  her year spent defining happiness.

The entire Q&A is fascinating, but I was particularly impressed by these passages:

Q: Why do happy people do better at work?

A: People like being around happier people much more than less-happy people. Happy people are perceived to be more friendly, warm, and even more physically attractive. Also, research shows that happy people tend to be more cooperative, less self-absorbed, and to be able to offer the empathy needed in close relationships. They’re more willing to help other people—say, by sharing information or pitching in to help a colleague. Then, because they’ve helped others, others tend to help them.

Q: So the big question is: how can employers help make their employees happier?

A: The research is clear: people’s happiness is affected by their sense of control over their lives. Being able to do your own work in your own way, or to influence your environment, gives a big boost in satisfaction. So employers can look for ways to amplify employees’ sense of control over their work, schedule, and environment.

Q: Any specifics?

A: Sure. Take commuting. Bad commutes are a major source of unhappiness. People feel frustrated, powerless and stressed. Employers can consider whether telecommuting or staggered start/end times for work might be practicable, to allow people to avoid rush hours.

Or take issues like wasted time and tight deadlines. According to one study, the factor that most upset people’s daily moods was having tight work deadlines. One way to free up work time to meet deadlines is to stop having long, inefficient meetings.

Years before I became a Portland freelance writer, I worked alongside my share of unhappy people at various workplaces (and I’ll be honest, I’ve fallen under the “unhappy” rubric myself).  It can be draining, particularly when the Grumpy Gus is in your department.

Unfortunately, some employers are “tone deaf” when it comes to policies that indirectly promote employee unhappiness.  They may believe the problem lies with the employee and point to a non-complaining employee as evidence that the policy works just fine.  They often don’t realize that the non-complainer fears for his/her job and doesn’t want to rock the boat.

Considering the sluggishness of the economic recovery, employers who have held onto their valued employees would do well to solicit employee opinions and do simple things that cost nothing (allowing employees more freedom to direct their work, for instance) or little (letting folks with long commutes go home early).  After all, these people are also your stakeholders and keeping them motivated should be your top priority.

People surfing the web for a certain product or service – such as graphic design – are already half-sold when they visit a website.

Well-written website content makes your products/services enticing.  It compels the prospect to click “order,” “buy,” or “e-mail for more information.”  Badly-written copy does the opposite.   Confused or bored surfers will leave your site and go to the next one.

It’s my job as a freelance writer to create website content that converts prospects into customers.

Website content is my most favorite type of non-fiction writing. I first wrote web content for Starry Starry Arts, a gift gallery I co-owned with my Mom. Starry Starry Arts closed a few years ago, but you can still see some of my website copywriting here.

What do I believe makes effective website content?   Glad you asked!  Exceptional website content uses The Three Bs:

• Brand focus.  Your website needs to communicate your identity and what makes you memorable.
• Brevity.  Show prospects what you offer by using clear language.  Don’t inundate them with too much information.
• Best products/services.  Highlight your “flagship” products and services in prime website “real estate” areas like your home page.

Naturally, your website content should communicate everything that is central to your business operations.  If you’re an e-commerce site, you will obviously need product descriptions for all the items you sell.

I am currently writing website content for a business consultancy.  There are six pages with varying amounts of information – each page is meant to give enough “good stuff” to have prospects e-mail or call for more information.

I have also done some “pro bono” website content writing, helping my Mom, sister, and wife with their respective businesses. Pro bono copy helps keep us human!

I would love to help you and your business have a stronger brand and identity on the World Wide web.  Please e-mail me at maheshrajmohan@yahoo.com for more information!

In the spirit of staying active (which I wrote about previously), I added a couple of writing examples to the Portfolio area of my website. One is an example of technical writing for a healthcare technology application. The other is an example of SEO writing, using high quality text and targeted keyword density. They’re both in PDF form to ensure better readability (er, I hope).

Check ‘em out!

Technical Writing

SEO writing

I’m often asked what type of content I create as a freelance writer. One of the types of writing I perform for my clients is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) writing, which is one of the newest (and most valuable) forms of content creation.

SEO writing helps a company with a website or online presence gain prominence on search engines when certain terms (called keywords) or phrases (keyword phrases) are entered in the search bar (or even the location bar).

If the website is populated with content that uses in-demand keywords, it can rise “naturally” or “organically” in the non-paid area of a search engine (basically most of the entries we see when we type keywords or keyword phrases into a search engine).

This can save companies a lot of money.

(Companies often pay search engines for sponsored search listings so that their sites are the first thing a person sees after typing in those keywords.)

SEO writing has changed over the years. Keywords and content populating a website were often all a company needed for many years, but spammers also used to fill web pages with nonsense. Like the obnoxious idiot in class who brings the wrath of the the teacher down on everyone, relentless spammers led search engine owners to alter their search algorithms. Now, keywords and keyword phrases are only part of an SEO writing campaign.

The evolution of search engine algorithms actually benefits sites that have content that other people find useful, interesting, or entertaining. A company’s site now rises higher the more people talk about it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, their own blogs, and so on.

For myself, I’ve been a part of three SEO campaigns. I most recently wrote 30 articles of about 300 words each on a variety of topics for a Portland-based small business. As a blogger, I’ve created content that was carried on The Raw Story (see my Portfolio). So, if you need compelling content created for an SEO campaign, I’m your guy!