Welcome to my first intern update!

I’m Amy, a Content Writer for Plant Sumo. I feel really grateful that I’m able to write this update because it means that I am doing something that I really enjoy, which is writing content about food!

Please enjoy this picture of me tucking into a vegan burger:

I did a lot of the content writing training at the beginning of my trial week, it took a few hours to get through, but it was really useful.

I didn’t realise how much thought and technique goes into writing content that sounds natural and effortless. There is much more to the process than trying not to use the word ‘great’ all the time!

My favourite thing about Plant Sumo/Pearl Lemon so far is the relaxed and youthful vibe. 

There is no anxiety-inducing commute or dress code, but the work still gets done. I’m also enjoying the Whatsapp group because I get to see where everyone else is in the world.  If you had told me a few weeks ago that a company with workers in different time zones could work, I would have doubted you – but it does!

I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but I already have my sights set on some more things that I’d really like to learn more about at Pearl Lemon/Plant Sumo. The first is SEO, I would also like to learn more about design/Canva, social media and PR. I know, it’s a lot.

I’ll stick to writing about vegan cakes for now.

This Week I Learned:

• The Importance of a High-energy and High-value Approach – This helps to make the content as compelling and well-ranking as possible.
• Creating a Narrative – This is an important aspect of skyscraper content in particular. I didn’t even realise that a lot of what I read online is crafted in this way. For example, one of my assignments was a 5,000-word story in which vegan sweets are the hero, and gelatin and similar products are the villains.
• Some SEO Stuff – I’m getting more familiar with the principles of SEO, the importance of link placement and competitor content, but I hope that I can learn more about it and do some SEO optimisation on content myself in the coming weeks.

My Week:

After I was accepted onto the probation month (yay!) I did a little more general training that helped me do things like setting up my email signature and work email.

I also shared one of my ideas for some new content and it got accepted! I was a little nervous to share the idea because I wasn’t sure of the normal process for coming up with content or what is being popularly searched at the moment, but I mentioned it anyway and now I’m really glad I did, as I’ll be writing about something that’s really relevant to my life.

My main piece of advice would be to ask questions and if you’ve got an idea, let someone know! 

The worst that could happen is they’ll say, this won’t fit for us at the moment.

If you’re a prospective intern I would recommend saving all of the training documents and going back to them if you have a question. They’re quite extensive so you may find that you have forgotten that the answer to a question that you have is in the guide! You can also keyword search within the guide, so you don’t need to traipse through the whole thing for a second or third time.

One of the unexpected things about remote working for me is that convenient technology like Loom really allows a personal touch (you can often see the face of the person talking, as well as their screen.) It’s also great because you can easily refer back to them, unlike a real-life conversation.

I work approximately twenty hours per week, which is great because I can fit in all my other commitments like driving lessons (well, when we were allowed to leave the house), my side business and other things for my personal well-being like exercise and meditating. 

The Week Ahead:

Next week I’ll keep on writing Plant Sumo content – vegan sources of calcium are next up on the list!

I’m also expecting to learn more about SEO and the software that we use to optimise our posts and get them ranking as well as possible on google.

I’m really pleased about this because I want to learn as much about SEO as I can in the next few weeks! 

I’m planning on working on my ability to include all of the necessary information, links and words in a post while keeping it sounding natural and producing a high-quality piece of content.