Hi, I’m Tom, better known by the Wildfire team as Tommy and for the past 9 weeks I have been undergoing my work placement as per requirement by the new Digital T-Level qualification. I have had the privilege of completing my work experience at Wildfire and I have had a blast learning and developing my digital sector skills within Wildfire which include digital marketing, SEO analysis and Web design and development. As my time here comes to a close at Wildfire, I have been tasked with writing a blog based on what I have learnt at Wildfire and the experience I have gained in my brief (but fun) time within the company.
Blogs
One of the skills I have developed at Wildfire was the ability to construct and structure a professional blog post, this not only captivates the reader but also uses keywords to help the website to rank high amongst an ongoing SEO plan, This is a vital process needed for a website to thrive within targeted search terms. Without content updates to a website on a regular basis, Google will assume inactivity and subsequently lower your rank for this. Not only do blog posts keep a site fresh and relevant, but a blog post also serves as a way to implement keywords within the site to allow Google to scrape exactly what the purpose of the site is from within. At first, a blog post was a bit of a grey area for me, coming from a strict software and web development background I had never had to write a blog. However, with the help of the social team here at Wildfire and upon writing them for a few client sites, I have come to realise just how important they are for a site’s prosperity and health.
Image Creation
Image creation was another point of focus for me when creating the blogs, I had done a bit of image design on software like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator prior to my placement at college and high school however while at Wildfire I was using Canva to create designs for the featured images. it was easy to use and had a host of assets that I could implement into my designs allowing me to create images much faster than I would typically within the adobe platforms, not as important as the keyword implementation but a nice featured image can go a long way in easing the user’s experience and making It more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing.
SEO Content Writing
Touching on what I did within the blog posts, one of my jobs required me to write product descriptions using a host of Keywords. In a sense, this sold the legitimacy of the product to the Google ranking system but at the same time captivating the viewer tice them into purchasing the product in question without it seeming as if a drone was typing. This took a bit of flair and dramaticism which was never my strong suit but after getting the hang of it I grew used to the elaborated language and sales tone to craft a desirable description for the products.
Monday.com
Monday CMS was an integral part of my time at Wildfire allowing me to manage all my tasks within an easy-to-use, all-in-one CMS. Monday allowed me to write notes on my current tasks, write checklists for tasks I was currently doing, request help and updates from other members of the team and finally, time track tasks so I know exactly how long I have spent on a set piece of work. Getting to grips with using a CMS such as Monday.com rather than just verbal communication was a relief. easy to use and functional Monday.com aided me throughout my entire placement allowing me to stay on top of the tasks set for me.
Web Development and Design
Upon starting at Wildfire my prior knowledge regarding web development consisted of knowledge surrounding the bootstrap framework however with the help of Jake and Tom I have diversified my knowledge of web development with what I now believe to be the far superior framework, WordPress. The WordPress platform allows for industry-standard websites to be crafted through the use of theme builders, this leads to great front-end designs that look slick and extremely functional backend configurations that use plugins for additional capabilities. A highlight of my time here at Wildfire was learning to use this framework and aiding in developing sites, particularly the front end. Coming out of this I think the experience I have learnt can help me in future career prospects going fourth, perhaps taking up a job in web development or having it as a function on the side. Working at wildfire has made me realise how fun and profitable creating a website can be.
Web updates
A job I was tasked with at wildfire was going through and updating websites that Wildfire hosts and services, this was a good learning point for me to familiarise myself with website backends and plugin functionality, editing WordPress file configs and updating themes and plugins. While it seems like a pretty simple, job it is a key factor for the development and maintenance of the site as a webpage with poor functionality will not be appetising to its users or to Google, Google, this might lead to poor rated reviews.
My Experience at Wildfire
As my week placement comes to a close, I would like to share my final thoughts on my time here at Wildfire. From the start on the 16th of May, I have felt welcomed by the whole Wildfire Marketing team as they have helped me develop skills in areas both familiar and unfamiliar. The office environment is a great experience in itself with everyone getting along and working together, coming into the placement I was nervous however these nerves were quickly settled as I was welcomed as if I had been there for months. The past 9 weeks have been an amazing experience for me both in learning and for enjoyment. The time I have spent at Wildfire developing my skills in the digital industry will be invaluable to me going forward and I would like to thank everyone at Wildfire for providing such an enjoyable yet professional work environment for me.