Welcome to our latest fortnightly eBulletin, posted here on Tuesday 11 Jun 2013. In this issue:

• Why the 'immediacy index' and 'cited half life' may trump impact factor as a measure
• Teach Yourself Writing for the Web - book review
• Shocking real example of a retailer getting it wrong
• On The Marketability Grapevine on Facebook
• Tip of the Week - everything you write at work is copy!

Why the 'immediacy index' and 'cited half life' may trump impact factor as a measure

Impressive impact factors sell journal subscriptions. But they're not necessarily the best indication of quality. What about an excellent article in a new journal? What about authors liberally citing their own work elsewhere? The impact factor is far from dead, but librarians are increasingly turning to more sophisticated metrics too. Top of the heap are the following:

• Immediacy index: tracks how quickly after publication articles are cited.
• Cited half-life: measures the length of time over which an article continues to be cited.

Both are also available from Thomson Reuters, and are an excellent indication of the merit/influence of individual articles. Elsevier has a useful page explaining journal metrics for the benefit of authors/contributors.

This topic features on Introduction to Journals Marketing, an ALPSP course, tutored by me. This week's course is now fully booked, but find out about the next one or about an in-company version of the course by clicking on the link or by emailing rachel@marketability.info

Teach Yourself Writing for the Web - book review

This book came up in discussion on a recent Copywriting Workshop at Hachette, and afterwards Laura Vile from Hodder sent me a copy which I duly read on a recent flight to Glasgow.

If you work in an organisation with IT and web support and an existing online marketing strategy as context for your own creative, then this book may be too basic. But if you're setting up a website - perhaps for an interest outside work, or to support a freelance career - then it could just be brilliant. Good to recommend to authors wanting to enhance their web presence too.

The title doesn't really do it justice: coverage extends well beyond 'writing', explaining how to design your own Wordpress site and set up social media accounts. 'Writing basics', with a sound summary of copywriting principles, is followed by how to establish and write for your own website, a social media introduction and then further chapters dedicated to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, plus blogging and 'commentating'. If you have these channels in place already two thirds of the book won't work for you. If you don't, it'll be a godsend, taking you from set up to posting appropriate content for each platform within the space of a short chapter. Note that it doesn't include writing emails - rightly I think as this justifies a book to itself.

Helpful features include self-assessment questions and 'Remember this', 'Try it now', and 'Key ideas' boxes, plus plenty of case examples.

Also recommended if you secretly worry that you're not as up to speed as you should be. Given the pace of change in this area, I reckon that's just about all of us.

Teach Yourself Writing for the Web published in March 2013 at £10.99. Here's the link to it on Amazon.

Our Copywriting Workshop, Mastering SEO for Marketing, and Social Media Marketing Boot Camp all cover this area.

Shocking real example of a retailer getting it wrong

This retailer has been sending me catalogues for a while, but a great offer tipped the balance for me and encouraged me to redeem it in their Kingston branch. Sadly the experience completely unravelled when I got to the till.

1. To pay I had to give my postcode so they could identify me. Despite being mailed for years they had no trace of me. They cared about this; I didn't.
2. They weren't familiar with the offer, but did manage to tell me it had expired, pointing to some small print on the card I had. By this stage I was deeply irritated, almost at the point of walking out, but assumed I'd made a mistake so settled for the lesser discount.
3. At home I checked the pieces I'd been mailed to find that they were wrong and I was right. The large print confirmed it in two places; the only inconsistency was in the small print - a proofreading error.
4. Back at the store they could have redeemed themselves by saying sorry. Instead they peered at my 'evidence', and wanted my postcode (no!), and to work out where their systems had gone wrong. I couldn't have cared less, interested only in walking out with the refund I was due.
5. I will never, ever buy anything from them again, and I will return their mailings.

Proofreading errors are easily made, but this wouldn't have mattered if their focus had been on providing customer service rather than on executing their systems. It's a sad little story, but a reminder that your systems/processes are of no interest to your customers - what they care about is the quality of the experience of doing business with you.

Our Impressive Marketing Plans on a Small Budget workshop is a perfect opportunity to put customers at the centre of your plans, where they belong.

On The Marketability Grapevine on Facebook

• Hilarious spoof letter from a marketing intern in publishing to an author, originally published in the New Yorker back in 2009 and just as true today
• Read something that hit the spot in this eBulletin? Click through and like the item or add a comment on Facebook
• Watch the Wall for postings of new jobs, or feel free to add to them.

Visit The Marketability Grapevine.

Rachel Maund
Marketability - extra marketing resources and training just when you need them
Tel and Fax: +44 (0)20 8977 2741
Email: rachel@marketability.info

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