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Welcome!
Welcome to LeadVenture! Whether you’re part of our Dealer Spike team, or ARI team, or both, we’re excited to have you on board. This page offers a quick overview of resources you’ll need and processes you’ll need to become familiar with. Bookmark this page, leave it open while you’re working, and use it as much as you need.
First Things First…
Your first day will be guided by our HR department and IT. They’ll work to help you get set up and in the system. They should have reached out to you prior to your first day to begin this process.
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There are a number of ways to communicate with your coworkers at LeadVenture, but the primary forms of communication are through our email provider, Outlook, and our instant messaging platform, Teams. Both programs can be accessed using your internet browser or by downloading a desktop app. You may find one works better than the other. |
Who’s Who?
Once you’ve got the basics, it’s time to meet the team! Many of your coworkers are spread across the United States and the world. You may be just down the street from a fellow writer or on the other side of the world. If you’re unsure what time zone the person you’re talking to is in, try hovering your cursor over their Teams or Outlook profile.
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Our QA team assumes many responsibilities, including copy editors. They may screen some or all of your content for basic errors and let you know when larger sections require revisions. Our teams work closely together to establish best practices and create the best possible content for the clients. In fact, you’ll find a separate Teams chat reserved just for QA and Content. The QA team members are:
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Our Juniper team, based out of La Paz, Mexico, offers support for teams across most Digital Marketing teams, including Content. They’re primary role in the content process is to published fully written and approved content onto the clients' websites. While you likely won’t interact directly with them, you can find their names and titles in the organization chart, linked in the Kickback Sheet of your monthly tracker. |
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There are nine full-time Content Writers across Dealer Spike and ARI, based in cities across the U.S., India, and Belize. They are all very gifted writers and will be excellent resources as familiarize yourself with the work and the products. Ask them questions, listen to their advice, and check out some of their work for inspiration. Your direct supervisor is the Content Team Lead, Amanda Kelner. She reports to the Vice President of Digital Services, Erica Danford, and works closely with other leads to improve faults in the process and help the team grow. Your fellow writers are:
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What to Know About Your First Days/Weeks/Months
We don’t expect any new writer to hit the ground running. While you’ll be coming with in essential writing skills, you may be significantly less familiar with the products you’ll be writing about. That’s okay! We didn’t hire you to be an expert in telehandlers. We hired you because you’re a strong writer with excellent resource literacy skills. Those will come in handy while you work at LeadVenture.
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Finally, keep in mind that while you’re a gifted writer, there’s a lot to learn at this job! There are a lot of products to familiarize yourself with and picking up the work may not be as easy as it seems. It’ll take time to adjust and eventually you’ll find it’ll get easier. Until then, don’t be afraid to ask for help and take this time to learn everything you can. The more foundational knowledge you gather in your first month, the easier it’ll be to pick up some of the harder pieces down the road.
Time to Start Your Day!
Once you’re all set up, you’ll begin training, which will be conducted by the Content Team Lead. Everything that’s covered can be found below…
Clock In
Start by clocking in every day using your ADP account.
ADP is also where your hours are logged, where you’ll find pay information, and where we conduct quarterly reviews.
Check Your Messages
Start every day by opening your email, Teams chats, and calendar.
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Your calendar will tell you if you have a meeting scheduled for that day. As a writer, you will have a handful of meetings you’ll be expected to attend, or may want to attend to learn from other writers. Meetings are held virtually (unless otherwise noted), and the meeting event on your calendar will also have the link to the online meeting room (usually through Teams or Zoom).
Links for Content Fulfillment
The majority of your day-to-day will be spent filling content requests from the SEO department. You should receive a complete training on this from the Content Team Lead, but you can find a quick refresher, along with important links, below.
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For a complete walkthrough of the content fulfillment process, check here for the DS process and here for the ARI process. |
1. Open Trello
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Trello is the primary project management platform for the content fulfillment process. The entire process, from start to finish, is a series of boards in which each team responsible for different parts of the process has their own board (the ARI system will be launched for July 2022 fulfillment). You should have access to every board, but you’ll spend most of your time on the Content Writing boards. Check below for links to the primary content boards for Dealer Spike and ARI: All additional Trello boards connected to the content process are linked below: |
2. Choose a Request
Choose one or more requests to fill. Priority is given to:
High Priority requests from assigned clients
Dealers whose content requires approval
Oldest to newest requests from your assigned clients, up until the following month’s work
Unassigned requests from the current month’s work
All requests from the current month’s work
Requests for the following month
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A Note on Client Assignments: Every writer receives a list of assigned clients for whom they fill content month after month. The list is adjusted each month as clients cancel and sign on. You can find these clients on your tracker in the far right-hand columns. For more information about your responsibilities as an assigned writer to a client, check out the Expectations and Accountability Documentation. |
3. Screen Requests
Not all requests are ready to be filled, whether it’s because there’s missing information, conflicting information, the request is too difficult, or any other reason that’s creating an obstacle for you. That’s when it’s time to kick the card back to the rep for corrections.
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For a reminder of how the kickback process is supposed to work, check out our step-by-step breakdown. Remember, it’s still a kickback if you were able to resolve the issue by messaging the rep, and should still be recorded in the Kickback Sheet on your tracker. |
4. Fill Requests
If the requests are good to go, it’s time to fill them. We’ve provided a list of resources you can use to fill each request, but you’ll want to use what you’ve learned with what you already know about good writing to provide the best possible product for our clients.
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The first thing you’ll need to note is the format of the piece being requested. This will dictate length, intent, and structure. Use our Format Breakdown for a refresher on what we offer. |
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The Content Team has spent years filling Dealer Spike and ARI requests and subsequently, we’ve spent a lot of time creating our own resources to make this task easier. You can find these resources in the Content Writing Tips folder in the Content Drive. |
Stuck on a Piece?
If you’ve been staring at the screen for ten minutes without an inkling of how to approach a content piece, don’t get too frustrated! It happens to us all. Just remember you have lots of resources you can pull from:
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Sometimes, it isn’t about what you haven’t learned yet. Some topics just don’t have enough viable information to cover. If the piece is just too hard, it may warrant a kickback. The SEO rep may need to change their approach or they may choose to provide more guidance based on their own research. Either way, we don’t want to be wasting time on content that just isn’t fillable.
5. Wrap it Up
When the piece is finished, there are some final steps to take before you can move on to the next set of requests.
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🎊 And now you’re all done and ready to do it all over again for the next card!🎊
Additional Notes About Your Work
For International Writers
For all writers not based in the United States, applying American and Canadian dialects can be difficult. While it’ll get easier with time, there are a couple of resources we can give you:
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LeadVenture utilizes Udemy, a platform of online courses that can help close some language gaps for an additional price. If you can identify a specific course, or if one is assigned to you, you may request to be reimbursed for taking the course as part of your daily work. Contact your local manager for more information. |
Other Materials
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The team has been lucky enough to receive additional trainings from current and previous SEO Trainers. These trainings can be found in the Content Writing Chat in Teams, near the top of the window, in a tab labeled “Content Team Training Notes,” including a recording of these trainings. |
Project Work
Most of your day will be spent filling content requests, but the team works on additional projects designed to make the work easier and the process more efficient. Keep in mind, writing comes first. No project should interfere with your ability to reach your monthly goals. If you choose to work only on filling requests, that is perfectly acceptable and in line with expectations.
If you are interested in joining one of the additional projects, check out the Open Projects tab in your tracker. There, you’ll find all the initiatives we’re actively working on and who’s in charge of them. If you’re interested in any of them, contact the lead of the project for more direction.
Meetings
We try to give you most of your day to write content, but it is important for us to check in as a team periodically. You should receive invitations to the team’s recurring meetings, including our bi-weekly team check-in, which you’ll want to accept in order to get them on your calendar. Some of these meetings you’ll be required to attend (all others will say “Optional” in the title). Make sure you have a system in place to remember to join when they start. It’s easy to get caught up in a piece and realize you’re late to an important discussion, so create a system that works best for you.