Internship
Summary:
This project was my final reflection for my first writing-focused internship as an undergrad. I simply had to reflect on my time as an intern and write about what I accomplished and learned while there. The audience for this paper was my faculty advisor who facilitated the accreditation of this internship. I chose this paper because it walks through my first experience in a professional writing role. I believe seeing this, then my later work, will show the immense growth I have experienced as a writer.
Reflection:
My primary takeaways from my time as an intern at The Voice of Black Cincinnati (VOBC) are basically how to transfer classroom skills and how to operate in a professional environment. One of the most important things I learned at VOBC was how to use WordPress. I went through multiple rounds of training with the website manager and learned the basics of how to work within the platform. Here, I was able to apply the skills I gained in my Fundamentals of Web Development. Sometimes the platform didn’t work the way it should, so I was able to go into the HTML of the site to find out what the error was lurking beneath the surface. I also learned the fundamentals of how to manage SEO and write SEO content. VOBC is owned by a marketing company. So, getting clicks and interaction were very important to the organization’s financial health. I learned how to use Google Trends and research topics that helped the site score higher on Google search results and attract more traffic. While I was managing the SEO, the site saw a 20% increase in web traffic from early to mid-August.