Upskilling: Digital Marketing

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

I have recently completed Google Digital Garage’s course Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. This (supposedly) 40-hour course contains 26 modules which cover the basics of how to successfully take a business online and discusses the different ways businesses can use marketing strategies to reach their goals – be it to improve their audience reach, site views, or generating more income from online sales.

The 26 modules are divided into topics:

  • Take a business online which focuses on building a web presence and planning an online business strategy
  • Make it easy for people to find a business of the web discussing the use of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
  • Reach more people locally, on social media or on mobile
  • Reach more customers with advertising which gives information on advertising through emails, videos, and display advertising
  • Track and measure web traffic discussing how analytics can be used to identify how well your online business is performing and where the best areas for improvement are
  • Sell products or services online showing how E-commerce can be used to sell products through your own website
  • Take a business global which gives ideas on how to successfully expand internationally by recognising the importance of determining where there is a demand for your product and ensuring you make the appropriate changes to overcoming any language, legal, or financial barriers

This course has hugely helped me improve my understanding of digital marketing strategies and the place digital marketing has in today’s world. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone wishing to improve their digital marketing skills. It’s free and you get a certificate at the end proving you have completed the course!

You can find the link to Google Digital Garage here and the digital marketing course here

The Book of Hidden Things – Francesco Dimitri

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Synopsis: The Book of Hidden Things starts with a Pact. Four friends agree that on a specific day, time, and place every year they will return to their hometown in Southern Italy. They are unsure, after so many years, why they still adhere to this Pact, but none wish to be the reason their enduring bond is broken. Except this year, one of them does not show up. Art, the charismatic and brilliantly curious leader of the group is missing. His phone unanswered, his house messy but empty.

In attempting to discover what has happened to Art, his friends Fabio – a photographer whose life is unravelling, Tony – trapped in a conflict between his sexuality and spirituality, and Mauro – the sensible one, disappointed with the route his life has taken, get drawn in to a world fraught with magical possibility and danger. They believe his disappearance now is linked to his disappearance as a fourteen-year old, but without knowing what happened then, they struggle to discern what the truth might be.

The Book of Hidden Things walks the line between two worlds – a world of the supernatural, filled with spirits and mystery, and the traditional world steeped in religion and fear of the mafia who control the goings on. Split between the points of view of Fabio, Tony, and Mauro, each man has his own distinct voice as they put together the pieces of Art’s life, ultimately discovering a book that he has written which attempts to explain the unexplainable: The Book of Hidden Things.

Review: This book is intensely readable. So quickly you are drawn into the world of the four friends, both due to the detail in which Salento is described, oppressive through its tradition and heat, and through the thrilling nature of Art’s disappearance. The way Dimitri manages to balance the different elements of fantasy, thriller, spirituality, and supernatural is impressive. In a lesser author’s hands these elements could feel like a mix of literary techniques just forced together, but this is not the case for this book.

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The List – Carys Jones

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis: The List tells the story of the damaging potential a seemingly innocuous list of names can hold. Found deliberately placed in the woods by 29-year-old Beth, this simple slip of paper contains five names with no clear connection, but the third name on this list is Beth’s. Already plagued by nightmares which are never too far from her mind, this list turns Beth’s nightmares into a reality as she scrambles to learn who the other names on this list are and why her name is on there before she runs out of time.

As well as Beth’s perspective, the story gives the perspective of two others – 12-year-old Ruby who is struggling to talk about an event that has resulted in her ending up in an institution, and an unidentified narrator who is author of the list of names that threatens to wreck the perfect life Beth has made for herself.

Following these three characters, The List explores the pressure and paranoia that can come from attempting to outrun your past. Each character is fixated on a certain event that has greatly impacted their life and, no matter how hard they try, they are unable to separate this event from the direction they want their life to take.

Review: The book starts with a quote from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein “when falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness” which effectively sums up the entire premise of the story. In Beth’s life, the lines between truth and lies are blurred and, within the book, even when you think you have figured out the truth, the story moves in an unexpected direction.

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Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Synopsis: Allison is a character who appears to have an ideal life. She has a loving family, a great job and a bright future. However, it soon becomes clear that this perfect life is a lie. She drinks too much, works too much, and, despite continuously claiming she will stop her destructive behaviour, cannot seem to end her affair with a colleague. All this uncontrollable and negative behaviour results in Allison not spending enough time with her family, something her controlling husband constantly berates her for.

The story follows Allison as she is given her first murder case to defend. A woman accused of stabbing her husband who is willing to plead guilty and go to jail. As both a lawyer and wife, Allison can tell that there is something which does not add up in the story the woman is telling and uncovering the truth shows Allison more about her own life than she wants to admit. If this was not enough, on top of the pressures of her home and work life, Allison is receiving threatening messages every time she is with her secret lover. Someone knows the truth and is not afraid to expose her.

We see as Allison’s life falls apart around her. Her successful career is not enough to hold together her family and amidst a tangled web of lies and deceit one wrong move could destroy everything.

Review: This book somehow managed to be compelling whist uncomfortable to read. The characters were highly dislikeable, almost frustratingly so, and yet whilst Allison’s self-destructive behaviour drove me mad it was also relatable. There is very little good to be found in her situation and any sympathy you would have for her family due to her drinking and overworking quickly evaporates due to her husband’s controlling and critical behaviour.

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The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Synopsis: The Hunting Party tells the story of a New Year’s celebration gone horribly wrong. A group of friends, tied together by the time they shared at university, visit a hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands for their annual New Year’ celebrations. Among this group are four couples, one baby, and singleton Katie. In the space of three days, the secrets and resentments these friends have been holding on to start to take their toll and cracks begin to form in the nostalgia which holds them all together. By New Year’s Day someone is dead and someone else at the lodge is the culprit.

The book switches between a number of viewpoints including members of the group of friends and the workers at the lodge. Alternating between the time after the murder, slowly revealing details about the person’s death, and the events of the two days running up to it, the mystery concludes with a big reveal where all the secrets are uncovered and all questions answered.

Review: First of all, I didn’t hate this book. The cold, unforgiving Scottish Highlands act as the perfect setting for these ‘friends’ to get snowed in, leading to their secrets being exposed and ultimately one of them being murdered. It was interesting having chapters switch between different character’s points of views, if not somewhat inconsistent, and I really enjoyed the side-plot exploring the workers at the Lodge and why anyone would choose to live so isolated. However, whilst the premise was interesting and book easy to read, I did find it underwhelming. I love a good murder mystery and feel like there are other books who do what Foley is attempting but much better.

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The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin

~ Eden Haslam ~ Leave a comment

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Synopsis: The Immortalists follows the stories of 4 siblings who, as children during the ’60s, visit a psychic who gives them the dates of their deaths. These prophecies inform the rest of their lives as each sibling takes their own path to forge an individual future.

Separated in to 4 main sections, the book follows each sibling in turn as they grow older, ultimately reaching the date given to them by the psychic. Stretching from Las Vegas to New York, the book spans decades as it explores the impact the prophecies has had on each sibling, exploring themes of fate, agency, belief and family.

Review: The premise of this book was one that I found so interesting. Would you want to find out when you die? And, if you did, how would that impact the way you choose to live your life?

This philosophical aspect adds a thrill to a book that otherwise simply follows the life of four siblings, and the way the book is split up allows you to fully immerse yourself into the life of each of the Gold children in turn. Whilst this does mean you miss out on part of the lives of the others, an issue that is not resolved in any way, it allows the reader to see four very different results for how someone would live their life supposedly knowing the date of their death.

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