Amy Roberts
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, U.S.
Toptal member since May 22, 2024
Amy is a journalist with two decades of experience creating content for consumer audiences. Having written and edited for Wirecutter, Reviewed.com, and Good Housekeeping, her focus has been on product reviews, affiliate-optimized shopping content, and detailed research into how consumers make purchase decisions. Amy is accomplished in nearly every product category, with unique expertise in lifestyle, health and fitness, home and garden, and beauty and fashion.
Expertise
- Consulting
- Content Management Systems (CMS)
- Content Writing
- Market Research
- Research
- SEO Content
- Web Content
- Writing & Editing
Work Experience
Editor, Consultant, Writer, Proofreader, and Fact Checker
Self-employed
- Edited print and web content for clarity, conciseness, and reader impact.
- Implemented editorial, eCommerce, and affiliate strategies after being consulted by key stakeholders and senior leaders.
- Optimized new and existing content for SEO while preserving readability, leveraging Semrush, Clearscope, and NeuronWriter.
- Pitched and wrote consumer-facing articles on various topics, including fitness, nutrition, health, home, DIY, tech, money, and finance.
- Built online content pages and updated site content in WordPress and various proprietary content management systems.
- Copy-edited, proofread, and fact-checked content before publication.
Managing Editor
USA Today
- Worked at Reviewed.com from USA Today and directed lifestyle content encompassing health, fitness, beauty, style, sleep, money, pets, and sex-tech verticals.
- Supervised a group of 12 colleagues, including five editors and seven writers. I handled training on editorial processes and mentoring to elevate editing and writing skills to produce compelling, informative, and accurate content.
- Approved and honed article topics, edited and proofread content, performed search engine optimization, and built and published content in two content management systems, coordinating workflows using Airtable.
- Strategized and collaborated with executive editors, analyzing consumer demand and interest through Semrush SEO research to explore potential affiliate revenue and partnership opportunities.
- Launched, edited, and occasionally wrote the twice-weekly "as seen on Instagram" reviews of direct-to-consumer products advertised on social media.
Staff Writer – Fitness
The New York Times
- Researched, tested, and wrote buying guides for fitness products on The New York Times' Wirecutter page.
- Wrote a review of the Peloton Bike that ranked number one in search rankings.
- Performed extensive market research to inform buying guides.
Staff Editor
Time Inc./This Old House Magazine
- Pitched lineups, packaged stories, edited, wrote, and supervised the contributions of junior staffers for the front-of-book section, Home Solutions.
- Edited, wrote, and conducted market work for the Shopping column of themed roundups of décor-related products; contributed to special product reports, including the Kitchen and Bath roundup and the TOH Top 100 Products of the Year.
- Executed or oversaw the execution of DIY décor projects, including sourcing materials, designing and troubleshooting, and building, assembling, and installing.
Associate Editor at Good Housekeeping Magazine
Hearst
- Covered 150+ product types within the following categories: consumer electronics, kitchen appliances, cleaning products, textiles and paper products, and home-improvement supplies.
- Edited, wrote, and collaborated on "The Goods" section of product reviews and advice from the Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI); pitched, edited, wrote, and researched two home how-to columns; wrote several cover-lined feature articles.
- Facilitated the production of GHI content for Goodhousekeeping.com for two years until a full-time editor was hired; wrote weekly blog posts on ways to save money.
- Appeared in "GH On TV" syndicated television reports, both as an expert and consumer tester.
Project History
Whole-site Audit for CNN Underscored
Produced a multi-tiered action plan to overhaul the editorial product testing process and improve the quality of consumer-facing reviews.
This project involved analyzing all the staff’s back-end testing processes, from article updating procedures to the quality of the site’s current published content. I then provided recommendations for best practices to streamline editorial production and improve the brand’s position in the crowded product-review editorial market. Finally, I offered editorial guidance on several pieces of published content to show how CNN staff editors might make the words work harder for the reader.
Editorial Launch of Bear Grylls' Outdoors.com
Served as the managing editor for the preliminary launch of Outdoors.com, a content venture site in partnership with Bear Grylls.
I assigned writers, edited copy, managed production, and optimized articles for the content site affiliated with the famed adventurer Bear Grylls. This project also entailed assisting the site director as a managing editor, soliciting new writers, creating process documents, and making affiliate recommendations.
"As Seen on Instagram" Product Reviews for USA Today's Reviewed.com
https://reviewed.usatoday.com/lifestyle/series/as-seen-on-instagramSpearheaded a series of reviews of products "as seen on Instagram" to determine whether they were as good as they claimed on the social media platform.
I vetted pitches and products, assigned writers, and edited reviews related to these product reviews on Reviewed.com. I also successfully pitched articles and packages to Reviewed.com and USA Today social teams for promotion on Instagram, Facebook, and USA Today’s homepage.
Skills
Core
Writing & Editing, Content, SEO Content, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Strategy, Copywriting, Social Media, Affiliate Marketing
Platforms & Tools
Ahrefs, Content Management Systems (CMS), Canva, Clearscope, Asana, NeuronWriter
Other
Google Docs, Content Writing, Research, Web Content, Market Research, WordPress, Semrush, Trello, Airtable, Consulting, Management, SEO Copywriting, Publication
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