Testimonials from Contented customers
Contented customers are indeed contented. They love our online courses.
Thanks to all those customers who have given us feedback. You say what we are too embarrassed to say ourselves, being ever so modest, as typical Kiwis.
Contented clients consistently say the same things, although they say it in a wonderful variety of ways.
Fabulous, fascinating fun, addictive learning
“Finished the Diploma at the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyable and addictive!”
Ian Gray, Cucumber Software, New Zealand
“Once I started, I was enjoying myself so much it was hard to stop! I did the first part quite quickly but spent longer on the last two modules as I spent a while trying to think how best to restructure the gobbledygook web pages. I’m keen to go through those modules again in particular and have another crack at them.”
Ann Cunninghame, Self-employed, New Zealand
“Suzie and I have thoroughly enjoyed the course and are quite sad that we have now finished it. Thanks very much for providing such excellent material. It was interesting, practical and entertaining and we learned heaps. Many thanks for sending us our certificates! These certificates have promptly been laminated and are now in pride of place up on our office wall.”
Tanya and Suzie, Projex Unlimited, New Zealand
“I’ve just finished your wonderful web writing course. Thank you, it’s brilliant. I’m impressed by the work gone into it, the warmth, the humour and clarity, the obvious effort put in to making it instantly digestible.”
Andy Wildman, University of Tasmania, Australia
“I have just completed the Contented diploma course and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thanks for the tenor and the content – light enough but still with lots of learning happening. Great stuff.”
Glenda Fortune, National Library, New Zealand
“I really enjoyed going through the topics and examples. The quizzes were a really good way to check that you’ve understood and digested everything. This is a great learning and revision tool. I feel that going through this course was a very useful exercise and a reality check. The topic where I learned the most was about writing descriptions of graphs. I found that topic quite challenging.”
Aleksandra Cirilovic, Auckland City Council, New Zealand
“I finished the Diploma today. Just wanted to say that the course is really great and I’ll be recommending it to everyone!”
Jo McKenzie, New Zealand
“Wow — I just loved this class so much. Lots of great information, examples and quizzes. I really learned so much.I spent hours looking for the right online class on Writing Web Content! When I found your class through Google I just knew this was the best online class on writing for the web. All the topics in this class helped me feel confident in writing web content. Your class is well-rounded and gives the learner a real-world picture of what makes great web content with plenty of hands-on examples.The best investment I ever made.”
Gina Greisinger, Writing contractor, USA
“The course was really informative — not boring at all!”
Genevieve Spargo, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
“It was fun to do and I liked the useful checklists at the end to help put it into practice.”
Shona Brown, Maritime NZ, New Zealand
“It was fantastic. You certainly walk the talk! I’ve learned some very useful concepts.”
Suzanne Cooper, Impress Communications, Australia
“I have now completed this course and enjoyed it too! Web pages will never look the same.”
Janice Attrill, Food Safety Authority, New Zealand
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and think it is very worthwhile. My thanks to all concerned.”
Jane Battersby, New Zealand
Immediately useful for work
“I thoroughly enjoyed the modules—I took copious notes and learned many very useful strategies for editing web content. I will certainly be putting what I have learned into practice. Many thanks for a well structured and valuable course.”
Jennie McElvie, BVSc, DipTchg, Massey University.
“I’ve now completed all modules of the Contented Course and found them most helpful in appreciating what good writing for the Web is about – although somewhat alarming as I now can see where we need to make changes on our website! I enjoyed the practical examples throughout and thought that the structure of the course was excellent for its focus on the different topics. I have recommended the course to our HR training advisor as something that could be very beneficial to a number of staff at WDC as we roll out distributed content management as part of our CMS implementation next year.”
Polly Anderson, Waikato District Council, New Zealand
“I have benefited from your course and have recommended it to a few people and am writing content commercially now.”
Gagan Virmani, NZ Technologies Pvt Ltd, India
“I enjoyed the course and learnt lots of valuable information which I now intend to put to good use with the redevelopment of our websites.”
Kathryn Sim, Assure Quality Ltd, New Zealand
“I found the course very helpful—even though the hints/points made were quite basic—sometimes eyes have to be opened! Mine were!!! I learnt a lot, made copious notes and will be applying what I have learnt to various aspects of my work position—especially the writing of instructions. I need to get the punch line to the top to whet the appetite. I tend to be a bit verbose. Many thanks for these courses. Took about an hour each and they were great.”
Trevor Davis, Western Bay Council
“My feedback is that the course is very practical and easy to follow. I really liked the heavy use of examples – in particular the before and after examples that clearly illustrated the difference editing can make. As an instructional writer some of the time, I know how difficult it is to create simple but useful quizzes – the ones on the course were excellent, catering to a range of expertise on the part of the learner. Most of my clients are at an in-between stage of publishing: they are mainly using pdfs on website for long documents that will also be printed and available in bound form. From what I have learned in this course, I will now be using more frequent headings that could one day be used as links. I’ll also be thinking harder about plain language.”
Sue Brown, Self-employed, New Zealand
“The course helped immensely as my new job involved designing a website and writing content for a number of websites that I am responsible for. Whilst I knew what frustrated me about some of the websites I used on a regular basis, understanding why has helped me avoid the same pitfalls in designing and writing content for mine.”
Deb Sutton, Dunedin City Council, New Zealand
Why wait? You’ll love Contented online writing courses
Why wait? A better short professional development course on writing for the web is pretty hard to find.
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Buy online now. You’ll never make a better investment.
“Thank you for the opportunity to learn more about web writing. I will definitely use the course content in my future work.”
Monique Hay, Educating NZ, New Zealand
“I found the course very easy to follow and informative. I am moving from writing procedures and manuals to designing an intranet site and found the information applicable to my specific needs.”
Carol Cawsey, Mortgage Choice, Australia
“I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this course. It was easy to follow and being online meant that I was able to work through the different courses in my own time.”
Michelle Kohu, Whakatane City Council
“… well structured, easy to use and very informative and helpful.”
Rob Miller, Shoalhaven City Council, Australia
“I found the Contented course really valuable. It gives clear guidelines on writing and editing website content. The Contented course appealed to me because it was online and self paced. I liked the examples of websites before/ after editing and the checklist in the last module. Each module was broken down into small parts so I found it easy to read onscreen. I have just edited a website for a client using the Contented ‘rules’. She is really happy with the results. I’d be interested in other writing courses of yours in the future. I’m just at the start of my writing and editing career but I know the skills I’ve gained from the course will generate business for me.”
Jo Issa, Self-employed, New Zealand
“I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot. The information was well presented and easy to absorb. I will recommend this course to other people.”
Penny Collins, Auckland Council
“I found the course really informative. It had great use of examples and quizzes and already I have found when reviewing content to go on our website, I can apply what I have learnt.”
Anna Hart, NZ Post, New Zealand
“I really enjoyed all the information on offer. I revised them all the courses, going over my notes and although I haven’t posted much on the Web lately the courses have helped me with business emails and feeling more capable personally. Thanks very much for a very enlightening course!”
Toni Carson, Global Focus, New Zealand
“As I have studied web design, I found this course refreshed my memory in areas such as plain English, placement of text, and use of headings. It will definitely be of use when we restructure our website later on this year.”
Sarah Watts, Office of the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner, New Zealand
“I’ve just completed the Contented course and wanted to let you know that it was easy to use, very interesting and very useful. I’ve learnt a lot that will help me in my work. The course was ideal for me because it was so relevant to my work and easy to fit in around a lot of other commitments.”
Rebecca Sellwood, Sellwood Consulting, New Zealand
“The course is fantastic! I used it straight away in my writing work and it really helped. I also referred back to the material regularly. I love the online, clear format, the examples, and the quiz for each module. It was great that I could just do an hour at a time over three months. And it did go fast! Thank you for an excellent course!”
Rosalie Chamberlain, Self-employed, New Zealand
“Thanks very much for having such a great resource available. I have loads of new skills, and my new mantra is ‘why are you writing this?’ All the information in one place, neatly worked and easy to follow. Thanks again!”
Rex Landy, Symbiont, New Zealand
“This course was clear, methodical, and well-supported with examples. I’ll be putting the lessons I’ve learned to use immediately, for both my own web site and those of clients.”
Laura Edlund, Self-employed, Canada
“I found the Contented online product to be very valuable, not only for web authors but also for everyday writing skills.”
Jacinta Russell, Tamworth Regional Council, Australia
“I completed all modules on Saturday because of the urgent need to apply lessons learned. I am currently involved in developing our department’s intranet, which we will launch soon. This course is very timely and useful. I also found the pages very readable and interesting so I found myself moving on from one module to another. I look forward to knowing my standing in the course. Thank you so much for this learning opportunity.”
Marcia Cecilia Samson, Asia Development Bank, Philippines
“I found the course really useful and it does contain some wonderful hints and tips. Overall rating is excellent.”
Vicki Stephens, National Library, New Zealand
“I found the course very useful—especially for someone like me who has not been previously trained in writing for the Web. I now have a better understanding of how search engines work.”
John Morton, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
“I found the course very useful with lots of very handy tips.”
Caroline Haji-Demetri, British Council, United Kingdom
“I’ve just completed the editing in action course — the last course — and want to say what a great last course that was. It will be so useful and the tips are clear and easy to follow. I’ve already blundered my way through writing a number of web pages before taking your course so I have a fair bit of “editing in action” to do now. This whole online course has been clear and easy to follow and extremely relevant. I’ve been surprised by how much I have enjoyed it. I’m also enjoying your regular email newsletters and tips in those. There is room on my wall at work for the diploma certificate and I will display it with pride. It’s a long time since I’ve studied and it’s been a pleasure.”
Claire Giblin, New Zealand
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Unexpectedly challenging
“Thank you for this great course. Even right from the first module, it made me very aware of the shortcomings of several websites I’ve been involved with – and as a result of doing the course I’ll be looking at content with new eyes. The challenge now will be to put the excellent advice into practice! As I did the course I was also observing the clarity and simplicity of your course design, page layout, explanations and so on. What a wonderful model to follow.”
Janet McFadden, National Library, New Zealand
“The online course has been both an eye-opener and a rude awakening. The format is excellent and worked beautifully for me.”
Larry Eradus, INSAFrica, South Africa
“Contented’s training is unexpectedly challenging. Don’t go into it thinking you will romp through, picking up a few tips. You can find hidden riches in that deceptive simplicity. Of course it ruins the Net as you pause to analyse the blunders that once simply caused annoyance and propelled you elsewhere… Nevertheless this course is confidently recommended.”
C. McG, Public Servant (Comms and Training), New Zealand
“I’ve found the course excellent. It really opened my eyes on how to write for the Web. Before taking the course I was a little sceptical of its value having written technical papers and for scientific journals, however as I said, the course was a real eye opener!”
Alastair Fairweather, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
“What a fabulous feeling to know I have finished the course. However, the richness of what I learnt will continue to be developed and added to in my job as well as my study. The course had depth, even though there were minimal ‘grey wall’ of words in the course content it never compromised the value and quality of the set objectives. The different links and opportunity to preview test results were excellent study strategies to engage and consolidate my learning. Thank you for your support.
Teremoana Hodges, Learning Media, New Zealand
“[I] found it very cleverly designed, enjoyable to do and really enlightening. It has really changed my thinking & approach to my business writing and I am looking forward to using all the tips and guidelines that have been provided. I love the checklists in the last module and the course has been beautifully summarised in this. Will be really handy to put up in my workstation for regular reference.
Susan Fernandes, Ministry of Health, New Zealand
“I really enjoyed your course. I found the presentation straightforward and very interesting. Amazing the many things happening on a web page that you’re not consciously aware of but make such a difference.”
Tracey Rolls, Tamworth Regional Council, Australia
“It was really informative and reinforced most of the things I already knew on the job on how to manage our online content, and at the same time I learned new things which would be very helpful at work. Happy to report too that I took the quizzes and that I got high marks, yay!”
Cristina Samson, Department of Building and Housing, New Zealand
“I found the course an enjoyable and sometimes challenging learning experience; giving me a useful set of tools, and hopefully turning me into a better writer & editor.”
Mark Richards, Ministry of Health, New Zealand
Easy to follow
“I found it all very clear and easy to work through. You’ve done a good job. I hope I remember what you’ve taught. It will be very helpful for my online writing. I’m looking forward to getting into the writing now and applying the course material.”
Barbara Ryan, Waikato University, New Zealand
“I have found it very useful, and learned a lot from it. The course is very well set-out, and follows its own teachings.”
Roly Hermans, Educating NZ, New Zealand
“I have found the course great— easy to follow and packed with practical tips. I will still be referring to the modules while we still have access.”
Bridget Latter, Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand
“It was great, so easy to read and follow. Thank you for providing such a great tool.”
Kate Kemp, Food Safety Authority, New Zealand
“Congratulations on providing such a helpful set of modules. They were easy to follow and were both interesting and challenging, without taking up too much time.”
David Lunn, NZFSA, New Zealand
“I found the course great. Easy to use, the many examples helped get the message across and the quizzes were a great way to ensure I had a good understanding of the topic.”
Michaela Stevens, Tamworth Regional Council, Australia
“I am really chuffed to have completed this diploma. I found it really insightful. As an ex-journalist who now manages public relations I realise that web writing is not the same as writing for print media. Particularly that a story written for print does not have the same appeal when on the Web. Correct, concise, credible, and above all, clear communication. That’s my aim in all writing.”
Colleen Ervine, Communications Manager, Horowhenua District Council, New Zealand
Fills a gap in the market: value, convenience
“Contented training was a solid foundation with a great capacity to reduce the number of enquiries we received from the public, because the information they see on our web site is meaningful and understandable.”
Michael Bourke and the team, Tamworth Regional Council, Australia
“The courses were very practical and well-written, and were good value for money. With limited time for study, online learning was convenient and flexible. I’m looking forward to hearing more about future Contented courses.”
Brian Sidlo, Australia
“I enjoyed the course, and learnt a lot. The information was presented in a straightforward, practical way, and the examples and exercises throughout helped to reinforce the points made. The quiz at the end of each module was also useful to help cement the concepts learned I found the initial follow-up and registration process to be efficient and effective. Thank you very much.”
Nadine McMahon, Guild Group, Australia
“I liked the course. I thought it was good and I liked the set-your-own-pace style.”
Graham Boyle, Otago University, New Zealand
“I think the course is excellent and addresses common issues and areas we can be blind to when trying to put together good websites. The course fills gaps in the learning market and in an easy to follow format. Big learning curve with CONTENTED even after doing lots of reading and study about writing for the Web.”
Karen Pinnell, New Zealand
A model of good online teaching
“I was once a trainer so I’m quite critical, but the course was very good. It was specific, to-the-point, easy-to-follow and relevant. I just need to put it into practice now.”
Belinda Corcoran, Fonterra, New Zealand
“It was light hearted and easy to do, but provided some really useful tools. Each module was clearly explained and straightforward to complete. I liked the way that sections were summarised.”
Ellen Dawson, Transpower, New Zealand
“It was a pleasure completing this Diploma. The courses were very well laid out and quite easy to comprehend, with lots of examples. The content of the courses was highly relevant to the current trends and the knowledge gained from this has helped me understand the nuances of web writing to the most. Congratulations to you for developing this Diploma.”
Virin Gomber, New Zealand
“I’m impressed with the course. The last module ‘Editing in action’ really brought it all together nicely. Even having done the Write Group writing for the web course I found it valuable. I’ve also found myself referring back to modules during my working day so it continues to be useful. Also I printed off the QA tests to refer to.”
Matt Allen, Transpower, New Zealand
“This was a really great course. Each module was very clear and easily understood. Each topic content was just the correct length (i.e not too long to read) and examples used were understandable.”
Lisa Pinkerton, Tamworth Regional Council, Australia
They gained confidence, and not just with web writing
“I found this course extremely useful and informative; it is very well matched to my role as a web publisher for DOC. I now feel empowered and confident to provide excellent web content.”
Peter Huggins, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
“In a way, I owe my business to Contented. I first took up web writing after reading Rachel’s Web Word Wizardry. Later, I bought a Contented course on CD — one of your first, I think. And now your Diploma course has come at a perfect time to refresh my enthusiasm for writing good quality content. It gave me back the oomph to persuade clients to put readers first. The course exercises revealed a few bad habits, too! I hope you get a great response to your Diploma. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.”
Barbara Thomas, Clarity Web Planning, Australia
“I learned enough in the first Contented course to give me confidenceto get started organising the content of a client’s website. I allowed about an hour to complete each course and I found myself getting really excited about doing the next one. The material is easy to read, and I was surprised how much I knew when I took the short test at the end of each session. Every day I found myself critiquing other people’s web content – even brochures and reports! When I had completed ten courses, and applied what I had learned daily, our draft was well organised, the text was tight, the links were in. Then, with even more confidence, I went in again with a ‘knife’. My editing skills had improved so much that I could easily make my own work even clearer and more convincing.”
Christine Toner, Marketing Coach, New Zealand
“The Contented course was clear, easy to follow and packed with practical advice and information – just like a good web page should be (as I now know!). Even for someone with many years of media and corporate writing experience, it proved a great guide to writing web content that attracts readers and gets results. In fact, I’m sure I’ll be a better writer generally for having completed it. I’m looking forward to going through the modules over and again in the next few months as I put the advice into practice and hone my web writing skills.”
Laurie Sullivan, Journalist, Australia
“I really enjoyed this course — found it easy to follow and great reinforcement throughout the modules and then in the quizzes. Feel a lot more confident about writing for the Web. Great that I have access to it for a length of time as I think I may need to go back and check some of the points.”
Deborah Wansbrough, NZ Teachers Council, New Zealand
“… an excellent course for covering the fundamentals. Topics are designed in bite-size chunks and written so clearly that you have no trouble picking it up. I will purchase the book at some stage too so that I have a hard copy reference of this fantastic information.”
Hayley Grace, Transpower
“I did enjoy the course and found it to be very useful.”
Chris Bartel, British Council, United Kingdom
“The Contented course [...] was really informative and reinforced most of the things I already knew on the job on how to manage our online content, and at the same time I learned new things which would be very helpful at work.”
Cristina Samson, New Zealand
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Scientists, academics and communicators approve
“Recently finished the Web Writer’s Course. Very much enjoyed it. A lot of useful information learned. Look forward to putting acquired skills into practice for our new website!”
David Jackson, Research Assistant, University of Otago
“I loved it. In 2008 I did a post-graduate course in technical communications and felt I needed to revisit and revitalise my technical communication knowledge. Your course taught me so much more. Learning about SEO, headlines, summaries and hyperlinks was great as was blogging and using images online. I came away feeling confident enough to contribute to web site content – up to now I have created documents only. I am a contractor and have worked for government departments so learning about images for accessibility was really valuable.”
Debra Jones, Independent government contractor, Australia
“… an entertaining and profound learning experience. MUCH better than just reading a book.”
Christine Jacobsen, Porirua City Council
“I enjoyed the interactive web tutorials and the great pictures. I’m a visual and reader-writer learner so I took lots of notes & drew diagrams. Your pages were very clear and your instructions simple. However, even as an ex-teacher I found your content interested me. I will be able to use many of the new learnings in my job as a Communications Manager with Horowhenua District Council. As a new online learner, I think the quality of your content and presentation kept me motivated.”
Raewyn Perry, Communications Manager, Horowhenua District Council
“It was easy to understand and I actually enjoyed the learning process. Well done!”
Laura Allum, DOC
“I feel that I’ve learnt something new which is really great. The quiz made me think too.”
Heather Pearce, University of Canterbury
“I’m a scientific editor who has recently moved into developing online content, and I was skeptical that the course could teach me much! I was quite wrong. Your course is full of useful information that is well-presented, engaging and even funny. I was also impressed that you were able to present the content with clarity and simplicity, but without condescension. I would certainly recommend your course to anyone interested in web writing — in fact, I think I’ll go and post the link to my Facebook page now!”
Meredith Ross, Science Writer, Waikato University
“I enjoyed the course, and found it clear, concise and helpful. I’m sure it will improve my work on building websites, as well as writing for them. There were many woolly areas I had about what worked or didn’t work in setting up web pages, and those have been cleared up nicely.”
Jennifer Jeffries, Communications and Marketing Co-ordinator, Auckland University of Technology
“It was a fantastic way to learn and everything was explained clearly. What I liked about it the most was being able to complete the course in my own time at my pace. Thanks very much for the opportunity. I will definitely be recommending these courses to others.”
Sandra Groves, DOC
“I found your courses to be very interesting and well structured. I learned a lot and really enjoyed completing each session as they built on each other.”
Emma Ramsey-Brown, Cancer Society
“Here I was thinking that I knew something about writing for the web. But au contraire! The course turned out to be a real eye opener for me. Not only was the course presentation clear, quirky, attractive and often challenging but the scope of the 10 modules far exceeded my expectations of what the Diploma actually covered. As I worked through the modules, unknown territories that were on my radar (but had seemed in the too hard basket) were one by one addressed. This means that I’ve not only completed a web content diploma but also have pointers re how to start blogging, something I’ve put off for a year or so.
I think this course is really for good for micro businesses (sole operators) who may not have access to a web site team and the dissemination of information that flows from being around people who work in this area, day in and out. One of the course’s best features was its flexibility and the user’s ability to readily move back and forward through each of the ‘pages’, refreshing as necessary. I also loved the ability to reset the test and work towards 100%, reinforcing the learning process.
The software operated well in Safari and my initially flurry of queries were promptly answered by Contented support staff and Alice. And last but not least, I found it an incredibly cost and time-effective course that was anything but superficial. Armed with my new Contented tools, I feel better equipped to venture into and operate in the brave world of the fast evolving web. Will also be looking out for and enrolling in extra Contented courses.”
Barbara Cameron-Smith, Independent consultant, Australia