Category Archives: Blogging

Symbiotic Relationship Between SEO and Content Management Key To Future Gains

Blogging, content marketing, Copywriting, SEO, Small Business Marketing

SEO and Content Management

The major buzzword around SEO campaigns these days is ‘quality’ – and predominantly it is being used in reference to content.

Indeed, Google seems to have developed an obsession with content management and, with it becoming increasingly difficult to successfully harness the majority of SEO techniques without incurring penalties, content is King.

This doesn’t mean, however, that quality content alone can deliver a successful SEO campaign – many great writers don’t know the first thing about online marketing strategy, let alone site mapping.  What it does indicate, however, is that there needs to be a symbiotic relationship between SEO and content management – the two need to go hand in hand.

Objectifying Quality

The almost contradictory reality within new SEO techniques is that Google’s algorithm tools are now judging quality; something that is generally subjective.  Indeed, recently, Google’s Vice President, Amit Singhal, stated that – “If you build high-quality content that adds value, and your readers and your users seek you out, then you don’t need to worry about anything else”.

Ensure Quality Content:

Questions to ask yourself

1. Is it unique?

2. Is it useful?

3. Is it well written?

Still, in the absence of each and every website being manually assessed by content and design professionals, with niche industry expertise, there will always be techniques that you can successfully implement, in order to enhance your website’s success.  And, on that note, Singhal also pointed out that discounting SEO would be like discounting marketing in general.

Importance of Trust and Genuine Interaction

If quality is key to content, then genuine intent is key to SEO and, in truth, once more, the two are interconnected.  Quality, unique and useful content is a major source of improving trust.  All of this can be lost, however, if you then partake in ‘shortcut’ SEO initiatives, such as paid link schemes, or over indulge in advertising.

One of the most important elements of trust – both online and in the ‘real’ word – is making yourself known.  Google seems to be intent on creating an online marketplace, which applauds the same attributes appreciated in the outside world – just with a more futuristic Star Trek-esque pizzazz.  Simply, as online marketing evolves to become ever more important, to both global and local businesses, becoming a trusted individual – as opposed to just a trusted website -is key to your success.

The process to making yourself known, in this respect, is really quite straight forward and simply revolves around developing a personal profile – a photograph, brief history, business address, certification, testimonials (real ones) and links to your personal Facebook page – is really all that is required.

There are many other techniques to support your trust building campaign, but truly they all revolve around being an active, genuine and useful member of your online community.  Yes, link building with high trust-ranking sites, such as; Universities and Government Offices, helps, but the consensus seems to be that if your content is quality and your interaction genuine and thorough, then you will achieve this anyway.

Other Trust Building Tips

(taken from ‘Proving Stuff on the Web’)

 

1. Clean and clear design

2. Correct spelling and grammar

3. Quality photograph of authors

4.Citations to other trustworthy sites

5. High quality graphics, screenshots,

or other images
6. Sign of social adoption (likes, shares)

7. External validation from reviewed platforms

8. Short, simple and memorable domain/brand name

9. Well reasoned, logical and intelligent content
10. Professional logo

11. On site interaction and engagement

12. Frequently updated content

13. Clear indication from author if/when bias or conflict of interest exists

Combining Your SEO With Content Management

With the basics of both content creation and SEO strategy firmly in place, it is now time to create a symbiotic relationship between the two, in an all encompassing campaign.  Indeed, such is the benefit of this symbiosis that some major agencies have even merged, in order to reap the rewards.  Loud Interactive and Alpha Zeta’s was one prime example, with some suggesting that the combined capacity had created the “ultimate web traffic stimulant”.

Fundamentally, this balance is part of ensuring that you are not simply trying to get as many people to your website as possible, but rather you are attracting the right visitors – those that will translate into tangible benefits.  This is unless you are running a site purely to make money from Adsense – in which case one-time visitors are what you are after.

To simplify things into a four-step programme of challenges; you are looking to achieve the following through your campaign:

1. Brand Identity

2. Sales

3. Interaction

4. Repeat Visitors

Within this 4-step programme, it is clear to see that quality is of primary importance.

With regards to your brand identity, it is imperative that people associate your brand/company name with quality – in terms of Information, Service and Product.  This is a major component of trust-building and it needs to be backed up at all times by quality content.

SEO techniques, such as; guest blogging and link building, as well as on site optimisation, are crucially important in ensuring that you can attract traffic to your site, but it is the reputation you can establish within your target base that will, ultimately, have more of an impact on your sales.

Interaction is the next vital component of this four-step programme and its benefits are multi-faceted.

Firstly, by inspiring and encouraging an individual to interact on your site, you are making them feel like an active and participatory member of your community.  The better a reputation your site gets, the keener other individuals and companies will be to become a part of it.

This interaction, too, develops increased trust and, of course, the additional comments and ideas from members of your community will help to enhance the benefit of your content.  It can also serve as a marketing tool in itself, by attracting other people to enter into the discussion and, thus, visit your site.

The final step involves being able to attract repeat traffic.  One sure way to ensure the success of your website is to develop an active and loyal support base.  All of the above components contribute towards this and it is crucial to maximise interaction and provide users with the information that they want.

Another major factor in securing such a loyal support base is to ensure consistency, both in terms of quality and frequency.  It is crucial that you are on top of current trends and, thus, are consistently able to provide visitors with the information they desire.  This involves having content writers who, as well as being excellent writers versed in your specific industry or sector, also have excellent research capabilities.  Developing strong relationships and partnerships with other industry leaders is also crucial, in this respect, to ensure you stay one step ahead.

Final Thoughts

Simply, it is highly beneficial to develop your content and SEO campaigns together, in order to ensure that everything fits into an overriding website management strategy.

Quality content is only quality if it is what your customers want and if it translates into sales.  Likewise, a successful SEO campaign, which attracts traffic to your site, is only truly beneficial if it is the right traffic and, thus, translates into sales.

A successful dual content and SEO strategy can help you to develop your brand and truly pave the way to becoming a successful, highly trusted, quality market leader.

Our guest author: Jonathan is the CEO of Fresh Fire Media, a company that specialises in fully comprehensive website development – from the building and hosting, to the content, SEO and marketing.  With an integrated service, they provide a well oiled, collaborative digital presence that delivers exceptional results with longevity.

The Use Of Rel=’Author’ In SEO Posts And Articles

Blogging, Copywriting, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Search engines like Google are always on the lookout for ways to identify websites with authentic high quality content, from spam sites using poor keyword-stuffed content in an attempt to increase their rankings. Google’s most recent algorithms were created to help improve the quality of search rankings, ensuring that users are always privy to the best and most relevant results for their searches. One of the latest tools Google has used to improve search quality is the Rel=Author attribute. In this article we are going to discuss how it works and the impact it has had on SEO posts and articles.

Using the Rel=Author attribute to link back to your Google profile helps search engines recognise your content has being legitimate.

What is Rel=Author?

The Rel=Author attribute is used by writers to let Google and other search engines know that their work is legitimate. Basically they tag the content they have written with a link back to their profile. It is fairly straight forward to set up and is particularly useful for writers than produce guest posts on other websites and blogs. All you need to do is insert the attribute with a link back to your Google Plus profile at the bottom of your post. For example the author will write ‘By Joe Bloggs’ using the Rel=Author attribute to link their name back to their profile. You then need to add a link to the website or blog you contribute to, to your ‘contribute to’ section on your Google Plus profile. It could not be simpler!

How does it help search engines?

Using Rel=Author helps search engines to understand the authority of a website and trust the person that has written the content. It also makes it much easier to identify spammers that have stolen content from other websites. If a spammer takes the content from a website using the Rel=Author attribute, this will be picked up by Google, as the link will be visible within the content. This attribute can also help to improve search experiences as even if a website has a low page rank, if the author (marked as Rel=Author) has authority, the content will be valued higher by search engines.

Using the Rel=Author attribute can help search engines to improve their search results and filter out spam websites.

Benefits for the SEO content writer

Along with improving a website’s credibility, using the Rel=Author attribute can also benefit the website in terms of visibility. Displaying the image of the writer of the content next to the search result is likely to generate higher click through rates. Using the image gives the search result authenticity and gives it a greater chance of it being clicked on by users.

For writers of SEO articles and blog posts, the attribute is also beneficial in terms of personal brand building. Readers will begin to associate your face (displayed in your author image) with your blog and the content you produce for other blogs that you guest post on. Connecting the content you write to your profile will help you gain recognition for your opinions on niche subjects of interest.

Conclusion

Search engines like Google appear to be attempting to transform the World Wide Web from a place of anonymity to a place made up of identities. Google’s latest use of algorithms like Penguin have shown that they are keen to filter out spam and move away from keywords and meaningless backlinks in their consideration of websites’ search engine optimisation. Rel=Author has already proved to be very popular with SEO content creators looking to gain recognition for their high quality work and build up a credible reputation online. The recent emphasis on author ranking suggests that it will play a significant role in future organic search rankings and is something that all businesses looking to improve their SEO should consider implementing into their content.

Written by Nathan Griffiths who recommends this SEO Company Hertfordshire based in the UK.

How You Can Use Instagram For Marketing

Blogging, Instagram marketing, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, , ,

instagram marketingIt takes more than just having an Instagram account to market products on the site.  There’s a lot more to it than just posting a bunch of photos, too. You need to have a full blown strategy that works and that is effective.  So before you start blindly posting pictures of your products and taking over your followers’ feeds, make sure that you have a good grasp of what types of photos are the best for marketing purposes.  The following are some great ways to use your photos for marketing your company on Instagram.

Think of the Environment of the Photos

Not everyone has a product that works in every photo or that could really be called interesting.  If you find that no matter how you shoot the picture you’re just not putting out photos that have that ‘wow factor’, then you need to rethink the photo shoot.

It may be that the item is boring but your background is boring, too.  You can really boost a photo by showing an action shot of the item with interesting people using or wearing it.  A great location could also be a way to turn out a more interesting photo.  If your office is by the beach, try a setting with waves crashing in the background.  If you live in the desert, use some cactus with a beautiful sunset to make the photo phenomenal, for example.

Show the End Result

Many people in the service industry, like beautician, car detailers and other industries do a wonderful thing for their customers.  If your company is in this type of industry then you should post photos that show what you started with and how it turned out.  Post a photo of the hair before you cut and styled it and then after.  You can do the same with the nasty dirty car that you made look brand new.  This is a great marketing technique that has been used for years and has been very effective. You might also benefit from paying for instagram followers but remember they won’t give you interaction, only a boost to your numbers.

Don’t Forget Geotags

You may not know this but you can actually geotag your photos so your fans can see your location.  Even if you have a website, there will be local people who you want to visit your brick and mortar store.  This is a great forum to get more people to your store or physical location by offering discounts for those who say they saw your photo contest on Instagram.  You could also offer a discount to the first two or three people who show up and says they saw your ad campaign on the site.   Geotagging is a great way to get your physical location out to a wide group of people that live in your physical area.

Instagram is a great marketing tool if you use it effectively.  Don’t forget to make your photos interesting to all your followers by showing your products in interesting locations or by showing before and after pictures that highlight your service.  Don’t forget to geotag your pictures so you can get more people to your physical location.

What other tips would you add?

Our guest blogger info:
Susan Darling loves Instagram and writing tips and hints to help others learn how to get the most from it when using it for business or for pleasure. She posts photos of nature scenes and flowers and also has an IG account for her business.

What is Evergreen Content?

Blogging, Copywriting, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, ,

What is evergreen content

You know that content is an important factor for SEO.  You might also have read about the importance of producing ‘evergreen content’ in order to give your site lasting SEO value and keep visitors coming back to your pages repeatedly. So what is evergreen content? And how can businesses use it to drive web traffic and SEO results? Let’s take a look.

When it comes to content marketing, evergreen content is perhaps the most important staple that you need to have in your copywriting diet.

However, many people do not understand the definition of evergreen content, nor why it is so important. We looked at some of the key principles behind evergreen content creation, and analyzed how it can make such a difference to your website.

Defining Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is a piece of writing that will retain its relevance long into the future, ideally for months, if not years. This means that a piece of evergreen content will attract visitors to your site, even if something has been written six months ago. If you work in an industry that is reasonably stagnant and slow to evolve, then your content could be valuable for years at a time.

While it is true that Google loves original content, if you search a particular keyword, you’re still going to be shown the best piece of writing for your needs, irrespective of when it was produced.

As a result, a piece of evergreen content will still see an initial spike in visitors when it is first uploaded or indexed by Google, but in the time that follows, there will still be regular traffic to the page, rather than a total drop off in visitor numbers.

How to Write Evergreen Contentwriting

The best approach to take to evergreen content is to look at it as a resource post. By approaching it in this manner, you will be able to build up your reputation for communicating quality information and quickly earn a regular readership for your site.

Write your content in a way that will be easy to update should anything change within the industry. For example, if you are writing resources for local SEO, you will want to be able to easily amend anything should new citation techniques, for example, become available, or Google implement an algorithm that changes how local businesses can rank.

This is in contrast to a regular blog post, where you might talk about a recent event within the industry or speculation regarding something that might occur. While this might be valuable content, it is likely to lose its relevance quickly, and regular posts of this manner will be needed to maintain traffic.

Your Content Marketing Strategy

Please do not take this as an instruction to stop writing blogs and other spontaneous posts. While evergreen content has the potential to be a long-term SEO benefit, you should remember that a variety of writing is the best approach to bringing in traffic and additional business.

Rather than making evergreen content your only strategy, make it a central part of it, and fill your site with a range of resources, from white papers to ‘How To’ guides, and you’ll quickly find your traffic and site popularity on the rise.

Peter Marino is a digital marketing specialist who works with small and medium sized businesses to develop high-quality website content that helps companies rank higher on search engines.