Category Archives: Blogging

Is Guest Posting On Its Way Out?

Blogging, Content creation, content marketing, guest blogging, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, The Importance Of Content Creators, , ,

Guest-PostingGuest posts have long been a fantastic way of boosting the SEO value of a website. The value of such a post is in the link left either in the content or in the author biography at the bottom. The link back to your website enhances your SEO value and takes you up the Google rankings.

Once it was used en masse since the more links you had the higher you would rank. We’ve now shifted to a stage where the PageRank (PR) of a website acts as the defining factor for how valuable a guest post is.

With the shift to social media as the most important part of SEO, some question whether guest posting is about to come to an end.

What Will End?

Guest posting itself will never end. Websites always need quality content to share via social media. And they need the talented writers to do it. What it will end is this focus on quantity over quality. Sites will no longer see it necessary to post hundreds of guest posts on low quality websites, and thus creating link neighbourhoods.

Blogs with high PRs will suddenly become more valuable and webmasters will have to become pickier over what they publish. The value of a guest post will actually go up.

The Social Media Link

Guest posting has a direct link to social media. To entice people to interact with you on Facebook and Twitter you need to trigger the interaction. A guest post can create debate and an emotional reaction. This is what sparks popularity on these platforms. They go hand-in-hand.

There are only so many times you can repeat the same things on your website. And the same goes for everybody else.

To freshen things up a website might bring in a guest blogger to add their opinions and style of writing. It’s an attraction in itself. It’s like a newspaper asking a celebrity to write a column in favour of using one of their regular writers.

What about Guest Posting Websites?

Guest posting websites which host nothing but guest posts will suffer. Google expects you to have a certain proportion of unique content. If you have nothing but a selection of guest posts this makes your website a directory. It doesn’t actually offer anything on its own. Google partially rates a website based on what it would look like if you stripped everything away and left just your original content.

You should aim to have at least 75 per cent of original content on your website. This doesn’t apply to getting other writers to produce content. It applies to posts where a link points to another website for SEO purposes.

Bigger than Ever

In fact, guest posting is likely to become bigger than ever before. Since everyone demands higher quality content the writers who can’t produce such content will gradually fade away. The focus will be on skilled writers who can capture an audience. It makes it even more important to make connections with professionals who know the rules of proper guest posting.

Our guest post was contributed by Kenneth Adams. He is an avid blogger who shares his knowledge about blogging and SEO through his articles. He says that he finds Adelaide SEO a great source of information on SEO and blogging techniques.

Do You Have What It Takes To Run A Website?

Blogging, Content creation, content marketing, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Web Design

Running a website is no easy feat and it’s something that a lot of people underestimate. How hard can it be to draw a few pictures and upload a few articles on a topic you find interesting right? Well quite hard as it turns out, and it actually takes a certain kind of person to handle the unique pressures and challenges of running a website. If you’re thinking of getting into the world of blogging/webmastering then, or if you’re building a website in order to promote your business then, the question is simple: do you have those skills? Are you the right kind of person?

Here’s what you need to be in order to thrive online…

Driven:

motivationOne of the most difficult things about being a webmaster is also one of the things that can make is so appealing as a full time job. You see you’re not going to have anyone breathing over your neck and telling you what needs to be done, and this can actually make life quite difficult when you need that bit of motivation or when you’re feeling tired.

It’s all too easy as a webmaster then to wake up feeling rough and to decide that today you’re only going to write five articles rather than ten. In order to succeed you need to know that very few excuses are good enough, and you need to be able to force yourself to work even when you don’t fancy it.

Business Minded:

Running a website is essentially running a small business. There are overheads to consider, there’s marketing and there’s administration. In order to make your site a hit, you need to be a jack of all trades and you need to know how to quickly and efficiently create something that’s going to make money. If you have experience as a businessman or woman, then this is actually one of the things that will help you the most in making your site into a hit.

Analytical:

You also need to be someone who’s analytical and who’s able to look at the statistics and maths behind what you’re trying to accomplish. While you need to be a ‘big picture’ person, you also need to be able to slow down and to look at the finer details in order to find bugs in your code, or to understand why your clicks have gone down in response to recent changes. Mathematicians will have a big advantage in running a website.

Creative:

That said, having an analytical brain with an understanding of business isn’t what you really need to make a compelling website – that’s just going to result in a spreadsheet. As well then you also need creative vision and an eye for attractive graphics. The main way that people are going to interact with your site is through vision, so you need to make sure that your site looks beautiful and eye catching and you need to give it a UI that you can feel proud of. No pressure then…

Optimistic:

While running a site can be highly rewarding and a lot of fun, there will be days when you want to pull all your hair out. In order to be successful then it’s crucial that you can deal with those days and that you don’t let them get to you. You also need to be hardy, resilient and ultimately quite confident in order to believe that your site can succeed. Because if you don’t believe in it, then no one else will and you’ll eventually end up just giving up. Go and watch Rocky then apply his attitude to your site…

Passionate:

 

Perhaps most important of all is that you’re passionate about what you do. You need to be bringing a website into the world that you care about deeply and that you’re incredibly proud of. If you’re not, then the end result is always going to be disappointing and you’ll have a hard time marketing it too. When you’re passionate it will come across in your marketing, in your content and in the quality of the end product. Everything else on this list can be learned and developed (or just outsourced). Passion though is something that you need from the start.

Our guest blogger, John Miller is a freelance blogger who enjoys sharing his personal and work experiences online. He writes for Webfirm, a renowned email marketing company based in Australia. His hobbies include painting and calligraphy.

The Importance Of Content Creators

Blogging, Content creation, content marketing, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Web Design, ,

digital content creatorsLesser Known Positions in Web Design

When you think about a web design company, there are positions or people that come to mind right away. The designer is usually the first person you think about but this is not the only person that helps in making extraordinary websites. A good web design firm will have multiple people who each have their own job to do. By specializing in just one area, the entire group can work much more efficiently. They can each focus on their task and make sure it’s done to the maximum effort. Apart from the designer, there are other people who will work on your site to ensure it is of the highest quality and usability. These lesser known positions are just as important to the overall web design project.

SEO Writers

The job of an SEO writer is to research different keywords and content that should be included in your site. This person will make suggestions to get your site the most traffic possible. A good SEO writer will help your site be more accessible and found on the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo! etc.   Most potential customers will use these search engines to look for whatever they need. It is a good idea to hire an experienced SEO writer because they can make a world of difference in terms of the amount of traffic your site will receive from potential customers. This is not an area where you can settle on working with just a mediocre person.

Internet Copywriter

This person’s job is to create written content on the page to attract targeted viewers. They will work closely with the SEO writer and together form a team whose only job is to attract targeted traffic to your site. For example, let’s say your business is carpet cleaning in the Houston, TX area. Some keywords you may want to use would be “carpet cleaning in Houston”. The reason for this is that anybody who searches for this keyword already wants the type of business you offer and is ready to hire somebody. The internet copywriter will work hand in hand with you and the SEO writer to come up with a list of keywords that will get your site the targeted traffic it needs to convert it into actual jobs.

All in all, these lesser known jobs are just as important in a web design firm. Keep in mind that smaller firms will have one person who handles multiple facets of the job. That is completely ok as long as they can provide the quality work and attention that your site deserves. All large firms started small at one point so I will definitely vouch for a good professional firm even if it is made up of only a few people. Getting back to these positions, they all fill important tasks that have to be completed to make your site the best it can possibly be. Do not overlook any of these services and make sure you get the best people working on your side.

Our Guest Blogger, Riley Hill loves self-improvement books and plans to one day write his own book. He also loves learning everything that is new about Internet marketing thus it’s common to find him reading articles at PrimeOnlineSolutions.com a Miami based web design company. Moreover, he has a passion for learning in just about any field.

Impact Of Typography On Web Design + Tips & Trends

Blogging, content marketing, Small Business Marketing, Web Design, , ,

Typography In Web Design

Back in 2006, I read an article published by Oliver Reichenstein. Even in 2013, one thing about it really sticks out to me. It is the rather simple point that 95% of what is on the web is typography. I had never thought about that before, but it is true. The internet is primarily text based, even on videos of images where there is at least some context explained in the description. Which means that the majority of the web is made up of typography in one form or another.

This might seem rather obvious, but I had genuinely never considered the true impact of typography on the web, or in web design. Even a website that is almost entirely images would have to have some text t get to a secondary page. If you had no secondary page and it was all a single page with no text on it at all, you still have the typography used for the URL. There is no way to have a website that doesn’t incorporate typography in a viewable form in some way. That doesn’t even take into consideration the text used for coding behind the scenes.

For me, this is an incredible fact. The web is this interwoven collection of languages and text, something I might never have realized had I not read Mr. Reichenstein’s piece.

When looking to effectively incorporate typography into your web design, it is about more than just going with what looks pretty on the page. By thinking of it as being dynamic in the face of so much content, you instead have to stand out among that 95%. Using certain tips and examining the trends can be a good way to do that.

Trends In 2013

Grunge fonts

  • Grunge Fonts – Fonts that throw back to the 90’s grunge movement, such as what you would have seen on album covers and show posters, have been making the rounds a lot this year. Especially on websites for apps and programs. A few examples are All Ages, Scorched Earth and the more grunge chic font Dirty and Classic.
  • Large Fonts – Web designs that use huge lettering as their primary design have been more popular this year than ever before. They sit in the center of the page, acting as a header with smaller fonts beneath that better expands on what they are trying to advertise. Often these designs don’t rely entirely on typography, but are broken up by images and sign-up forms. A good example if ShopFlow, which uses large text but doesn’t let it entirely overpower the site.
  • Going Vintage – A lot of vintage looking typography is being used lately, and this is probably my favorite trend of the year. Whether it is handwritten script or something that looks like it might have been made from a classical typewriter, there are some really great examples out there. Pinfluence has several types of typography on their site, but the header is very vintage in look. Another rather nice font I have seen used on several blogs lately is Mercury Script from Creative Market.

Tips For Using Typography In Web Design

  • Keep It Simple – I am not one of those people who will insist that you use a single font for a web design. It comes out looking bland, quite often, or more like a blog post than a website. But you shouldn’t overdo it, either. Two or three fonts will usually suffice, and create a dynamic design that can really pop.
  • Offer Plenty of Empty Space – Having your text too close together can ruin the design, even with the perfect font selected. Properly measure the space between every line, so it looks more clean and less cluttered. You should also measure space surrounding the area containing the text, as well as the kerning (space between letters). All pacing should be consistent, and these subtle changes can make a big difference, especially when using serif fonts.
  • Use Pronounced Headers – Whether you are doing an entire paragraph with a more pronounced font/size, or just the beginning letter, it is important to pronounce the beginning of sections with something that stands out. With an article, this can be as simple as just using bold to breakup the text. But in a design a more creative approach is necessary to differentiate one section from another when skimming the page.
  • Select Colors By Readability – That design you developed with the light pink font might seem pretty cool. But it might not be optimized for all users, and so can negatively impact the end result. You don’t want anything that could create eye strain, look wrong on mobile devices or potentially be invisible to those with color blindness. Contrast is a great way to select a color, such as light fonts on dark backgrounds, or dark fonts on light backgrounds. Small differences in tint are usually all that is needed for a creative design, like dark blue instead of black.

Have any tips on using typography in web design? Or have you seen some examples of trends this year that you think hold merit? Let us know in the comments.

Our guest blogger Michelle is the creative blogger for Dobovo.
We take typography very seriously!