Archive for July, 2012

Unique ways to add content to your website – Part 1

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

In this series of blogs we will be looking at the various ways in which you can add content to your website to improve your online visibility.

Since Google has been going through a lot of changes recently I thought it would be sensible to consider how fresh and good quality content is so important to SEO.

So what is good quality content?

Good quality content for your website is something that is original, that people will want to actually read and that is NOT simply an excuse to put a load of waffle in because you think it fills the page.

So what is bad quality content?

Bad content is something we’ve probably all experienced.  How many times have you done a search in Google only to find that the article you get up is littered with keywords, the content itself does not make sense or has no real purpose.

What is the benefit of good quality content?

By ensuring that you have good quality content on your website, you automatically help  your website stay higher in the rankings of search engines.

Users online will link to websites if there is relevant content within it. In turn, when this happens your website begins to generate natural links, which is a major aim for Google – particularly in view of recent ‘Penguin’ updates it has made.

If you have a website built for example and don’t do any SEO or add any decent content your website will simply sit there and will not do anything.

The days have gone where you could add a website to the search engines and get a ranking easily.  There is considerable competition onilne these days and more businesses are beginning to understand just how valuable good content actually is.

So in order to put yourself in a position to compete properly, you will need to make sure that you start thinking about content that will help you achieve higher placement in the search engines particularly Google.

However, you must start as you mean to go on.  So when you begin to add content in different ways you must continue to do so.  Even if it’s only once a week.  Be regular!

I want to generate good quality content.  Where do I start?

Blogs are right up there in terms of providing good quality content.  Whether it’s once a week , fortnightly or at a push once a month, good quality blogs are excellent for gaining additional traffic to your website.

Blogs can cover any aspect of your business or the needs of your clients.  To give you a general idea, you can look at this blog and see the range of content I provide.

I focus on SEO, being in London, my lilfe and of course all the things that are associated with running a business online but always try to ensure that what I am writing is of use to anyone visiting my website.

To help you, it is a good idea to come up with a content strategy.  This can be as simple or as complicated as you like, but to give you some direction, see below what I consider great ways to generate blogging content for your website:

  • Consider what the top five questions are from your clients about your services.  This may extend to something simple like opening times but it could also cover the concerns that potential clients have in finding a service they require.  For example; How does your cost compare to your competitors?  I need reliability.  Can you provide that?  I need someone on hand at all times.  Are you large enough to provide that to me?

If you consider these questions you can see that it would be relatively easy to generate a blog that answers those questions.  Then when someone is looking for your service you are providing relevant content from the off.

  • Keep your content lively and interesting.  I could tell you about the countless times that businesses think a press release is going to cut it as relevant content.  While a press release should be somewhere on your website, it is not really going to be great as a traffic driver.  The reason for this is that press releases are meant to paint you in the best light.  Therefore, reading an article about a company that is ‘brilliant’, offers ‘this and that’ is not always believable.  Your reader will be thinking – “well that’s what you would say”.  Instead, consider putting your press releases in a separate section of your website and make your blog more general.
  • Consider guest blogs.  There is a lot of weight in making friends online.  Bloggers will often post content or link to content they like if you do the same.  So it is always worth considering what value a guest blog may have for you and your website.  If you sell products and a manufacturer offers a guest blog, think about what value you offer them but also what they offer you.  They could have thousands of people on their mailing list and the guest blog could factor in an email for example.  This means a lot of traffic to your website.
  • Write regularly.  Once a week is ideal (if not more) but do not post a blog less than once a month.  It really has no value in the long-term.  So once you start, keep it going.
  • Take a look at other blogs and see what people are doing.  This is really important as it will give you ideas.

Hopefully that will give you some good ideas to get started and remember to follow-up on this blog where I will be writing about other content generators that will be invaluable in your SEO on Google and the major search engines.

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Does social media belong in the workplace?

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Since the advent of social media into our daily lives, it is easy to see how the emergence of this new social addition has manifested itself.

Years ago, we checked emails in-between the demands of the working day, but now, Facebook and other social networks like Twitter have really taken over.

Interestingly, the USA ruled that checking Facebook at work isn’t a crime – even if it’s in violation of some companies’ policies.  Of course this is in relation to the USA and laws in the UK are very different, but it does beg the question – what do you do when your employees spend as much time on the job as they do on Facebook and Twitter?

Many companies have tried to be clever and have implemented stringent rules on the use of things like Facebook during working hours.  However, a recent study in March highlighted that allowing employees to use Facebook while they work actually makes their jobs more enjoyable and increases productivity.

Of course there is a good argument for not restricting use as well.  After all, with so many smart phone and iphone users having Facebook applications on their mobiles they can just as easily update their profiles from there.  Equally they can update Twitter, take a photo for Pinterest and create a video for direct upload to You Tube.

So where do employers’ draw the line?  Should you police this activity?

There are a number of outdated social networking policies that companies have also introduced to their working contracts but how far you go with the ‘dos and don’t’ approach is largely up to you and how you feel about social use during work time.

So, how can you help yourself?

The first tip is to be realistic.  Yes employees can get addicted to social networking, but hopefully at the very least you can check their productivity during working hours.  If you suddenly see they aren’t doing anything then it’s probably time to at least speak to them about their social use.

The second approach is to view social media as more of a community tool.  However, you would need to consider what your employee is saying about you or the company.  As you may be aware, there are a number of people who have incriminated themselves via Facebook!

Have a clear policy from the start and do not give your employees mixed messages.  Try to be clear on what you are and are not happy with.

Ensure you make it clear that any private company information is never shared.  This would be in a contract where someone’s work is of a sensitive nature in the real world, so you must make sure you apply this to your social policy as well.

If you are happy to allow employees access to social networking, make it clear that this should not impact on their job responsibilities.  By doing this, you are not then completely cutting things out, but retaining more control on what people are doing.

After all, no one in the world can expect to get paid for talking to their friends all day (unless perhaps they are employed as your company social media spokesperson).

The last option is probably the most drastic.  You can facilitate a complete blockage of all social networking sites on your server.

This means you can simply block access to Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn but again, do not assume that because you’ve done this your employees won’t utlise their phones for the updates.

Paul

 

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Why pay for more SEO?

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

In an economy that is ever changing it is easy to see why businesses want to find ways to cut back.  Some will be sensible and understand the value of their website and therefore their SEO, so they will see the long-term goal over the short term money saver.  Others will assume that because they have a good ranking, now they can actually say goodbye to their SEO for a while or even forever.

This is by far one of the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to their online presence and has seen many a website end up further and further down the results because of it.

The problem here is lack of understanding but also the belief that all the hard work is done and therefore paying for more SEO just isn’t worth it!

So why pay for more SEO?

From London to Scotland and beyond, rankings on the major search engines are important and it’s a very competitive environment.    Therefore, specialist SEO can help you not only gain a ranking but on-going, it means you can also stay there.

The SEO landscape is an ever changing one and new updates through major search engines like Google happen regularly (more than 300 updates in 2011), so by assuming that your current ranking will be a ‘forever’ you are actually risking all the hard work that has happened in the first place.

SEO takes time, understanding and a lot of problem solving, which cannot be put in to a nice neat package for less than a tenner.

It never ceases to amaze me when companies assume that either SEO is really easy because they’ve read an article somewhere or worst still, that they assume if once they’ve got to the front page no effort is required to stay there.

So what’s the best approach with your SEO?

If you are thinking about SEO services consider the saying “if it’s too good to be true it probably is”.  This extends not only to budget priced services that promise you the earth but delivery nothing right through to the promise of getting you to page one in less than a week.

While it’s very tempting to chase this carrot, you have to be totally realistic as to what’s achievable.

If you offer a service of any kind, you’ll know that some jobs can be done in five minutes, but others take a lot more time and skill.  They may not even be visible on the surface but you will know that you can’t simply offer your skill for free.

Well with SEO it’s exactly the same and you should most definitely not expect to get it for free, for less than a few pounds and more importantly, not in a one off flat fee for a couple of week’s work.

If you are serious about your SEO then you need to be serious about your expectations as well.  If you’re serious about your business, then you need to be serious about making it work.

No half measures will equal a better business and of course rankings in the long-term and let’s face it, if you are running a business you want it to grow and continue growing while you’re running it.

If you are based in London or beyond and require SEO services or some feedback, feel free to contact me anytime as I’m always happy to offer advice.

Paul

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