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The great Top SEO Trumps Blog Off has begun!
We have been slaving away creating the top SEO Game of the Decade. To get your hands on one of these limited edition Top SEO Trumps packs we are inviting you to take part in our Top SEO Trumps Blog Off!
Here’s a preview of how the cards look:
Simply write a blog post that meets the conditions below to be in for a chance to win.
There are 46 Top SEO Faces from the SEO world, each ranked by:
- Popularity on the web
- Twitter followers
- Google+ contacts
- Fanciablility (we are keeping our judges a secret for this category)
- Geek Cred
Can you guess who is hiding behind Danny Sullivan? If you can’t guess or want to see the other 45 Top SEOs then you can follow all those who made it into to pack by creating your own SEO circle from this one we made earlier, just click on the image to view or add this circle in Google+:
35 Limited Edition Top SEO Trumps packs are up for grabs.
Anyone can enter: SEOs, marketing people, social media specialists, bloggers, content marketers, and students, anyone who thinks they can write a good blog.
There are so many ways of winning that the playing field is wide open, there is a really good chance of winning so it’s worth a go. As all great SEO’s and Content marketers know, generating great content is just par for the course anyway. What have you got to lose?
Not only that, if you are one of our 35 finalists we will publicise your fine post using our many social media accounts, and link to it from all of our resources and blogs, as well as on our own well ranked site, so it would be good for your SEO too.
All you have to do is what you do best: write a great blog post.
How to win
- Write a blog post that contains a link either to one of these links
http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/seo-top-trumps OR http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/seo/
- Tweet a link to your post to: @sbttraining with the message: “My SEO Trumps entry” and the Hashtag #seotoptrumps
It’s as easy as that!
For example if this was my entry I would tweet:
@sbttraining My Top SEO Trumps entry http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/seo-top-trumps (or shortened version) #seotoptrumps
You can publish your blog post anywhere (not necessarily on your own blog) as long as you identify yourself as the author somewhere in the post and tweet the link with hashtag as above.
After the closing date April 1st 2012
Votes will be counted and verified and prizes will go to the authors of the winners of the following categories:
- The 5 funniest posts
- The 5 most original posts
- The 5 most useful posts
- The top 5 posts that drive the most traffic to the destination link.
- The 5 top most liked posts on Facebook – where that information is available
- The 5 most +1’s on Google Plus
- The 5 most tweeted posts – where that information is available
Good luck and get blogging!
Become a future top SEO trump with our many SEO related courses. SEO training will provide you with the best practice approach to optimising websites and content for higher rankings, you can then use the knowledge learnt on our Social Media course to market your website and build strong brand identity. If you want to measure how your site is doing (and your social media efforts) then Google Analytics training is essential, while Advanced Google Analytics training is available for those who already use it on a regular basis. Don’t forget, we also now provide Content Marketing training – great for building brand and author identity whilst gaining valuable backlinks!
Posted by Heather Buckley in Competitions, Facebook Tips and Tricks, Google+, Guest Blogs, News, Offers, SEO, Social Media on January 25th, 2012| No Comments »
We have now added Content Marketing to our Blogging Training course to create the mighty Blogging and Content Marketing Training course, so you can get a head start on your internet marketing endeavours.
It can be tough to get your brand, company or website noticed on the big World Wide Web. Fierce competition for search engine rankings and SEO dominance is rife between websites gunning for the same keywords and with the same general target audience; so what can you do to get yourself to stand out from the crowd?
Currently, one of the most effective methods of generating interest from users and building up back links to appease the search engine lords is content marketing. This form of marketing has many advantages and uses which should be explored by anyone looking to extend their website’s visibility, outreach and exposure.
Why should I do it myself?
The internet is made of content. It’s what people use it for; to find useful information, tips and entertainment. By creating your own content you can write about the topics your website, blog or company specialise in from as many angles as you can think of. Doing this not only gives you more searchable content to be found via search engines it also gives you the opportunity to stamp your authority on a subject, working your way into becoming an expert in your field that people will look to for knowledge, answers and cutting edge info.
However, if you aren’t ready to put yourself forward as an expert just yet, content marketing still has some valuable other uses which when used properly will help improve your site’s traffic and exposure to new users.
If you would like to find out more about content marketing then have to look at our post on Guest Blogging and Great Places to Post Your Content, or read on to find out more about how blogging and content marketing can benefit you. Read the rest of "Why Should You Start Content Marketing?"
Posted by Daniel Twigg in Facebook Tips and Tricks, Google+, Guest Blogs, Internet, News, SEO, Web Design, Web Design Training on January 23rd, 2012| No Comments »
In a move to provide its users with more customised and personal search results, Google have launched their new “Search Plus Your World” feature to their enormously popular search engine.
The new features, which are currently only available on google.com in English but are being rolled out globally, takes a far more social stance on the search, offering custom search results which displays content from your Google+ network as well as global results. You can use Google Search Plus Your World by logging into your Google+ account and clicking ‘go to Google.com’ link at the bottom of the search page if you are not in America. You then see a personalised results page (shown below) and can switch between personal and global results using the toggle switch at the top right of the page. This is a dramatic update that potentially could change the face of Search Engine Optimisation and the way we receive our search results.
Find out what Search plus Your World means for internet marketing and SEO. This move has Twitter hot under the collar but Google says it is Twitter who don’t want to play.
Personal Results
Through deeper integration with Google’s social network, Google+, the new search feature will allow you to discover your own information, photos and content as well as content that has been shared and +1′d with you within your network, all within the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). These results aim to give you far more personal results based on:
- posts from your friends on Google+
- private/limited content which has been shared with you on Google+
- full web listings
- full web listings which have been modified through your personal behaviour
- fell web listings which have been modified due to your social network connections
The implications of these changes are that you can receive more meaningful results which match what’s going on in your life, giving you more of an indication of what the members of your online world are sharing, doing and saying. Read the rest of "The Google Update – Search Plus Your World"
Posted by Daniel Twigg in News, SEO on January 11th, 2012| No Comments »
In an astonishing move, the Google Webspam team, headed by Matt Cutts, have demoted the Google Chrome download page for violating Google’s quality guidelines. Here’s the SERP for the query ‘browser’:
As you can see, Chrome no longer appears in the natural results, with Firefox, Opera and Safari taking the lead. However, Chrome does still appear due to a paid listing and the fact that everyone is writing about Google Chrome forcing the story into the Google News snippet.
Google were quick to respond to many SEOs (headed by Aaron Wall at SEO Book) noticing how they seemed to be running a link building campaign – directly against their own code of conduct. In fact, the campaign was created to get people to watch a video about Chrome not to build links. The video itself gave no link juice to the Chrome download page and only one of the two dozen or so posts actually linked to the download page – this was at the blog author’s own discretion so is actually closer to a natural link than a paid link.
Our SEO Training course only teaches white SEO techniques that won’t come back to haunt you in future. Why spend loads on an SEO company without knowing yourself what their efforts are for? While many SEO companies are great, the are just as many that promise you instant success but will really damage your rankings when Google catch on. So come on our SEO Training course in Brighton and learn how best to direct your SEO efforts yourself. We also offer in company training if you want to ensure your digital marketing team is completely up to scratch with the latest, best SEO techniques.
The fact that the Google Webspam team have demoted a Google product for a single paid link may seem strict and anybody in a similar situation who got banned for 60 days for one link would not be happy. However, Google have released a statement highlighting the fact that they have taken a stricter stance than usual because it was their own guidelines they violated.
Posted by Craig Charley in News, SEO on January 5th, 2012| 1 Comment »
Look into my crystal ball...
2012 has historically been a hot year for predictions. The finishing of the Mayans cryptic calendar has been touted as a sign of the ‘end of the world’ by many a pessimist, citing Nostradamus’ prophecies as the evidence they need that the end is nigh.
Luckily, not all predictions for next year have to be so gloomy; there are plenty of developments yet to come out in the tech world. here are our top SEO predictions for the new year.
Google service integration
Now the most used browser on the web, Google Chrome has always offered more than just a smooth and seamless web browsing experience. With Google having their fingers in a lot of pies, many of their services are becoming integrated with the browser.
Google services such as Google Docs, which is already proving itself as an excellent file sharing facility, and Google+ (which is covered as part of our Social Media training course), the rival to Facebook which is picking up steam, will find themselves more embedded with Google’s software, encouraging a growth in collaboration and sharing.
The ability to install a wide variety of apps and extensions to your browser not only gives you a tailored browsing experience it also opens the platform up to being more than just a browser. Expect to see these built upon, with Chrome borrowing from Google’s Android mobile operating system’s seamlessly customisable app and widget based set up.
The new social sharing revolution
While Facebook is still the daddy of the Social Media world, Google+ Business profile pages still have a lot to offer. Using these pages to share content will become a vital tool in your SEO tool box, especially with the potential of Google+ having more of a stronger bearing on Google’s search results in the near future. Read the rest of "SEO Predictions for 2012"
Posted by Daniel Twigg in Mobile App Development, News, SEO, Social Media on December 21st, 2011| 3 Comments »
This guest post is about optimising websites for searchers before search engines. While you need to consider search algorithms to get your pages ranked, your optimisation should not affect the usability of your page. It’s all very well ranking for a popular search query but if it comes at a cost to how your site looks or feels or if your site is not related to the query then you may not achieve anything. Remember it is the searcher that spends money, not the search engine! Our 1-day SEO course only teaches sustainable White Hat techniques that boost your rankings but not at the cost of site usability, so come down to Brighton for the day and learn how to optimise your site for great rankings without losing visitors.
The term search engine optimisation is a very misleading one. It suggests to the online marketing beginner that SEO is all about pleasing the search engines through whatever means necessary. The average SEO amateur tends to begin their online marketing career believing that every decision they make and action they take should all be directed towards some sort of optimisation for Google. It’s a common mindset that can turn creative and enthusiastic web developers into number crunching accountants. It’s a real tragedy when a webmaster takes more pride in the number of inbound links they have attained than the pure quality of their website itself. If you don’t think I’m making sense consider my next point…
Image by Stéfan on Flickr
The only reason the major search engines deserve our attention as SEO’s is because they are able to provide their searchers with relevant and accurate results in a matter of milliseconds. It is their ability to win the praise and trust of their users that defines them as important to us. With this in mind it makes sense for us as SEO’s to base at least some of our marketing tactics around the needs of the searcher and not just the engines. The search engines only boast their authority because of their ability to learn and apply what their searchers want in a timely manner – if we strive to please our potential consumers we will inevitably optimise for the search engines. For example…
Searchers want to find websites that have authority > The search engines judge authority based on links > You build links to your website to please the search engines
The middle-man could easily be skipped out here don’t you think? In this case we recognise that searchers want a website that is authoritative and instructive in its field so we should try to ensure our website is just that. Links will be built naturally if you manage to achieve this aim. Read the rest of "Changing Your SEO Perspective – Putting the Searcher First"
Posted by Guest Author in News, SEO on December 14th, 2011| 4 Comments »
Image by gnuckx on flickr
If you are regularly guest blogging and publishing content in order to get quality back-links and provide fresh content for your website, then we think you are doing a great service for your SEO and Social Media strategy.
After the lastest Google freshness update, content marketing has become the most powerful weapon in your artillery, the most respected authorities in the world of SEO are all agreed on this one. Looking for the best and most popular posts on the web is a must if you want to keep up with what’s hot and what’s popular (this is all important for those vital media shares) but what is acceptable and what amounts to simple plagiarism? It’s not just a moral dilema, Google will penalise duplicate content.
If you need more help with your SEO and social media then we offer some great deals on SEO Training, Google Analytics courses and social media training. Below Christopher Fielden, a published author, offers his opinions on the subject of plagiarism - all in his own words!
Plagiarism Definition
If you nick someone else’s idea and pretend it is your own, that’s plagiarism.
Inspiration Definition
If you see something which tickles your imagination enough to write an original story, that’s inspiration.
Examples of the Differences Between Plagiarism & Inspiration
If you went to see Lord of the Rings in the cinema and then decided it ‘inspired’ you to write a book about Rodeo Shaggins and his landscape designer, Jan-Flys Ganges, who discover a magical toe ring which has been imbued with the wrath of the dark lord Flower-on and will bring an end to all that is peaceful by covering the land with the unholy stench of ghastly garlic gases unless the ring is transported across Middle Birth and thrown into the fiery belly of Mount Bloom, that is stealing someone else’s ideas. That is plagiarism.
Read the rest of "Why Inspiration Should Never Party With Plagiarism"
Posted by Heather Buckley in New Free Resources, News, SEO, Social Media on November 21st, 2011| No Comments »
Guest blogging has become a popular pursuit for SEO’s looking to increase traffic and build links. Article marketing and paid link generating tactics were both hit by Google Panda but it does look favourably upon original, quality content.
For more information on the benefits of Guest Blogging and how to get started check out our post ‘Building links with guest blogging‘ or to hone your blogging skills come on our Blogging Training Course.
Guest blogging is a win win situation for both blogger and blog as one is able to spread great content that links to their website while the other receives free, high quality content for their website.
For that reason we’re opening our arms to other bloggers, we run 11 blogs that all rank highly in Google and we promote every post on our social media channels and bookmarking sites.
Write for us/ Let us write for you
Blogs
If your blog is concerned with any of the courses we teach and you’re looking for a new perspective then why not ask us to write for you. We’ll provide you with great free content and will promote the post on our social media channels and all we ask for is two follow links! A few of the subjects we write about are SEO, Social Media, Management and IT but visit our main blog for a full indication of our preferred topics.
Bloggers
If you are looking for a place to post then look no further! We accept posts on any of the subjects that we teach and have 11 blogs to publish content on. Our rules for submission are that you only provide quality, original content (as we do) and use a maximum of two links. We promote all guest posts on our blogs using our social media channels and bookmarking accounts as we would our own.
If you’re interested in writing for us or publishing one of our articles please get in contact at craig@siliconbeachtraining.co.uk to discuss ideas.
Opportunities for guest blogging
While we’re a great place to start your guest blogging activity we’re not the end. You want to build up as many quality connections as you can. Here are four ways to find blogs to write for and to find content for your blog: Read the rest of "Guest Blogging – Write for us / great places to post"
Posted by Aaron Charlie in Guest Blogs, News, SEO, Social Media on October 19th, 2011| 5 Comments »
