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Great writers have different styles and different methods. However, when writing for the internet (especially when starting out) there are some standards you should aim to follow to improve the quality of your content and increase readership. Famous authors may be able to get away with a very personal style and a dependence on alcohol but your blog isn’t going to last very long if you don’t make it internet friendly. If you are serious about starting a popular blog then we recommend our Blogging & Content Marketing course to get you started. We also have WordPress courses if you would like to delve deeper into creating blog sites and SEO training and Social Media training to ensure your blog posts are searchable and shareable.
This article is written by McKinley Plowman, accountants in Perth, who provide business and personal financial advice.
Written communication remains one of the most important skills for a person to possess. Writing has allowed us to communicate precise ideas that are able to be digested by the reader at their own pace. Most importantly, writing has given man the ability to communicate outside of their mortal life. It has, in a way, pushed mankind into a post-human state.
With this said it is disturbing that a lot of the population write poorly. I’ll run through some ways you can improve your writing and will focus specifically on writing in a business setting.
Use smaller words if possible
Large words sap energy from a piece of writing. Many people believe that using a big word will make them appear more intelligent to the reader and hence improve their status. This is partly true but influence doesn’t come from convincing people you are smart, it comes from making people like you. Read the rest of "How to Improve Yourself as a Writer"
Posted by Guest Author in Blogging, Guest Blogs, News, Personal Development on February 8th, 2012| No Comments »
This guest post looks at an overview of follow and nofollow links, sparked by Google Search Plus Your World which is struggling to realise its potential as social networks are usually all nofollow. This prevents Google from adding their data to Search Plus Your World and severely limits its use. This returns the debate as to how you should use NoFollow links on your site…
NoFollow links are not new by any means, but they are receiving more attention recently with Google’s introduction of “Search Plus Your World.” At the center of the debate is whether Google is abusing its position as the world’s primary search engine by integrating social search in a way that favors its own social network, Google+. Because of NoFollow, Google is prevented from fully indexing Facebook and Twitter. Until this summer and prior to the launch of Search Plus, the Twitter Firehose provided a special feed to Google. When the deal expired, Twitter elected not to renew its agreement with Google, but other search engines still have access to the Firehose. This has become a complex business dispute that everyone seems to have an opinion on, but it has also reignited a discussion about the SEO implications of NoFollow.
DoFollow/ NoFollow – What are you on about?
NoFollow Links: Not like sheep
In case you didn’t know, DoFollow is the default for links and does not require specific code; rel=”nofollow” is code you insert that tells a search engine spider to index the text it encounters but not the link attached. It was originally conceived to combat spam in comment sections by preventing untrustworthy sites from having outbound links indexed, which could in turn increase the page rank. Eliminating the incentive for cluttering comment sections with spam was sound in theory. Also, by designating necessary but not particularly interesting links that appear on multiple pages such as “About” and “Contact” as NoFollow, you could ensure that your link juice was not diluted and only divided between important links. Unfortunately, this reallocation of link juice lead to the SEO practice of PageRank or link sculpting – which Google looks down on.
Prior to 2009, designating links as NoFollow meant that if there were five links on a page and one was NoFollow, then each of those links would receive 25% of the site’s link juice. Google, however, quietly changed the way it treated NoFollow links and, when no one seemed to notice, it actually made a point of announcing its reversal in June 2009. Now, with the same scenario, those four outbound links would receive 20% of your site’s link juice and that NoFollow link would still receive none. You are no longer redistributing link juice, but actually throwing some of it away. The intention was to undermine unethical link sculpting practices that were attempting to game the system, but it also complicated the reputable practice of link building. Read the rest of "SEO Implications Of NoFollow Links: A Nuanced Approach Is Best"
Posted by Guest Author in News, SEO on February 6th, 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 »
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 »
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 »
