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Unique content

Published 12 August, 2010 | By TashWord

Do you have the time or inclination to read the same information presented the same way over and over?

I’m pretty sure your answer is no – when we want to find something out we don’t want to read the same article we found last week. In itself, that’s enough reason to provide unique content on your website, in your blog and so on.

Unique content that is obviously yours (not just a PLR article copied across, an RSS feed or worst of all plagiarism) shows your knowledge, your generosity in sharing information and helps your search engine results. People will learn to visit your site/blog/newsletter for a fresh perspective on relevant topics; many copied articles and they have no real reason to bookmark you rather than the others posting the same writing.

Private Lable Rights (PLR) articles can be useful for filling a site quickly but they are not truly showcasing you or your business. Some people edit their PLR articles to make them a bit different to others’ versions of the articles, which is useful, but if you are going to so much effort why not just write your own to start with? Or get someone else to write it for you (given the editing time you may be surprised at which is cheaper in the long run).

When you do use PLR articles (edited or not), add something to it. For example, if the article is on travel insurance and you cancelled a holiday last year, add in a story about how travel insurance saved you $1,000. It will personalise the article, build your credibility and offer something new.

Likewise, openly using other people’s articles can be a valuable addition to your own content, but it works best when you introduce it appropriately to make it relevant.

What success have you had with PLR articles? Did you make them ‘yours’ before using them or not?

Posted in newsletter content, web content, writing | Tagged article, content, personalise, PLR, unqiue | 1 Comment

Keep your website looking fresh

Published 24 June, 2010 | By TashWord

Have you ever come across a website that is obviously out dated? What do you think of it when you do?

I recently came across two extreme examples of this…

under the heading of ‘latest investment news’ was a link to some reports with the most recent dated April 2008!
an online shop had banners and text stating ‘new version to be released mid 2009’

Those sites didn’t impress me at all!

While adding content regularly is good practice for a website, there are also some ways to avoid your content being obviously old:

avoid ‘page last updated’ foot notes – even if it is perfectly reasonable to not update contact details for example, it looks wrong to say that page is 5 years old! Add a date to the content itself if it needs the date for context
avoid adding a date to copyright symbols. Although your copyright applies from when you created the page, a date ages the page and it is easy to miss updating it each January
if you are unsure of when something will happen, be vague rather than specific. So ‘new version underway’ or ‘give us your details and we’ll contact you when the new version is available’ are better than ‘new version launched 1 July’
do a search of your site for ‘2008’, ‘2007’ and so on then make sure you update as appropriate
be careful of what tense you write in. For example, ‘from 1 July we will sell whatsits’ will be dated in August whereas ‘whatsits on sale from 1 July’ can be used in June and August. Adding a year to either sentence will date it if you leave the text for more than a few months, of course!

Posted in web content | Tagged content, dated, fresh, website | 3 Comments

Making content web friendly

Published 11 February, 2010 | By TashWord

Websites are about information so it makes sense that you need to provide good content if you want your website to be successful.

Obviously, a site with fantastic content that is hard to find can only have limited success so there needs to be a balance between the content and the site itself being user friendly.

Without going into web design aspects of a site, here are some of my top tips for making your web content usable and attractive:

keep each page focussed and a reasonable length (300 to 500 words is usually ideal). If there is additional information that could potentially help some site visitors, put it on a new page and link to it rather than putting everything into one page.
use headings and sub-headings. There are a number of reasons for this – it makes the text visually more apepaling, is easier to skim read, helps focus and define sections of text and can help with search engines (especially if you use heading styles rather than manually adding font styles).
use white space. For example, I am adding an empty line between each of these bullet points so it is easier to see the difference between them and the page doesn’t look so text heavy.
don’t feel your website has to explain everything. I have had many clients who put too much information into their text ‘just in case’ a client wants to know those details. People get bored and/or overwhelmed by too much details, especially on websites, so keep it simple by giving the important details. You can always link to the fine details or encourage them to contact you for them.
web content is not like a novel, or even a school essay, so get to the point fast. A beautiful introduction may be very nice but will frustrate someone who is trying to decide if you can provide the service/product they are after. If a long introduction and sales pitch means the real informatoin is so low on the page you have to scroll to read it, you can bet not many people will actually read it.
So prioritise your information and put the important bits first.
Keep your content fresh, up-to-date and error-free. Spend some of your website maintenance time adding new content and reviewing the current site (for instance, when did you last check for faulty links on your site?)
Write for human beings, not search engines. That means don’t add too many keywords and concentrate on providing useful information rather than trying to impress a search engine.

Posted in blogging, web content, writing | Tagged Balance, content, friendly, user, web, website | 3 Comments

Personalised search plus content

Published 29 January, 2010 | By TashWord

In 2010, Google is introducing personalised search where your site preferences will impact on the search results you get. For example, if you often read my blog, it will rank higher when you use a relevant search term than it may have done if you didn’t regularly visit here.

What is interesting is that Google has found a way to encourage good content rather than search engine optimisation (SEO ) ‘strategies’ so the search results we are given are less likely to be junk. Rob at Just Web explains it as “If the content you provide to the visitor is rubbish, it is less likely they will return. So the end results is you may get one visit from that user, but they are less likely to consider you a future source of information.

This is another move by Google to ensure it gives priority to good content.”

So although there are some simple SEO techniques that are worth using on your website, I stand by quality content as the main way to be successful with search engines and site visitors.

Posted in web content | Tagged content, google, personalised, search, seo | Leave a comment

Building your blog

Published 28 November, 2009 | By TashWord

Presumably, if you have a blog you want to build it with content and readers. It isn’t always easy to do, especially over time, so it takes dedication to truly build a blog into something you can be proud of.

Finding ideas to write about, maximising your topics, building trust, attention grabbing titles, dealing with negative or poorly written comments, and ending your blog posts are all important parts of a successful blog.

Recently, Raivyn gave some advice for anyone wanting to make money from a blog (or blogs) – some of that advice applies to all blogs whether their aim is to make money, share ideas, promote a business or anything else.

The points I most liked (rewritten into my own words and comments) were:

keep writing – even if uninspired, you need to write to build the habit and experience
find your own blog rules – some blogs have very short posts, some have long posts and some find a combination or middle ground works best. Instead of writing to a formula number of words, find what works for you and your readers. And apply the same logic to frequency, style, running carnivals, inviting guest bloggers, and so on.
keep your credibility – recommend products/services/etc that you truly think are worthwhile, not just those paying a commission or giving you a reciprocal link.
write for your readers – this may not be so important for a personal blog, but to make money (directly or indirectly) you need to write what potential customers want to read about in a way they find interesting and useful. Knowing your audience is a key part of any good writing

Good luck with building your successful blog!

Posted in blogging, Business Communications | Tagged blog, building, content, credibility, ideas, write | 4 Comments

Blogging for promotions

Published 16 July, 2009 | By TashWord

Thanks to some external limitations, I found some time to catch up on some blog reading this morning.

Let me start by saying I do believe in blogs as a promotional tool in business – they are a great way to keep a site fresh, to build a relationship with clients and build your credibility. Yes, there are many social media choices now but I don’t think they are replacing blogs. Personally, I learn more from reading a good blog post than a tweet for instance!

A blog on your domain is going to give more SEO advantages than other social media options, too.

Des Walsh blogged about some survey results about blogs and business. He wrote “Companies with 10 or fewer employees are 30% more likely to use social media for public relations, branding and understanding customers. And they are twice as likely as large companies to use social media for lead generation.”

It certainly didn’t surprise me that small businesses use more social media than large ones – there is the obvious budget differences meaning small business owners need to find more affordable ways to interact with potential customers. I also think that many small businesses do well because they provide a personal service (no account managers or moving customers between departments, and a stronger sense of ownership) and social media depends on the personal side of a business.

If you are a sole trader, the approval process is easy; if you work in a large company, especially if it is heavily regulated, the effort of getting blog posts, tweets and so on approved can be huge – and the time involved takes away form the immediate nature of social media anyway.

From the blogs you read, would you agree that small businesses use more social media than their bigger counterparts?

Posted in blogging | Tagged Blogging, content, fresh, information, promote, seo | Leave a comment

Over using keywords in articles

Published 24 June, 2009 | By TashWord

Yesterday, I wrote about using keywords in articles to help search engines find your articles. I also explained that using to many keywords makes the article unreadable for humans and may get search engines penalising you/your site.

The following are examples of the over use of keywords to remind us that the focus of promotional articles should be on giving information rather than making a sale or increasing website traffic (as much as we love those results!)

example 1 – a title for an article:

Tractor Parts,Hydraulic Coupling,Hydraulic Pumps,Lubricating Oil Pump,Tractor Spare Parts,Tractorul UTB Spares

Not a very interesting title is it?

example 2 – content of an article:

Just search on your computer with Keywords like Packers and Movers in Ahmedabad Packers Movers Ahmedabad, Relocation service provider in Ahmedabad, etc. Many service provider of that particular state will appear on your computer screen. Collect information from all the relocation Ahmedabad companies and hire the best one. You can also do the same work to find out service provider of other state and city.

There is nothing informative or interesting in that snippet, and its a lttle insulting as someone has probably already searched those keywords to have found the article in the first place!

example 3 – a bio box:

crib bedding, crib bedding sets

Apart from not doing much to promote their business, this bio box is boring and doesn’t develop trust or credibility.

Of course, the use of keywords (and avoiding over use of them) applies to blog posts, newsletters, website content and so on just as much as to promotional articles.

Posted in blogging, newsletter content, web content, writing | Tagged bio box, content, keywords, title | 4 Comments

rejecting SEO “offers”

Published 24 January, 2009 | By TashWord

I seem to be getting more emails about search engine optimisation (SEO) services lately – all of which I delete without any consideration I might add!

Why do I delete them?

I don’t have time to read so many emails that are often copies of the same text
I don’t trust services who need to spam me to get work – if their services are so great, they should be able to get work in less annoying ways
no one can promise to get another site to to the top of Google – Google changes their system often enough that no one can hack it exactly for one thing, and it depends on what other sites are doing as well – if their site is improved, how do I stay as number 1?
I am convinced that good content is a key to succeeding with search engines – the amount of site traffic I get from my articles is evidence of that – and I doubt an SEO company will help me with my content!
I hate spam!

What worries me more is that some of them will convince other business people to take up their services. Not only would it be a waste of money most of the time, some SEO strategies can actually penalise your site (and if Google or Yahoo cuts you out, it is very hard to get your site recognised.)

So if you get made an offer to ‘put your site at the top of search engine listings’, please consider carefully if it is worth pursuing. In fact, if they convince you of the need to have SEO help, go online to find a company to use instead of trusting an uncalled for solicitation. Finding a company gives you the chance to decide how reputable they appear.

Alternatively, take some time to work on your content to make it useful and relevant for humans and read up on other ways to help your page rankings.

Posted in business info & tools, web content | Tagged content, email, optimisation, rankings, search engine, seo, site, spam | 3 Comments

Understanding bandwidth

Published 20 September, 2008 | By TashWord

A common thing people complain about when online is how long a web page takes to load. How many times have you given up waiting for a page to load or walked away and come back and the page is still only half loaded?

People are more likely to return to a site if the page loads efficiently and the content is worthwhile.

The term bandwidth describes the amount of data transferred to or from a website within a certain period of time. The bandwidth avilaable to a specific website depends on the hsoitng agreement in place, but will only allow a certain amount of data transfer in a specified time. So ultimately, the more information on a page, the longer the page will take to load.

When a web page is loaded into a browser it brings along with it all its content, that is the structural format code, the CSS instructing the browser how the content should look, the images, frames, text, and any other code that gives the page its content. Every single character and figure on a web page lengthens the time that the page takes to load; although individually they may be barely anything, they add up.

The average base of a web page should be about 30K and grow to be not much more than 60K. That is including all the graphics and text.

The main thing to remember here is that less is best, especially when web designing.

Posted in bit off track, web content | Tagged bandwidth, content, design, frames, images, optimising, reducing, web, web page | 1 Comment

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