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We Don' Need No Stinkin' Content
Excerpts from an interview I did with a one Mr. T. Montana:
From Banana Slug To Post-Slugs: A Quick Look at Permalinks
The mascot for the University of Santa Cruz in California is none other than the elusive yet slimy forest creature, the Banana Slug. Yes, you read that right.
Legend has it -- along with a student-wide referendum in the 1980s -- that the slug was chosen to represent the school, as it is the anti-mascot. The banana slug is easy to spot after a heavy rain, seeing how its highlighter yellow exterior puts New Wave leggings to shame. It crawls along the massive trees, peacefully coexisting with the students surrounding it. There is no violent nature, animal captivity or political correctness complications. No, it simply leaves an icky trail of goo behind it, moving on to the next redwood.
Let us connect this with one of the chief SEO tactics used: “post-slug.” Also known as permalinks, post-slugs are used on blogs in order to change the URL link. For example, a post on banana slugs at UC Santa Cruz in a blog ends up looking like this:
http://www.ucsantacruz.com/?p=432
How is anyone supposed to know that this link has anything to do with banana slugs? In fact, without the proper permalink, the blog is a wasted SEO effort, as search engines will not pick up the important keywords in the link. With a simple change in the blog, the post-slug can look like this:
http://www.ucsantacruz.com/banana-slugs-santa-cruz
This prettier version is the one that bloggers need to use in order to drive traffic. It’s simple and takes only a few seconds more to fix, but the results make an enormous difference. Just as the banana slug slowly drags its neon gastropod self over to the next bit of forest, so your post-slug efforts will drag in new viewers to your site with a few permalink structure tweaks. Except maybe the post-slug will move a little faster.
--Nadia Osman
Okay, so last week we went over a brief history of the blog and we reviewed how this relatively new platform has radically transformed the way that people consume information online. Now, our attention turns to the SEO power of the blog.
Search engine optimization is a multifaceted strategy for boosting the placement of websites within the result pages of major search engines. This strategy includes targeting specific keyword phrases, building links and producing large volumes of fresh, relevant content.
Blogs allow you to simplify and streamline the fundamental practices of SEO. If you want to understand how SEO works and what it takes to achieve enhanced search engine rankings, a blog is the perfect vehicle. If you already have an SEO strategy in place, incorporating blogs into your game plan will only enhance your optimization efforts.
So why do search engines love blogs so much? Well basically, blog platforms are simple content management systems that offer users a straightforward way to implement the basics of SEO. Consider this stuff:
SEO Tools
Blogs feature easy-to-use tools for adding links, optimizing images, inserting keyword tags and including Meta descriptions.
Fresh Content Updates
Updating your blog with fresh content everyday is easy to achieve, because adding new content to a blog platform is so simple. The more frequently you post, the more relevant your blog will be. If you have a blog that's updated all the time, search engine spiders will visit your site more frequently.
Optimized Site Architecture
With a blog, optimizing your site architecture is a breeze. You can add keywords to your URL slugs, organize your content items in clear categories and create navigation tabs with a click of a button.
Link Love
Blog platforms let you add links with the click of a button. You can link to internal pages with ease, build out your blogroll for reciprocal link love and attract inbound links like crazy by commenting on other blogs, featuring tons of linkable multimedia content and creating a sense of community within your specific niche.
It's really the simplicity of blog management that makes this platform so attractive to SEO. You can be the most technologically challenged kid on the block (like worse than Da Bee), and still harness the power of the blog to achieve positive SEO results.
So embrace this platform. Love it. Use it. Realize that it's here to stay. Understand that this tiny little content management tool has transformed the world in a real and permanent way.
Now go forth and optimize the begeezus out of everything that goes on your blog. Harness the power of the blog, and watch your rankings and traffic soar.
Taking Care of Business (Relationships)
There are a lot of important factors that go into a successful Internet company. If you’re involved in affiliate marketing, you want to drive traffic to your site and the sites of your affiliates of course, and if you’re doing SEO copywriting, you want to make sure that your content is readable, relevant and fresh.
Another thing you want to be sure to do whether you are an advertiser, copywriter, project manager or anywhere else along the SEO business food chain is fulfill your obligations in a timely manner. When you make a deal to provide content to a site, or to buy content, or to attract traffic to a certain site, or to pay for that traffic, you are creating a relationship. Just as with individuals, these relationships are built on trust and no matter how great your product is or how green your money, if you don’t have trust, you have nothing.
This attitude can help you in all aspects of your business and your daily life. People often come to expect that others will be unreliable and wait until the last possible minute to fulfill their obligations. Surprise them by doing what you say you are going to do even before it’s expected. This will make your business partners and those you interact with in your personal life feel special, like they were worth a little extra effort, a little inconvenience. In contrast, being delinquent in your obligations will make those you are dealing with feel like you can take them or leave them, which is not what you want in life or in business.
Remember, even the nameless, faceless Internet business is all about relationships. Take care of your relationships and they will take care of you, and your business and hopefully your personal life as well, will prosper as a result.
The Importance Of Effective Writing And Editing For The Web
When it comes to successful writing for the web, we here at CKMG understand the importance of applying appropriate SEO techniques. But let's not forget about quality content as the essential component to delivering an effective message.
Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Consider what they might want to know about the designated subject matter. Deliver the goods and do it with precision. Present a concise message without the weight of excessive adjectives and other common types of filler.
Remember, you have a few seconds to engage your audience. Don't waste it with an unclear message. Those searching the Net for information need it in a timely fashion. If you can't demonstrate your point, another web page will -- and it's only a click away.
Equally essential as delivering a succinct message is an authoritative command of the English language. Don't distract your audience with sloppy grammar and mechanics.
With that in mind, avoid supersaturating your audience with pretentious language. We are not impressed that you know the longest word in the English language is "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis." Don't use it in a sentence unless you expect us to skip over it.
Remember that all the content you submit online is a representation of you. Don't forget to proofread your work and have a good editor give it a thorough polish before you send it into cyberspace.
Aren't subheads wonderful things? Seriously, you know they are.
Wait, you (gasp) don't know what subheads are? Or, even worse, you don't think subheads are that amazing? Seriously, it's time for a little re-education -- don't force me to get all Clockwork Orange on you (I'll do it).
For those of you who don't know subheads (or those of you who don't properly love the subhead), let's go through a quick refresher course.
See that right above here? It's the bolded, slightly larger text telling you what you're going to read in this section -- that's a subhead.
It serves a few purposes. One of the most important is that it helps readers (regular folk) digest what you're writing. When someone sees huge unbroken pages of text, it's discouraging, even for the most avid readers. A well-placed subhead will help break up the text into smaller portions.
Think of your writing like food -- you don't want to stuff something un-chewable in your mouth. Do as your mother always instructed and cut your food (and your writing) up into smaller portions! I promise, people will thank you.
Let's look at a page of text from an algorithm's point of view. For ease, let's use this one.
Heading? "The Art Of The Subhead." Check.
Subheads? " Subheads: "This Is A Subhead" and "Subheads And The Mystery Of The Algorithm." Check.
Meta? "Using subheads will not only make your text easier to understand, but it'll help you rank in search engines. With subheads, your rankings will improve!" and "Subheads, using subheads for ranking, seo subheads." Check.
Text? Mentions subheads. Check.
Ranking: If someone searches for "subheads" this page might be a good one for them to read.
This, then, is exactly why you should use subheads when you're thinking about search engine optimization. The algorithm will look at your heading, your subheads, your Meta and text to determine your topic.
If all of these things have the same theme (subheads), then you'll get a better chance of ranking for that theme. (Getting some in-bound links with your theme as your anchor text wouldn't hurt either, but that's a whole other discussion.)
Now, go forth and multiply, write something, edit your subheads and keep your theme solid and on topic!
What Does A Content Writer Do, Exactly?
The crowd was typical, with designer jeans and too much cologne. The dance floor was packed, so I headed towards a seat to cool off from the hoards of sweaty people pressed up against each other. In the middle of pulsating lights and music vibrating off the walls, I explained -- or rather, shouted -- what I do at my job.
“I’m a writer!”
“What?”
“I’m a writer for an SEO company!”
“Oh cool, a magazine?”
“No, SEO!”
“What’s that?”
“It stands for search engine optimization!”
“I don’t know what that means!”
“Basically, when you search for something in Google or Yahoo, whatever shows up has the best page ranking. So the way to move your website up so that everyone sees it better is through SEO.”
“Oh, uh, okay.”
“So yeah, I write the content so that these search engines can pick up the site faster.”
“Uh…so, what do you write?”
“Travel, health, real estate, all sorts of articles, blogs, small posts or long essays. It really depends of whatever the client needs. I pretty much do it all.”
“Aaaahhhh.”
Yes, the sound of elucidation is how I know that what I do can actually be explained in simple terms, even when there is too much noise and my sense of smell is damaged from an overwhelming mixture of perspiration and Armani spray.
--Nadia Osman
I’m not talking about phishers or predators, although those threats are very real. I’m referring to losing touch with our fellow human beings. In this world of the information superhighway, where anything we want or need is a click away, it’s easy to forget why face-to-face interaction is important. But it is important. Traveling to work, getting into your cubicle, performing your online business, then going home and ordering stuff on Amazon while having food delivered and talking in a chat room is no way to live.