Monday, August 30, 2010

A Few Facts About SEO

The other day someone I know approached me about taking a look at a business website because they’d spent a fair amount of money with a search engine optimization company toward getting the kind of traffic they thought they deserved. The mission failed miserably.

I’ve been working with SEO as a content writer for several years now but I’m no expert.  If I was though, one of the first things I would do when writing a top ten list about the things you need to know about it is let everyone know there are no experts.

Of course there are people who know more about search engine optimization than others, but if they start telling you things like you can get a number one page ranking in Google in a very short amount of time, you should take your money and run for the hills.

Still, there are a few things I have learned about how SEO works and because I haven’t made any of them up but learned them from other people, I can leave you with some of them and feel fairly confident they work fine regardless of all the shifting parameters  Google continually throws our way.

  1. You need good content. Don’t even bother trying to stuff keywords in the landing page content either.  Like a friend of mine said once, you might even get away with keyword stuffing for a little while and drive traffic to your site, but you look pretty silly when visitors arrive to the kind of broken English that too many keywords creates. You’ll just wind up with traffic arriving and then clicking away in record numbers.
  2. You need a good landing page.  I’ve seen people with floating content on their landing page and all kinds of graphics and buttons and tabs and in the end it all looks really psychedelic ( for those of your old enough to remember that phrase) but it doesn’t give the Google bots anything to grab onto. There’s still nothing that can replace good optimized content . Someone I work with is even experimenting with video as the main source of information on the landing page, but they still get me to write a blog at the bottom so Google has something to hang its hat on.
  3. You don’t need to use every keyword you can find.  That’s why it’s called keyword research. Too many keywords doesn’t have focus. Others may disagree but I think you need to focus on a few keywords best suited to your market. Even if there’s competition, just dig in and fight it out.

Remember you need to beware of anybody who tells you they can get you a page one ranking in just a few short months. And there’s just one more thing too. If you don’t get the kind of traffic you’re expecting after three or four months, adjust the methods and keywords you’re using but don’t stop advertising with search engine optimization techniques.  The minute you abandon ship, it sinks and you lose whatever ranking you’ve gained.

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Cup of Joe: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is or Shut Up!

Shut UpOn Monday, we posted a piece about Philadelphia’s new Business Privilege Tax. In short the city now wants to tax bloggers whether they are making an income with their blog or not. It appears to be another case of a misguided municipality looking to bring in new revenue streams.

As expected, most bloggers are angered by this new tax. I don’t live in Philadelphia and I try my hardest to not complain about taxes. Therefore, I want to ask a much more important question:

Should blogging be free?

Nowadays, anyone with an Internet connection can sign up and get a free blog. That’s right anyone can have a free platform to share their thoughts and ideas with the world! It sounds pretty amazing doesn’t it? But what I want to know is, should it be free? Should users have to pay to blog? In short my answer is:

Blogs, and blogging shouldn’t be free. Period.

Before I begin telling you why I don’t think blogging should be free, let me add a little disclaimer. I make a living off of folks that choose to pay for blogging. The company that I own can and does create many different types of web applications. But, the vast majority of our work is focused on developing custom WordPress installations. So for me and many other professional blog developers it’s a slap in the face to see folks go around claiming that anyone can build a business with free tools. When businesses and entrepreneurs tout the “free model” they are effectively saying, “Don’t hire Joe Hall, because let’s face it, you can get it all for free.” In short free blogging can and does have real negative business implications for professional developers.

But, this issue isn’t about me, it’s about you! It’s about how much you value your ideas and what you are willing to do, to make sure they are heard. You see, before the Internet, individuals had to make huge sacrifices to get the same type of coverage that anyone with a free blog can get today.

For example during the civil rights movement, folks were willing to put their life on the line to get the media’s attention. Even to this day, there are billions of people that do not have access to the Internet or free blogging. I wonder what they would be willing to sacrifice for a free platform.

Those of us that can blog for free have become lazy and irresponsible. Mostly because we haven’t had to sacrifice anything to have our platform. The barrier for entry into blogging is nearly non existent for most of us in the first world. When you are forced to make an investment in an activity you are less likely to take it for granted.

If you aren’t willing to invest in your own ideas, then you have no right to share them. It’s your responsibility to pay for the cost and repercussions of your own ideas, it’s part of existing in a civil society. When you use free blogging services, someone else is paying to support your ideas. Someone else is letting you have a free platform at their expense. Datacenters and system administrators don’t work for free.

I have a friend who recently started a personal blog. She is paying for hosting, and a professional custom theme. She values her own ideas enough to pay to make sure that their delivery is flawless. Is she the best blogger in the world? Will her blog be popular? Who knows. But, the point is that she cares enough about what she has to say that shes putting her money where her mouth is.

So, how much should blogging cost? That’s a tough question. Honestly, I am not sure. How much do you think your ideas are worth? How much would you be willing to pay if free blogging didn’t exist? Should you pay for blogging with money? Or how about time? I wouldn’t mind seeing a blogging service that provides professional blogs for users that commit to 4 or 5 hours of volunteer work a month. Sure, it might not pay the hosting fees, but at least it would encourage a selfless sacrifice.

In the end how can you truly place value on your ideas if you don’t have to work or invest to spread them? Anyone can stand on their soapbox and yell, few can climb a mountain and sing.

PS: Feel free to leave comments below! However, I won’t be around to answer them til Monday.
[photo credit]

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When Failure is Not an Option

What makes a successful blogger successful? Is it the time they put into it? Or who they know and associate with? Or maybe they just have a lucky charm and the world falls into their lap? All of these may contribute to their success, but for this post let’s say they’ve taken failure out of the equation; it’s not an option for them.

Does that sound strange or even hokey? It’s not as weird as you might think. Go back to childhood for a minute. Did you learn to ride or bike or play an instrument or anything else that took practice and determination? Of course you did. How did you succeed at it? Well you had the determination to get it right. You didn’t want to be the only kid on the block with training wheels, so you kept at it until you got it right. But, what really happened in the back of your mind was that you removed failure as an option. You didn’t even let that thought cross your mind. Kids are great like that aren’t they? They don’t see obstacles—all they see is the prize at the end of the rainbow. It’s pretty simple, but often the adult brain sees all the obstacles and not the rainbow.

Think of an athlete who runs track and jumps hurdles. Do they let the hurdles stop or slow them down? Are they focused on the hurdles or the finish line? They visually see the hurdle and know they must get over it, but their focus is on the finish line; the trophy at the end of the race. By doing this (and practicing) they merely glide over the hurdle like it isn’t even there.

Everything you do in life should be the same way, even blogging. Are you letting the hurdles stand in your way of success? Are you focusing on the end result or all the little nit-picky stuff in the middle?

Until you change your focus to the big picture, it’s likely you will keep self-sabotaging yourself and not see the success you desire. Change your focus to what you want to accomplish at the end, not the journey to get there. Think BIG—think as big as you can. Just by shifting your thinking and focus to the goal, you will start to glide over the hurdles like they don’t exist. Not only that, it will lower your stress level of worrying if you’ve done everything right.

Remove failure from the equation, it’s not an option for success.

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How to Get More Done

The most common question I’m asked lately seems to be:

“How do you get so many things done?”

To be perfectly honest – it’s a question I would never have anticipated anyone would ever ask of me – as I’ve mentioned here before, before I got into blogging I used to be quite…. well…. lazy.

But since getting into blogging and starting my own business I have turned that around – at least on a work front (Mrs ProBlogger would still like me to do the dishes a little more). Over the last 6 years there may have only been 1-2 days when I didn’t post at least two blog posts – deadlines were never my forte but I’m somewhat obsessed about them now.

Today while out for a walk (something I try to fit in most days) I was pondering this change in me and trying to work out what was behind it. I came up with two things that at the least play a part in this for me and decided to whip out my iPhone and record them as a mini podcast (or walkcast).

PS: my 2nd point reminds me a little of a line in a poem by Rudyard Kipling that I’ve been pondering lately titled IF.

“
If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it”

I’m sure there are many interpretations on it – but for me the idea of an unforgiving minute is that time is something that you can’t get back. The next minute of your life is something that will be gone for ever in 60 seconds – in that way it’s unforgiving.

So Kipling suggests filling it with sixty seconds of distance running. Sixty seconds of effort that will make a lasting difference. You might not do a complete marathon in sixty seconds of effort but you’ll certainly be a step closer to it.

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Friday, August 27, 2010

5 Skills Every Blogger Needs to Excel

On the surface, writing a blog and maintaining it may not seem like that hard of a job. You set up an account, pick a theme, write some posts and hit “publish”. Pretty much anyone can do it so long as they know how to use a computer and understand the basics of the Internet.

However, there is a difference between just blogging and blogging well. If you want to do the latter, you’re going to have to learn a few additional skills to help you excel.

The good news is that the skills you need are not great and, even if you don’t have them at all, you can probably pick them up quickly with a few books and some practice.

Still, if you’re looking to move beyond merely hitting the send button and hoping for the best, here are a few skills you might want to pick up or improve on.

1. Writing Skills

This one seems fundamental but it is still often overlooked. Even if you’re a podcaster, a photographer or running a video blog, you’re going to have to write something, even if it is just descriptions.

You don’t need to be a poet in order to write a blog but you need to be able to write clearly, concisely and in a manner that doesn’t sound awkward or forced. Search engines strongly favor well-written content (because people spend more time on pages with it) and the easier your content is to read, the more people will enjoy and the more visitors you’ll have. It’s that simple.

If you struggle with this, it might be worth your time to pick up a few books on writing or even taking a short writing course. A little bit of time invested here can go a long way to helping your blog.

2. HTML & CSS Skills

Sure, every major blogging platform comes with themes that you can just click to install and use, but what happens if you want to make it unique or fix something that’s broken? If you don’t know at least a little bit of HTML, you may be in big trouble.

Knowing the basics of HTML and CSS is the difference between having a site that looks like everyone else’s and having something that is truly unique. You don’t need to change much code to make a very big difference but you do have to know what to change.

If you’re weak in this area, pick up a few basic HTML books and practice with them. Also, you may want to learn the basics of PHP if you’re using a platform that’s based on it, such as WordPress, so you can fix minor problems with plugins and themes.

3. People Skills

Blogging may seem to be a solitary activity but you have to deal with other people all day long. Though the interactions may not be face to face, instead being via email, comments and social media, the rules for how to treat others doesn’t really change.

If you treat people good and trust those who are trustworthy, you’ll probably have no trouble with you people skills, However, if you are struggling in this area, it is really about practice more than anything. Though being shy is understandable, getting out there and talking to people is crucial.

Besides, if you can comfortably talk with and work with strangers face-to-face, working with them online should be easy.

4. Image Editing Skills

For most bloggers, the primary medium is text, but, at some point, you are going to want or need to work with an image as well. Whether it’s a logo you’re adding to your site, images you are inserting into your posts or just a new avatar for Twitter, you will likely find yourself manipulating images.

As such, it’s important to understand the basics of image editing including how to crop, resize, correct, reformat and do other simple changes to an image. It doesn’t require a Photoshop wizard to be able to run a blog, but if you can do the basic changes yourself, life does get a lot easier.

If you’re weak on your photo editing skills, the easiest way to learn is usually to just download a photo editing program, such as Paint.net, and practice or read through the provided tutorials. For the most part, this is something best learned by doing though there are great books available as well.

5. Social Networking Skills

Though I am loathe to agree with the army of social media and social networking “experts” who add me on Twitter every day, they are right that a blogger, or any business for that matter, needs some basic social networking skills. To be clear, this shouldn’t be an obsession but learning how to use Twitter and Facebook as well as other relevant services can be a major help to your site.

Part of social networking is the aforementioned people skills but it also plays a role in promotion and encouraging others to spread around your site as well.

Once again, the quickest way to learn if you need some help is to simply dive in but, with a simple search, you’ll find that there are literally thousands of tutorials and guides on this topic. There is no shortage of information out there.

Bottom Line

You’ll note one of the skills I didn’t mention is computer skills. The reason is that it should be assumed. If you’re on the Internet and running a blog, you have a certain amount of computer knowledge already and the additional skills you need are more specialized (and mostly listed above). You don’t need to know how to work on a computer of replace a hard drive to be a good blogger, but knowing how to use one well helps, obviously.

In the end, the skills you need to be a good blogger are not that great or numerous. Though there are some not on this list, these are some of the big ones you definitely will need or want. If you don’t have them, it may be time to brush up on them and, if you do, there is always room to improve.

After all, one should never stop learning, especially when it comes to the skills at the core of something they love. You can always take things to the next level through practice and education and there is almost never any harm in doing it.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Why Choosing a Blog Niche Might Not Be a Good Idea

There are a few pieces of advice that tend to come as standard when you look for help with blogging. “Write compelling content”, “network in your niche”, and “stay consistent” are probably the most common words of wisdom you’ll receive. “Pick the right niche” ranks right up there with them as well.

Choosing the right niche, in the case of blogging, usually just means that you should pick a topic you’re passionate about, which also happens to have a large audience. It’s advice I’ve given myself throughout the years and I still see it on many blogs today.

Yet, I just don’t think it’s relevant anymore.

After more than 15 coaching calls in the last month, I had the realisation that this advice just isn’t helping people, especially with 10 of those calls involving my client stressing out about which industry they should be blogging in.

“Should I define myself as a blog on Lifestyle design or Personal Development?” and “Will people know what I mean by Creative Marketing?” were just some of the related queries that I received.

I instantly replied with “Don’t worry about it” which not only helped bring these people some relief, but also touched upon something that I think everyone should think about. In my opinion, choosing your blog niche – in most cases – just doesn’t really matter anymore.

Defining yourself is a waste of time

I used to run a blog which covered my journey of going from college dropout and leaving England at 18 to working for a big marketing agency in Cape Town where I didn’t know one single person. It was a site that not only grew to thousands of subscribers very quickly, but a site where I worked very hard to define what it was about.

I wanted everyone to know that my blog covered the topic of personal development. Yet, the only place I actually mentioned personal development was in the title tag (to increase search engine rankings for that phrase). The sites’ name, PluginID, didn’t really give much away, and neither did the “Plug into your identity” tagline.

Looking back, my focus on just writing about “personal development” actually hindered me in a number of ways.

The first way being that defining myself was a total waste of time, and probably is for you too. There are simply far more important important aspects to blogging which should be occupying your attention. The most important thing you can do is get the essentials out of the way and then just start writing.

A blog is nothing without its content.

Whether you define yourself as a personal finance blog or a financial advice blog doesn’t really matter. It only matters if you would change your content based on that definition. Nobody is going to look at your blog and think it’s about health if all you write about is money.

Your content is going to show what your site is about; you don’t have to stress about defining it.

Thankfully, there is…

A much better alternative

I can’t write an article which takes out one of the most recommended fundamentals of blogging and not replace it with what I believe is a far superior alternative. Instead of stressing about which direction you’re going to take your blog and the angle of your content, just simply ask yourself “in which way do I want to help my audience?”

That’s it.

Do you want to entertain people?
Do you want to give them the latest news?
Do you want to help them make more money?
Do you want them to become better copywriters?
I can’t answer this question for you, but it should be pretty easy for you. After all, your blog wouldn’t be much without an audience. What do you want to provide for them?

With this one question, you can accomplish a number of things a lot easier.

Content

No longer do you have to worry about whether a certain article fits under the category of ‘personal development’ or whether you’re writing something that your audience doesn’t care about. You simply focus on whether the information you’re providing helps you help your audience.

My aim with ViperChill is to give people the best advice I can about internet marketing and building remarkable websites. I don’t stress if a topic choice is going to be relevant to my readers because I’m always publishing content with that aim so the majority of the time, it just naturally will be.

This question gives you more content ideas, helps you decide if an idea is right for your audience and allows you to twist content ideas from other industries and make them more relevant to your readers.

Audience

Another reason people worry about which blog niche they choose is because they want to make sure they’re attracting – and keeping – the right website visitors. The great thing about this question is that it allows you to build an audience that is laser-targeted.

And as most of you know, a laser targeted audience is exactly what you want if you ever come to monetise your website. Although there are other factors besides what you write about that attract a readership – such as your content length and post frequency – it’s still the biggest factor in growing a blog which can make you money.

Value

The only reason people ever read a blog is because of the value that it provides. That value can be in one of hundreds of forms, but it always exists. For instance, the value I receive from Daily Blog Tips is information which helps me become a better writer, which in-turn helps me to grow my business.

Another blog I love, TechCrunch, provides me not only with boredom relief when I’m not sure what to work on next but also information on the newest social media sites I may be able to utilise. Knowing how you can help people through your site is the exact value that you’re providing to them.

As long as you continue to put out content that is inline with your aim, then you’re constantly giving your audience what they want. That’s true providing true value.

If you’re still not convinced, answer me this: Is it easier for you to tell me how you want to help people, or easier to tell me which category your blog fits under?

About the Author: Glen Allsopp is the owner of ViperChill.com. If you liked this post, you may also enjoy his guide to WordPress SEO.

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Shut Up and Podcast

Last week I attended Affiliate Summit in New York. While I was there I was able to attend the Podcasting 101 session with my Geek Dads Weekly co-hosts Daniel M. Clark and Joe Magennis. They were part of the session along with Trisha Lyn Fawver of Affiliate Marketing Fanatics. Trisha is on the Affiliate Marketing Fanatics podcast with Mike Buechele. The panel was moderated by Lisa Picarille, who has such a fantastic voice and who is the co-host of the Affiliate Thing podcast with Shawn Collins. What I learned from this session was that podcasting is such an easy way to get your voice out there and gain an additional audience.

Basically all you need are a few things to get started podcasting. A voice, a mic and recording software. Luckily every since computer has the last two pieces and if you are blogging you should already have a voice. If not then why are you blogging?

A Voice

As a blogger you have a unique voice in your writing and because of that you have a unique perspective on things that can translate to the spoken word. Do you review blogs, how about an interview series with the bloggers that you review, you can review the blog in writing and then do an interview with the blog owner via Skype as something extra to add to your post. Then make that an actual podcast and you can tap into a whole other audience.

A Mic

Many laptops have an internal mic that you can use to record your voice. It isn’t the greatest but it works. If you want to step up you can get an external mic and record better sound. You can even use a telephone to call into sites like Blog Talk Radio. There are many ways to record your voice.

Recording Software

If you are a MAC user then you have it all set with Garage Band but as a PC user I use Audacity to record my own voice. I also use a program called G-Recorder to record my own voice and the people that I talk with with Skype. When I record on Skype I can download the MP3, open it with Audacity edit it. This is a very easy thing to do.

Get it on Itunes

You also need a way to get your podcast onto iTunes. If you are using WordPress then you have some great options like PowerPress and PodPress. These plug ins will help you get your new content uploaded into iTunes. Once it is there you can use all your blogging and SEO skills to get that show seen by an entirely new audience and also give your existing audience something new and fresh from you.

Practicing what I Preach

Personally I am working on a video podcast. I am learning how to do this correctly and in the meantime I am creating the content anyway and posting it to Vimeo and Youtube. Once I figure out how to do the video podcast the best I can it will go up to iTunes and it will be an enhancement to my current blog.

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