ASM Development - taking websites beyond design

Your Content Is A Reflection Of Your Reputation

Content and reputation go hand in hand. That means you have to take your content strategy seriously. Choose your service providers carefully. Anything else is putting your online reputation at risk in ways that are very dangerous.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you hire an article writer to write your content for you for $5 an article. That’s a pretty good price. But have you checked that article writer’s quality? You should. The best price in the world is not a good price at all if the quality of the content makes you look like you don’t know what you are talking about.

There are several ways that bad content can hurt your reputation:

• Inaccurate information about topics you should be considered an expert in
• Bad spelling and grammar
• Trash talking the competition
• Linking to non-credible sources
• Publishing shallow articles that don’t inform your readers about topics that matter
• Keyword stuffing your articles to achieve high search engine rankings without providing value to the reader

I’m not saying you should go with the highest-priced content providers online. Even high-priced service providers can make your business look bad if the content isn’t edited or there is no quality control. Rather, you should look at the reputation of the company you are doing business with and check the quality of the content they provide for you.

In short, guarding your reputation is one of the most important tasks you should pay attention to. Checking the quality of your content is one way to protect your reputation.

Creativity And SEO

SEO is more than a bunch of technical elements that are thrown together for some anonymous robot to crawl. Creativity is just as important as keyword research, keyword densities, meta tags, alt tags, link building, and title attributes. Those things are important, but equally important is the presentation of your content.

I’m not merely talking about web design though that is important. I’m talking about content presentation.

So how can you be creative in presenting your content? Actually, there are a number of ways.

1. First, you can be creative in presenting your content by finding unique content that no one else has. That might seem like a no-brainer, but think about how many websites you’ve visited that is just rehashed content. Be unique in the information you provide and you can virtually create your own search engine optimisation rankings.
2. Present your content in a unique way. Incorporate videos, infographics, and other content elements that other websites in your niche don’t incorporate. Present your content in a unique fashion and your website will be seen as providing something new and different. That actually passes SEO value believe it or not.
3. Thirdly, use rich snippets. Rich snippets are pieces of code that you can use on your web pages to draw the search engines’ attention to a particular piece of content and to shed new light on what your page is about. It actually works.

In the race for search engine rankings, being creative is one of the best ways to increase your website’s SEO value. And it doesn’t take any more time than simply focusing on the technical aspects of SEO.

Should You Buy Links Today?

I can’t say that link buying has ever been acceptable, but it was popular at one time. In some circles it still is. But I believe that it may soon be dead altogether. Buying links can get you in trouble, but if you continue to buy them then I believe you will disappear from the Internet for good.

I say this because Google has been getting more aggressive about chasing down link sellers and link buyers and snuffing out their schemes. Consider this:

• Every link you have online leaves a trail, whether you buy it or acquire it naturally. Link buyers leave patterns that give them away – just like drug dealers.
• One hallmark of paid-for links over the years has been canned content, or spun content. If you see web pages with spun content or re-hased mash, then the links on that page are likely bought. If your links on that page and the search engines find out, you’re toast.
• Google spies on link buyers and link sellers. Just like undercover cops spy on drug lords. They pretend to be the type of customer the drug lord is looking for, then when the drug lord offers dope for sale – boom! In for the kill. Google sniffs out link buyers and link sellers in the same way. Beware who you offer deals to.

Google is getting more sophisticated all the time. I believe they will soon be measuring author trustworthiness. In the future, if you want to be deemed worthy of search engine results you’ll have to prove that you are not a schemer, or link buyer, or link seller. With the social clues that you leave behind, that will be harder and harder to do if you actually are a link buyer or seller.

Your best bet is to do the right thing. Don’t buy or sell links. Instead, produce quality content that the search engines want to crawl and index.

5 SEO Mistakes Scotland Businesses Make

Google is now giving out SEO advice. The cynical side of me says don’t trust it. It’s a ruse. But the SEO side of me was open minded enough to listen and discovered that I actually agree with the advice. I’ll let you watch the video and decide for yourself.

There’s a lot of good advice in that slightly more than eight-and-a-half minutes. Here are a few gems that I hope you picked up on when you watched it (because I did).

• Don’t focus on keyword densities. Instead, focus on writing high quality content for your website visitors.
• Provide your visitors with value, not keyword-stuffed schlock
• Instead of segmenting your content and online marketing efforts, try to think of it holistically and provide a good user experience.
• Don’t follow the SEO trends. Chasing the search engine algorithms will just have you running around in circles.
• Trying to find a workaround to the next high search engine ranking can lead to endless frustration and a lot of time spent on nonessential SEO strategies. Provide value and set yourself apart from the competition.
• Don’t be slow to implement quality content strategies. The key to staying competitive online is agility.

There’s a lot more in the video. I hope you’ll watch it yourself and take notes. Then, when you’re ready to take your Scotland business to the next level with high quality content that provides value, give us a call.

The New Face Of Article Marketing

Article marketing has been around for a long time. It is one of the mainstays of online syndication by serious Internet marketers. But it has undergone a serious overhaul in the last year thanks to a search engine update called Google Panda.

The question is, is article marketing still a viable content marketing model? And the answer is, Yes.

But you have to do it the right way.

Mass submission is all but dead. But that doesn’t mean that article marketing is dead. There are article directories that still receive a ton of traffic and still have articles picked up on a regular basis to be used by website owners, e-zine publishers, etc.

That said, article marketing is still a good way to build inbound links and drive traffic to your website. Here are 4 things to keep in mind if you want to employ article marketing today.

1. 1. Write high quality articles. Don’t use sales language. Think ‘information’. Your audience wants to be informed and entertained. Do it well with quality in mind.
2. 2. Instead of mass submitting your articles to every article directory on the planet, pick one or two to focus on and build up your readership at those article directories. Submit to those high quality directories often and consistently.
3. 3. Develop a relationship with a handful of publishers. Let them know where to find your articles and periodically send them something that can be used exclusively by them.
4. 4. Keep your author bio short and limit your links to one or two. No more than that. Make sure your bio is appropriate for the article and for the markets you are targeting with the article.

If you keep your article marketing strategy simple, it will be more effective. Focus on quality, not quantity.

How To Write Content People Will Share

Do you know how to get people to share your valuable content? Here’s the secret: It’s in the writing of the content.

There are some techniques that professional content writers use that will encourage more people to share your content. And all you have to do is employ those techniques to get people to share and share alike.

Here is the bona fide recipe to getting more shares for your content.

• Be helpful - Bottom line, at the end of the day, your readers need to feel like you’ve helped them solve a problem. That’s what your content must do.
• Make a personal connection – If people feel connected with your business, they’ll be more likely to share your content. Make it personal and get them to interact with you in some way.
• Be entertaining – People hate to be bored. You don’t have to go off the deep end here, but if you can elicit a laugh or a chuckle, or entertain while you inform, then you’ll catch people’s attention. That’s when they’ll willingly share your content.
• Start a conversation - If people talk on your blog or content, that will get more shares. Start a conversation and watch it take on a life of its own.
• Ask for the share – If you don’t ask, you won’t get. Give people reasons to share your content and they will. One reason is you ask for it.

People really want to share your content. You have to give them reasons to. And that means you’ve got to make your content entertaining as well as informative. Of course, it helps if you optimise it for search as well.

5 Things An SEO Copywriter Can Do

Running an online business requires that you hire people to help you. Unless you are an expert in website design and online marketing, you won’t be able to do it all yourself. Here are 5 specific tasks that an SEO copywriter can help you with as you take your Scotland business online.

1. Website content – Your website content is very important. It can make or break your business. Every page of your website deserves the best written content with a strong call to action. Don’t leave this to chance.
2. Write your blog – A blog can be an instrumental part of your business – and should be. A good SEO copywriter can write your daily blog content and help increase your search engine exposure.
3. Meta content – Your meta tags are the “behind the scenes” content that only search engines see. They are a vital part of your search engine marketing efforts too.
4. PPC ads – An SEO copywriter should be able to write your PPC ads and landing pages. Focus them on quality and you can see a huge increase in business thanks to your online copywriter.
5. Off-site content – Your SEO copywriter should be able to develop your off-site content strategy, which is instrumental in helping you build inbound links. This includes guest blog posts, articles for distribution, and other link building methods including social media marketing.

A strong SEO copywriter is a big asset to any online business. Without them your business will likely fail. Find out how an SEO copywriter can take your Scotland business to the next level online.

4 Ideas For Fresh Content Creation

Where do you get your content ideas from? If you’re like most webmasters and bloggers, you just wait for them to come to you, or you create an editorial calendar. There’s nothing wrong with that. But why not get ideas from your biggest fans?

Here are four ways you can generate new ideas for your blog and website.

1. Run a contest - Ask your blog readers and social network followers what you can write about. People love sharing their ideas. If you give away something of value for the best idea, you’ll get plenty of entries. Better yet, give away a copy of your e-book or something of value for every idea you use. You’ll get tons of entries!
2. Ask for guest bloggers – Get your readers and fans to be a guest on your blog. New voices and different ideas are always a good way to supercharge your content.
3. Interview someone – It doesn’t have to be a celebrity, though it can be. Find someone in your niche that people would like to hear from and interview them.
4. Review a book, movie, etc. – Find something interesting within your niche or that addresses a particular hot button among your readers? Write a review. This is your chance to tell the world what you thought of a latest hit movie or book so long as it relates to your readers’ interests.

Never underestimate the power of diversity within your content. You have good ideas, but you’re not the only one with good ideas. Ask your audience what they want to read, then give them great content.

How To Write Natural Language Content

Natural language content is content that is written the way people talk. It may employ strategic keyword usage – in fact, it should – but it doesn’t do so at the expense of good writing. The key is to write content that people want to read rather than useless keyword fluff.

The biggest question we get asked about natural language content is, “Will it get ranked in the search engines?”

And the answer is, Yes!

Natural language content does often rank. But how does one get natural language content to rank if one doesn’t use keywords?

First, let’s dispel the myth that keywords aren’t used. They are used. But they aren’t the focus of the content. So how does natural language writing work then?

You start with a concept. What topic do you want to write about? Make a list of keywords related to that content. Do some keyword research to determine the most valuable and profitable keyword on that topic that is also a keyword that your audience can relate to.

Now, take that keyword and write a dynamic attention-getting title with it. Next, write your content as if you were optimizing it for that keyword. Then, go through your content and substitute your primary keyword with a synonym.

Where you don’t want to substitute your keyword is in the title, the first paragraph of your content, and in one link to another page on your website.

Now, go through and read your content again. Does it flow naturally? If not, revise it until it does.

Do You Publish Content Every Day?

I’ll start off by saying that there is a different web content publishing strategy for small businesses than for a publisher who wants to build the largest website on the web. Either way, you should publish something every day.

But why?

Here’s a simple truth: Every time you update your website the search engines send their search bots back to recrawl it and see what’s new. This is especially true if you ping your site’s web pages. If you have a company blog – and if you are a small business, you should – and you use WordPress, then WordPress will ping your blog posts automatically. If you are building static web pages, you’ll have to ping them manually.

The more you publish the more chances you have at getting your web pages to rank in the search engines for your key search terms. So if you have 25 pages on your website, that’s 25 chances to rank for each keyword you are targeting. If you are targeting one keyword per page, then that’s only 25 chances at ranking.

Multiply that by 100. If you have 2500 web pages and you target 2 keywords per page, that’s 5000 chances to rank in the search engines. Those are much better odds, aren’t they?

That’s why publishing content every day is a good thing. But don’t think that publishing thousands of web pages every day is going to increase your chances at ranking. That actually could hurt you. It isn’t a matter of “the more the merrier.” You still need to focus on quality. Publish too many pages at once and you could get flagged as a spammer and see your pages fall into the mud. Instead, create a steady content plan and be diligent in moderation.