The news is Google have nuked another public linking network. These are systems where a few thousand blogs will host one of your articles with a link back to your sites. You know the drill.
Problem is, these networks are massive and so show up on the radar.
Two big hitters have sunk so far:
www.buildmyrank.com
www.articlemarketingautomation.com
Interesting AMA says, “It’s not some BS like “demand was so high OMG WE GOTTA CLOSE!”. It’s simple. AMA still works. Google are targeting networks which confirms one thing. Networks work. And they work too well. But this targeting, it’s being done by manual intervention.”
I know more than one agency who has used these systems. Why? Because they work, but obviously they are not long term, but all that means is that there is an added cost. It doesn’t mean they don’t work.
Whilst you rank, you earn. And the cash doesn’t go away unless you spend it on donuts.
But Linkbait and Infographics work too, hint. So do Web 2.0 links.
We are continuing this convo in a little more detail on linkbaitcoaching.com and the subject of how to build your own private domain network. This obviously comes with a big fat, red lettered warning. But we are all grown ups.
So, all good stuff, what Google Giveth, Google can take away.
Ooops! Correction, AMA have not been hit, yet. But have closed their doors to new members.
Take a job role and add the term “executive” to it and it adds more gravitas to the role.
Or does it?
What is an executive anyway? Probably something dreamed up by recruitment (executives ;)
“Grunt”, would probably be a more accurate term.
SEO Content Grunts wanted
Would that get a better class of application? I don’t know, but it would let people know that the company hiring is different and does not bullshit.
Content grunts are valued at Cornwallseo, they are the bods that make the machine move. Without them there are nothing. Our content grunts are well looked after. I’m getting the feeling that you lot who have executive after your name may feel a tad used and abused. I don’t know.
Do you think the term “executive” really changes anything?
Does the boss feed you free donuts daily?
When we hire for a post we treat it the same way as we would a bit of linkbait or infographic. We need to attract people who are highly creative and want to make a mark, and have a twinkle in their eye.
We are not hiring just yet, in Cornwall or London. But when we do we want to win “The Most Creative Job Advert” award at the next BAFTA’s.
If you are looking to work with one of the most Zarjaz and Froody outfits in online marketing, keep a look out on this blog, sign up to the email, RSS feed, Twitter feed etc.
More about this later.
cbnet Ping Optimizer
GetSocial
SEO Smart Links
Simple Tags
W3 Total Cache
WordPress SEO
WP-DBManager
StatPress Reloaded
I first install Plugin Central, this allows me to auto install the above. Which can save a huge amount of time when installing a large number of WordPress installs.
What Plugins would you add to the above?
Look, before you start running around the place with your knickers on your head screaming about how Pinterest is going to solve all online marketing problems known to mankind, I suggest you take a deep breath and consider a few things.
Maybe it’s the young, cool and froody crowd over at Mashmumble who are whipping up the frenzy over what is a generic system like Pinterest.
Pinterest is fantastic if your niche is visually stimulating, such as cat calenders, kitchen taps, motorbike paintwork, bathroom tiles etc. And I have a few friends who are really working Pinterest to their own advantage who happen to be in these niches. I myself have, ahem, a few accounts that focus on certain niches.
As far as I can see, it has the same flavour as Stumbleupon, Flickr etc. of course it’s not exactly the same. But if you found that these types of systems did not work for you in the past, I doubt it’s worth a look in.
There is no social media system which everyone should be a member of. I am a member of all I can be, but then this is my job. I can’t advise clients if I don’t join and try to game these systems to my own advantage.
6 months ago, G+ was the next big thing, as far as I can tell it’s definitely not. It shows some interesting aspects, but it’s not captured enough critical mass for it to be a Facebook killer.
If there are two social media systems to use it’s Twitter and Facebook. But they are no longer new and exciting and so maybe not worth the Maserati raving about them. Twitter and Facebook are established enough to easily work out if they are for you. With Pinterest, unless you are a social media professional or a middle aged women making cupcakes, I would look at all the social media systems that are on offer and chose the one that benefits you the most.
I’m not going to name names, but some people need to stop making infographics.
Look, if you don’t know what the goldern ratio is, or colour psychology or the juxtapostion of narrative elements in current popular culture against sub-conscious societal relationships, you really need to step away from the Photoshop.
Not that you wont get success, if you have an adoring network you would probably get a link if you posted a picture of a turd in the shape of John Wayne. But then you probably have a link from these fans anyway.
I know infographics have been hot for a couple of years, but what you may not know is that the kick ass infographic you just saw was made by a team of graphics graduates and researchers. Each specialising in a specific part of the production process.
I’m not going to go into a step by step guide to creating a killer infographic right now, I’m just blowing one off as I just saw a derisory infographic being pushed by an A lister.
Heres a tip, if you don’t want brown hands don’t push crap.
I put out regular, killer infographics. I do this by giving the work to people who eat, drink and breathe this stuff. And it’s very expensive, the best people always are.
BTW, if you think I am talking about you, I’m not. I am sure no one who has the intelligence to read this blog would think to put out something so gash.
250 million pictures a day are shared on Facebook
Can your headline compete with that?
I ask because I’ve noted on several content sites that they reject articles on poker, horse betting etc. But accept articles about spread betting. And yet when I speak to my friends who earn a living spread betting, they tell me that it is gambling. Certainly when compared to other forms of investment, but the risk can be reduced by increasing your skill in the activity.
Categorisation is important in seo.
As is the semantic meaning of words and phrases.
Spread betting is one of those terms that can have one foot in gambling and one foot in investment.
Why is this important?
Many phrases are what’s called polysemic, meaning they have a number of meanings, read Clustering of Polysemic Words for an interesting look into the the subject with regards to categorisation. The Wikipedia entry for Polysemy is a good place to look for a further understanding of the term.
It is important if you are building a keyword list, sorting keywords into categorisations. Categorising keywords as you well know is an essential part of SEO and so an understanding of the nature of the term, polysemic, may help you in this task.
Context is crucial when deciding which category to put a term which has multiple meanings in. But, there are many forms of context. Most importantly the viewer has a context which if you have done your research correctly you already are aware of and have prepared for.
Our brains like to order things, it’s why lists are so popular. If you confuse the brain over the meaning of a term your message will be lost. Context happens because of the meaning around keyword we are targeting. Context is what happens before, during, around and after the keyword has been digested by the brain.
Many things affect context, and maybe that’s for another blog post.
All this folds into useability and how effective your website is at reaching its objective, be it sales, links, subscribers etc.
Further reading on the subject can be found at:
Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug
When Search Meets Web Usability, Nick Musica and Shari Thurow
Neuro Web Design, Dr. Susan M. Weinschenk. Ph.D.
For a more in depth understanding of the workings of spread betting please go to financial-spread-betting.com
Over the last few days Google have launched a potential game changer into the search world. ‘Search plus Your World’ has set up a firm foundation for Google to move into becoming a social search engine in an effort to make its search results more personalised and relevant to the individual user, allowing them to have more access to information and content from people they know or from within their own online sphere.
One of the main changes brought in through this update is the way that Google+ accounts, pages and information have become even more deeply intertwined with search results. Information shared on Google+ is becoming even more prominent in today’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page), out ranking rival social networks in search rankings and set to play a deeper role in personal searches. This is why any current SEO Training should include information about the way we currently use Google+ and guidelines about using it as a tool to help get your content, and message, across.
Circles
Keeping organised groups of experts, pages and enthusiasts of different subjects is a great way to filter and view new content and comments around one topic. Building your own directory of large circles not only opens up your network to a wider audience it also helps to build internal links.
When your content appears on other users’ streams it is indexed by the web crawlers and the more a piece of content is crawled the more importance search engines place upon it.
So the more people you share your content with the better chance you have of achieving a high search ranking, as well as improving your odds of receiving more shares, +1’s and comments.
We have put together a few Google+ circles for you to add to your own profiles, so you can get a start on growing your network:
- SEO: Here is a circle of SEO experts profiles and pages which will give you the latest and up-to-date information from the world of SEO
- Social Media: A circle of the movers and shakers in Social Media
- Project Management: Includes experienced project managers, project management methodologies and pages offering project management tips
- Software Testing: Pages and profiles offering insight and tips on software testing
- Photoshop: Adobe Photoshop enthusiasts and professionals who share their knowledge of how to best use the photo editing software.
Make sure you add more profiles and pages to these circles expand your reach.
Authorship
Google have been including author information into their search results for a while now, displaying a thumbnail photo and link to the author’s Google+ account within search results. However, now they have made it easier for Google+ users to lay claim to their online content without having to link your content to your profile using HTML author tags.
By adding the sites you contribute content to in your profile’s ‘Contributor to’ box and by making sure your email address is added to the ‘Work’ box all on your profile, Google will include your image and G+ account details to its indexed links; as long as the original post includes your name and ideally your email address.
This is a great tool to allow you to stake claim to your work and direct readers to your own account, as well as being potentially a great way of cracking down on people copying your work rather than sharing it.
Take a look at Google’s content guidelines to find out more about including your author information in search results.
The Profile
Your profile is your online you. Google+ has set itself apart from other social media sites such as Facebook by making public profile pages far more searchable to search engines by default, indexing information such as:
- Your Biography
- All text from any publicly shared posts
- Anything you have +1’d, be it on Google+ or on an external site
- All of your photos
- Links to anyone who has added you in one of their own circles
A lot of information can be extracted from this, which is why you can use your profile as a tool to connect everything you have done online, making it searchable in personal searches and Search Plus Your World queries. Luckily, Google do make it easy for you to manage what information you do and don’t want shared and indexed, so spending that extra bit of time sorting out your privacy settings is a must.
Sharing
Due to its keyword rich and easily web bot readable set up, shared content on Google+ has a tendency to do very well in search results. While some say this is due to Google favouring its own products a lot of it is due to the way they optimise their pages, which include long and descriptive title tags which hold more valuable information for crawlers to use in order to accurately index the page.
Also, using your circles you can easily specify who you share your content with, so you can easily target your audience with relevant content they would be interested in. This will mark the post as “Limited” on your shared post, which when clicked will show who you have selected to be privy to the post. Combine this with tagging people using a “+” or “@” before typing their name to really give a sense of personalisation, thus highly increasing the odds of your content being viewed by the people you really want to see it.
We have recently published a post giving the low-down on ‘Search plus Your World’ and its potential threat to SEO and online marketing, so be sure to give it a read to find out more about how the new development could affect your SEO efforts.
From what we’ve seen personal search is here to stay, so the time is now to adopt techniques to get your content found or risk falling off of the search map forever.
Written for Cornwall SEO by Silicon Beach Training providers of SEO Training, PRINCE2 Training, Business, Management, Programming and Mobile Development Workshops.
If you want links, it is the Linkerati you need to get the attention of.
The Linkerati are those who link
They are distinctive from your customers or your clients or the other people you would like to impress, but do not have the power to link to you.
There are various tribes within the Linkerati, and these all respond to different stimuli.
Most are excited by information.
Not just any kind of information, but information that intersects their current thinking. Which raises other problems.
How do you find out which kind of information intersects the thinking of the Linkerati?
How do you get the linkerati to take notice of you information?
How do you create information which will juice up the linkerati enough for them to link to you.
You have to tap into the Lizard brain, or the Old brain. You need to get down to fundamentals.
People link, motivated by emotion. It’s why popular bloggers can produce mediocre content and get links. Emotion counts.
A lot of the linkerati get emotional about data, particularly when it’s represented in a graphical format. Hence the rise of infographics for seo. The brain can digest pictures or visualisations quicker than text and the linkerati love information that is steam pumped into the visual cortex.
Although linkbait is still effective, an infographic or visual based linkbait will generally get more links.
But, if you are not part of the linkerati it’s very tricky to get into the head of this tribe. You certainly have no chance if you are a suited marketing executive, you must dip into the tribe and employ a translator, negotiator, emissary.
The best advice I can give is become like them. Even if you are one of the Marketing Executives, come over to the side. Other than that, you are going to have to talk to one of us who can communicate with both sides.
The Forex market is one of those things that really benefits from a graphical explanation. In the SEO world the Forex market is quite hot and very competitive, which is a good thing for those of us who build links for a living. Building an Infographic for links is a no brainer for this market, it is so competitive that every little helps.
Here is an example of a Forex Infographic that has done very well and a lot can be learned from it.
This infographic is provided to you by CMS Forex.
Click here to add this infographic to your website.