SearchEngineOptimisation.com, only one way up

Ever notice how any amateur organisation seems to involve as many people as possible? It’s not just out of the good of the organisation’s heart. Whether it’s a piece of theatre or an online publication, organisations that rely on amateurs open their doors because they know a secret. The more people you have on board, the bigger an audience you will have. The strategy is something that can be used for organic search engine optimisation as well.

User-sourced content is a rich resource that generally goes untapped. Your site’s users can provide reviews, comments or entire blog posts, if only the option is open to them.

Those who do tap this resource may not realise its full benefits. The average Search Engine Optimisation agency will consider user-generated content as an organic SEO strategy. It helps with a site’s content production load and you can discuss organic SEO with us at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk. Many overlook the strategy’s other form of usefulness.

The Internet is full of self-advertisers. Users post status updates and tweets about their recent writing activity, effectively doing high quality link building [...] Continue Reading…

If you don’t have a good title, your article isn’t going to be read. It’s a fact. If your title doesn’t deliver something the Internet user is looking for, they will move on to find something that does. As your title is part of your listing in the SERPs, bad composition could lose you clicks and eventually, rankings.

So what are Internet users looking for when they scan the search results? They’re looking for something that makes them STOP:

* Specific – ‘How to build a weather-proof rabbit cage’. Often, Internet users search because they are looking for specific information. It’s best to get straight to the point. Your SEO agency will be happy with your concise use of keywords as well

* Timely – ‘Five essentials you need to know before buying a bunny this Easter’. One way to hook readers is to tell them how essential the information your page contains is. Refer to a holiday or just inject a sense of urgency

* Original – ‘What your bunny does to say “I love you”’. In a world full of information, [...] Continue Reading…

Ever wonder why other blogs are succeeding when yours isn’t? There’s no magic to it. If your SEO blog isn’t pulling in traffic, regular followers and links, it could be because of something you’re not doing. More likely, it’s because of something you are doing.

*You ignore the rest of the world. It has been said that ‘no man is an island’. These days, there are plenty of people who live in complete isolation undermining the phrase ‘but no blog can survive as an island’. Truly successful blogs are written by people who are active in the blogging community

*You throw away old work. A blog isn’t a single item. It’s a series of pieces which build up over time. Promote your hard work by posting links to older posts

*You forget to SEO. If you’re running a blog because you want to boost your rankings, you need to keep returning to SEO principles. This means using keywords, writing compelling headlines and using blogging software that is search engine friendly. Don’t forget to create URLs that are easy for search engines to [...] Continue Reading…

One of the factors for sites that weathered the recent Google algorithm changes was links. A good, well-rounded link profile generally helped a site ride through the changes that Google’s Farmer Update wrought. Although content was a driving factor for sites that were affected, it seems that links could have played a major part in sheltering some of the sites that survived unscathed.

So, exactly what kind of links are we talking about? Although any good link profile is likely to help you get through an algorithm change, there is a bit of a knock-on effect when you have a lot of industry links. If your link givers haven’t done so well after the change, your link profile’s value goes down.

The remedy for this is to build your link profile on a broad base. High quality, one way link building shouldn’t focus just on links from your industry, but links from a whole variety of sources, including local organisations, business associations. Social media links are a good resource as well, when you can get them. Talk to us at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk [...] Continue Reading…

Maintaining a search engine optimisation blog can be stressful, and stress is a known killer of creativity. Luckily, your website optimisation campaign will provide you with plentiful opportunities for content. Here are some of the ideas that SEO blog owners overlook:

1. Press release summaries. Press releases are designed to appear all over the net. Duplicate content issues arise if you post them on your site. If you want to make use of your press release in a form that will rank, simply post a summary on your blog. This helps you publicise the press release and provides news-worthy, timely content for your blog.

2. Link bait promotion. Your blog is a marketing tool, so use it. Promote your new videos, products or link bait with blog posts. This can easily tie into your social media marketing campaign.

3. Article summaries. Ideally, blog entries should be short, engaging and to the point. It’s a medium not suited to white papers and research reports. Solve the situation and provide yourself with interesting blog content by summarising and linking to longer content.

4. Social media [...] Continue Reading…

Charts and other infographics have been a common sight over the last few years on the net. Realising that text-based content was no longer catching attention, various site owners began using infographics to catch the eye. Overuse has sadly diminished the effectiveness of this popular SEO tool, but they can still work to build online reputation. All you have to do is avoid the following.

1. The boring infograph. Infographics aren’t internet reputation solutions if they aren’t interesting. Any SEO agency will advise clients to boost natural links with interesting content. This applies as much to infographics as anything. A badly-chosen topic or a bad treatment can mean your work is wasted.

2. The ugly infograph. Similarly, graphics don’t work well if they are badly designed. Many graphics do work well with a simple design, but if they look like something worked up in Microsoft Paint, they’ll fail.

3. The wallflower infograph. If you’re going to go to all the effort of creating a good-looking, interesting infograph, you don’t want it sitting unnoticed. Make sure you connect infographics with keyword-rich, well-promoted content [...] Continue Reading…

Social media marketing is a good option for most businesses. A social campaign is cheap, easy, and can provide huge returns. Whether you’re just starting or are in the middle of social media optimisation, you need to ask some vital questions.

1. Is your target market still on social sites? A secondary question to ask yourself is what your target market is doing on social media sites. If they’re using Facebook solely to catch up with friends, you need to switch strategies.

2. Are you overcommitting? Social media eats up time if you’re not careful. It’s a good idea, in the middle of your campaign, to review your time commitment. Talk to your SEO agency or our experts at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk about appropriate schedules.

3. Have you reviewed your plan? Social media moves fast, and so should your planning. If you’re six months into your campaign, it’s time to review your outcomes and redefine your goals. You may need to add new social streams to your plan.

4. Have you consolidated your reputation? At the start of social media campaigns, different profiles can get [...] Continue Reading…

Your site’s reputation is an obvious SEO asset, but have you ever considered the value of your personal reputation? Most site owners only look to personal reputation as part of internet reputation management. What many don’t realise is that internet reputation solutions can be SEO solutions as well.

The value of personal reputation has only become clear in the last few years. It’s always been true that a name that appears all over the net gets search engine attention. Now, with Google supporting an author tag, it’s clear that business owners who invest time building their own reputation can make use of it to boost business.

How it works:

1. Guest blog. Everywhere. The main component of this strategy is to build content around the net and relate it back to your name. Post high quality content on the top sites in your industry.

2. Tag your name. Cement the relationship between your name and good content by using the rel=author tag where possible. Otherwise, ensure that your content always comes with a prominent byline.

3. Use your name as a keyword. None of [...] Continue Reading…

Your site may be the centre of your online universe, but it’s not the only way to get search engine attention. Businesses appear in all sorts of listings. The business site’s own pages can only appear so often. Whether your pages are doing well, or you want a little extra support in the SERPs, you can and should target some sneaky listings as part of affordable SEO services.

There are two ways you can wrangle a few sneaky rankings. They involve your business name and searches within your industry.

1. Sneaky rankings by business

Every business has opportunities to advertise on the net. Mainstream directory listings, such as Yellow Pages, will always rank highly. For listings with more of a personal touch, look to your social media profiles, which can also turn up tops in a business name search. Targeting business name listings also helps with online reputation management, and you can discuss this aspect of SEO with us at www.SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk.

2. Sneaky rankings by industry

Snagging links related to your business name isn’t too difficult, but what about searches for your main keywords? [...] Continue Reading…

Information is one of the biggest commodities of the internet. Just about every business looks for information conversions in one way or another, whether it be for email marketing, site subscription or purchaser registration. One of the decisions to make when plotting out this point in your conversion path is whether to host your forms on-page, or embed them within a pop-up.

Opinion is divided about form placement. Some favour removing the form into a pop-up, so that it doesn’t interfere with the page. Others prefer it on the page. Both options have advantages and disadvantages.

1. Pop-ups. These can be handy because they remove complicated elements from your page. However, they do present another step for users to take, which can present an obstacle for conversions. Another minor complication can be the hidden nature of pop-ups, and you should discuss this with your SEO company or our team at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk.

2. On the page. On-page forms present their own complications. Their code needs to be examined during search engine optimisation services, and they can clutter up a page, leading to a [...] Continue Reading…