The benefits of business blogging

By Nigel Temple4 Comments
Regular blogging brings numerous benefits. To begin with, the act of writing puts your ideas in order. Whatever your reason for blogging, you will find that writing a few hundred words in a coherent fashion makes you think. Which is no bad thing, in a busy world. Blogging may lead to a book Many novelists began by blogging. As their ideas take shape within their daily blog, an idea for a book may be born. A book is a great promotional device for a business. The challenge for many of us is getting started, as writing 20,000+ words for a book is daunting. The largest project can be broken down into small tasks. Writing a couple of hundred words is easy. It's surprising how those words can quickly add up. The SEO benefits of blogging For independent professionals, business owners and marketers, a blog can attract the search engines. I am often asked, during my internet marketing seminars, if it is OK to have...
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How to make blogs easier to read

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
We're going to discuss how to make your blogs easier to read. If I had to choose one piece of advice, it would be to decrease the length of your sentences. We recently built a website for Ringrose & Co (they offer advice to companies in financial difficulties). www.ringroseandco.co.uk I was talking to their MD, Mark Smillie and we were discussing blogging. Here is the feedback I gave him, regarding a draft blog entry he wrote. Here are his draft words (IP = Insolvency Practitioner): oooooOOOOOooooo Our perspective is different to the IP who must give fair and impartial advice to all concerned with the Limited Company, we will give best advice to the client, who can benefit from over twenty years’ of experience in this area. oooooOOOOOooooo I suggested that Mark cut the sentence lengths down. This is the quickest way of increasing 'readability'. So the above could become: Our perspective is different to the IP. They must give fair and impartial advice to all concerned with...
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Long tail and short tail keywords explained

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
What are long tail and short tail keywords? 'Keywords' = words / phrases used by search engines to find relevant web pages. Some keywords are used frequently. Within SEO* these are known as 'short tail keywords'. As they are so popular, it is relatively challenging to rank highly for them, within organic search results. Other keywords are searched for less frequently. They are known as 'long tail keywords'. Interestingly, according to Google, some 20% of the searches they see on a daily basis, have never been used before. It is quite possible to achieve page one rankings for long tail keyword phrases. However, the trick is to stay at the top and also to convert this traffic into business. Within The Marketing Compass, we recommend that our members have an alphabetical list of keywords. Generally, it is a good idea to have a balance of popular (short tail, or 'broad') and less popular (long tail, or 'narrow') keywords / phrases within your website....
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What is anchor text within a website?

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
What is anchor text within a website? = a hyperlink which contains keywords. For example, within the following hyperlink.... <a href="https://www.marketingcompass.co.uk">The Marketing Compass</a> ....."The Marketing Compass" = the anchor text. A more helpful version (for us!) would be: <a href="https://www.marketingcompass.co.uk">The Marketing Compass - small business marketing advice and answers to marketing questions.</a> Search engines examine anchor text, in order to figure out what the destination web page is about. They are doing their best to be helpful to the searcher. Think of it this way: Google would like to know as much as possible about the subject of the page to which the link points. So inserting keywords into anchor text helps Google to do its job. Tip: if someone wants to link to your website, send them a pre-prepared hyperlink (along the lines of the one above - but with your URL / keywords within it). Here is another tip - within your website, all of your links to other websites should open up in a new browser...
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SEO strategy in 7 steps

By Nigel Temple2 Comments
Here is a 7 step SEO strategy: 1. Become your customer & think about what they are searching for. 2. Create an alphabetical list of search terms. 3. Search for 'Keyword tool' within Google and use this resource to refine your list. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 4. Use your keywords / phrases within your website, i.e. articles, tips and ideas, dos & don'ts lists, case studies, blog entries. 5. Use your keywords / phrases outside of your website (social media, comments within other people's blogs, article marketing etc). 6. Measure your results using Google Analytics. 7. Use the metrics to create a feedback loop into your keywords list. Ask an SEO strategy question via our SEO Group: https://www.marketingcompass.co.uk/groups/seo Join us COMPASS membership is FREE! * Create a profile & promote yourself * Hyperlink back to your website * Connect with other members * Post updates about your marketing * Join knowledge groups & find answers * Download our FREE ebook – 101 Customer Attraction Techniques * Earn money via our affiliate scheme [DKB url="https://www.marketingcompass.co.uk/register" text="Create my free account" title="Create my...
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