Speak for Yourself!

Many businesses are now looking to blogging as a method of further engaging their audience, showcasing their expertise and improving their ranking on Google and other search engines. The most likely hurdle they’ll face is a lack of buy in from colleagues – but that’s the most important thing they need to have.

Your company blog needs to be just that – a blog by your whole company. That doesn’t mean every member of the team needs to write blogs in full prose; in my previous job as social media marketer at Zabisco, I would have team members submit bullet pointed versions of what they’d like to say or drafts of the full prose for me to then check over and amend if necessary.

And I would talk to them, engage in conversations about what was happening around the office and also what was happening in our industry – what interested them, what they agreed with, what they didn’t agree with and any ideas they had. We found sharing interesting blogs, videos or other media around the office was a good way of getting conversations started and inspiring people to write.

A company blog really does need the buy in of the whole team though if it is to work. One person alone cannot know all that is happening in the business, nor can they successfully generate the breadth of opinion and expertise that a business blog needs to portray. In order to get buy in, you’ll need:

- Understanding. People need to know why the blog is important.
- Reason. Make blogging a part of people’s job description and ensure they have the time to do it at least once a month.
- Support. Be on hand to assist in idea generation and support colleagues by offering to review and amend their blogs for them; not everyone’s comfortable writing so make sure they know that you will help.

But most of all, a company blog needs to encourage people to speak for themselves, hence the title of this blog! It’s not just about the benefits the company will receive from the blog, because the writers of that blog will also achieve things they might not otherwise. A blog is a fantastic place to showcase expertise, to share experience and to articulate ideas and opinions in a way that helps you explore those ideas even further.

A blog can be a fantastic asset to a company or team. But that asset is entirely dependant on being updated reglarly by its contributors. Without this, you’re achieving nothing.

Why are you following me?

Managing our online profile is more important than ever

In an interesting, yet bizarre, turn of events, my online profiles are today experiencing a spike in traffic…

And the reason for this spike? One person mentioned they had Googled me and found it interesting.

One person looked, so many more people in my network wanted to look; they trusted their friend’s recommendation that something was interesting and sought more information because they thought it would interest them too.

It’s a very basic yet very prevalent part of online marketing and is indeed relevant for both brand positioning and our own personal profiling.

As a brand or an individual, we want to know that the information people come across about us is positive and helping to develop our brand personality. We want to ensure that information related to us is relevant, worthwhile and of value to our audience. We want people to want to share it.

So how can we achieve this?

There’s really no hard answer as any answer is entirely brand, audience and context specific. But in essence, it comes down to managing our online presence.

So whilst others fret over the new privacy settings of their favourite networks, stop and think; do I want to hide my information, or do I want to better manage my profile by checking the way I handle myself (or my brand) online and ensure, when people do search for us, they get the impression we want them to?

You never know who’s Googling you and who they’re sharing that information with, so make sure you give them something worth sharing.

It’s All About Social Validation [Feature]

Link building….it’s an essential part of SEO and something any brand striving for that number one spot needs to be doing.

Of course, this predominantly means getting links from reputable and relevant sources through quality content and PR. But more and more, link building is also about social validation.

I explore this further in my latest contribution to Ben Norman’s SEO blog. Take a look at the full article now.

Considering the User in Mobile SEO [Feature]

According to Google, mobile search increased four times faster than PC search in 2010, making it one of the fastest growing areas of technology, whilst the increasing popularity of tablet computing only adds to that prominence.

But whilst an understanding of the technicalities of mobile SEO is important, it’s not as important as an understanding of the mobile user and ensuring we meet the needs of an increasingly savvy audience.

I explore the importance of user centred thought in mobile SEO in my latest feature for Ben Norman. Take a look at the full article now at Ben Norman | Considering the User in Mobile SEO.

Why SEO and Content Marketing Go Hand in Hand [Feature]

A common misconception with SEO, particularly when talking to businesses looking for an SEO agency, is that it’s all about the on-page factors. People seek tangible inputs – they want to see their page titles optimised and their meta-descriptions dealt with. They believe the addition of more keywords in their content will be their gateway to SERP success.

But they’re not. And that’s what my latest feature on Ben Norman’s SEO Blog explains.

Take a look at the full article now on Why SEO and Content Marketing Go Hand in Hand | Ben Norman SEO.

How Google’s Panda Update Changed SEO to be More User Centred

Google’s Panda Update was introduced to the UK back in April 2011  a new method of distinguishing which pages are useful and which are not to search users. Since then, it has changed the way SEO’s do their jobs, placing far more emphasis than ever before on design and user experience.

For years, SEO’s worked by known and understood best practices, adding title tags and meta descriptions, creating keyword optimised content and then seeking links into those pages from reputable sources. These practices allowed SEO’s to show search engines how useful their content is by clearly describing it and getting other people to vote for it. What the Panda update does is to move that emphasis, still requiring us to do all of the above but now far more heavily emphasising the experience people have on our sites (which had previously been a secondary consideration).

What this means in practical terms is that we need to create pages people like, pages people are going to want to share. The way you achieve this is dependant on your target audience, but generally, follow these tips and you won’t go far wrong:

1. Unique, relevant contentWriting what everyone else is writing is not useful, but providing a different spin, a new opinion or a clearer way of describing it will help your content stand out from the rest.
2. Show some personality!It’s difficult to engage a user when your tone is flat and boring. Every brand needs a personality, so don’t be afraid to let yours shine through. Whether you’re a professional firm or a creative agency, keeping jargon levels appropriate and letting users see the people behind the brand will create better brand affiliations and loyalty.
3. Think about the experienceGood user experience is imperative to creating engaging, share-worthy content. If a user struggles to find what they need or they have to scroll/click through loads of content to find what they need, they’re not going to like that page at all.

There’s load of information out there on the Panda Update, the majority of which is confusing and potentially off-putting. The basic premise, however, is simple: create an optimal user experience with good quality content to make something people will like, share and revisit.

SEOMoz featured a really good video on this which is well worth a watch. Check it out below:

http://seomoz-cdn.wistia.com/flash/embed_player_v1.1.swf//

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Google Local Places and Google Offers Now in Beta

Google have released Local Places and Google Offers in beta:

Google's Local Places

Google Offers

Google Local Places

Currently only in Portland in the US, it is anticipated that Google’s Local Places will be rolled out globally over the coming year. This will allow users to search in their own city and to get information and recommendations specific to their location, with descriptive words added to search results to give users a better idea of what the place is like.

Google Offers

Seemingly working much like Groupon, Google Offers provides location specific offers from various local businesses.

How to Add Google +1 to Your Website and What To Do Once It’s There

Google have announced the relaunch of their social share service “+1″.

The move comes as no surprise, with Google working constantly to improve their social offering and give better search results based on social validation. It will come as no surprise then that developers all over the world are already adding the button to their website, keen to get on board and ensure their sites can easily be ‘liked’ to improve their search rankings. For details on how to add the button to your website, visit Google’s own help page or take a look at the video below to see how Google suggest +1 can help you:

What is Google +1?

Google +1 is a social validation tool which enables users to ‘like’ or mark a webpage as useful or valuable to them. The more people +1 the site, the more prominence it gains on search engine results pages (SERPs). Think of it as user led SEO link building.

How should I use Google +1?

People are not going to +1 any old piece of content – quality content is key here because you’re asking your users to put their hands up and, in front of their own social networks, say “I recommend this page”. And earning that recommendation won’t be easy.

As with all things in marketing, it’s really important to consider who your audience is and what will provide value to them. Tailoring your content around this and taking that content to your audience in the places they are most active online will give you a far better chance of being recommended.

Read more about the importance of social validation in my recent Figaro Digital feature.

What Does Google’s Panda Update Mean for your Business? [Feature]

Marketing Donut feature on Google’s Panda Update:

• What does Google’s Panda Update mean for your business | Marketing Donut

Out of the Farm, Into the… Zoo?

As those who attended the Online Marketing Conference (#omce2011) will know, Google’s algorithm changes are due to take place in the UK this week. So, what exactly is the Panda Update?

Because everyone loves a gratuitous cute panda pic...

There has long been criticism of Google for the apparent lack of policing over “content farms” – sites which essentially “pollute” SERPs with poor quality content, created for the sole purpose of ranking highly for long tail keywords and thus attracting traffic to be targeted with advertising. The update will reduce value provided by these links, thus pushing them down the rankings and providing better search results for Google’s users.

Great news, right? Removing the bad content whilst allowing quality content to move higher has got to be a good thing. And you know your website has good quality content, so you can only benefit!

Well, not entirely. It’s true that quality content will help you in your ranking and be more likely to be shared by people through social media. But it’s not just content farms that will suffer – nor will they suffer entirely. Here’s what the algorithm change will mean for you and your business:

1. An algorithmic change – not a blacklist

Google aren’t saying they’re going to ban all content farms – in fact, much of the content on sites such as ezine.com is useful and therefore deserves the benefit of that. That’s why Google is simply making this an algorithmic change – so the effect won’t be uniform across your site and it’s only the poor content that will suffer.

2. All pages need to be high quality content

The higher the proportion of high quality pages on your site, the better you will rank. So it’s really important that every page of your site is of the highest standard. That means redirecting, or removing entirely, those poor quality pages and replacing them with well written, useful content which appeals to your end user.

3. Social validation will be more important than ever

Google will be using social share and retweets as an indication of quality, as well as considering the bounce rate of your pages to ensure the content they send people to is useful and relevant. So allow people to share your content – add social share buttons, allow comment, create conversation around it – the more people say your content is valuable, the more valuable Google will think it is.

4. Article marketing will be devalued

But wait – will it? It’s a common misconception with the Panda Update that it will devalue the work you or your agency already does in article marketing (that’s providing content to other sites with a view to getting links back from them). Rather than making article marketing less valuable, it just means marketers need to be more creative and provide higher quality content. That will mean seeking relationships with influential bloggers, guest blogging on influential sites and generally ensuring that every activity you do around link building provides real benefit to your end user.

Well there we go then – quality content = higher rankings. Happy days. But hang on a minute – what is “quality content”?

As I’ve already touched on, quality content is content that provides value to your end user – your audience. So it needs to be relevant to the area you work in and say something that no one else has said, in a way that the reader understands and can use. For Google, this will most likely be defined by the following attributes:

• Good click through rates – after all, if people click it, it must be useful, right?
• No ads above the fold – you may have noticed that a lot of sites which are based on advertising will advertise to you before you even start scrolling. That just tells Google that they’re only after your traffic for advertising purposes.
• User engagement – as I mentioned, this will be about social sharing and external links to your pages. So make it sharable!

I’ll be keeping track of Analytics for sites I work on and will let you know if I see any big changes but, for now, the best plan of action is to, in the words of someone famous, “keep calm and carry on!”. Do keep an eye on your stats though – and don’t be afraid to cut the pages that aren’t working for you.

Hurray for quality content!