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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
My First Northbound Post Is Live
My post, Magento E-commerce: Why Open Source Is the Best Solution, is up at Northbound Interactive Marketing Blog. I'll be posting there once a week, sharing SEO, branding, marketing, technology, and design info and research to help you optimize your website or blog, improve your marketing methods, and make the most of your professional brand.
A Few Words About Straight North
Northbound is owned by Straight North, a top-ranking Chicago Internet marketing firm, which specializes in creative branding and design, SEO, PPC, website and e-commerce development, and other areas of strategic marketing.
The company recently hired my blogging friend and colleague, Brad Shorr, already well-known for his blogging at Word Sell. Brad has assumed the duties of Director of Content Marketing at Straight North and, in addition to continuing his blogging at Word Sell, is the main blogging voice behind Northbound. Because his new job keeps him so busy these days, however, he's asked me to help out by contributing one post a week to Northbound, in addition to the posts he's already commissioned me to write for Word Sell, and I was more than happy to accept the offer.
A Few Words About Brad's Work
I'm very honored to be asked on board by Brad, a blogger and businessman I've always admired. Brad is an excellent writer, accomplished social media expert, and incredibly savvy businessman. If you haven't been reading his content, you're definitely missing out! So, visit Northbound and Word Sell as often as you can. After reading Brad's insightful posts, you'll definitely come away with knowledge you can use to further your writing craft, grow your business, and develop your brand.
A Terrific Team-Up
As many of you know, Brad and I have worked together before, co-blogging at The Whoa Factor, the business blog he penned for Whoast, Inc. before the company merged with Straight North about a year ago. Now, SN has revived the blog, complete with a new name, new theme, new domain, and lots of brand new content. (They've also retained the solid collection of archived posts from the Whoa Factor days to keep readers busy and benefiting from all the helpful insight and info Brad has been penning at TWF/Northbound since 2006, and the work I contributed to TWF between December, 2008, and June, 2009.)
Stop by NB and Take a Look Around
I hope you'll stop by Northbound, read my post (at the link in the first paragraph), and take a look around. Be sure to check out Brad's excellent content, as well.You'll learn a lot--and there's certainly much more to come, as Straight North continues developing the blog and making it even better!
See you at Northbound!
Jeanne
The B2B Blogging Gig I Couldn't Refuse
Back in November, my good blogging friend, Brad Shorr, of Word Sell, Inc., offered me a gig I simply couldn't refuse. He invited me on board as co-author of The Whoa Factor, an SEO/SEM blog that Brad's been writing since 2006. It seemed his previous co-writer was leaving and he needed a replacement. Needless to say, I felt quite honored that Brad would want to share this fantastic gig with me and responded as any self-respecting blogger would: You bet I'd like to come on board as co-author of The Whoa Factor! When do I start? (or words to that effect).
Well, that day has come and gone and I've been happily blogging at TWF since early December, enjoying the challenge of spreading my wings in a somewhat different niche than I usually tackle, relishing the fascinating research, and loving the entire process of crafting the most helpful and informative posts about search engine marketing that I can.
The Whoa Factor: Company Blog of Award-Winning Whoast, Inc.
The Whoa Factor is owned by Whoast, Inc., an award-winning company which offers Professional SEO services and PPC management to many different types of businesses. Please take a moment to check out the above links to view the impressive awards won by Whoast and learn how this professional PPC management company can help you optimize your own website or blog and/or maximize the revenue earned on your pay-per-click advertising.
And, while you're at it, don't forget to check out The Whoa Factor if you're at all interested in search engine marketing strategies or would like to read about search engine optimization techniques that are presented with the non-technician in mind. Brad and I both do our best to provide the most dependable information and link to the most helpful SEO/SEM resources on the Internet.
Whoast's Prestigious PPC Competition Award from TOPSEOs.com
One thing I'd like to mention about Whoast's 2008 PPC Competition award from TOPSEOs.com, is that it resulted from a rigorous and highly competitive, year-long assessment, in which the company was judged on many factors, all of which are critical to PPC management.
Here's an excerpt from the press release which announced the company's win. It describes the rigorous process used to select the 10 winners:
To identify the winners of the PPC Competition, topseos.com carefully evaluates both the pay-per-click results generated and the tactics used by the top PPC management companies. Each qualified candidate in the competition is meticulously measured on several unique contest criteria throughout a twelve-month period. Along with overall customer satisfaction, candidates are also carefully evaluated on their depth of knowledge in PPC management and reporting methodology used.
Additionally, topseos.com also analyzes each candidate’s internal principles and discrete competitive advantages along with their core competences over four phases, with each phase equating to a quarter of a calendar year. Through this intense evaluation process, topseos.com is able to identify the premier PPC management companies that exemplify the most innovative marketing strategy, service and results.
Whoast's Baby: A Chip off the Old Block?
Now that you know a bit about Whoast, I'd like to share a recent accomplishment of its "baby," The Whoa Factor blog:
Recently, while busily working behind the scenes, quietly yet doggedly pursuing the best SEM and SEO info on the Web, I received a Google Alert informing me that, like Whoast (its parent company), The Whoa Factor had just been recognized as one of the "Best Blogs on the Net." I learned that TopRank CEO Lee Odden had included The Whoa Factor in his BIGLIST SEO Blog Reviews for February 2, 2009, thereby adding TWF to his BIGLIST of Search Marketing Blogs at TopRank Online Marketing. This was indeed an honor for both Brad and me, since Lee Odden has been sharing his considerable SEM/SEO expertise at TopRank since 2003.
My Second Honor at The Whoa Factor
Earlier today, I also learned from Brad that one of my Whoa Factor posts has received recognition from BtoB Magazine, a major Chicago-based publication (circulation 45,000) and business website focusing on marketing strategy. (Whoast is itself based in Chicago.) It seems that my post, Landing Pages: What Makes a Good One? has caught the eye of Tequia Burt, Senior Editor of BtoB, who has added it to the February 13th edition of the BtoB Blog Roundup,* making it one of its three Blog Posts of the Week. This is also quite an honor and actually a bit humbling, if the truth be told. As a relatively new SEM blogger, I must admit that I'm a trifle overwhelmed—but in a good way.
A Few Words of Thanks
I'd like to thank Brad for having enough faith in my ability to invite me on board at The Whoa Factor. I truly do consider it an honor to co-write this blog with a writer and business professional of Brad's caliber. And I'm equally honored to blog for a company with the fabulous reputation that Whoast has earned both through its fine work and its integrity. To the folks at Whoast I'd like to say Thanks for putting Brad in charge of The Whoa Factor—not because he's offered me this amazing gig (well, maybe partly), but (mainly) because he's the best individual for the job. (But, of course, you already knew that.) Thanks, too, for being a company I can be proud to blog for. And to Tequia Burt, Thanks for noticing my post and deeming it worthy of your BtoB Blog Roundup.
An Apology to My Writer's Notes Readers
Just thought I'd share my latest professional endeavor with all of you, along with my profuse apologies that my blogging here at Writer's Notes has decreased considerably of late. This hasn't been solely due to my blogging at The Whoa Factor but has been more the result of combining so many different writing, editing, and church-related administrative projects that there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I'd like to do. So, please bear with me, as I attempt to better organize and balance my workload by choosing my gigs wisely and becoming more adept at working smarter, not harder.
Thanks so much for your patience!
Jeanne
*UPDATE (6/17/09): This is the permalink to my post's BtoB recognition page, which I just discovered today via Google search. The web page includes a short statement about my post, as well as links to the other two posts recognized that week
Did you enjoy this post? Have you ever taken on a pro blogging gig--or are you perhaps involved in one now? If so, we'd love to hear all about it. What niche was it in, what topic did it address, and how did things go for you with this particular gig (or how are they going)? If you've never had a paid blogging gig, would you like to try one? What do you think you'd like most about it--and what would you like least?
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My Blog's PR Still Seems to Be Fluctuating
I recently reported that my Google page rank went from PR 3 to PR 2--a sure sign that a Google Update was in progress at the time. Well, earlier today, I logged in at Writer's Notes and discovered that my PR widget was once again reporting PR 3--and is in fact still reporting PR 3, as of this writing.
Time to Do a Bit of Investigating
The question then became, "Is Google still in the middle of updating/changing some websites' PRs?" In other words, are our sites' PRs still in a state of flux? Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely certain, though I will venture a tentative "yes." I am, after all, finding some indication that certain data centers are now reporting PR 3 for Writer's Notes. And while these sites are definitely in the minority--with most still reporting PR 2, many not reporting anything at all, and some even reporting PR 0--I have the distinct feeling that something is up.
Is This Seeming PR Increase Simply My Prior PR Resurfacing?
I could be wrong, of course. After all, one would expect that perhaps some data centers might be lagging behind in changing my prior PR3 to its newly lowered PR 2--and that would be a reasonable explanation for why some are currently reporting PR 3. This could in fact be the case, since I neglected to check a variety of data centers when my PR was first lowered to see whether some might have still been reporting my older page rank.
Still, the thing that causes me to question this bit of totally logical reasoning is the indisputable fact that my PR widget did register my initial drop in PR (from 3 to 2)--and now it's reporting a subsequent PR increase (back to 3). So I know that at least this one data center decreased and then subsequently increased my blog's PR--which makes it highly doubtful that the PR 3 it's reporting now could be my blog's old PR.
A Fascinating Phenomenon for Further Study
I'm planning to keep my eye on the situation to see what develops. I'll continue checking various data centers for further changes, and my guess would be that I'll find out fairly soon what's going on with Google. While I do realize that many don't regard PR as being extemely important, I find it quite fascinating to study the phenomenon!
What are your thoughts? Are you noticing any fluctuations in your own site's PR? What do you think is going on? Do you even care? Do you enjoy studying the phenomenon, as I do? Please feel free to share your thoughts with us in comments.
To your ever-increasing PR!
Jeanne
Update: I noticed yesterday, October 13th, that my PR has once again decreased to PR 2. So, apparently, the answer to my question of whether or not Google PR was still in flux when this post was written (not to mention days afterward) turns out to be a definite, but unfortunate yes. The folks at Google apparently have decided that their original decrease of my PR from 3 to 2, made earlier in the update, was the right move and have since reinstated it.
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Has your site's PR been fluctuating erratically lately, as mine has? If so, has it turned out to be higher or lower than it had been now that it's (likely) finished changing? What are your thoughts about this phenomenon of PR rankings that change two and three times during a single Google update?
Please note: If the StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking buttons aren't visible, please click the "Add Comments" link beneath this post. Thanks!
An Unexpected Change in Google PR
I just learned today that, after losing my PR 3 during the last Google PR update and going down to PR 0 (presumably due to posting sponsored content), my blog is now PR 2. I learned this quite by accident while checking the number of backlinks to my blog. This was quite a surprise to me, since I wasn't aware that changes in Google PR occurred outside the times during which official Google PR updates are in progress--a very pleasant surprise--despite the low PR 2. (After all, PR 2 certainly beats PR 0.)
Use This Tool to Find Out Whether Your PR Has Changed
Just in case your PR may also have changed since the last Google update, I've decided to offer this PR checker tool here at Writer's Notes to make it easy for you to check:
| Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly: |
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This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service
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A Link to This Tool Will Remain in My Sidebar
I'll also be placing a link to the tool in my sidebar for your convenience, in case you'd like to check your PR periodically while visiting my blog. You'll find this link in my Spotlight Posts section, where I place links to various helpful information, such as my About page, my blog's Awards page (for anyone who may be interested), my Pillar Posts page (where my blog's most helpful posts are listed by category to help you more easily locate them), and the Blog Carnival Feed (where you'll find a continually updating list of blog carnivals).
Hope you'll find this PR checker tool helpful--and also hope you'll find that your Google PR is higher now than it was the last time you checked!
Till next time,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Find it helpful? Have you discovered any recent change in your own Google PR? If so, I'd be very interested to hear about it--as well as any other thoughts you may have on Google PR, whether or not your PR has changed!
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Google Crawl Cycle: An Important Metric
Would you like to know how often Google crawls your site? If not, why not? According to the folks at SEOmeter.com, "How often search engine [sic] visits and crawls website content is an often neglected, but important metric for search engine optimization." They explain that a site's Crawl Cycle, or CC, is an important indicator of how much the search engines "trust" a particular website. The shorter the website's CC, the more trusted the site.
Why Is Crawl Cycle Important?
The main reason you might want to pay attention to this metric is that the degree of trust your website enjoys with the search engines is directly reflected in your site's search engine ranking. SEOmeter offers a free tool (free at least for your top-level domain and/or sub-domain) which will help you track your own site's Google Crawl Cycle. (If you'd like to track internal URLs using this tool, however, there is an annual payment.) The SEOmeter site has been in operation for about a month, so far. To read more about the site and the SEOmeter tool, visit the site's blog.
SEO Meter's Widgets
Here are examples of some of the nifty widget styles you may choose when you use SEOmeter on your website:
80 x 15 pixel button:
120 x 60 pixel button:
120 x 90 pixel button:
125 x 125 pixel button:
Other SEO Meter Features
Another neat thing about this site is that you can compare the Crawl Cycle of different websites, which are broken down into categories, with the top 20 in each category conveniently listed on the Top-20 Most Crawled Sites on the Web page.
You can also display the Crawl Cycle of your site and two others on a line graph, if you'd like to see a visual of the comparative CCs of the three sites to find out where your site ranks in relation to others in your niche.
Ease of Use/Benefits
The SEOmeter and other handy features of this website are easy--and even fun--to use and can help you keep track of your site's popularity with the search engines, since any attention your website or blog receives from Google is likely to be reflected in Yahoo! and other search engines, as well.
What could be easier than placing the SEOmeter tool on your site and simply watching it continuously recalculate your website's Crawl Cycle? Though I've only had mine for a few days, I have a feeling that, as I continually monitor it, I can expect to learn a lot.
Want to do the same?
Jeanne
NOTE: The only thing I had trouble figuring out was why all four of the widgets used as examples above weren't displaying the same Crawl Cycle. I'd wondered whether this indicated inaccuracy in the tool or something else. After e-mailing SEOmeter, I received the following explanation from Peter:
To reduce our server load, we do not calculate the statistics on the widget for each page refresh on your blog, but store (cache) the previously calculated stats somewhere in our server, and show it on the widget. And this caching thing happens for each size of widgets independently. So in this case, 1.9 was an outdated number, which was previously cached.
I just tried clearing the stat cache on your widgets, and they are now corrected. The stats on the widget get updated once every 24 hours, so even if you see an outdated/mismatching number, dont worry about it. It will be self corrected within the next 24 hours.
I certainly appreciated that explanation! Thanks, Peter!
Did you enjoy this post? Have any thoughts or any other handy SEO tools of your own to share? We'd love to hear from you!
DataBanq: The Blog of DataBanq Media Network
The DataBanq Media Blog covers topics such as technology, social networking, and SEO. These are all subjects that affect not only businesses that market their products online, but also writers of online content--or writers who market their writing online.
Posts on this relatively new but popular Internet Blog are informative and well-written. One that stands out in particular was penned by DataBanq president David Bayer and presents an in-depth assessment of the current and future realities of social networking.
Another fascinating topic addressed by Bayer on this insightful Technology Blog is "orphaned pages" (i.e., pages that, due to changes made to a website, no longer have other pages linked to them) and how such pages can negatively impact a website's other pages in search results.
The Databanq Blog presents highly informative content for anyone who is interested in knowing a little more about the inner workings of the often-mysterious world of the internet. And there are few people today who aren't in some way affected by the realities of the WorldWide Web--writers included.
Thanks for reading,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Learn anything from it? Have any questions? Feel free to comment!
Blog Day 2007: Celebrating New Blogs Worldwide
Today is Blog Day 2007: A day to celebrate new blogs all over the world! In honor of Blog Day, bloggers have been asked to list, describe, and link to five new blogs--preferably representing a different country, culture, or focus than our own.
Here's what the Blog Day website has to say:
BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
After writing our Blog Day posts, we are also asked to notify the bloggers we've chosen, which I plan to do via a comment on each one's blog.
Five Great New Blogs You Should Definitely Visit
Here are my choices (in no particular order) for five of the best new blogs from different parts of the U.S. and around the world. (Well...only one is currently outside the U.S: Confident Writing, which comes to us from Scotland; though one will soon be moving to Germany: Content Done Better. Yet, for some of you, the U.S. is on the other side of the world!) All these blogs are either only several months old or under new ownership.
I will let the bloggers who create the magic of the written word on their blogs speak for themselves, via quotes from their About pages and blog posts.
Pro Blog Design
Pro Blog Design. Michael Martin has this to say about his very helpful blog and also about blog post formatting:
I have been designing websites for a few years now, and enjoying every minute of it.
Over time, I’ve learnt a lot about working with blogs, and through Pro Blog Design I hope to share that knowledge with others. Content on a blog is of course, King, but does the King get the attention he deserves when draped in ragged garments? Of course not! In the same way that the grandeur of the King is crucial to his success, your blog’s design is crucial to yours. (from Michael's About page)
As bloggers, we write pages upon pages of content each week. We spend hours promoting the articles, choosing the right words and trying to get our point across as clearly as possible. How can formatting be used to further improve our posts?
There are a few basic tools that you will have heard mention of time and time again, such as bolding words. The first section re-explains their purpose, and the second will explain how to perfect your usage of them to achieve optimal formatting. (from Format Blog Posts for Readability and Legibility)
Confident Writing
Confident Writing. Joanna Young says the following about her quality site and about why she writes:
Hello I'm Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach...My aim is to get people writing with confidence. To realise the power of their words. How we work is partly up to you - but my approach is based on a blend of coaching, teaching, editing and writing - tailor made to your needs. (from Joanna's Welcome and Work With Me sections)
(Post Title: Why Do You Write?.) For me, it's something to do with the power of connection: the connections we can make with other people, the connections we develop between our own ideas, making sense of our experience, pulling together spaghetti strands of random thoughts and creating something new, connecting back to our roots and our selves and coming out with a stronger sense of who we are.
But then again maybe it's that thing I call realising: the sweet, slow dawning of realisation. Recognising the things that you always knew to be true. Recognising - with a jolt - your self in your words. Realising the power of your words, and taking responsibility for their power and impact: on yourself, on other people, on the world. Grounding yourself with the specificity of words. Validating your experience with words which are not real - but can make us feel that our experiences are. Allowing ourselves to be changed by the words that we write. (from Why Do You Write?)
ChrisBlogging
ChrisBlogging. Chris Bibey describes himself and his insightful blog and shares a few words of wisdom on freelancing:
For more than three years I have been earning a full-time income online. My main sources of income include a wide range of freelance writing projects, and of course, blogging.
But although I do not know the first thing about web design or coding, I still earn three times as much as I did as a corporate slave.
The goal of Chrisblogging.com is to show you how I make money, how you can join me, and much more! (from Chris's About page)
There is no denying that a few big jobs make up a large part of my monthly freelance writing income. But guess what? I also believe that smaller jobs are every bit as important. Sure, I would love to work on high paying jobs only, who wouldn’t? But the reality of the freelance writing industry (at least for me) is that this is not always possible. For this reason, I always think twice before I turn down any small jobs that I am offered. (from Don't Always Turn Down the Small Jobs)
ProBloggers Matrix
ProBloggers Matrix. Mark gives us this inviting welcome to his blog, and some great info about blogging (taken from one of his excellent posts):
Hello, I’m Mark.
Welcome to ProBloggers Matrix. I’ll be sharing blogging tips. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to post them in the comments. (from Mark's About page)
If you’re like me, you love to write, you love to publish great articles on your authoritative blog and you also enjoy reading excellent articles in many fantastic blogs. That can be very time-intensive, but you need to get out and exercise! Get the blood flowing! Get into The Zone! (from How to Stay in the Zone and Keep Wowing Your Readers with Spectacular Articles)
Content Done Better
Content Done Better. Michi Beck's blog has an intimate, inviting atmosphere, due to her personal, engaging writing style. Her Under New Ownership section tells us this about her background, followed by an apt quote from one of her posts:
During her career she has written many informative articles on various subjects including economics, technology, local happenings, and human interest stories.
In addition to the newspaper and Internet work, Michi has had poems published and is currently working on her first novel, of which the first draft is nearing completion. She enjoys both fiction and non-fiction writing, and often takes the time to write about the smaller things in life, as she believes those things have lessons behind them that most people do not realize. It is not only the big things that are important in our daily lives, and since she is often reminded of that it appears frequently in her particular style of writing. (from Michi's Under New Ownership page.)
(Post Title: When It Rains, It Pours.) Have you ever noticed that? You could be in a ‘dry spell’ in your work life and then all of a sudden things go crazy, and you’re left shaking your head and wondering how you’re going to get it all done.
I mention this because it happened to me, rather recently. I’m not sure whether to be overwhelmed and annoyed that everything showed up at once or happy because of the work and income. Hmmm…..I think I’ll go with “happy because of the work and income.” (from When It Rains, It Pours)
Five Great Blogs to Bookmark and Visit Again and Again!
Be sure to visit the above blogs soon--and often! And don't forget to give these hard-working and insightful bloggers a little link love! It will be more than worth your while, as you continually enjoy their latest words of writing wisdom.
Congratulations go out to these five new bloggers for making their blogs places where we can go to pick up the best info, tips, techniques, and advice, to make us all better, more responsive, and more productive bloggers!
Happy Blog Day!
Jeanne
Technorati Tag: Blog Day 2007
P.S. I realize I posted this a little late in the day--particularly for those of you on the opposite side of the world to the U.S., where I live! My apologies. But, I believe I did manage to post it in time--though barely! If I missed the deadline in anyone's time zone, Happy Belated Blog Day!
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A Hi-Tech Tool to Test Website Viability/Blog Vitality
I've recently learned about a couple of fairly comprehensive diagnostic tools that can help you determine the viability of your website or the vitality of your blog. (Thanks go out to K-IntheHouse at ShanKri-la, for the info, passed along in a guest post at Blog About Your Blog. A link to the post is provided below.) I wanted to pass along this info to my readers, in the hope that you'll be able to use it to make your website/blog better and more successful.
In this post, I'll cover the first of these two great online diagnostic tools: Website Grader. A great deal has already been written about these tools, so I'll limit the info I include in this post, providing a few links to other great content on the subject. Should you be interested in finding more info than these sources provide, I suggest a Google Search, which will generate many more links related to this topic. (I know; I checked.)
Website Grader
Website Grader gives your site an overall rating (so many points out of 100), which boils down to a percentage (e.g., 85/100 = 85%). Website Grader allows you to either diagnose your own site's condition exclusively or compare it to a couple of your most competitive website rivals, which is an interesting feature for those who want to know how they rank within their niche.
Some things you'll learn from Website Grader:
-Website Grade
-Google Page Rank
-Alexa Rank
-Technorati Rank
-Google Inbound Links
-Yahoo Inbound Links
-Delicious Saved Count
-Google Indexed Pages
Of course, many of the above are facts you already know about your site; however the others can certainly be helpful to learn, and even more helpful are the explanations which follow the chart listing the above data. That's where you'll find all your site's specific problems clearly spelled out for you--as well as all its positive points, using "alert" icons, consisting of either a yellow lightbulb or purple exclamation point, along with yellow or red highlighting of each of these problem sections. Blue "i" icons are used to indicate the non-problem portions of your site.
A Comprehensive Report on Your Site
The report generated by this tool is worth much more than the price of admission! (It would have to be--because it's free!) But, seriously, the report is very comprehensive. In fact, Website Grader will even e-mail you a link to the report so you can go back and look at it again later. (However, I would recommend copying and pasting it into Word [or whatever other word processing program you use].) Word will retain the formatting of the grading chart, in case you'd like to reproduce it on your blog or elsewhere, or even print it out.)
The original post from which I learned about Website Grader, as I mentioned earlier, was written by K-IntheHouse as a guest post at Blog About Your Blog. This post gives more great info about the tool. Here's the link: 2 Great Ways to Check Your Blog Health
The Website Grader report generates far more detailed information than I have mentioned here. So why not check it out for yourself and learn what's good about your website and what isn't. It will give you a great starting point for revamping your site to make it the best it can be. You'll then be able to measure how much progress you've made by plugging your site's URL into Website Grader again, as recommended by Wild Bill at Passionate Blogger, in his post, Does Your Blog Get a Failing Grade? How to Get an A+!
Happy diagnosing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Any questions? Feel free to comment!
Another blog I ran across at BlogCave (via MyBlogLog), which looks as if it might prove pretty helpful to bloggers is called Blog Smart Resources. With posts on free backlink builder script, trackback tools, Blogsvertise, various social networking sites and different SEO tools, info on the 2007 Blogging to Fame Awards, and more, there's a great deal that's of interest to bloggers here.
If you're a blogger, you'll want to make it a point to visit this blog when you have a bit of time to check out the many resources it offers to help make your blogging experience an easier, happier, and more productive one.
Happy reading!
Jeanne
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Freelancing Journey, a blog which refers to itself as "The Road to Business Success for Writers & Bloggers," is literally loaded with info, tips, links, leads, techniques, advice, and other resources that can help you, the freelance writer, make the most of your own website or blog. Covering many different aspects of the freelance writer's creative, professional, practical, and even personal development, this site has something for everyone interested in any type of freelance writing.
One post, "Page Rank, Back Links and Blogging," posted June 22nd, 2007, explains why page rank is important and provides tips on how to obtain quality backlinks to your blog. Another, more recent post, titled "Definitive List of Paid to Blog Services," dated June 28th, 2007, links to a very comprehensive discussion of the subject found in a post on another helpful blog. In addition, Freelancing Journey's "Roll of Honour" includes a long list of links to other blogs about writing--and blogging--as well as numerous other writing resources, markets, and marketing blogs.
Freelance writers are busy people, whose time is often severely limited. But taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule today to pick up some timely tips and advantageous advice could just save you a great deal of time and trouble over the long term.
So, check out Freelancing Journey, and see if you don't agree that this blog contains some helpful literary and marketing signposts to guide you along your freelance writing travels.
Bon Voyage!
Jeanne
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Whether or not you are extremely SEO savvy--or have any particular interest in Search Engine Optimization per se--it would probably behoove you to pay a bit of attention to the frequency with which certain words or phrases (known in SEO lingo as keywords or keyword phrases) appear in your online writing. Why? Because keyword density (or the frequency with which specific topically targeted words and phrases appear in a piece) is one very important factor used by search engines to determine page rank.
If you've written a witty, winning, and wonderful article or blog post, and its keyword infrequency puts it on page 45 of the search results, chances are good that very few people will have either the patience to locate it or the good fortune to actually read it--including those people who are searching for that topic!
Luckily, there are many websites that can not only explain SEO to the technically challenged among us, but also provide us with SEO tools that can greatly simplify our task of making our writing more keyword-friendly.
As a general rule, your main keyword or keyword phrase should (according to those in the know about such things) appear anywhere from 3% to about 8% of the time (give or take a percentage point or so). Anything over 10% is usually considered excessive and can cause your piece to be penalized by the search engines for "keyword stuffing."
One great place to begin your quest for SEO sophistication is to use the Keyword Density Tool at 123 Promotion to see where your piece falls on the keyword density spectrum. This can be done either before or after publishing on the Net and is done by simply copying and pasting your piece into the text box on the screen and inputting the keywords you want to determine the frequency of into the appropriate boxes. The tool then calculates the percentage of the piece that each keyword or keyword phrase represents. You can search for three keywords or keyword phrases at a time with this tool; and if you'd like to search for others afterward, you may simply delete the previous words and replace them with new words for a convenient recalculation.
This is a great way to prep your article or blog post for publication, if you'd like to be sure that it contains enough keywords before posting it online. If it's already appearing online, this is still a great way to check on keyword density so you'll know whether or not to add more instances of your most important keywords to your piece.
For work already published on the internet, however, there are other SEO tools available on various different websites that can make your task even easier and provide more comprehensive keyword and keyword phrase analysis. On these sites, you may simply enter the URL of your piece, and the SEO tool will generate a list of nearly every conceivable word or group of words that might qualify as keywords or keyword phrases, along with the percentage of frequency of each. (Some even allow you to enter the URLs of two sites whose keyword frequency you'd like to compare.)
Bear in mind, though, that the tools that allow you to enter the site's URL will generally calculate keyword density on the entire web page (though some offer options to exclude certain info). So, if, for example, you're calculating keyword frequency on your blog, all info included in your sidebar and elsewhere on the page will generally be included in the results, which might not give you an accurate reading of keyword density within your blog post; whereas with the first-mentioned keyword analysis site listed above, only the text you paste into the box will be analyzed for keyword density, thus enabling you to restrict the analysis to the blog post alone.
Each of the following sites has various highlights in the exact services it offers; therefore, checking them all out will help you determine which one will best meet your specific needs or whether, perhaps, different ones will suit your purposes better for different projects or at different times. These sites also offer a wealth of information on Search Engine Optimization; so don't neglect to do a bit of reading while you're there--particularly if you're somewhat less than SEO savvy.
The following sites are some of the most visible ones on the internet. No doubt there are others; but, I have the feeling that you'll be able to learn most of what you'll need to know and do most--if not all--of the keyword analysis you'll need to do by visiting one or more of these sites:
The Webconfs.com SEO Tool Set
LinkVendor Professional SEO Tools
Mike's Marketing Tools
Keyword Density - The Analyzer
thesitewizard.com
On the Worldwide Web today, keyword density is everything! Checking out--and using--some of these convenient online SEO tools can help put your work, your blog, or your website on the seach engine map!
Happy analyzing!
Jeanne
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I realized just today what often motivates site owners, editors, or managers to alter web content--even in violation of clearly stated clauses which they agree to when purchasing a particular type of license for that content: SEO makes them do it!
Search Engine Optimization apparently reigns supreme in the world of internet publishing today. In many--if not the majority of--cases, it matters not to the individuals who run these websites whether or not the writing they post is particularly good. It generally need only be competent. And that's fine with me, if this is what they want or need for their websites. I have no quarrel with that. Why, I might even be willing to consider writing SEO articles myself at some point--and actually I have considered it--though not very seriously, since it doesn't tend to pay very well, and I'd much rather do more inspired writing, writing where I have the freedom to say what I want to say the way I want to say it.
While SEO writing may not be my favorite kind, I do recognize that there are many individuals who are very good at it and who can actually create quality articles while seamlessly incorporating the prescribed number of keywords and keyword phrases into their articles in all the right places. And I applaud them. They are filling a need, and they are doing it well.
The real problem is when the two worlds collide. When an article which is written for the express purpose of saying something and saying it well is offered for posting to a buyer's website through the purchase of a "usage" license by a site such as Constant Content, that article is sold "as is." The buyer is not authorized to change the work in any way. This presents a dilemma for the buyer whose site uses SEO articles. Since the article wasn't originally written with SEO in mind, it generally doesn't contain quite enough key words or key word phrases in its present form. It would only take a few changes here and there to make it work...
But this is precisely where the integrity of the original article is compromised. It's just too easy to do--and entirely too tempting for many buyers to resist.
It became clear to me just this evening, as I looked over the criteria for submitting articles to a particular SEO site--which just happens to be the same site that purchased the usage license for one of my altered articles (as I learned through a Google Alert)--that this was the reason for the changes they made. No sooner had this site made the purchase, then their content editors went right to work. They immediately proceeded to add an entirely new introductory paragraph to the beginning of the article in direct violation of their usage license. And SEO was the reason for the change. They needed to have enough repetitions of the keyword phrase in the article's first paragraph. SEO made them do it!
I hadn't realized it until that moment. Here I'd been furiously typing up a message earlier this afternoon, indignantly proclaiming to C-C how this site had lowered the quality of my article, and on and on and on, without having the slightest inkling what was really going on. I understand now.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that this website violated its usage license, and only time will tell what will happen. I am not really certain precisely how C-C will handle the issue.* But I do know one thing: At Constant Content, they don't like it when clients violate the limitations of their usage licenses. And I must admit that, as a writer who works very hard to produce high quality content, I don't like it either. I don't like the integrity of my work to be compromised.
Where do we go from here? I admit that I really don't know. There's little question that SEO is here to stay. There's even less question that it's in very high demand. Yet I truly hope this doesn't mean that literary integrity will not be able to peacefully co-exist with it.
Till next time,
Jeanne
*UPDATE: Since this post was written, Constant Content has notified the offending website, the site's administrator was very apologetic, and he has since changed the article back to its original form. This is good news for all of us writers who care very much about the integrity of our work! Bravo for C-C and for this site, which, unfortunately, must remain nameless!
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