• Alexa ranking – infographic showing how to improve it

    Alexa ranking. An important measure for potential advertisers If you are like me you probably want to improve your Alexa ranking as it’s a good way of showing you, potential advertisers and guest bloggers how your blog compares to the competition. Plus you get a warm glow when you finally break through the 100,000 mark! [...]

    Alexa ranking – infographic showing how to improve it

  • How to Install Google Feedburner on your Blog – Simples!

    Now that you are aware of the benefits of Google Feedburner you’ll want to know how to install it on your blog. As someone who looks for the easiest way to get something done I suggest you check out one of my favourite Blogs from WordPress Beginner which covers the more technical side of WordPress [...]

    How to Install Google Feedburner on your Blog – Simples!

  • 10 Benefits of Firing up your Blog with Feedburner

    No doubt you would have heard of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which is a way for interested visitors to get your new content sent to them rather than having to come to your site. If you want to make your RSS feed even more effective then using Google’s free Feedburner service is essential to your [...]

    10 Benefits of Firing up your Blog with Feedburner

  • Google Search Robots – Friend or Foe?

    Google have recently changed their search algorithm, PageRank, which helps them to rank pages on the internet. Their search robots are sent out with specific criteria to search for and if you hit the right buttons you’ll get ranked highly. If you don’t, you’re toast. This time they are targeting the content farm sites and [...]

    Google Search Robots – Friend or Foe?

Jan 22, 2013

YouTube compilation – winter wonderland

The power of YouTube compilation videos.


YouTube compilationsThe last YouTube compilation I posted was two years when I shared the BBC Wildlife voiceover clip. Since it’s been below freezing for the last week in the UK, and it’s snowing heavily outside right now, I thought I’d add a bit of humour with this YouTube compilation video of pratfalls in the snow and ice.

What’s so special about YouTube compilation videos?

YouTube compilations have the possibility of going viral. The one I’m sharing here only has 1310 views so far but could blossom into an online hit. Which means that you can get some reflected glory from Google by posting it on your blog from YouTube. All you need to do is click on ‘Embed’ under the video, copy the code it gives you and post this into your blog post. (This was a secret shared by one of the top internet marketers in the US!)

So I’m not only sharing something that might make you laugh, wince or stay indoors until the ice goes. I’m also giving you a heads up that sharing a top YouTube compilation video could help your blog get some exposure.

Of course it would be better to produce your own viral YouTube video like Dave Carroll’s brilliant “United Break Guitars”. This video has had almost 3 million hits and propelled it’s maker into fame and fortune. So much so that he now does the speaking circuit talking about complaint resolution.

So with all the technology available to you it’s not too difficult to get creative and produce something a bit ‘off the wall’ which catches on. Who knows. You could be the next big thing on YouTube!

Warning – some people were hurt in the making of this YouTube compilation!


By Andy Britnell YouTube 8 Comments Tags: , , ,

Sep 5, 2012

SEO Plugins for WordPress – Yoast

One of the best SEO plugins for WordPress

SEO plugins for WordPressI’ve been using SEO plugins for WordPress sites for a few years now. So far I have focused on the All in One SEO plugin and XML Sitemaps plugin for search engine optimisation. They have helped me to get my clients’ blogs in on the first page and sometimes top billing for certain keywords in Google. Recently they have been flying up the Alexa league table. But now I’ve swopped them out for a new Plugin – WordPress SEO by Yoast.

Why have you changed the SEO plugin?

Well, having played with it for a few weeks I found it to be a more elegant solution to getting your SEO right on your blog. It integrates into your dashboard in such a way that it becomes an indespensible guide for making sure your SEO is as good as it gets.

Benefits of SEO WordPress Plugins by Yoast

  1. Target keyword allows you to check that the keyword you want to rank for is in all the relevant places – title, URL, description, content etc.
  2. Gives a visible representation of how your page or post will appear in a Google search. I really like this as it gives you a feel of what it’s like to be in your visitor’s shoes when they find you in Google. It helps you to make your entry more compelling and relevant.
  3. Checks you have the right amount of characters in your title, description and your Slug!. This is important as truncated text (text that get’s cut off because there are too many characters) in either of these can confuse your visitor and put them off making that vital click.
  4. It’s free. Having looked at various reviews of SEO plugins for WordPress this one is considered to be as comprehensive and effective as others you have to put your hand in your pocket for! The only plugin I pay for at the moment is Commentluv. I may look at purchasing a more powerful SEO plugin in future but results so far show this is having a positive effect on blogs it has been installed on.
  5. One plugin for the price of two. SEO plugins for WordPress can do various tasks for you. The beauty of this one by Yoast is that includes XML sitemaps so you can dispense with your other SEO plugins and those that generate XML sitemaps – that helps declutter things so your site runs a bit faster too.
  6. It gives you step by step indicators to get the following factors right for your SEO:
      Keyword density
      Readability
      Use of stop words in keyword phrase
      Keyword in first paragraph
      Alt descriptions on images include keyword
      Sub-heading tags include keyword
      Word count over recommended 300 words
      Outbound links
  7. It also covers the fact that you might have spent many hours getting your SEO right with another plugin. Those carefully crafted titles and meta descriptions can be imported easily with this plugin.
  8. And lastly it has comprehensive settings to make your blog SEO tailored to your requirements.

    9. Look no further at other SEO plugins for WordPress. This one is as good as it gets for free.

    What’s your opinion?

    By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation, WordPress Plugins 29 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Jul 27, 2012

Infographics – the power of pictures for your blog

Infographics – a social sharing success story

Infographics - The power of pictures for your blogHaving had a bit of education recently on using Facebook. Pinterest and other social media spaces where pictures are so popular, I’ve been sitting thinking how I could leverage the power of pictures. Which is how I got into infographics and started sharing them with you.

“Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly.”

Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ‘Public Relations Writing: Form and Style’.

So infographics have been around for a while but it seems only recently that they have started to become mainstream. Probably because a well prepared and executed one with descriptive text and colourful graphics create high impact for social sharing.

Then synchronicity reared its beautiful head and AppSumo delivered an infographics package called Piktochart for a really good deal. So I produced my own for Work from Home Wisdom on setting up a home office. Sharing this on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest has proved to me that pictures get noticed far more than clever writing.

Then I started to become aware of all these, sometimes very cheesy, quote pictures and I thought, how can I do that? Easy. Fire up your Keynote or Powerpoint, grab your favourite quote, make sure you attribute it correctly, find a drop dead gorgeous theme, and whizzo, you got yourself a possibly viral piece of work that people can easily share.

So why not have a go and share them with me on Pinterest or Facebook? I’d love to see what you come up with. :-)

Remember though that leveraging the power of pictures and infographics is only a part of the strategy for getting noticed on the web. Your search engine optimisation also includes other factors and quality focused content is still a major piece of the puzzle.

By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation 16 Comments Tags: , , , , , , ,

Jul 10, 2012

Alexa ranking – infographic showing how to improve it

Alexa ranking. An important measure for potential advertisers

How to improve your Alexa rankingIf you are like me you probably want to improve your Alexa ranking as it’s a good way of showing you, potential advertisers and guest bloggers how your blog compares to the competition. Plus you get a warm glow when you finally break through the 100,000 mark!

With Alexa you have to be ‘in it to win it’ so you will need to register your site with them. This means that not every website is included in their ranking. There are currently only 30 million sites listed! So it’s not a totally accurate tool, but it’s a very good guide so I encourage you to register your site and get the badges. Check out the widget down on the bottom of the right hand sidebar. It helps with your search engine optimisation (SEO) and they get over 6 million visitors a month.

Apart from giving you useful analytics for your site Alexa also provides tools to improve your SEO and you can pay a premium to get blog or website optimisation. It helps to get a few people to review your site as that impacts on your ranking. Persuading some of your raving fans shouldn’t be that difficult although they do have to sign up to Alexa which may be a potential objection. Explain to them of the benefits of doing it for their site and you should be OK.

Here is a handy infographic to show you how to improve your Alexa ranking. I have followed this advice with my clients’ blogs and they have all improved their ranking within a few weeks dramatically. Plus one of them is edging closer to the magic 100,000 mark.

I’ll keep you updated about the progress for www.workfromhomewisdom.com. We are looking to reach that Alexa ranking target before the end of the year.


Like this infographic? Visit MichelleShaeffer.com to learn how to build visibility, voice, and community online.

By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation, Blog Traffic 37 Comments Tags: , , , , ,

Jun 17, 2012

Infographic for creating great content

Infographic – a picture is worth a thousand words

The infographic below is a great tool to inspire you to write more. It’s the one thing that counts when you’re a blogger. Creating great content for your readers to get them coming back for more is a constant challenge. In my experience people can be lazy when browsing blogs. Unless you capture their imagination and get to the answer they are looking for quickly they can easily shoot off somewhere else.

Videos and images do help the ‘stickiness’ of your blog. People stay around for longer. With many clients I’m finding that an infographic is a useful tool to deliver great content in a visual way. So it was a stroke of luck (well, actually I found it on Twitter!) to find this excellent infographic from copyblogger.com looking at creating great, compelling content.

Take some ideas from the infographic below and let me know how you intend to create great content for you blog.

22 Ways to Create Compelling Content - Infographic
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

By Andy Britnell Blog content, Writing a blog 50 Comments Tags: , , , ,

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