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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: , , , , , , ,

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: , , , ,

May 9, 2012

Blogging made easy

Coaching for Business Blogging

Blogging coaching with Katie Macdonald VA Virtually Does ItToday I have a lovely bit of feedback from Katie Macdonald who was lucky enough to win the prize in my Twitter competition, which was a free 1-hour coaching call for one of my first 100 followers on Twitter. Katie is a virtual assistant (VA) who has just started to work from home. Here’s what she says about our chat:

‘Blogging seems to be the buzzword that never goes out of fashion. Anyone and everyone either has one, follows one, or knows someone who blogs. Blogs are also well thought of as being a key tool to have on a business website to open a more interactive and personal window on that business. Indeed, some business websites are blogs.

‘So, a blog was a must for me on my own website, I liked the idea of being able to write about my business in a way that wasn’t static like a web page, and it would add a different dimension to the site too.

‘I started with great enthusiasm, great topics and was blogging regularly. This was a piece of cake! My blog was fresh, flowing and attracting comments. Then the inevitable happened, I ran out of topics, began to wonder if people actually wanted to read what I had to say about virtual assistance or my ‘Top Tips to be more Organized’. Were they really interested in what I could do? My blog posts dwindled and the blog page became just another web page.

‘Knowing this must change, but not knowing quite how to go about it, and having read so many other blogs on how you should be blogging and still being none the wiser, I was thrilled when a tweet flew in from Andy @seemanaboutblog saying I had won a blog coaching session with him.

‘Think coaching session with a difference! The session was great. Not only is Andy knowledgeable, he is realistic and relates his advice to you, your business and your blog. So it’s not all ‘blogging text book’ stuff, but real, proven ways in which your blog can aid your business development, and your personal development as a business owner. It was so refreshing not to have techie-speak thrown in, and have something that was tailored to me and my style.

‘We spoke about potential topics, different ways to blog, how to link your blog to other platforms as well as how to work on building a community around your blog. We also touched on how a blog helps SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and what to put where to help your rankings. I learnt so much, but the most of all it took me back to basics, and made me think on a far more practical level about what I do in my business. Ideas were flowing and my blogging mojo was on its way back.

‘Andy made my realise that if I blog, people will read and probably far more people than I think will find what I write about useful and informative. The most important thing is to keep it up!

‘So, if you take a look at my blog now, you’ll see the ‘Before Andy’ version, but in a few weeks feel free to pop back and have a look at the ‘After Andy’ version!

‘If your blog needs rescuing from being just another web page, you need to see this man about your a blog!’

You can follow Katie Macdonald on Twitter or check out her ‘Virtually Does It’ website

The same competition is running for one of my next 150 followers so if you fancy getting some great blogging advice for free follow See a Man About a Blog on Twitter.

By Andy Britnell Business Blogging, Shaggy Blog Stories 28 Comments Tags: , , ,

Jun 28, 2011

The 7 reasons why blogs fail

7 reasons why blogs failMany people start a blog and then lose interest. I’ve seen many blogs with just the bare bones of the theme and little content or the last post was over a year ago. Is it that they lack discipline or dedication, have they lost interest and lack passion about their chosen subject, is the technology getting in the way?

These are my seven reasons why blogs fail

1. No preparation. They haven’t thought about their blog before getting involved with the technology – they just want to get stuck in with no pre-planning or thought. This is a recipe for disaster. Fail to plan – plan to fail!

2. Lack of subject matter/material. Lack of planning what you are going to write about means that it’s more difficult to remain disciplined and have a consistent flow of content. Remember content is king! When planning for this blog I wrote down all the topics that I could cover which has given me a pretty much everlasting pool of ideas to write posts about.

3. Fear of failure. It’s said that people fear public speaking more than they fear death! Well, having a blog is similar in that you are expressing opinions ‘out there’ and others may leave a comment disagreeing with your point. This is probably more scary since there is no body language so you may make a picture inside of an aggresive commenter. That will only increase the fear. The only way to deal with this fear is to take action.

In fact having someone disagree with you is good since it creates a dialogue. When I get challenged in a workshop there is often someone else in the audience with a similar opinion to me who will back me up. The same goes for comments on your blog. Welcome a bit of challenging banter on your blog – it’s interesting and helps you to hone your argument.

4. They are impatient. Blog stardom doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and dedication to make your mark and you will shorten this time if you have a defined strategy, a well defined micro-niche and put the right time and effort into doing the right things to make yourself visible and credible online.

5. Lack of research. They have failed to research significant factors such as the most relevant blog theme, the right settings for WordPress or other blogging platform they’re using, the best plugins to use for SEO and social sharing, who their audience is and what they want to hear about etc.

6. Lack of passion & knowledge. They’re not deeply passionate about what they’re writing about or don’t have the depth of knowledge required to stand out. I am motivated by new ideas, making a difference, lifelong learning and freedom and this is what my blogging and social media business gives to me. I can be authentic and say what I feel rather than having to compromise my individuality by being employed!
(Check out this post by Daniel Priestley on your ‘message’ in social media)

7. They haven’t niched their market enough. Go for the micro niche and go for depth of interest rather than breadth. If you deal with a micro niche problem you will get them asking you about what else can you do.

There are other reasons for a blog failing but usually it’s the planning, research and self-awareness about what motivates and drives you that are missing. So if you want to start a blog make sure you can be sufficiently disciplined and dedicated to make yourself heard.

What are your thoughts on why blogs fail – your comments are always welcome and I always respond.

By Andy Britnell Business Blogging, Writing a blog 19 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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