Introduction

Online marketing is a rapidly changing landscape. One of the few main-stays in spite of the perpetually evolving Google algorithm is article marketing and its associated disciplines. Although there are many vastly differing schools of thought with regard to the most effective means of generating online visibility and success through the publication of original content via blogs and articles, the foundation principles are always the same. These cornerstones of success are not closely guarded secrets, nor something for which someone can legitimately charge aspiring web-trepreneurs a fee for imparting through an e-book: they are quite simply that quality content is the be all and end all in this industry. In this article I hope to outline the key steps to creating a viral piece of writing which will benefit your website and interest your readers.

Subject Matter

Engaging subject matter is at the heart of high quality content, regardless of your writing skills, a boring topic will also come across as boring. As such, the first task when creating a blog or article is to carefully choose the subject on which you will write. Generally the most successful viral content tends to fall into one of two categories: topical or educational.

- Topical

The most popular topical pieces tend to take the form of a news ‘scoop’- whether that be the first publication of a current affairs story, a juicy snippet of celebrity gossip or a relevant figure’s opinion on either of the other two forms. Obviously such valuable stories are few and far between, unless you have great connections or are incredibly fortuitous. Given the rarity of a ‘scoop’, the majority of bloggers or online article writers will aim to write around a topical theme rather than simply reiterate the initial story. This is where creativity is key: if you can think of a way to re-package a recent news story in an original manner which applies your expertise then you’re well on your way to potentially viral content.

- Educational

A more accessible form of article writing for the majority of online marketers is the ‘How to...’ guide. This form allows you to condense your own experience in a chosen field (however niche) into a piece of writing which serves to help others emulate your success. Covering topics as diverse as chicken coop construction, cutting costs on office supplies and writing potentially viral online content: the ‘How to...’ format exploits the renaissance in information sharing brought about by the internet. If you believe that you know all there is to know about a specific subject, then let others know the secrets to your success and your article will be a hit.

Writing Style

Once the subject matter has been chosen it is time to engage in the hardest part of the process: actually writing the article. As with anything associated with the mystical world of SEO (search engine optimisation), there are no universal rules for the best way to write about a subject. As the aim of this article is to help you to create something with the aim of reaching and appealing to the widest audience as opposed to creating search engine friendly content however, the focus in this instance is upon readability rather than keyword enrichment or sales conversion.
The single most important factor here is that the content of the article is engaging and the subject matter easily digested. The language used should be in-keeping with the lexicon of the intended readership and if industry specific jargon is used, it is useful to explain it in Lehman’s terms so as not to put off a proportion of your readership. The ultimate goal is to keep the reader interested, not attempt to dazzle them with your rich knowledge of obscure words or alienate them for their inferior knowledge on a subject. It is equally important to make clear concise points and use relevant titles and headings as opposed to rambling or risking confusing the reader.

It goes without saying that a spell checker and proof reader are imperative prior to publishing your piece. It may be easy enough to amend errors on your own blog post, but if your post is popular enough to be republished elsewhere then the mistakes are almost impossible to get rectified. Simply asking someone with a decent grasp of written English to read over your work can save blushes later.

Getting it Seen

Having meticulously crafted an article that you are truly proud of, all that is left is to make sure that it is seen by as many people as possible. Admittedly that is somewhat easier said than done, but persistence and strategy are just as effective as good fortune when it comes to article distribution. Once the article has been posted onto your blog, the key to getting it out to as many potential readers and re-publishers is the co-ordinated use of social bookmarking outlets, social networks and article distribution channels. There are a huge number of websites which can be used to put your article in front of potential readers, so utilise as many as you can to increase the chances of success. Social networks will allow you to showcase your article to your friends or followers, whilst social bookmarking websites allow you to reach people across the globe who are interested in your chosen topic. Submitting to both of these outlets is quick and simple, and whilst results are by no means guaranteed there is always a chance that your article will strike a chord with people and go viral before you know it.

As social bookmarking and social networking can be hit and miss in terms of generating interest it is important to also submit your article to article directory sites. If your piece is accepted then not only will it be visible on the directory site itself but is also likely to be re-published on websites related to the topic. Provided you put a link to your website in the resource box when submitting to a directory, every time the article is re-published you will receive a link back to your website as well as imparting your words to more individuals.

Hopefully these simple tips will help any aspiring article writers to get the most from what can be an extremely rewarding practice. By focussing on your own expertise, keeping it simple and taking the time to utilise as many distribution outlets as possible, a couple of hours spent writing a high quality article can be converted into increased traffic to your website and the multitudinous benefits that brings.


If you liked our post then please share it with others using the share button provided or simply link to us the old fashioned way.

For the best SEO Manchester or Web Design Manchester visit our website today and be amazed

To subscribe to our blog please click here

This is the final post in my series on link building and although this subject has lots of different topics and has the potential to be my longest blog post ever I’m going to keep it short as feel I have given enough of my top tips out on the subject of link building.

So what is link baiting? Link baiting is the method used to obtain inbound links to your website by offering the linkorati something they couldn’t possibly refuse.

There are lots and lots of different things that could be considered as link bait but probably the most common are clever widgets. Widgets are anything that grab the attention of the potential link partner enough for them to want to link to it. They are usually based around a variation of one of the following:

• Online Tests
• Videos
• Games

This is where you can stand out from the competition and is where you can allow your creative juices to start flowing. The better your idea the more links you will attract. Probably the most important aspect when producing a widget is originality. There is no point in creating something that has been done before as nobody will link.

Articles, blog posts and great on site content can also be used as effective link bait but to succeed with these your content has to really be first class not to mention 100% original and as current as possible.

Videos have fast become quality link bait especially since You Tube was born. It is so easy for anybody to post a video up today you can find allsorts on there. Don’t ignore the power of video. Another top tip when creating a video is to go with your original idea as people will generally pick up on a staged video and will not link.

Sorry for the UN structured post on this subject but it’s that big I could have gone on all night and anybody who has read any of my previous posts will know that I tend to go off track and then come back.

In summary I believe that link baiting will be the preferred form of link building throughout 2010 so I suggest that you start reading up everywhere you can on the subject and to start getting creative.

For SEO Manchester or anywhere else in the world give us a call or check out the Web Vitality website for further details of how to get in touch.

Finally to subscribe to future blog post from the Web Vitality crew just click here and follow the on screen instructions.

This isn’t going to be one of my usual long and boring posts with lots of technical mumbo jumbo instead I’m going to keep it really short as there isn’t really a lot to say on the subject but is a question that seems to keep cropping up.

It’s always a struggle getting all of the pages on a large e commerce site indexed especially when you have a client expecting results quickly so what do you do?

Webmaster Tools

First of all log into your Google account and setup a webmaster tools account. To access webmaster tools you can click here. Webmaster tools is an excellent resource for web masters as it gives you lots of information about the way Google views and manages your site and its content and is a must for any SEO.

Submit an XML Sitemap

If it’s a new or old website if you haven’t submitted an XML sitemap I would recommend that you do so. Not everybody will agree with me on this and some say that it isn’t necessary for indexing. My view is that if Google isn’t indexing your pages and you can do anything to help then why not?

A sitemap is basically a list of all of the URLs that you have on your website. One of the reasons for signing up to webmaster tools is that this is an area where you can upload your xml sitemap and tell Google first hand where it can find all of the pages on your website.

There are many tools out there that will generate an XML sitemap for you but most of them limit you to a maximum of 500 pages. This won’t help you with a large e commerce site but for your smaller websites they are great. You can purchase software that will create them for you but if you have a decent web developer it wouldn’t take them long to generate one on your behalf.

Blogging

Once you have submitted your sitemap to web master tools I suggest a vigorous blogging campaign dropping links to as many pages on your website as possible. Google seems to be crawling blogs a lot quicker these days so if you have lots of links pointing to different pages from your blog Google is sure to follow.

External Links

These are your biggest weapon for getting your site indexed. Start building lots and lots of quality links to your website. Building quality links to your website will help you in more ways than one and is the area that you need to spend most time on. The better the website you get a link from the more often Google will be visiting the page and the more likely it will be that it finds your website.

So there you have it my four easy steps to getting more pages indexed on Google. If you want to see a real example of how to get more pages indexed then feel free to keep an eye on my Office Supplies client. We are currently attempting to push more of their pages into Google main index using the methods described above.

P.S Sorry for the shameless link I couldn’t help myself

We're proud to present our latest site, a new blog / fansite all about the current X-Factor star, Danyl Johnson. We were approached by fan of Danyl's regarding setting up a blog on which he could then post frequent news and updates. We chose Blogger as the platform from which to run the site off, and designed a custom skin to run over the top - giving the site a real quality feel.

Boasting, news, videos, information and comments, the site is quickly gaining popularity, particularly with this current series of X-Factor receiving large viewing figures.

To take a look at the site, follow the link below:
http://www.danylajohnson.com/

The next topic is reciprocal linking. Generating reciprocal links is the most common and probably the easiest form of link building there is. There is a lot of debate out there as to how effective reciprocal linking is, but my opinion is that done properly it can be really beneficial.

First of all, you need to ensure you have done your research properly and identified the sites that you want a link from. Don’t set your sites to low here as one link from a great site can benefit you much more than 10 links from just any old site.

Ok so you now have your list so how do you get the links? Its common practise when reciprocal link building to send an email to the webmaster of your targeted site explaining how good your website is and how important it is to swap links blah blah blah blah. If you are anything like me the first thing you do when you get this type of email is slam it in the recycle bin. Fortunately this method is dying out and SEOs have to become more cunning.

HOW TO OBTAIN RECIPROCAL LINKS

First of all be prepared to put in the time. If you have chosen your target sites well your time and efforts will be rewarded. I know I keep banging on about content but first on your checklist needs to be the quality of the content you want to get links for. Rubbish content will result in rubbish links and none of the big boys will touch you.

Stay away from link farms and link exchange sites. I will cover these types of sites in more detail in another post but for now take my word for it and steer clear. Join some social network sites related to the niche you are working in and start to participate frequently. This may sound like a nightmare but by participating UN selfishly you will begin to build up a nice contact list of people related to your niche area that once you have built up confidence in can approach them for a link exchange. People are more likely to link to you if they feel like they know you.

Have a really good think about everybody you know and what jobs they do. You never know you could just remember that professor that is really high up in a university who is really good friends with the University web master. You get where I am coming from here.

Get a blog and start blogging. It’s more difficult to offer reciprocal links from within your website so a blog is a great way to build up top quality content that you can then use to link out to people in return for a link in. Blogs are especially great because there are no limits as to what you can blog about. The more you blog the bigger the buzz will become around your blog attracting more subscribers. The beauty of this is that if somebody has taken the time to subscribe to your ramblings they are obviously interested in your subject so yet another good candidate for a link exchange.

This list can go on and on and I couldn’t possibly give all my secrets away here but the main point I am trying to make is that you need to do your research and be prepared to put the time and effort in to make reciprocal link building more effective. If you just trawl the net obtaining reciprocal links from any old site, although you will see some short term benefits, as Google continues to improve its search algorithm you will waste your time long term.

After months of hard graft, we're proud to present our new and upated website. We hope you like it!

Our old site had served us well for just over 2 years, but it was in desperate need of a revamp. However, we had a lot of praise on the simplistic aesthetics of the last site that we didn't change the look too drastically.

We left the subtle white and blue colouring, and also kept the basic structure and feel. The site was widened however, and we created a larger "page feature" area to give each page a stronger focus and uniqueness. Viewing the old site on cheaper monitors also tended to lighten the blues too much, so we made them slightly darker. Some tighter detailing, larger graphics and font size, and voila.

So, nothing too drastic, but the new site benefits tremendously from our revamp. We haven't stopped there too - we'll shortly be introducing some nifty flash graphics to give the site some "oomph", and leave a fantastic first impression. Nothing too heavy of course - in keeping with our style the graphics and load times will be slick and stylish, yet optimised and fast to load.

We'll be keeping this blog updated as often as can from now on, so you can expect updates on our latest sites, new customers, techy news and general thoughts. Also, please give a warm welcome to our newest member of the team - Dominic Marsat, who has joined us in the position of Senior Developer.

Dominic boasts tremendous experience in the industry, and we are looking forward to seeing his influence over our future site developments. Welcome to the company Dom! Being an experienced blogger himself, no doubt you'll all soon become familiar with some posts of his own.

Cheers,

Chris.