The corporate blog is a growing phenomenon that maintains a personal connection between the user and the company, acting as a form of correspondence, just as regular letters update friends with recent and interesting news.

A whole range of businesses dedicate a section of their site to a daily or weekly blog. An infinite number of topics exist, each having their own set of subjects that constantly diverge and feed the vast depth of information available on the web. Online posts can include specialised markets, such as wedding, garden and car blogs, as well as sobering topics, brought to attention through military and political sites. A blog about blogging is testament to this limitless medium.

The origin of the term blog is extracted from the words web log; its unique name brings a sense of contemporary cool. The term blogger therefore evokes kudos, as an individual actively airs their opinions and thoughts to an audience, balancing sentence structures to create imagery or even humour that presents itself in an inviting format of a diary or log. The idea of following the development of thoughts is both innately appealing and inspiring. Twitter is an example of a micro blogging service which is available to anyone, including businesses and celebrities. Followers are exposed to ‘trending topics’ which show how quickly information filtrates across the web. Taking the idea of word-of-mouth in a local context and reapplying it to a global network.

Knowing that information can be accessed by anyone is an incentive to promote a topic. Blog layouts can include an assortment of mediums, most commonly seen as a combination of text and images that represent a virtual scrapbook of sorts and provide an insight into a company’s impassioned perspective. Blogs are a way of representing a company’s congeniality that gives a company a relatable facet, in which to appeal to the user, rather than an impenetrable and uniformed veneer of convention. Blogging also acts as a form of site maintenance, as attention is concentrated into the blog page’s renewed content, which gives the impression that the company cares and wants to impress, as opposed to leaving it untouched and in a derelict condition. Blogs also act as an advert for your business, as the addition of links means that your visibility across the web is increased

At Green Media we provide blog writing services themed around a website’s products and services, which are charged by new content, generated by writers eager to explore the avenues that each project presents. Blogs can enhance SEO rankings, as keywords adorn the blog, which is crucial to getting Google’s attention which will respond by rewarding you with high rankings. Blog posts can also be timed, so that information can appear in conjunction with the launch of a new product or as a set of ordered information, so that the flow of content can be manipulated. It takes time to blog and even more time to craft a blog that provokes thought. By bringing in professionals who have the skill and motivation to produce quality; a website’s profile is instantly raised and made more memorable. Every second a new blog appears online; don’t be left behind. Dive into the fast current, motored by blogs that keep you ahead of competition.                               

At Green Media, copywriting for Search Engine Optimisation is regarded as a lifeline for businesses. Keywords relating to areas of interest, specific to a site are raised up like stepping stones from velvety rich copy that laps up around each protruding keyword. While eye-catching headlines act as bridges that invite the user to cross and explore the new territory of a website.

Glistening keywords entwined with the main copy will elevate your website up search engine rankings, from the depths of underwater anonymity, to appear as a dominant feature amongst other results that vie for competition. The surfer will be able to ride the waves that will reach desirable heights of targeted information. Keywords will not litter the copy but will be placed in considered areas that will allow text to flow, rather than be blockaded by repetition, which seems to be a transparent tactic aimed to increase the volume of visitors but does not serve to anchor the user to a site with engaging copy. Instead, keywords are peppered throughout the site in order for the user to easily navigate their way and reaffirm the relevance of their search, as they delve further into the website’s offerings.

SEO is both an art form and a science, crafting and engineering in a continuing process, as a formula of refreshed content keeps information relevant, while the copy’s creativity prevents users from becoming disenchanted with a site, giving them a reason to return with anticipation, as updates renew enthusiasm. By keeping track of trends and behaviours, together with a discerning ability; the copywriter is able to draw upon considered language, structured in an appropriate format that convinces the user of the site’s integral worth.  The copywriter is also fuelled by the deceptively powerful tool of imagery, relayed in words that transport the user into a world by a particular product or service, as they visualise varied possibilities.

Undoubtedly SEO, together with the back-up of quality copy is the most effective way to communicate your website’s professionalism, dynamism and enthusiasm. Without it your website may be drowned under other sites that provide similar products and services and who have taken advantage of SEO’s buoyant ability to keep them ahead of competition.

We were pleased to find out that a key part of the recent Google update - codenamed Caffeine - centred around the value of good quality copy, regularly updated. Essentially, search has come around to being about what it always should have been about - good quality content.

No technical manipulation of the system.

No tricks.

No smoke.

No mirrors.

…and it’s about time.

We’ve been eulogising the value of good web copy for years, on the basis that if you’re providing what people want - in the form of useful, usable information - then the search engines will wake up to that and start directing people your way. It comes down to the basic principles of search engines - to create a positive user experience by giving people what they’re looking for.

If your website is still relying on short-term techie tweaks to stay on SERPs then you’re on borrowed time. Your site is sitting on digital quicksand. It’s time to get your thinking cap on and get writing.

We’re currently developing an SEO programme for new designer sunglasses website Red Hot Sunglasses, which has recently gone live.

The stunning-looking website has a suitably high-end designer style, and retails an impressive selection of the newest sunglasses from the likes of Ray-Ban, Chloe, Police, CK, Prada, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, D&G, Fendi and Dsquared2. With an incredible range, as well as 100% price match guarantee and free next day delivery on all products, Red Hot Sunglasses is one of this Summer’s must-see websites!

Check it out at Red Hot Sunglasses.

The map that you occasionally see right at the top of Google’s organic search results is the Local Business Listings. These listings tend to show up on service-orientated searches where regional modifiers are used as part of the keyterm, ie; “bars in Newcastle”. The prime positioning of the listings on Google’s results page means that if you’re focusing on a particular location for sales then Local Business Listings should really be prioritised in your wider SEO programme.

Google’s Local Business Listings are technically separate to organic SEO, yet rely largely on the same basic rules for success - the main one being the use of good relevant content. Listings are created through Google Accounts, with the option to add a brief description and the all-important location which is highlighted on the results map. It’s so quick to set up, and depending on the type of company you’re running, the benefits can be incredible.

Following the basic principles of SEO good practice is the best way to get a strong performing listing;

- Create a clear title, with a single main keyterm included.

- Write the description for real-world users, in a no-nonsense copy style. Keyword stuffing, as always, results in unreadable copy.

- Focus on your main service - this offers a clearer message to both users and Google.

- Don’t forget to add the business URL - an obvious point maybe, but this isn’t a mandatory field on the set-up form so can be easily missed out.

- If anything notable changes with your business - new services, services phased out, location changes etc - change your listing. It should always be up-to-date.

- Remember Google’s primary aim - to provide the user with the information they’re searching for - if your listing isn’t as helpful and useful as it could be, change it.

While it ranks on its own merits in relation to competition, the performance of a Local Business Listing is assisted by the quality of the associated business website. If that website is doing everything it should with an ongoing SEO programme, then the business listing will benefit accordingly.

Like organic SEO you’ve got the top ten to aim for, as these are the results that will appear on the all-important first page. However, again like organic SEO the competition can often run into the thousands depending on the keyterm and location in question. Approach the Local Business Listings like any SEO project - remember there’s no quick fix or silver bullet, stick to the known principles and the results will follow.

Get in touch to discuss your company’s SEO programme with Green Media.

Details of a search engine collaboration between two of the three major names in the industry were revealed today, with Microsoft and Yahoo announcing a partnership.

Under the terms of initial ten-year deal, Yahoo’s popular search engine is likely to be enveloped into Microsoft’s Bing platform, with search technologies and profit shares from ads distributed accordingly.

The move is the latest ominous sign that Microsoft really does mean business with Bing, because however mutually-beneficial the deal is dressed up to appear by the respective marketing departments, it has essentially swallowed up it’s nearest competitor in the field. Also, the ten year timescale of the agreement is an interesting note to the episode, suggesting that Microsoft isn’t expecting an overnight result and is in it for the long haul.

However the size of the task in attempting to overthrow Google hasn’t got any smaller. Even combined, Bing and Yahoo’s current share of the search market (28%) doesn’t come close to Google’s domination (65%*).

All in all, Microsoft’s recent moves on search show a certain tenacity for the fight, but it doesn’t look like it has produced a genuine gamechanger… yet.

* Comscore. July 2009.

Seasonal SEO - as the name suggests - is a highly targeted form of search engine optimisation aimed at achieving rankings on a topic at a specific point in the year, these typically being key buying times such as Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day or any period that might be important to a particular company’s activities.

We’ve recently developed a seasonal SEO programme for the Beamish Wild Ropes Activity Centre, based on attracting visitors during the school summer holidays. Following some on-site and off-site SEO work the site is now ranking 1st page (on Google.co.uk) on a selection of client-specified keyterms, including;

“summer fun for kids North East” - 7th

“summer fun for kids County Durham” - 1st

“summer holiday activities Durham” - 5th

“family fun in County Durham” - 6th

“family days out in County Durham” - 7th

The preparation required for a seasonal SEO campaign varies between websites, and can range from weeks to months in advance, depending on the keyterm topic, competition and general search proficiency of the website in question. Organic SEO - as ever - depends on various external factors so it’s always best to plan ahead as much as possible by phasing in the campaign over a number of weeks to help ensure that you hit the rankings you target at precisely the right time. Getting the timing wrong can have far-reaching consequences - there’s no business benefit at all in reaching the 1st page when no-one is searching for the keyterms anymore.

Seasonal SEO campaigns should be linked in with your company’s wider marketing strategy, and have the ability to seamlessly shift to the next relevant target when required, while always retaining the core SEO focus of the website throughout the year.

Interested in a seasonal SEO campaign for your company website? Get in touch with Green Media to find out more.

Sticking to what you do best on your company website is a good mantra for SEO.

As always, keep in mind that the main aim of Google (and the other major search engines) is to enhance the user experience, and they do this by ensuring the user finds what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. Therefore the top ranking websites for any search will always be the ones most applicable to the search term, naturally. Search engines thrive on clear topics and obvious authority on a given subject, and this is borne out in the rankings.

For instance, if your company offers a wide and varied set of services, you can be sure that there are competitors out there who are just offering one of those services. Depending on the quality of the websites and other SEO factors at work (such as off-page issues, link-building, domain name, domain age etc), the dedicated website will generally rank higher than the multiple service one, as the search engine will class it as more of an expert on the subject.

So, if your website is diluted with several different and disparate topics then you’re likely to find it tough to rank highly on any keyterms consistently, as search engines will struggle to pin your site down to a specific subject.

To avoid being lost in the search engine ether for this reason, think about topic themes and consider the natural connections between the different elements of content on your website. If all of the sections on the site can’t be naturally linked to each other then they shouldn’t be on the same website in the first place, at least if you’re expecting any decent level of search engine performance.

Green Media has been providing SEO solutions to companies since 2000, across a massive range of sectors and industries, for a multitude of performance requirements. Get in touch on 0191 275 9777 to find out how we can help improve your performance on search engines, delivering more traffic, sales, brand exposure and a clear return on investment.

The new third generation iPhone went on sale at the weekend, and while it proved to be an instant success with customers and critics alike, it seems that Apple might not have thought through the long-term SEO potential of the product - and has gone for a subtle yet drastically-sudden name change today.

Originally titled the “3G S”, the new iPhone is now known as the “3GS”. Apple hasn’t made any official comment on the change, but it’s plain to see on their website that it has happened.

What’s in a space character?

If the move is down to pure search engine motives, then perhaps Apple have made an unnecessarily knee-jerk decision as searches today for the old-style “3G S” are returning iPhone-dominated results on Google, Bing and Ask. (Only on Yahoo was the iPhone denied top-spot, perhaps understandably by the Three/3 mobile phone network official website.) Considering the millions of digital column inches that will be written about the 3GS in the coming months, the product will surely tighten its grip on the search term - space character or no space character.

Conversely, doing a search today for the new “3GS” name brings back a similarly iPhone-heavy set of results across the board, with some high-ranking references dating from several weeks ago, pre-empting Apple’s decision. Perhaps, when all is said and done, it wasn’t very clear that there was a space in the first place…

Either way, it’s interesting to see that maybe SEO can now impact on product launches of even the world’s most marketing-savvy companies.

Microsoft’s latest attempt to gain a greater share of the search engine market went unexpectedly into beta last week. Pitched as a “decision engine”, bing.com comes as the replacement for LiveSearch.

With a fresh look, stunning photographic background imagery and a reported immediate impact with users in the opening test week, is Bing the next big thing in search?

Nice touches, nothing groundbreaking

The homepage is undoubtedly good-looking, but how does Bing fare when it is actually put to work with a search? The results page looks more or less as you’d expect, with a couple of nice touches.

Related searches are bumped up to the top left, instead of appearing in the footer as you’d expect. This could be a slight time-saver if you’re not overly familiar with what you’re searching for, but it’s nothing you couldn’t get before elsewhere.

Each individual result, when hovered over, has a small pop-up containing a synopsis and various links from the same website. Presumably this is to offer as much information as possible before a user commits to a click. This doesn’t seem a million miles away from Ask.com’s thumbnail preview, which offers a sneak peek of a website on the results page. Neither are particularly useful, but at least Ask.com’s effort offers some neat visuals.

Both cases essentially miss the point of the results page and their own faith in the suggested websites - the fact that a site is appearing on the 1st page should be reason enough to click on it. Any in-depth pre-investigation required before accepting the search engine’s suggestion indicates it might not be what you’re looking for.

Advanced search offers a pleasingly flexible and straight-forward set of variables - including country and language - but these aren’t exactly daily requirements for your average web user.

Spammy returns rank strongly

The synopsis tool actually comes in quite handy as a few random searches show that while Bing is returning relevant websites, it often suggests very deep links or spammy findings. These absolutely need to be weeded out before any full launch, or there’ll be all manner of “optimised for Bing” results appearing - a sure-fire way to kill the user experience.

Loose PPC connections

Bing’s suggested pay-per-click websites seem decidedly fuzzy, which is odd given PPC’s highly manageable nature and in particular the sharp targeting available through Microsoft’s own Adcenter system.

A search for “email marketing newcastle” returns an accurate selection on organic - but a poorly irrelevant mix of hotel, job vacancy and football websites on sponsored search.

The same search on Google.co.uk returns a watertight set of paid-for Newcastle-based email marketing results.

Despite the apparently hapless targeting, Bing does repeat the top ranking PPC ads at the bottom of the page - meaning that those advertisers who are paying top dollar get a second bite of the cherry if their main ad is ignored. Good for advertisers, good for Microsoft’s pocket.

Endless images

When using the images tab, Bing doesn’t seem to limit the result thumbnails, returning as many as 1000 at a time. While this helpfully removes the need to click through multiple pages to find what you’re looking for, it also produces reams of loading thumbnails as you’re scrolling the page. Maybe that’s why every other search engine, ever, uses multiple pages.

“Verbing Up”

Google is so synonymous with the very act of searching online that it comfortably reached the brand nirvana of becoming an associated verb some years ago. While Google’s top brass have made noises in the past that this is something they’re not too happy about - it “dilutes” their other offerings apparently - it is surely the pinnacle of brand domination. This obviously isn’t lost on Microsoft, with Chief Exec Steve Ballmer openly stating that Bing was chosen as a name that can be easily “verbed up”.

First impressions…

So will we all be “binging” for our information in years to come? On the evidence of the beta, the answer has to be a pretty clear ‘no’. Bing needs to offer something that Google doesn’t, and at the moment it isn’t doing that. However, with a reported marketing budget of $100m to ease the full introduction, Bing is likely to be around for a while. We’ll see how it goes, but with such a glitchy opener and the absence of anything really new, or even useful, it doesn’t look very promising.

Of course the beta phase of any project is intended to iron out the creases, so perhaps the niggles mentioned above can be forgiven for the time being. Perhaps the full launch will be a little slicker…

All in all, it’s good to see that someone is taking a determined run at Google’s domination - it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the market leader responds in due course.