SEO Tips & Advice | Social Media Strategies & News

So there we have it! My first Podcast all recorded, uploaded and edited and about to be put “live”!

OK, so the editing is basic at the moment but as time goes on, I really want to enhance the sound with jingles etc. I’ve heard some great examples, so looking forward to getting custom ones.

I have a confession though – I was silly and forgot to mention that you will be able to get the links to the full stories on the blog, but not only that – I have not got round to getting the links for you this time! Sorry!

However, in the future I will make a note of the links, mention it in the Podcast that you can get them here and post them!

So until then, take a listen (and download if you like!) my first Podcast. As usual, let me know what you think in the comments below. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 29%

Quite frankly – I’m embarrassed.

My last post here was Feb 4th and although a good post (if I do say so myself!) It’s far too long. Sure, I’ve been active on Twitter but thats all. I’ve not done a video for my YouTube channel, or posted anything new on my Facebook page. Why?

One word – time. 2010 was going to be all out for me, I was going to do so much (I still intend to) but we’re already towards the end of April and as explained earlier, not an awful lot has been done. Or has it?

Well yes it has, but not for the blog and my other platforms (unfortunately). However, it’s not all bad! It’s been a hectic but really good time. During the beginning of the year I made a decision, and that was to leave my job at Ladbrokes after 2 years of working on the SEO for their Casino. Although a great role and a challenging industry – the business did not seem to want to move forward at a quick enough pace to keep up with the online world.

So – some job hunting began and a couple of interviews later, I see myself as an account manager at I Spy Marketing which is a fantastic opportunity for me. I started on 1st March and since then, it’s just been busy busy busy!

So what does this mean for the blog and my other channels? Well quite a lot. I have been playing around with the blog theme for a while, and I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to make it “right”. I may still be yet to get there, so again more playing around will be happening. This has been instead of posting for the time being, so I have been working

I’ve also decided to try something new. And that is Audio. I feel that I will be able to produce more regular information for you and in turn make my content more accessible by allowing you to download and listen on the go! So yes, I will be starting out Podcasting and seeing how that goes.

This won’t be designed to replace the blog or any of my other platforms, but it will be a solution I feel would be worth adopting to allow me to continue to produce content. Each Podcast will be posted here too.

No doubt, my first attempts won’t be that good – they are likely to be pretty rough round the edges but would like to think that over the course of time they will not only improve in production quality, but in popularity too.

So, I think that’s it for now. I’ve been looking around for jingles etc to add to the Podcasts, but I think I better just get stuck in and add them later. I will of course let you know when the first episode is posted as I would love to have your feedback!

If there is anything specific you would like to hear, please let me know. I am hoping to hold a Q and A section where you can post your questions as a comment, or via Twitter. It would be good to hear about what you would like to know about SEO and Social Media.

At the moment, if you would like to keep up to date with what I am up to, I really encourage you follow me on Twitter as that is where I am most active at the moment.

OK – so off I go to try my hand at Podcasting!

Update (26/04/10): It was published in New Media Age magazine and online about my appointment at I Spy Marketing – My name in lights!

http://www.nma.co.uk/news/moves-220410/3012546.article (towards the bottom you’ll see me)

Popularity: 22%

OK – so you’ve got on Twitter, worked out what the hell it’s about and then thought “How on earth am I gonna get more followers?”

It’s true – it would be best to have an audience when it comes to Twitter – yes, you can just tweet to yourself as after all it is a micro blogging platform but in order to get the most out of Twitter, you need to get involved in the real time conversation.

One of the main things that grates me about the common answer to the above question is “Just follow more people and most will follow back” – ok great, so you can handle a million tweets flying at you 24/7/365? Are you interested in all those people? No? What a surprise.

Instead of thinking of ways to gain fake followers, you’d be best off following a few easy methods to gain followers who are actually interested in you.

Besides – seeing a Twitter profile with an unhealthy ratio of followers to followed just doesn’t look genuine. Are they really listening to all those people?

So – lets get onto 5 ways to increase your Twitter followers:

Read more…

Popularity: 71%

Hey everyone,

Hope you’re all fantastic and 2010 is going well for you so far.

Sorry for the lack of content recently – it’s been crazy busy my end, so I’ve not managed to get round to doing some posts. I do however, have a few in mind that I want to sit down and create – so I’m looking forward to them.

Anyway, this is literally a quick post to assure you I haven’t gone anywhere and I’m still here

Popularity: 25%

Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic new year celebration and are ready to hit 2010 with all you’ve got!

Towards the end of the year, I posted about Why Being a Snob Can Hurt Your Rankings with regards to the use of nofollow links. If you missed it, I suggest you check it out, as you may be one of those snobs

This time I want to focus on another snobby behaviour with regards to linking, and it’s one you cannot afford to ignore – especially with how the search engines are starting to shape up with how they look at links.

One of the most important SEO factors at the moment (and has been for a looooong time) is the quality and quantity of links pointing to your pages. This really helps when it comes to ranking, but how/why? Well the search engines see links pointing to your pages as “votes” or “approval”.

So how does it help you rank for specific keywords? Well – to keep it very quick and simple (for this post) – you link to your pages with keywords in the anchor text (the text that is clickable). So rather than using “click here”, or “more info” – you would use anchor text such as “Blue Widgets”, or “Dog Training” – whatever keywords you want to rank for.

So – it stands to reason to get as many links as possible using those keywords and yes it does work! So that’s great stuff – all you need to do now is blast a load of links with perfect anchor text at the pages and you’re cooking on gas! No. Not true.

Read more…

Popularity: 40%

Well, there we have it – another 365 days have passed. 52 weeks, 12 months. However you measure it, it’s gone quick!

I always remember being told when I was younger that time speeds up the older you get. “Nonsense” I thought. Hmmm, I’m beginning to think it’s true.

So how was 2009 for you? Mine was a mixed bag to say the least. There were plenty of personal development lessons I have identified over this year – which is fine as it gives me something to work on.

From a business point of view I don’t have many regrets apart from one thing which has annoyed me and that is I should have started this blog sooner! (One saving grace is I have learned a lot during this time)

I launched HelpfulGuy in September, and have been very pleased with the results already! I have managed to attract a great audience and following and I really enjoy bringing you all the content I can and sharing my knowledge. So thank you for reading!

So why the delay? Well, I hang around with other SEO guys and girls – I read a lot and learn a lot from the best in the industry. That was the problem. Not that I am learning from the best and hanging around fellow SEOers – but the fact that it made me feel that I cannot possibly contribute any more and I felt that everyone knows this stuff. Wrong!

Read more…

Popularity: 36%

This is part one of my “Don’t be a Snob” series. How many parts will there be John? I hear you say. Well – I don’t know! Definitely 2 – maybe more

I hear it all the time – through forums, through conversation and all sorts of other channels.

Oh, I don’t want that link – it’s a nofollow

It’s exactly this type of mentality that can actually go against you and hinder your rankings. Why? Well the search engines know about link building, I mean come on – it’s part of their algorithm for choosing who should rank and where. It’s an important part of Search Engine Optimisation, one that I personally always stress that if you could only choose one SEO factor, I would recommend link building.

So how are nofollow links any use? After all – they don’t pass any link value, so why bother?

Read more…

Popularity: 60%

Wow – well that was needed!

I’ve been in this internet marketing game for a while now – since mid 2003 and I’ve seen a lot of things come and go. I’ve seen the guys at the top go from teaching you how to “exploit” certain functionality of the internet to teaching you how to create a real online business.

Being involved in internet marketing for this long also has it’s problems. I have learnt about so many methods, techniques and opportunities it’s untrue – but that has lead me to not being focussed and working on what I should have all that time ago.

John Reese is the man to the rescue this time. He’s a guy who’s achieved a huge amount online, and he appears to be quite a down to earth guy. He’s launched many successful products and courses, so it’s fair to say he’s worth listening to.

He’s emailed about his latest course a few times, and I checked it out a couple of times too. Part of me thought “not another course”, but after reading the sales page, I knew he was talking about a lot of problems I had/have when it comes to working online so it struck a chord with me.

Read more…

Popularity: 43%

Listen up – I need to be quick.

Just finished recording a screen capture video showcasing the Google Real Time Search and I wanted to get this post out there. After all, if I waited, it wouldn’t exactly be “real time” would it?

Late last night (UK time), I saw the news, that Google had announced further information about their real time search (via Mashable – thanks guys!) Now this is BIG with a capital – well B of course!

Why? Simple – this affects EVERYTHING in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). The organic results aren’t gonna be the dominating factor on certain search terms. PPC (Pay Per Click) may be overshadowed even more if your ad appears down the right hand side.

If you’re an SEO that has been burying your head in the sand when it comes to Social Media and how it “doesn’t affect you”, then sorry – this is a kick in the balls for you. You woken up yet? This is as big as when PPC got introduced so deal with it, accept it and understand it.

It’s not just Google Real Time Search – it’s Bing. They announced before Google about their intentions to show Twitter AND Facebook updates in results. Bing also has a more exclusive relationship with Facebook as Microsoft (creators of Bing) have invested, and that includes exclusive deals, such as paid for ads and no doubt special treatment.

So Google will be showing Facebook PAGE updates and nothing more (yet), even this element doesnt appear to be live yet. Make sure you have your fan pages indexed! This is an awesome opportunity.

OK, make sure you check out the video below to see more about how Google Real Time Search will affect the search landscape.

Let me know what you think. Am I getting too excited? Too ahead of myself? Or am I just super awesome and know my shiz? Let me know!

Popularity: 39%

Bit of an unusual post from me today but it’s for a good cause so I thought I would share it with you! Naturally, I will take a look from a Social Media view

NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) have launched a campaign to allow you to send a personalised letter from Santa to your children (or any child for that matter). This is a great little gift all for a suggested donation of £5. Here is the information below:

The NSPCC’s Letter from Santa fundraising initiative gives parents, grandparents and anyone else the chance to nominate someone special to receive a magical letter from Santa for a suggested donation of £5. The letter is personalised with the child’s name and age and is sure to confirm that Santa will be making his usual stop in the child’s home town to wish everyone a merry Christmas. The letter is written in a hand script font and is beautifully illustrated on quality colourful paper. The envelope shows that it’s been safely delivered through ‘express Rudolph Mail’.

Fundraiser Binita Patel said: “Letter from Santa is a brilliant way to put an extra twinkle into Christmas this year and make a child feel extra special. The appeal also helps us to raise money to support children who are perhaps not as fortunate.“

“It is important to remember that Christmas is not a time of celebration for every child. Over the 12 days of festive cheer last year, ChildLine – a service provided by the NSPCC – counselled over 3,500 children who were in danger or distress and had nowhere else to turn. By supporting this appeal you will be helping to provide support, advice and protection for these children who are in desperate need of help.”

Also on offer is a Baby’s First Christmas letter from Santa, which is the perfect keepsake for newborns celebrating their first festive season.

To order a letter from Santa for a child you know, visit http://www.nspccwishes.org.uk/ or call 0845 839 9304.

It does look a real cool little gift and I can imagine thier eyes will light up when they receive it. There is a video on the site to show you more, so go check it out!

OK, from the social media side of things, there’s one thing that I’m pleased they’ve done, and that’s include the “Add This” button on the top right. This allows people to share the page via several social bookmarking sites – so that’s a pretty cool touch.

Read more…

Popularity: 58%