Firefox is faster, more secure, and can easily be customized to look and perform just how you want it to. There are thousands of add-ons, extensions, and themes to download to personalize your browser’s look, feel, and use. Whether you use the internet for fun or serious work, there are tools to make your daily […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “33 Must-Have Firefox Extensions”, url: “http://superbloggingtips.com/2008/03/33-must-have-firefox-extensions/” });
by Jennifer Laycock
Sean D’Souza at Copyblogger calls them “a few measly words.” I like to refer to it as “Thesaurus surfing.” Either way, Sean offers up a couple of fantastic examples of how adding a target and some adjectives to your article titles can go a long way toward tightening up your content and enticing readers to click through and follow you along for the literary ride.
What makes Sean’s post a little different is that he’s not just pushing title changes for the sake of gaining more clickthrus. We’re not talking about a link-baitey “here’s how to get a bunch of clicks to a random article” type of post. Instead, Sean’s aiming to help you understand how putting some serious thought into your article title will also make you put some serious thought into the content. Fleshing out the expectations for your readers will also flesh out your expectations as a writer.
And it’s a simple process.
Sean explains:
Let’s start off by taking a random topic…
So let’s take a topic such as: Why article writing is the key.
But the key to what?
Most writers leave out the core detail. They miss out telling you where the article is going in the first instance. And these writers don’t leave out the core detail on purpose.
They just don’t realize the importance of the core detail. And the core detail should usually contain what we’d loosely call a target.
A target is simply who or what are we speaking about?
Let’s me demonstrate what I mean, by doing a little addition.
So instead of: Why article writing is the key…
We say: Why article writing is the key to getting strategic alliances.
He goes on to give some excellent examples of how adding an adjective to describe the target or goal makes an article title look even more enticing. Sean wraps it up with some powerful advice. (And when I say that I mean: if you weren’t already convinced he was right, here’s the thing that will do it.)
…as you can plainly see, they’re three completely different articles, going in three completely different directions. But when you have a vague headline, it’s almost impossible to keep the content of the article focused. When you have a specific headline, it’s darned impossible to go off track.
Sometimes, a writer’s worst enemy is themselves. We worry about covering every angle instead of realizing we can cover another angle the next time we write. Why put out one average article when you could follow Sean’s advice, tighten up your title and turn out three (or more) excellent and highly focused articles?
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
by Jennifer Laycock
Earlier this week I wrote a post reminding small businesses why it’s so important to consider launching a blog to go with their web site. At the time, I pointed out the benefit of ever-changing content. Today, i ran across a great post over at ProBlogger exploring nearly two dozen types of static pages you should consider building into your blog. While the idea of creating static pages on a blog may sound counterintuitive, it’s actually an important part of blog creation many people miss.
Darren points out WordPress’s ability to generate static pages through the program’s dashboard. These static pages become part of the navigation on your blog and can serve as a powerful way to add value and information for your readers.
(Sidebar: It’s important to note static pages are different from blog posts. The blog posts you create are dated and show up on your blog in reverse chronological order; your most recent post display first. The static pages sit on individual web pages and are linked to from the navigation bar of your blog. These pages never move and the content stays the same until you update it again.)
In his post, Darren outlines twenty different types of static pages that might be appropriate for your blog. I’m not going to summarize all of them, but here are some of them I think most every blog could benefit from.
1. About Page - perhaps one of the most common uses of the ‘page’ function on WP is the good old ‘about page’. Having an about page is essential in my mind as it gives new readers to your blog a snapshot of who you are and why they should subscribe to your blog.2. Contact Page - I’m amazed how many bloggers don’t have any way of contacting them on their blog. While I understand the temptation not to have one you could be missing out of wonderful opportunities by not giving readers, potential partners, press, other bloggers a way of contacting you.
6. Subscribe Page - having a page dedicated to how people can subscribe to your blog can be very useful. I find that having a page like this can be useful as some readers don’t understand the idea of RSS or can be worried about issues of privacy or what it means to ’subscribe’.
17. 404 Page - when people arrive on your blog to a page that has been deleted, follow a dead link etc and end up on a default error page on your blog you’ve got a wasted opportunity on your hands.
Darren lists quite a few other options as well, though many apply only to certain types of blogs. Chances are good you’ll stop at least one static page idea you haven’t already implemented. If your blog is heavy on the content side of things, check out #8 and #9 (Series pages.) If your blog is used to promote functions or you’re a requested speaker, consider adding #16 (Event pages.)
For that matter, read through Darren’s list and come up with an entirely new idea, simply because you’ve started to consider what your readers might want quick and easy access to. Either way, your blog will be better for it.
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
by Jennifer Laycock
Earlier this week I wrote a post reminding small businesses why it’s so important to consider launching a blog to go with their web site. At the time, I pointed out the benefit of ever-changing content. Today, i ran across a great post over at ProBlogger exploring nearly two dozen types of static pages you should consider building into your blog. While the idea of creating static pages on a blog may sound counterintuitive, it’s actually an important part of blog creation many people miss.
Darren points out WordPress’s ability to generate static pages through the program’s dashboard. These static pages become part of the navigation on your blog and can serve as a powerful way to add value and information for your readers.
(Sidebar: It’s important to note static pages are different from blog posts. The blog posts you create are dated and show up on your blog in reverse chronological order; your most recent post display first. The static pages sit on individual web pages and are linked to from the navigation bar of your blog. These pages never move and the content stays the same until you update it again.)
In his post, Darren outlines twenty different types of static pages that might be appropriate for your blog. I’m not going to summarize all of them, but here are some of them I think most every blog could benefit from.
1. About Page - perhaps one of the most common uses of the ‘page’ function on WP is the good old ‘about page’. Having an about page is essential in my mind as it gives new readers to your blog a snapshot of who you are and why they should subscribe to your blog.2. Contact Page - I’m amazed how many bloggers don’t have any way of contacting them on their blog. While I understand the temptation not to have one you could be missing out of wonderful opportunities by not giving readers, potential partners, press, other bloggers a way of contacting you.
6. Subscribe Page - having a page dedicated to how people can subscribe to your blog can be very useful. I find that having a page like this can be useful as some readers don’t understand the idea of RSS or can be worried about issues of privacy or what it means to ’subscribe’.
17. 404 Page - when people arrive on your blog to a page that has been deleted, follow a dead link etc and end up on a default error page on your blog you’ve got a wasted opportunity on your hands.
Darren lists quite a few other options as well, though many apply only to certain types of blogs. Chances are good you’ll stop at least one static page idea you haven’t already implemented. If your blog is heavy on the content side of things, check out #8 and #9 (Series pages.) If your blog is used to promote functions or you’re a requested speaker, consider adding #16 (Event pages.)
For that matter, read through Darren’s list and come up with an entirely new idea, simply because you’ve started to consider what your readers might want quick and easy access to. Either way, your blog will be better for it.
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
by Sage Lewis
Professional and comedic props go to Stoney deGeyter of Pole Position Marketing this week for his article “The Anatomy of a 12-Month Link Baiting Campaign.” Stoney clearly defines his step-by-step process for becoming a “household name” over the span of a year. His humor and bares all attitude make the article both amusing and informative.
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
by Sage Lewis
Professional and comedic props go to Stoney deGeyter of Pole Position Marketing this week for his article “The Anatomy of a 12-Month Link Baiting Campaign.” Stoney clearly defines his step-by-step process for becoming a “household name” over the span of a year. His humor and bares all attitude make the article both amusing and informative.
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
by Sage Lewis
Sage encourages industry experts to be aware of their audience as Search Engine Roundtable reveals, via Jacob Neilson findings, that 25% of people don’t know how to do a Google search. SEMPO releases statistics at SES New York from a survey that shows the North American search marketing industry growing from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.4 billion in 2007 and projecting an increase to $25.2 billion by the year 2011. Also, YouTube announces the “Adorable Laughing Baby” as the winner of its contest.
Learn something from this post?
Come and experience Search Engine Guide style teaching in person! Join us for our first ever Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston, Texas on April 21st and 22nd.
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