The Confident Copywriter

Posts Tagged ‘social networking’

On Thursday, we introduced the concept of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), technology poised to change the way we use keywords to optimize copy.

One way you can get moving is by starting a blog. You’ve heard this advice many times, but the truth is that the humble blog is becoming more important, not less. That should be a relief to some who have questioned whether social media is making blogging obsolete.

If you want to rank well in organic search, your site must reward the search engines with lots of valuable content. There is no faster or easier way to achieve this goal than with a blog. It’s one of the smartest ways to build content.

Once your blog is ready to go, be sure to publish at least three posts each week. Why is this important? Because each post is counted as a new page. More posts equals deeper content, and a higher page rank.

LSI is not meant to replace the all-important keyword, but to enhance it. Be sure to optimize your blog posts with keywords, as well as tagging and categorizing the post.

And never, ever forget the importance of relevant information!

Keyword-Optimized Images

Adding keyword-optimized images is another important strategy. Google does include images when indexing your website, so make sure you’ve got some keyword-optimized images. Before you do this, be sure the images you choose add relevancy to your content. A blog post about SEO accompanied by a picture of an ice cream cone probably isn’t going to be as optimized as it could be. The point of a picture is to add weight to the message.

To keyword-optimize the image, simply include one of your top keywords in your HTML code where the image is linked to the page. (In the image “alt” text. Wordpress users, use the “Title” field.)

The Ever-Popular Video

Videos are enjoying immense popularity. Unfortunately, search engine spiders are deaf. Therefore, build individual videos around one important keyword, and be sure to use that keyword in the video title. And don’t forget the importance of a transcript, the actual words used in your video. This helps the search engines recognize the keyword you’ve so carefully used. For example, when uploading a video to YouTube, choose “closed captioning” to also upload the transcript.

Nike Got It Right

Search is going through an unprecedented transition. As social media networks continue to infiltrate our lives, people rely less and less on the search engines and more and more on the opinions of ‘friends’ to make trustworthy recommendations. If you’re not on board with social media yet, time is running out. (That’s not a sneaky plea to win business. It’s the truth.)

As a child, when my Mom would nag me on some point I had heard umpteen times, I would complain, “Ma! You already told me 100 times!” To which my very wise mother would reply, “If you would just do it, I wouldn’t have to keep talking about it!”

Once upon a time, the Big Social Media Question was “Who are you?”

Shortly thereafter, Twitter emerged, asking, “What are you doing?”

Now, we have a new question to answer, “Where are you doing it?”

Welcome to location-based social networking, the next evolution in social media. Geolocation tools emerging on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and smaller companies like Yelp, FourSquare and Gowalla already know the secret: social media is driven by advertising. Advertising makes money. Mobile technology makes the Internet available from anywhere 24/7, giving advertisers the opportunity to engage customers on many levels. Small businesses also benefit with special offers that drive customers.

Read about Facebook’s geolocation technology.

Geolocation technology was topic numero uno at the recent SXSW Interactive conference, where the debate raged on: pushing a button to share your location has some intriguing applications…but what happens to privacy? When the entire world knows you’re away from home, and they know exactly where you are, are you putting yourself at a dangerous risk?

Sounds silly? Picture this:

….A burglary ring begins to monitor status updates en masse …

….Your home is robbed after you tweet your vacation status…then your insurance company denies the claim because you put your property at risk…then your premiums go up…

…Anyone, anytime, anywhere can pick up your exact geographic coordinates and find you…whether you want to be found or not…

…You call in sick to work, but your boss checks Twitter and sees you were at a club with your friends last night at 1 am. 2 + 2 = Fired.

Sure, this is all speculation…but not for long.

The solution? Common sense, of course. Think about why you’re sharing, who is likely to see it, and what the consequences might be. Use social media tools responsibly.

Lest you believe you’ll never use location-based social media technology…the tech world says one day you will. Beyond checking in with friends to meet up at the corner bar, geolocation technology will soon become the ‘it’ trend for building your online brand and controlling your digital presence.

Technology marches forward, even if you and I follow kicking and screaming.