Why Blogging Helps SEO

Have you ever wondered how do you get to the top of the Google search engine? How to get your website more recognised and established online? How to get more traffic? SEO is your answer! It stands for Search Engine Optimisation and according to Search Engine Land

SEO is the process of getting traffic from the free, organic,educational, or natural search results on search engines.

One of the best ways you can improve your SEO is to blog. Blogging allows you to refresh your content on a regular basis and also gives you the opportunity to interact with your audience more as it is giving them another reason to come back to your site. With the Google updates Panda and Penguin

It is great knowing that blogging can help your SEO, but now the real task is to craft a blog post that will do this for you. Here are a few tips that should make this creative process a little easier.

Include Images

Not only does that make it more engaging for the reader but it also gives Google a chance to get to know your site better. Although Google can’t read or see images, it can read the ALT text which is provided. ALT text is the back coding of an image and is what allows Google to find out what is in the image. This is not something which is automatically done but something you must fill in. It is best to fill it in with words that describe the image as this is not only describing the image but also giving Google an idea of what your website is about allowing it to be categorised and boosted up in Google searches.

Content

Not only is it important to establish a style of writing, but it is also important to establish a topic. Considering we are using blogging to boost SEO in this case, it is important that what you are blogging about relates to what is on your website is about. Millie Mackintosh does this fantastically. She has a website where she sells her clothing range and blogs about clothing, events she has gone to and outfits she has worn. This allows her to showcase some pieces from her clothing range and advertise it for free.

Linking & Guest Bloggers

Guest blogging is a great way to gain new viewers to your website. By having a guest blogger on your website not only are you adding credibility to your brand but you are also creating external links. External links occur when a hyperlink directs you to  a website. The guest blogger will post a link to the post which they write on your blog which will direct viewers in the direction of it. If you can get somebody or entity that it credible to write, Google will love this. This shows them that you are a good, credible website and blog by someone influential in their field linking to you. As a result, you will show higher in the search engine results.

These are simple tips, but hopefully ones that will make this a little easier for you.

Yours Digitally,

Holly

Top 5 Tips for Creating Great Facebook Content

With over 1 billion Facebook users it is no wonder that it is the most popular social network. It is a means of communication for not only people looking to keep in contact with others but also a way for brands to build top of mind awareness with both their existing and potential consumers. Through Facebook and strategic posting you can build you brand in a non traditional method. In my opinion there are 5 ways to create great Facebook content that will increase both interactivity on your page and revenue. If you implement these 5 tips you will begin to see a huge difference in the development of your brand. These are tips that I have personally tried and tested and can vouch that they will bring your brand to the next level.

1. Post content that is of interest to your target audience. The key to developing good Facebook content is to post about what your audience is interested in. It is important not to just post about what you are offering to the customer as it can come across as pushy. If you are aware of the fans of your page, their interests and why they have liked it you will know what interests them. For example, Red Bull are aware that their fans are interested in action and adrenalin based activities. Through this observation they can develop posts that interest their fan base. Here they have posted a link to a jump which indirectly links to the Red Bull Skydive event. If you can post about things that interest your Facebook fans that indirectly link to your brand or product this is a sure way to begin to create great Facebook content.

2. Post regularly, but not too often. It is important to have a constant presence in your fans timelines, after all you are aiming to create top of mind awareness. Although it can be difficult to reach a happy medium as a rule of thumb you should be posting daily and no more than twice a day. This way people will be aware of you brand but it will not be overwhelming. If you look at the worlds most successful brands they have stuck to this generally and it has allowed them to build their following. According to Social Bakers  ideally a brand should post between 5 – 10 times a day and a media company should post 4 – 10 times more. This is due to the fact that to inform people of the news it is an activity that must happen 24 hours a day.

3. Post a variety of content. Variety is key! Look at it this way, if you could only eat apples for the rest of your life you would be sick of eating them after a day! Likewise, if you only interact with your audience in one method they will get bored. Great Facebook content focuses around these central concepts but don’t forget a balance of them all is what leads to interaction.

• Photos
• Videos
• Post with  link to your website
• Press Releases
• Blog Posts

4. Plan Ahead. As interaction is key, we need to keep people engaged as much as possible. The only way to do this is to post regularly. I know this sounds easier than it sounds considering that there isn’t always time to post. This is where scheduling posts can help you. Although I would not recommend scheduling every post, when you are stuck for time this can be your best friend! If you are not sure how to do this, have a look at Facebook’s advice on how to schedule a post.

5. Analyse your Analytics. One of the best tools on Facebook for fan pages is their analytics tools. This allows you to see what age your target audience is, the posts that your fans are engaging with most, the best times to post according to viewership and so many other great insights into your audience. Without this it basically is all a guessing game! This allows you to get to know your audience and tailor your content to what they like.

By applying these five tips to your Facebook fan page you should see an increase in interaction as a direct result of improving your content.

Best of luck!

Yours Digitally,

Holly

The Future of Social Media is Mobile

According to Mashable mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device. This could be a phone, tablet or laptop.

It’s funny to think that even lookin back 10 years ago social media was irrelevant in our lives. We watched the news and read the newspapers to find out what was happening in the world. Fast forward to today and communication is happening in real time! Communication has changed and so is social media.

Now look back 5 years, the use of social media and most things online were accessed off a desktop or maybe at times a laptop. We sat down at a computer at the end of the day to catch up on social media activity to see what we missed out on. Now our internet consumption has moved away from this form and the landscape of social media is seeing a dramatic shift in platforms and user behaviours. Smartphones are now our biggest source for social media communication. According to Go-gulf.com out of the 5 billion mobile phone users in the world, 1.08 billion are smart phone users. 80% of these smartphone users use their phone throughout the day with a further 84% using their smart phones for browsing the internet. We now have a running commentary of what happens online throughout the day.  Because of this, mobile-first design has gone mainstream.

Social media is now the biggest source of communication in the world. We can connect with people that we would never otherwise get the chance to. When you think about it the relationships that have developed through social media are phenomenal!! Justin Bieber who has went onto have a multi million dollar music career was found by Scooter Johnson on YouTube. Without YouTube his success was only a far dream. Dee’s Wholefoods is a great example of a brand which has built its success on social media also. Dee owns a range of vegan food options which are stocked in supermarkets nations wide. She gained success by appearing on Dragon’s Den but gained popularity through her Facebook page which has over 23,000 fans. Here she share recipes which include her range of food showing how versatile it is and also encouraging people to try it. Without social media these people along with many others would not live the successful careers that they do today. Not only social media but its developments which has allowed it to become mobile and accessible.

So this how far is it has developed so far? What is next? Social media is developing by the second and with the mobile aspect there are no limitations!

Yours Digitally,

Holly

My App Idea

My app idea developed from my love and interest in food. I wanted this app to be something that I personally would use and find useful as well as other people. One issue that I can personally relate to is eating out and the challenges it can create for people with allergies and specific food intolerances. As a vegan with several food allergies I can relate to the struggle it can be to eat out and the awkwardness it can create.

The app I have created is called ‘Hey Pesto!‘. It is a location services based app that allows you to locate restaurants in your area which cater for your personal food requirements. On this app you will be able to pick out your food allergens or specific diet types and it will display a listing of restaurants in your area that have options on their menu that cater to your needs. It also will show you what dishes on the menu cater for you so you will be able to make your decision based on the suitability of the restaurant’s menu. This eliminates the guessing factor of wondering will a restaurant cater for you or not.

As it is a location services app it allows you use it anywhere in Ireland and it will zone in on your current location. This will therefore allow restaurants to have equal opportunities to attract the new customer according to their menu. Once the person has selected a restaurant, it will provide the contact information and website where you can book a table. Also, once the user has eaten their meal they can rate it and upload an image on the app allowing future users to see the quality of the service.

I believe this app would be a great success because it will aid people in making everyday decisions and also make them aware of more restaurants which cater for their needs.

Yours Digitally,

Holly