Tag: Blogs

Posted on

Why You May Want to Consider Using Tumblr

Screen shot of my Tumblr page.
Follow me as “Just Nancy” on Tumblr.

When I drive a long distance with my high school senior kids in the car, it gives me time to ask what is trending and is hot with their friends. I’ve found that what happens with their generation is a very good indicator as to where businesses should be looking to build for the future. Temper that with a review with my older kid who is 25 and I get a great viewpoint of how businesses should be embracing certain new technologies and avoiding other ones that may be becoming passé.

In my most recent drive Tumblr came up several times with my kids, so I checked it out. You can view my own Tumblr page here at http://nancymccord.tumblr.com/. I call mine “Just Nancy” as it is a place for now for me to share just about anything.

This is what I have found using Tumblr and why you may want to consider using it.

1. It is actually incredibly simple to set up and actually fun to use.

2. It has a very nice smartphone integration that allows you to post photos, quick quotes, and just about anything on the go.

3. The desktop interface is cool, user-intuitive, and the smartphone app simple.

4. I love the ability to add multi-media and text simply.

5. It feels like there will be a more visual and different demographic on this platform and so may be a more energized platform than a blog for a business.

6. From my own initial testing to me this seems like this may be the place where you can merge all your online enterprises into one cohesive message.

It remains to be seen how I will use Tumblr for business, but for now, I am having plenty of fun checking it out.

Posted on

Should You Follow Copyblogger and Elminate Blog Comments?

Let people connect where they want!
Let people connect where they want, on your blog!

Copyblogger, a very high profile and active blogsite, recently decided to stop allowing comments on its blog. Although the owner of Copyblogger tried to turn back the tide of negative pushback citing it was a simple business decision, several online pundits have challenged the purpose of this action.

Here’s what I think about allowing or not allowing blog comments.

1. Yes, it is each business owner’s decision to allow or not allow blog comments on their own blog. But…

2. Some of the best exchanges on high profile blogs are actually found in the comment section as other pros in the industry weigh in. In many cases I have followed links, researched additional products mentioned in a comment, and in some cases even expounded on a post and comments on my own blog.

3. If you only want to have a conversation about the blog on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter, where your real tactic is to drive links to boost up your blog, it seems weird to me to then have valuable content and just point to it, driving traffic away from your blog. Keep the conversation where the content is. Don’t say “read our blog, but if you want to comment on it go to our Facebook or Google+ page.”

4. Blogging is about commenting and soliciting comments. Although I will not chose to not visit a site that does not have blog comments enabled, many times I do read a post and scroll to see what others say to weigh the validity of the information I just read in a blog post.

5. I allow comments on my own blog and recommend that client do so as well, but encourage pre-approval of comments and a periodic review of what to publish. Not all comments on my blog are published as I will net out spam and self-promoting comment posts.

Click our comment link and let me know what you think, do you allow comments on your own blog?

Posted on

Guest Blogging as We Know It is Dead – Per Matt Cutts

You know something for SEO tactics is dead when Google’s Matt Cutts comes out point blank and says:

“Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.” Read the full blog post.

But not only does this mean that the tactic is dead, but continuing to use a tactic like this for link building may actually get you penalized in the Google index.

Let’s Explore Guest Blogging Further

Here’s what’s considered bad:

If you or your SEO firm were trolling the web and sending out unsolicited notes to webmasters saying “Hey use this blog post and keep the links as dofollow, or we’ll pay you to post this content”, ouch, watch out! This is exactly what Matt is talking about that you need to steer clear of.

Here’s what’s still considered good:

If you are guest blogging for a news site like SiteProNews, the Huffington Post, industry trade journals – these types of high quality guest blogging opportunities and high profile exposure can really continue to work for you; building your online authority. But the reality of these types of gigs is that they are few and far between and not available to the typical newbie.

Tie the demise of guest blogging in with Matt’s thumb’s down on article marketing and you can clearly see that link building now is considered a spammy practice and one worthy of a Google penalty.

Posted on

Blogging Still Has a Place in Your Marketing Plan

yes - notepad & pen
Time to get blogging!

As a blog content provider, I’ve seen this market sector zoom up in popularity and then crash this past year as clients move budget dollars into paid advertising or stop blogging services all together based on costs without clearly understanding the big picture benefits.

Blogging is still one of the very best ways to keep your website content fresh, website sticky, and build quality content over time that readers and search engines like.

Of most value is the ability of blogs to slowly and naturally add links to your online portfolio in a non-spammy way.

Here is just one example of how blogging actually helps to slowly build links:

As of today in Google Webmaster tools client one who does not blog and has a mature website and does a monthly newsletter has 833 inbound links.

In comparison in Google Webmaster tools client two who does blog three days a week and has a mature website and does not do a monthly newsletter has 22,541 inbound links.

To further illustrate, in Google Webmaster tools client three who does blog three days a week and has a mature website and does not do a monthly newsletter has 4,744 inbound links.

Pretty big differences in link numbers! There is no better way to naturally build link numbers that help you with organic placement than to have a well-written blog that is regularly updated. If you are looking for premium quality writing that is shareable, I invite you to visit our blog writing service page for samples and pricing.