SEO is a means to an end. For most people, the end is more money. Don't be fooled into thinking bigger stats is the end game!
— Purple Web Marketing (@purpleweb) November 6, 2012
Posting USB memory costs more than you think
Posting a USB memory stick costs more than a regular letter. Many people just pop them in envelopes and stick a standard second class stamp on it, thinking nothing of it.
And fair enough, you’d be forgiven for thinking something so small should count as a standard letter.
Sadly, they’re generally too thick to be accepted that way, and the recipients end up with a small (but annoying) fee to pay at their local Post Office. Easily the most frustrating thing is usually the postage is only 19p short, to which a pound gets added as a handling fee—and thus the Royal Mail makes more on the transaction than it would cost to send the item twice.
(If you’re on of the people who has recently fallen foul of this when sending me USB sticks, fret not, I have no plans to come after you! Just to show there are no hard feelings, a few bricks are on their way to you, affixed with a single used stamp from New Zealand. Don’t get upset with me, they’re too large to fit through your mail slot so you were always going to have to visit your local Post Office for collection anyway.)
Interacting with nerds, #1
However, there are a few things about me that separate me out from the nerd crowd. And one of the biggies is…I can communicate, with you, in a way you’ll understand. In fact a few of my clients about a decade ago took to calling me “The geek who can speak”. At the time I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or flummoxed. I’m still unsure.
Anyway, quite famously, when you seek advice from a nerd they’re likely to respond “Have you tried turning it on and off again”, and for good reason—it usually works.
I had an interaction with a support helpdesk this morning; one of their WordPress themes was playing up and I submitted a support ticket, knowing that it would take them at least 24 hours to get to it, so I was hoping for a helpful reply.
“Have you upgraded to the latest version?” was all I got back. Fullstop. It’s the software equivalent of hitting the power button twice, because it is, to most developers mind’s, the most likely thing to fix the problem.
The other thing it has in common with making use of the on/off switch, is it’s the path of least resistance. Now, personally I take offence when asked by anyone, in any situation, “Have you done the least thing you possible could without having done nothing?” and this situation is no different.
Anyway, I’m sharing this to give some practical advice. When writing to support lines about online products, use this easy to follow formula:
To whom it may concern,
I have updated my software to the latest version as available from your website, but am still finding that {insert rest of issue here}.
I replied to the less-than-welcome response I got of course, just a few minutes ago. And now I’m going to wait the inevitable 24 hours for the follow-up.
I just hope for everyone’s sake that they don’t come back asking me to restart the web server. I’ve had these giant glasses a long time, and I’m not afraid to use them.
The strongest visual brand in the world?
It’s certainly one of them!
Google’s visual identity is so strong, they can mess with it all they want and we still recognise it.
Their regular Google Doodles (used to commemorate or celebrate people and events, or just for a fun game of Pacman) has changed our perception of their visual branding. We don’t even need to see the letters that spell the company name for us to identify them.
Today’s was a great example of that for me. Over time their Doodle’s have become more adventurous, and here we are on the 125th birthday of artist T. S. Lowry with one of the boldest yet.
It ties into their primary visual identity through colour, position of objects, and vaguely the shape of the buildings too. And that’s it.
Yet I know this is Google. I can see it. In fact, when I’m shown one of these Doodles I actively look and seek out how their logo fits in. I want to see their visual brand in these images.
Now that’s branding.
Read Google’s Webmaster Tools
Further to yesterday’s post, Google has created a entire online system to help webmasters (and web owners too, it’s important you know this stuff) improve their Search Engine Optimisation SEO).
And they’ve written it in such a way that anyone can understand it, and even if you’re not the right person to implement it (after all, that’s what you have people like me for) at least you can talk about it.
One of the great fallacies about web work is that it’s too hard for a lay person to understand. Sure, it’s technical, and the implementing things is generally pretty complicated, but look to work with web people who can explain things to you in such a way that you can talk back to them.
Look for people who can explain things like Google does. Clearly. Concisely. Understandably.
The importance of original content
This comes straight from Google themselves. It’s so important to your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to have quality, human readable (i.e., makes sense to a visitor) content.
There’s a lot to be said for curated content, but of course that requires original input too.
One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.
via Little or no original content – Webmaster Tools Help.
I know a lot of people want to shy away from it, after all, writing isn’t most of our core business, but your users do care about what you have to say. That’s generally why they want to spend money with you after all.
So it’s not just SEO. It’s business. Your business.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- Next Page »