]]> http://rekhasrivatsan.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/rekhasrivatsan-wordcloud/feed/ 0 rekha Rekhasrivatsan_wordcloud rekha_srivatsan http://rekhasrivatsan.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/seo-content-is-king/ http://rekhasrivatsan.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/seo-content-is-king/#comments Mon, 09 May 2011 20:17:23 +0000 Rekha Srivatsan http://rekhasrivatsan.wordpress.com/?p=136 Continue reading →]]> I’m three months into my role at [Wire] stone and it has been an incredible learning experience.  SEO Industry is one fast-paced industry! Be it the algorithm changes, ranking mechanisms, new search tips etc., it is quite challenging to keep track of the changes. Thankfully, a few of the most important elements involved in optimizing a website aren’t likely to change anytime soon.

No matter how much search engines change their algorithms, one thing will always be true:  writing quality content is arguably the best way to improve search rankings for keywords.  SEO Content is King! I know it sounds redundant, but until more people do a better job at focusing on their content, it bears repeating.

You can find a lot of ideas/tips online, on how to lead a great SEO campaign. You can attend conferences, webinars to understand SEO tactics but learning how to maximize your SEO in content is the key.

Note #1: SEO is for the search engines, web content is for your visitors.

Presumably, you want your website to rank higher in the search engines. How can you achieve that? You don’t have to deceive or use black hat tricks. First, however, you have to learn how to write quality web content that will provide your readers with value. A website is nothing without its content. Getting information is the one of the primary reasons for using internet. If that information is not easily accessible on your website, the readers are not going to want to stay on your site, and they certainly are not going to want to come back.

So here are a few important tips to creating great content:

• Understand your audience: Have interesting and relevant content that they are likely to be searching for. Do a quick keyword survey to identify your target keywords. Definitely add keywords to the title tag, description, ALT attributes and in the body text. Don’t over do it!

•   Engage your audience: Engaging your audience will fetch you quality inbound links! And, links help you rank higher in the search engines. A little research to find ways to engage your target market could go a long way in terms of inbound links.
  

•  Content structure: Use short paragraphs with well-written sentences and make sure it is grammatically correct and typos-free! It is always a great idea to have images, graphs, and visual data to represent your ideas. This would help your readers to understand your message quickly! By all means, avoid duplicate content. Never copy-paste directly from another website- not only does it affect SEO, it also creates a bad reputation.

• Stay current: Most significant step in content writing! Having up-to-date content adds credibility to your website. Stay on top of industry news and update them on your website. How regularly depends on your site, but the internet changes so quickly you can soon find yourself behind the times if you don’t add something new!

• Be linkable: Be as involved as you can in the social media circle! Find out where your target market converses on the web and participate in the conversations. Use search trends to identify potential buzz searches. It is important for your site to be included in all major directories – Bing, Yahoo, Google, and Ask.com.

According to a recent HiveFire Survey cited in eMarketer, content creation is a focus for many marketers in an effort to: establish thought leadership, elevate brands variability and buzz, increase lead generation, and boost SEO.

Note #2: Readers are the ultimate targets, not the search engines!

Creating your web content for your readers, rather than the engines, will help you achieve loyal, repeat traffic as well as high, relevant search engine ranking. All I can say is that- build a solid site with current, fresh, and relevant content – the hits and page rank will follow in time!

You are my Target Market! Am sure by now you are searching for jobs in every job search engine possible. I am not going to talk about them. You probably know better than I do! In this post, I’ll talk about different innovative, effective and proven ideas for job search.

• LinkedIn.com

Any person looking for a job, in my opinion, should be on LinkedIn. If you are already on LinkedIn, congratulations! You are just weeks away from finding your dream job. Keep adding your friends on LinkedIn, always widen your network. Always keep your profile updated. If you are working on something interesting, boast about them on your profile. Your profile is a good indicator of who you are and what you do, make sure its current.

Try using the Jobs section of LinkedIn. Always look for connections for that job posting. If you know somebody( it does not matter how well you know!) who works for that organization, never hesitate to ask them for help. 7/10 people usually return with a positive response. If you do not know anybody in that organization, but if you are really interested, try looking up the organization on LinkedIn. Find somebody who works in that particular office and try sending them a LinkedIn message( not Inmail). If its not possible to send a message, try adding them- let them know that you are really interested in the company and would like to add them to your network. 9/10 people will accept your request. If you do not get a response to your message, don’t give up. As long as you target the right person, you will get a response.

Another important LinkedIn feature is the Groups section. Make sure you add yourself to groups that are relevant to your industry. Each group also has its own Jobs section- try them too. Be specific about what you are looking for. Narrow down your search as much as possible.

Am quite sure, at least one of these ideas will definitely click. Be aggressive but don’t stalk! Never lose hope if people don’t respond, keep trying.

• Meetup groups

Meetup groups are these awesome local communities of like-minded people! Genius idea, I have always recommended Meetup groups to anyone I meet regarding anything they want! If you are looking at a particular specific industry, all you have to do is try meetup.com and find your group. These groups usually meet once a month or twice(depending on the group). When they meet, they usually have a particular agenda-maybe discussing  the current trends in the industry, opportunities etc.

How would this help you? You have no idea! For instance, say you are targeting Online Marketing, specifically Search Engine Optimization in Sacramento. There are close to 10 Meetup groups available. Attend one of them to familiarize yourself with the Industry people in your area. You never know who you meet. You could meet a potential employer or someone who can point you to the right person. Attend couple of them to understand the key players in the industry  in your area. But as always, be specific, be focused.  Trust me, this would be an incredibly amazing opportunity to network. This would also be a great place to showcase your ideas in your field.

Let me know how this works for you! I am quite positive that one of them would definitely work as long as you are optimistic! I don’t claim to be an expert, but it worked for me. If it worked for me, it would work for you as well. Hey, its definitely worth a shot, you have nothing to lose.

If you use WordPress.com to host your blog, and want the new official tweet button, you need to do the following:

• Head to Appearances, then Extras in your menu,
• Click on the “Show a Twitter Tweet Button on my posts” button

UPDATE: The Tweet button has been moved to Settings–> Sharing. Along with Twitter, you can add new services to your blogpost.