I’ve done a lot a couple of pieces of writing on serious things and so, to try and balance it out I decided to try a little creative writing exercise.
Simply (probably one of the simplest exercises going) I just wrote for 5 minutes non-stop, without thinking.
I got about 270ish words out in that time – clearly I’m no Jack Kerouac.
After a tiny tiny bit of editing (mainly some spelling and grammer changes) I have the following to show for my frantic 5 minutes.
It’s nothing special, but at least it was some much needed creative exercise. My creativity’s been looking a bit flabby and out of shape lately. Few more work outs like this and maybe it’ll start looking firmer again.
5 Minute Writing Exercise – Harry The Red
Harry the red did not like to eat fish, this was a great problem for him as he has been born and raised in a fishing village which could trace its foundations back to the times of Eric Bloodaxe. It was often said that this connection with the Vikings was in fact the reason that Harry boasted a mighty and bushy red beard, yet his hair was, at closest, the colour of an autumn leaf that had fallen from a sycamore tree.
Harry had always suffered some minor abuse from his peers on account of his beard; one of the most noted reasons being that he had been in possession of the thing since his eight birthday. Being the only child to a single mother, he had not been shown any shaving techniques when those first wispy hairs had begun to sprout from his top lip and chin. By the time he was ten, he had been able to buy cigarettes, cider and was even contemplating taking driving lessons. Such was the power of the beard. Men twice his young age had been in wander and awe of the spectacular sight and – as is often the case with people who are jealous – poor Harry has quick become a source of persecution. Not only was it bad enough that his beard could have easily belonged to one of the elders of the village – given the sheer length of the hairs – but it was the most magnificent shade of red – like the sky on a warm summer’s evening when the sun dipped below the faraway oceans’ horizon.
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Ok, so I keep telling myself that I need to write about things more. Not just as a way to keep my site producing content, but also to keep them gosh darned writing skills sharp as a squirt of lemon juice in the ear hole.
So, at the moment I seem to be thinking a bit on SEO-related matters – not surprising considering that is one of the main remits of my job.
Anyway, you’ve probably heard about the recent changes (if you follow this kind of thing) that Google has made to their algorithm(s). In some circles it’s called the Panda something-or-other…
…in very very basic terms, Google has become all too aware that people have been using low quality content (and low quality content creating site-a-ma-bobs) to rank well.
Spammy search results were/are starting to appear in the first page for some pretty heavy duty keyword rich searches. Not good for a company with the kind of reputation that Google demands and (in most instances) deserves.
So, there’s been a shake up.
Content – to use the really clichéd phrase – is very much king. However, not just any old content – good, well written, well researched, unique and ultimately interesting content that enriches the experience of the web user is king. I may try and coin that phrase, but it’s not as catchy.
Something else that has slightly altered in these times of ‘Google change’ is links.
Links are still the currency of SEO and a big part in how your site will rank. However, web developers and marketing execs all over the land are going to have to change their habits slightly.
For a long time keyword rich anchor text was a great link. People began to manipulate this, Google noticed - now keyword rich anchor text doesn’t pack the same amount punch as it once did.
Don’t get me wrong, it is still important, but if your link building strategy contains just links with keyword anchor text, the signs are that you may get punished by the big G.
The key to link building at present it diversify. Make it look natural. Include links that are just your URL, or your Brand Name, or your MD/CEO/Friend’s cat’s name. Guess what – it’s a good idea to use nofollow links too. Genuine web users would and will - so should you.
Again, make it look natural. Don’t let your link building strategy become the SEO equivalent of Katie Price.
That’s about it for now. I may write a few more articles in the coming weeks which look at ideas of link sourcing or maybe I won’t. Time will tell.
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I’ve been thinking a lot bit about this site recently and I had an epiphany of sorts. I realised that the way I’d set it up was ridiculous. I was trying to be something I’m not and as a result I found the whole thing very cringe-worthy.
The realisation hit me (like an obese hippo I should add)that I like writing. I write for a living – within the marketing dept of Blackcircles.com – so writing should be what this site focuses on. Not going keyword fishing. Balls to that.
To that end I’ve made some changes. No longer do I have pages trying to rank for keywords like “SEO Writer” or “Article Writer” or whatever.
This site is now simply just a blog feed (if you are interested in hiring me as a freelancer to help you with writing, this is more than sufficient to display my writing style) and an about us section which contains a contact form.
Simple.
Doing all that overly complicated stuff like ranking different SEO phrases on different pages is great, if that’s what you want, but I just want to write. Down with trying to be something you’re not I say.
If it feels good, touch it.
It’s a pain. I wouldn’t mind so much if the spam I received on a daily basis (fake comments) was either a) intelligent b) funny or c) a good read, but everything that gets caught up in my Akismet fishing net is just so obviously spam, it is quite pathetic.
Something that has caught my eye a couple of times now is spam from an online pet shop/affiliate site. The names that have been given by the commenter have been dog and pet with a semi-delerious piece of writing about how fantastic a post was.
Now, I don’t mean to be down on myself, but the second I see something that is utter praise for a post, an alarm goes off in the back of my head.
Of course, then I see that the email address is a random collection of numbers & letters and that the website they want their comment to link to is that aforementioned pet site.
Does the spammer (I know that it’s most likely automated, but someone had to set that up in the first place right?) really think that they’re going to fool webmasters with this horrible stuff? Well obviously they must and unfortunately some people are taken in by it…
Tell you what spammer man/woman/robot, spend some time reading and interacting with posts. Come up with an interesting counter point, or your own thoughts on a subject and if you are not pushy, if you behave and actual contribute something meaningful to a website, you may be awarded with a link.
Surely the time that it takes to do that is better spent that all that spam. It will probably get better results too, no?
Just my thoughts…
p.s. God bless Akismet.
The power of writing is something which I find staggering. The way in which someone – anyone – can shape and control (ok, control might be too strong, influence might be a better word) how another human being reacts simply through the written word never ceases to amaze me.
Careful word choice – as well as using grammar carefully to make your words flow at a certain speed - is the key. I could of course talk (write) endlessly about vocabulary, how this is used in many forms of writing, etc, etc, etc.
However, I want to talk (write) about a quick and easy little example which can help you in your average working day.
Dealing With Stakeholders
Most of us, unfortunately, have a number of colleagues required to sign off work when completing tasks - they’re often called stakeholders.
I imagine that most people have been in a situation where you work hard on a piece of writing, a report, an excel document, a presentation, etc and then you send it off to the ten thousand stakeholders - whose sign off you must have - before it can be published/the next step can be taken. They will come back with a thousand changes, which you make. You send the document off again and more changes are requested – a game of email tennis begins. It’s annoying, it’s time consuming and more often than not it isn’t necessary.
So, how to go about influencing these stakeholders… well one of the simplest, easiest pieces of advice I came across when attending a seminar on content strategy.
Stakeholders Love Giving Opinions – Don’t Encourage Them
Many people, when they send off their work, accompany the document with a message which reads something along the lines of:
“Hi XXXX, Attached is the Blah file. Let me know what you think. If anything needs to be added/changed then let me know and I’ll get on it ASAP.” (Your message might be longer with more detail, but I’m guessing that will be the gist.)
If you ask for opinions, guess what you’re going to get? That’s right opinions.
People – especially stakeholders – love to voice their thoughts on something. It helps to justify their salaries. However, if you were to simply write:
“Attached is the Blah file. It is finished and ready for publication/ready to move onto the next step”
There is a good chance that you will not receive as many opinions/’required changes’ when you get your reply. You could just get a message that simply says - ”Great, crack on.”
Of course there may be times when you do need feedback, but only in a certain section of the document. If that’s the case, trying writing something like:
“Attached is the Blah file. I’m not sure about the third paragraph – do you think that this sums up the point we’re trying to make?”
Again, because you have instructed the stakeholder(s) to focus their attention on one part, many will.
Of course, this isn’t going to work every time, but I’ve use this technique many times and it has sped up a lot of my working life – far less email tennis matches take place.
