It’s a good week to be in business! The interwebs was overflowing with great information and entertaining posts. Here are five that floated to the top and made some points worth considering. Learn and enjoy!
Do As Google Says And Get Penalized
Written by David Leonhardt
Is Google’s nonstop release of animals into the wild starting to mess with your SEO mojo? You’re not alone! There’s so much confusion (and fear) about how to link, what to write, when to use keywords and other minutia that sometimes it feels like Google is sucking all the joy out of creating content. In this post, David poses some interesting questions and conundrums. For example: if Google’s idea of “quality content” is “content with more than 200 words” then what does that mean for our videos and visual posts? And how about syndication? Or comments? Half-rant, half-warning, this post will get you thinking about your content and perhaps even whether obsessing about what Google thinks is really worth it.
Read the article at seo-writer.com and follow David on Twitter @amabaie
Staying Positive When Negative Attitudes Fly Online
Written by Peg Fitzpatrick
If Google isn’t bumming you out, maybe negative comments or social posts are. They’re a dime a dozen – from the trolls who write unhelpful and unpleasant things on our blogs to the “friends” who are constantly whining about their poor selves on Facebook. The good news is that you don’t have to succumb to negativity or let these things affect your mood one little bit. Peg’s post makes some great points about why people do these sort of things (hint: it’s not about you!) and how to deal with negativity without losing your own positive outlook.
Read the article at pegfitzpatrick.com and follow Peg on Twitter @PegFitzpatrick
Three Reasons Your Avatar Has A Shelf Life
Written by Bill Dorman
Here’s something I bet you don’t think about much: your avatar! You know, that little picture that follows you around on Twitter, Facebook or wherever you have a representative photo of yourself. If you’re like most people I know, you find the one of yourself where your hair is combed and you look kind of young and thin and then you plug it in everywhere and leave it alone. And if you’re like a select few, you play with a new photo like an art project every darn day. Bill makes some points worth considering about how often you should change your avatar, what it says about you and how it can affect the success of your online presence. I love posts like this with no “rules” but plenty to think about!
Read the article at billdorman.me and follow Bill on Twitter @bdorman264
The Devolving Civility Situation
Written by Geoff Livingston
This post is a two-in-one bonus. It opens with an infographic showing some fascinating stats about hostility on social networks. It goes on to explore the nature of that hostility and whether it’s warranted (hint: no.) Geoff is a thinker and he explores recent reactions to certain post-Boston-bombing tweets with a reflection on (or perhaps a call to) return to civility. He also touches on an important point that should not be new to us: how we treat people matters. Snark seems to have been elevated to virtue online but that doesn’t mean it’s a good principle to base your business on. So before you shoot off that grumpy tweet or insult someone via Smartphone because you don’t have to look them in the eye when you do… read this!
Read the article at geofflivingston.com and follow Geoff on Twitter @geoffliving
Five Content Guidelines For Business Success
Written by Robert John Davis
There’s a lot of hoopla about content marketing these days (although it’s existed for many years…) and a lot of things get thrown into the content marketing bucket. But are we really paying attention to how we’re using that content, what our purpose is and what we’re achieving? Robert points out five key points to consider if you want – not to do content marketing – but to be successful at it. He also makes the quite relevant point (no surprises here, I hope!) that planning is crucial and that there are a lot of pieces to put into place before diving in and blindly creating content.
Read the article at ogilvygrow.com and follow Robert on Twitter @robertjohndavis
Enjoy your weekend and let me know if you have another great blog to share!
Hey I know some of those people up there; thanks for the mention.
You should know at least one! 😉 You’re welcome, great post!
Great roundup, Carol Lynn. I’m really interested in the pieces on civility and the impact of negativity. I confess, I love snark but I also recognize there’s a line that’s crossed all too often – I’m not sure where the line is, specifically, but I know when I feel like I’ve crossed it – or when others have. These are important conversations to have.