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Pros and cons of giving away content

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Content sharing seems to be the way of life on the net. Content is, after all, the mainstay of the internet, the reason so many millions of users log on every day. Sharing content around is one way to increase your exposure in the general milieu of your area of the net.

Giving away content, though, can be a daunting thought. Most site owners struggle to get enough content to present on their own sites. The thought of sacrificing some of that content is a startling one. It can be of huge benefit to your SEO plan and your online campaign in general, if you know the pros and cons.

A note of warning

Before considering giving away some of your content as part of your search engine optimisation plan, it’s important to note that the content needs to be original. Plenty of site owners have jumped on the article marketing bandwagon, and plenty have been burned by it. This is because duplicating content that is already on your site puts your pages in danger of being pushed off the index. You can talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about duplicate content issues.

Content giveaways: the pros and cons

The plus-sides of giving away content are fairly easy to grasp:

Pro: Extra exposure. Getting content out there on the net means getting your site and business name mentioned in all sorts of highly-relevant places.

Pro: Link attraction. This should be the main reason for content sharing. Seeding a link within your content is an absolute must for your search engine optimisation plan.

Pro: Relationship development. Another good reason to give away content is for the links you’re hoping to get in the future. Giving content to a site is a great way to build up your relationship with that site.

The down-sides of content giveaways are a little more shadowy, and it’s important to consider them before making a move:

Con: Giving away content means giving away content. This is the major down side of content giveaways, and one of the reasons to move very carefully. The last thing you want to happen is for your original article to provide fodder for the competition. Don’t waste your content on generic article sites unless it’s part of a properly formulated strategy.

Con: Content must be high quality English. This generally means written by a native speaker. A really good quality article may result in direct traffic to your site. A low-quality article may put users off.

If you’re handy with a keyboard and don’t mind subtly rewriting some of your existing material, then article marketing, guest posting and other content giveaways are certainly a great idea. There’s a lot to be gained from these moves. If, however, you’re in the majority of site owners who have to source their content professionally, you need to weigh up the costs versus the benefits. Giving away content can get you places, but it needs to be treated like any other marketing move.

Tags: content, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult
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Choosing words carefully for SEO

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Words aren’t something a lot of people are comfortable with. There are millions of people all over the world who either have trouble with the written word, or just don’t like writing. This is unfortunate, particularly for website owners. If you’re a site owner, words are what you have to deal with.

Many site owners experience trouble when trying to tame the words on their pages, and for this reason many site owners talk to a search engine optimisation company about their content. You can discuss content issues with us at SEO Consult Australia. There are a large number of site owners who are comfortable with the idea of providing their own content, but this can bring up its own issues. Unless you’ve got a professional writer on board, your content could be going down the wrong path.

If you’re comfortable with words, you’re still not out of the woods. There are a number of errors site owners regularly slip into with their content. As content is such a vital part of your site, it’s important for your SEO and for your site’s general health to get a grip on any issues you may be facing.

Getting stuck in the wrong century?

How often have you stumbled onto a site, only to find content that could have been written by Dickens? There are a number of business sites that slip into the wrong tone with their online content. This is easy to do, particularly if your main recent writing experience has been business reports. To gain the attention of your target users on the net, though, a more casual tone is necessary.

This is the major problem site owners face when composing their own content. A lot of the problem comes from verbosity. Business writing tends to thrive on big words, but as any journalism student knows, this is exactly what you should avoid when writing for the net. For example:

‘Utilising the very latest in modern technology, this company undertakes all measures pertaining to the client’s problem.’

The first problem with this sentence is that it doesn’t mean anything. It essentially says that the business will take care of its clients, which is what you would expect. On top of this, it’s a very impersonal sentence, putting the business at a remove from its audience. Finally, using words like ‘utilising’ and phrases such as ‘pertaining to’ not only makes your text seem old-fashioned, it makes it hard to read.

This problem can, and does, go the other way. Some site owners take the advice to write using their natural voice a little too much to heart. This results in content that is a little too casual, or contains slang that the broader spectrum of internet users won’t understand. A middle ground needs to be found.

Search engine optimization deals in words. If a site owner can’t get to grips with words, it really is essential that the professionals are called in. Talk to your SEO company about your content options.

Tags: content, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Consult
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