Posts by RoughMagick
Web Content for Real People
When you build a website, you are trying to attract a specific audience that is interested in your topic. The content must be useful, helpful, and updated enough to keep them coming back. Notice I didn’t say anything in there about making people buy things? Why? Because if you have a great website that attracts the right audience, they will naturally be interested in your product or...
Read MorePress Release Spam
I sign up for Google alerts on topics that are important to me and my business. I create a lot of topic alerts, but I also create alerts on my competitors to keep an eye on what they are doing. Much of the time I find out they are doing stupid things like press release spam. These cheap techniques to try to improve search engine positioning often work pretty well in the short run. That is, until...
Read MoreDoorway Pages? Nyet!
Doorway pages were very popular in the early 90s. I remember seeing a competitor flooding the web with their awful pages, some of them using cloaking techniques. Back then it seemed to work, but I knew it was cheating so although I was pressured by my employer to try it I flatly refused. I knew that competitor would regret it, and while we worked hard to create quality sites and it took longer,...
Read MoreContent IS King
Garbage in, garbage out. If you keep that truism in mind when developing content you will be on your road to healthy, effective search engine optimization. Content is important, but not just any content. It should follow a few basic principles: The content should be relevant to your target audience The content should be of enough quality that visitors don’t immediately leave your site The...
Read MoreInfluences
Memories inform the creative spirit. Memories from a Florida childhood: men floating in silent skiffs among the tangled roots of the mangrove trees to check their crab cages. A sudden flash to shock-tall buildings in the man-made canyons of Manhattan. Then a reminder of home as I peer up to see palm trees stretch their swaying necks high above a Los Angeles boulevard. Diverse landscapes influence...
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