Copyright © 2010 I-COM International 2010-09-09T21:07:29+0100 2010-09-09T21:07:29+0100 http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. http://www.i-com.net/blog/ http://i-com.net/images/icom-net.gif http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. I-COM International blogmaster at i-com dot net I-COM International I-COM International en SEO, SEM, Web Design, Web Development 1440 http://www.i-com.net/blog/introducing-the-seo-book-club-389/ Over the past month some of our SEO guys have been involved in setting up an SEO book club. We wanted to read more and, in turn, improve our copywriting skills. Last night we got together at Font Bar before the Manchester SEO meet, sat down with some drinks and discussed 'Into the Wild' by Jon Krakauer. We came to a decision at the end of July that we would be reading this book and we would meet 26th August before the SEO meet. Afterwards we thought it would be quite interesting to get other digital companies in Manchester involved in our SEO book club... we wanted some more friends! If you are interested please get in touch.Website and TwitterWe have set up a Tumblr that will have details and information on the book club, there will be more stuff added throughout the month and keep checking back as I will regularly update it with things like the book for the month, location, who will be attending, recommendations for next month and other stuff. You can visit it here http://seobookclub.tumblr.com/.Also we have set up SEO Book Club on Twitter as well so follow us and we can keep you updated on there :) And to show you we are really good at seo... ... BOOM!!!Get InvolvedIf you fancy getting your head stuck in a book and reading something new then get in touch with me on Twitter or by email it would be good to get some more people involved, then we can head down to the Manchester SEO meet for some more drinks and good times. I-COM News 2010-08-27 14:23:42 http://www.i-com.net/blog/introducing-the-seo-book-club-389/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/endangered-punctuation-the-apostrophe-364/ The favoured bugbear of the lonely grammarian, the apostrophe has become a source of fear and derision amongst the general population - a symbol of snooty intellectualism and the steady decline of traditional grammar.In fact the apostrophe is, like the vast majority of punctuation, essential to reader comprehension - if you want people to understand what you're going on about, you need to know how to use these properly. The vast majority of people will only ever be required to use the apostrophe in one of two ways:1. Contractions: A contraction occurs when two words merge to form one, and are typically used in written dialogue and informal writing. For example: 'Who is' becomes 'Who's' 'There is' becomes 'There's' 'Had not' becomes 'Hadn't' 'It is becomes It's' 'Do not' becomes 'Don't' 'You are' becomes 'You're' 'Would have' becomes 'Would've' (not 'Would of') 'Could have  becomes 'Could've' (not 'Could of') The apostrophe is used to show where letters have been removed. 2. Possessives: You'll also need to use apostrophes to denote possession. The most common example of the use of apostrophes to demonstrate possession is in business and shop names, for instance 'Jim's Butter Shop', 'Crawley's Apothecary', 'Mindy's Olde Sweet Shop'. The names at the beginning of each of these shop names are examples of singular nouns - if a singular noun possesses something, an apostrophe is used to demonstrate that possession. If the singular noun ends in 's', simply include a lone apostrophe after that 's' to show possession, for instance 'James' Big Wheel'.You may also see this from time to time, 'James's Big Wheel', but don't panic, it's simply a matter of preference; grammatically, either is correct. Just make sure that, whichever you decide to use, you are consistent. If you need to demonstrate that a plural noun possesses something, for example children or women, simply add 's, e.g. 'The children's books were ruined', 'The women's group met for the first time.'EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE: two common exceptions to the above rules spring to mind, 'its' and 'whose'. Because it's is a contraction of it is, an apostrophe is not used to denote possession when using its, e.g. 'The cat was sick. Its paws had turned green.' Same goes for who's and whose, who's is the contraction, whose is the possessiveAnd that's pretty much it! Incorrect use of apostrophes can drastically alter the meaning of a sentence, for example 'The jockey's meal had gone cold' or 'The jockeys' meal had gone cold' - where the first is a meal for just one jockey, the second is a meal for many jockeys (perhaps a buffet).Mastering the apostrophe (it's not that hard) will improve your writing no end - no one likes an incorrectly used apostrophe, particularly not snooty grammar types like me. Test your apostrophe skills here. Copywriting 2010-06-24 10:41:20 http://www.i-com.net/blog/endangered-punctuation-the-apostrophe-364/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/endangered-punctuation-the-semicolon-360/ Observe, if you will, this most magnificent of punctuation marks in its natural habitat: tending to its young, nestled in-between two independent clauses, its offspring growing to maturity and venturing into the big wide world of punctuation, separating items in complex lists and generally having a glorious time, unaware of the threat to the future of their species. Sadly, as the English language moves into the 21st century, the semicolon is rapidly becoming an endangered species. It survives in small pockets of grammar enthusiasm, as tenuous as the rapidly disappearing rainforests, and the zoos of the punctuation world - universities (thanks to their seeming ability to operate outside time). Please, take a moment to learn the rules of semicolon use and begin using them in daily life (if you want to pronounce them, the correct way is 'fgun'). The semicolon is a relatively simple punctuation mark to master; it can be used in two distinct ways:Separating Items in a Complex List: "Sire, I present to you McDiarmud Daffyd, King of the Eastern Kingdoms; Elaine Rodriguez, High Valet to the Prince of Underwood; Malawi Yusuf, Head of the Three Tower Collective and Esker Taskalot, Chief Medical Officer of the Boreal Empire." The semicolon here presents a definite break between each individual's name and title; without the semicolon it would be a total mess of names and titles and, as the sentence progressed, it would be much more difficult to tell which name went with which title. Separating Closely-Related Independent Clauses: The semicolon can also prove as a link between two closely-related sentences which could stand alone, but make more sense when linked - it is perhaps easiest to think of it as somewhere between a comma and a full stop. For example: "When the carriage pulled away I could still hear her sobbing; as the vehicle receded into the darkness, a white handkerchief was tossed from the window, landing softly on the grass verge." These sentences are thematically linked to the extent that a full stop here "sobbing. As" seems too final; better to have the run-on allowed by a semicolon. Without our help, the majestic semicolon could die out within the next decade. Help us get it off the endangered punctuation list by learning how to use it and including it in your sentences (where appropriate of course). Copywriting 2010-06-08 09:52:15 http://www.i-com.net/blog/endangered-punctuation-the-semicolon-360/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/what-should-i-blog-about-a-list-of-blog-post-ideas-346/ When it comes to utilising the powers of the blog I-COM has been leading the way, and in a number of blog posts we have explained how to use a blog in order to turn your site into a content driven, visitor and search engine magnet. Recently I gave a presentation at the Manchester Growth Show Ten Reasons Businesses should Blog. Since then I have received a number of emails from people who attended the show saying that they understand the value of the blog, they just dont know what to write about! So here are some ideas for you to start blogging about. Helpful how-to tips related to your product. Reviews of the products you sell. Reviews of products you dont sell but your audience would appreciate; you never know this might create another route to market. Offer product tutorials, either for your product or others your customers use. Answer FAQs you get from your customers. What inspired you to take the jump into starting your business? Explain why you are so passionate about your business. Describe your customer service philosophy. Share a photo or video "walking tour" of your business. Share testimonials you get from your customers. Admit mistakes! If you've done something wrong in the course of building your business, share that information and explain how you dealt with it. People love learning from others' mistakes. What do you like about the current state of your industry? What do you wish you could change about the current state of your industry? What will the future of your industry be like and how should people prepare for it? Reveal a generally unknown secret in your industry. Which famous people have been associated with your industry lately? Debunk the top myths that are currently floating around about your industry. Offer a case study of how someone has successfully used your product or solved a common problem. The ten best online resources for people in your industry. Make a list of "must-have" free resources your audience will appreciate. Run a contest, offering a free product sample or service for the winner. Then ask them to comment about what they thought of it and make that its own blog post as well. Post weekly or monthly wrap-ups about what you accomplished with your business. Review other blogs related to your industry. Review an online magazine related to your industry. Review print publications related to your industry. Go to a trade fair or conference and then write reports about it. Take a stand on a controversial issue related to your industry. Identify the most prominent experts in your industry, explain why they're famous or important. Disagree with a well-known authority in your industry and list reasons why they're wrong. Post about the best things you've read online in the past week (related to your industry). Its important to remember, when you write for a business blog you have to provide VALUE to your readers. If you offer them useful, interesting information they will thank you for it -- and when the time comes for them to make a purchase, your site will be the first one they think of. If you would like to know more about how to utilise Social Media to profit your business call 0844 704 4954 and book a free one hour consultation or look out for the I-COM Client and Guest Internet Marketing Summit. Notification of date, venue and time will be posted shortly. In the meantime, happy blogging! Social Media Marketing 2010-05-04 09:03:22 http://www.i-com.net/blog/what-should-i-blog-about-a-list-of-blog-post-ideas-346/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/10-reasons-businesses-should-blog-335/ Thanks to everyone who attended my brief SEO training seminar on blogging at the Manchester Growth Show this morning, I think we can all agree the whole event was a great success. Below, as promised, are the main points I made in the seminar. If you have any further questions about business blogging or internet marketing, don't hesitate to contact me at tim.roberts@i-com.net. Why bother to Blog? WIIFM (Whats in it for me?) Well lets start with results. After much consultation, common sense and persuasion on my part the Clinical Negligence Department of Pannone LLP agreed to be the first department to trial our commercial blog platform in 2007. The aim: to increase relevant new content on a weekly basis. Today Pannone LLP has 7 blogs, why? Last month the blogs delivered over 3,000 unique visitors; this led to over 50 people going on to investigate how to get in touch with Pannone! If this is not compelling enough to take action, learn more about creating a commercial blog and take the activity seriously, here are ten more reasons and whats in it for you: It is a great way to convey your business and brand personality It gives you the opportunity to convey your thoughts and expertise over and above your website. You can be more informal, offer opinions, interact with your visitors, and get across your personality and the personality of your brand. You can demonstrate your knowledge, experience or expertise - blogging is a great way to demonstrate the fact that you know what you are talking about. Going into greater depth on a subject allows you to engage with your visitors and demonstrate your knowledge. When we began working with Pannone LLP on their blog strategy, our main aim was to help bring the website alive and keep it up to date Consistently posting new, interesting content gives visitors a reason to come back. It also satisfies the search engine robots, which like to see sites being regularly updated. When was the last time you updated your website? Having a blog gives you the opportunity to create regular and dynamic content that you and your staff can change on a regular basis. Give your customers and visitors added value by blogging regularly, you can give your customers and visitors yet another reason to come back and visit your site, especially if you are using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to send out updates about your recent posts. Help with search engine optimisation and social media population a blog is a great way to build extra visibility with the search engines. It also provides the platform to inform your followers on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc. This saves time and helps build your social network. It gives visitors a reason to buy whilst your website will give visitors lots of information about your products or services, your blog will offer a way for you to demonstrate why they are important or valuable. This could be through tips, guidance or possibly even case studies. Become the expert - By blogging on a regular basis, you will build up a following in your industry, improving your brand recognition and publicity far and beyond your traditional customer base. Excellent content for social media channels with so many social media networks out there how many can you manage? Not many! Do you want to run your business or become a social media guru? You want to run your business dont you? The challenge is to ensure you're not sucked in to all the rubbish often spoken by so called Social Media Gurus (by the way they dont exist). With a well developed blog and the RSS feeds set up you can share your expertise, opinions and personality by regularly posting on your blog, providing a vast array of new, fresh content that you can tweet or share to your hearts content! You can show that you care the time and effort that you dedicate to blogging will show to your website visitors that you really care about this business and are happy to go that extra mile. It shows that you embrace the new age of communication however blogging isnt the end of the matter. If you are really going to make it work you need to take advice and develop a cohesive blogging strategy. If you do this, your blog will be better known and your traffic will really start to grow. These ten key points are obviously, a general overview, but I hope that they demonstrate to you the huge potential of blogging as an avenue by which you can grow your business. Once again, if you have any further questions you can contact me direct at tim.roberts@i-com.net. In the meantime, happy blogging! Social Media Marketing 2010-04-14 09:09:20 http://www.i-com.net/blog/10-reasons-businesses-should-blog-335/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-growth-show-wednesday-april-14th-334/ The good people over at Business Growth Show have asked me to lead a seminar tomorrow on 'Why SMEs Should Blog' at their free event at Ramada Manchester. The day starts at 9am and ends at 3pm, and I'll be leading the first seminar, presenting what I feel are the ten key benefits of blogging from a business perspective. The Manchester Growth Show is a great opportunity for local business leaders to learn more about other industries and potentially grow their businesses as a result. Run by the team at Corkscrew Events, the Business Growth Show has been facilitating networking and new business connections in cities across the UK since 2003. Tomorrow's Manchester event will also feature speed networking, talks on networking and an eclectic collection of exhibitors from a range of industries. Hope to see you all there! I-COM News 2010-04-13 09:20:09 http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-growth-show-wednesday-april-14th-334/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-to-get-a-job-as-an-seo-copywriter-331/ An SEO copywriter writes all the textual content for a digital marketing agency. This can mean anything from website content to blog posts, press releases to articles on a given subject specific to a client's business. Its a creative position within one of the UK's few boom industries, and is therefore a great opportunity for recent Arts graduates who are unsure of how their degree can be useful to them in the business world. However, if you wish to secure a position as an SEO copywriter, knowledge and experience will prove just as important as your degree. I've put together a list of online resources that are (mostly) free, which, if used to their full potential, will set you apart from the crowd when you start applying for positions. Copyblogger's SEO Copywriting Tutorial: In 2008 Copyblogger was ranked amongst the world's Top 50 most powerful blogs, and it's an accolade that still rings true today. Copyblogger can tell you everything you need to know about writing content for the web, and their SEO Copywriting tutorial is perfect for online content first-timers who are starting from the bottom knowledge-wise. Read through their tutorials and you're already a step ahead of your competitors in the job market. Investigate Google's search tools: If you're going to become an SEO Copywriter, you're going to need to know how to use Google's search tools, chiefly Google Analytics, Google Adwords: Keyword Tool and Google Insights. Basically, these are the tools of the SEO trade; they enable SEO Consultants and copywriters to find out what specific keywords people are searching for, allowing them to target online content accordingly. Read about them, have a play around and see how they work. There's no need to be an expert - a working knowledge of these tools will be enough to impress potential employers, particularly if you have no prior experience of SEO. Engage with your local online community: Bloggers, digital content creators and SEO Consultants like to arrange little get-togethers for themselves. For example, in Manchester there's the annual Blog Awards, a new event for digital content creators like copywriters called THERE WILL BE BLOOD and a monthly SEO meet up organised via the Manchester SEO blog. These events tend to be free to attend, and are a great opportunity to chat with people already working in the industry in which you're hoping to gain employment. Start a blog: Starting a blog through Google's Blogspot service or Wordpress is free and easy, and will demonstrate to potential employers that you are serious about digital content creation. It's also a great way to learn about tools such as Google Analytics, which are easy to install. Just make sure that you have an interesting topic to blog about - perhaps start a blog chronicling your growing relationship with the world of SEO Copywriting. Alternatively, write music reviews, post creative writing, anything you like! Society for Editors and Proofreaders: If you have the time, money and inclination, the SfEP offers a series of training courses which can help you brush up on your language, editing and proofreading skills. Indulge in a little self-promotion: If you haven't already, familiarise yourself with the major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media is steadily growing in importance in the online marketing world, and is currently being integrated in a more complete fashion into the results pages of the major search engines. Advertising your interest in gaining experience of SEO copywriting on your social media accounts might even bring in some enquiries, particularly on LinkedIn. Be prepared to value experience over a hefty wage-packet: Don't be afraid to take a low-paid job if it means gaining experience of your desired profession. Experience is extremely valuable, and could lead to you getting a much better job in the long-run. Sites like Copify offer extremely low rates of pay, but are free to join and could provide you with the experience you require to secure a permanent position as an SEO copywriter with a digital marketing firm. SEO copywriting isn't for everyone; you may find that, after looking at the above links, you realise that it's not the job for you. However, if you are still interested, the above information should provide you with everything you need (bar a degree, a good CV and good interview technique) to secure a job as an SEO copywriter. Good luck! Copywriting 2010-04-06 11:20:40 http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-to-get-a-job-as-an-seo-copywriter-331/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/why-should-i-bother-adding-more-content-to-my-site-323/ So you've got a page on your website about the history of your company, you've got a couple of pages describing your services and a page with contact details, that's it, right, you don't need any other content; you can sit back, relax, smoke a pipe and have a G&T? Actually, that's wrong. In the vast majority of cases, there is always more content which can be added to your website, and the benefits far outweigh the effort required to get it up there in the first place:Better User Experience First and foremost, the more content you have on your site the more specific it will be. If you are a solicitor and you populate your site with general information about claiming compensation for 'personal injuries', your clients will be left wondering if they can claim for their specific injury. It is much better therefore, to have a page which is specific to each injury, for instance head injuries, injuries during birth, accidents at work, road traffic accidents and so on. By reassuring your potential clients that they can claim for their specific injury, you are far more likely to convert a site visitor into a paying client. It is also worth remembering that information on your site needs to be broken down into manageable chunks. There's no point having all the above information on your site if it's all condensed onto one page - since when has a huge, unbroken block of text looked appealing to a reader? Break the information into sub-pages, making it easier to digest. Breaking information down into sub-pages also allows you to:Target More Keywords The more content and sub-pages you have on your site, the more keywords you can target, and thus the more customer searches you will appear for in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Treat every page like a landing page; find out what keywords are specific to the content of that page (for instance, keywords for a page about claiming compensation for an accident at work would be something like 'accident at work solicitor', 'accident at work compensation claim', etc.), and insert a call to action, and your company's expertise and contact details will be accessible to thousands more potential clients, hopefully leading to more business.Appear Knowledgeable The more information you have on your website, the more knowledgeable you appear, and thus the more likely a potential customer is to trust your business. Think about including helpful content alongside your generic sales pages, such as FAQ's, articles and blog posts about your industry.Generate More Links Including useful, helpful and engaging content on your website means you are far more likely to inspire other internet users to link to your business. If a page is particularly authoritative or covers a niche topic in a fresh and interesting manner, you may find that your website will be shared and linked to by social media users. And of course, links are still the life blood of the internet.Convinced? You should be. Adding more content to your website builds trust in your brand, helps your site to rank well in SERPs for a wide range of keywords specific to your industry, improves user-experience and, ultimately, has the potential to grow your business and brand online through the generation of high quality links. And, at the end of the day, you could have the best looking website in the world, but if your content is poorly spelt and rambles incoherently without telling the customer what they want to know, you don't stand a chance. Copywriting 2010-03-16 14:36:47 http://www.i-com.net/blog/why-should-i-bother-adding-more-content-to-my-site-323/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/5-reasons-blogging-is-good-for-you-and-your-business-317/ I recently advised a friend of mine to add a blog to his company's new website and, whilst it set back the go live date by a few weeks as the developer desperately tried to incorporate a blog into a vastly intricate Flash site (don't ask), I believe it will be worth it. As Social Media becomes more and more important to both SEO and the user experience, companies must ensure that their sites are in some way interactive. A website filled with dry, static content that never changes is little more than a glorified online brochure that's potentially years out of date - a website should offer users a much more interactive experience, and the easiest way to do this is through use of a blog. Blogging is good for your business because: It ensures your company website is regularly updated with fresh and interesting content about your specific niche. Blog content can be anything from company news to instructional videos, it doesn't have to be pure text; It's an opportunity to make a connection with potential customers, to showcase the personalities lurking behind that corporate facade; It gives you the chance to impart genuinely useful advice about your business or products, making you appear magnanimous and, if your advice is good enough, has the potential to make your website a destination for web users interested in your particular trade or niche; Blogs are a great way of increasing traffic to your website; if a particularly funny or interesting article proves popular, some of the visitors it gets are bound to turn into paying customers; And blogging is good for you because: It ensures you stay engaged with your niche - it forces you to stay at the forefront of your industry. If you're always on the look out for a great topic for your blog, then you're going to be trawling the latest news stories, changes in law and business legislation that may affect your business or your customers. The more authoritative your knowledge of your industry, the more likely you are to impress prospective customers. But Remember If you're going to make the most of your company blog, you must update it regularly. An infrequently updated blog can be damaging to your business, making you appear lazy, disengaged with your customers and your industry as a whole. Here are some examples of well maintained company blogs: SEOmoz, Pannone's Personal Injury Blog. Copywriting 2010-03-01 15:24:28 http://www.i-com.net/blog/5-reasons-blogging-is-good-for-you-and-your-business-317/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/txtspk-evolution-revolution-or-hellspawn-289/ We all know that usage of traditionally received spelling, punctuation and grammar is on the decline and we all know the culprit(s). Its these lovely modern mediums we use, text messages, internet forums, instant messengers, even blogs they demand brevity and supply us with happy little emoticons to express our feelings, all so we dont have to spend time searching the memory banks for those pesky, elusive adjectives.Evolution However, evolution of language is nothing new and neither is slang. The difference is that traditionally slang has been restricted to the realms of spoken English, whereas text speak and its cohorts are purely written forms this is the crucial difference that is getting all the lonely grammarians in a huff. Sure, slang has been written before but typically in the literary realm. Take, for example, Nadsat, the slang language used by the ultra-violent teenagers in Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange. Burgess half-created, half-borrowed Nadsat from a variety of linguistic sources and ended up with a form of written English that both bewitched and challenged the reader. Text speak isnt literary, its a social phenomenon born out of character limits and the need to be quick when youre standing on a rickety bus desperately trying to text a friend with your over-sized thumbs. Evolution is necessary for the re-vitalisation of language I love the semi-colon, but I have to accept that one day it may go (I will cry).Theres a time and a place For me, the fact that text speak exists is of no particular concern no one individual (or group of individuals) can claim ownership of language, thats one of the many reasons its so fantastic. However when we begin to see glaring spelling and grammar errors in the world of copywriting and journalism, we should be concerned. Language is context based, and writers in all fields must be capable of changing their language to suit the context. For instance, a journalist would not write an article in the same style for The Sun as they would for The Guardian. Its when our writers have not received adequate training to achieve this level of flexibility that we need to be worried. After all, grammar and punctuation exists for a reason, and that is to convey meaning. When you take away the emoticons and present a writer with a blank page and a pen, short of drawing little pictures they're are going to need a working knowledge of grammar and punctuation if they want to get their point across. This is especially important in a business arena, in which you are required to converse via e-mail with new clients. Poor spelling, punctuation and grammar in an introductory e-mail to a new client isn't going to make the best first impression. Text speak is not to blame In their private lives, people are entitled to speak and write in any way they see fit. However, in the professional or educational environment certain standards are required in order for an individual to be taken seriously. Text speak is an evolution of written English, and is not to blame for any perceived decline in spelling and grammar. If were looking for something to blame, a far easier and more worthy target is the decline in the number of people who read books and good quality newspapers; but thats a whole other rant. Copywriting 2010-01-04 12:03:53 http://www.i-com.net/blog/txtspk-evolution-revolution-or-hellspawn-289/