Is Content Still Important for Internet Success?

Most people who tried to start or market a business online are familiar with the mantra, content is king. Fast forward to 2012 and the question is, “Is content still king?” The short answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. 

Content will always be important, after all, without content what would your site be saying? Not everyone wants to wait on videos to load. However, content alone is not enough to bring visitors to your site. In the past, you might have been able to post just about anything on your site and still be found and indexed by search engines. This is no longer the case.

To be relevant today, content must focus squarely on quality. This is what Google’s Panda effect is all about. It is all about raising the ranking of sites with the best information over those with trivial offerings. Branded sites or those that cater to a niche are more likely to succeed than generic types.

An important, but not often used way to improve your website ranking is to get high-ranking sites to link to your content. Of course, this will only happen if, yes, you guessed it, you have valuable and informative content. If you are offering a special service or product, make yourself an expert. Know what it is you are doing – become the ‘go to source for all things to do with that product or service’. 

If you are involved with a web content writing or management company, then become the best web content provider you can be. One way to be the best is to keep learning and growing in your area of expertise. Remember that the web is a dynamic creature that keeps changing and you need to keep abreast of or ahead of all the changes. One way to do this is to visit sites that impact your business. I visit Google quite often to read news from the company’s headquarters; this way I know what is happening with one of the biggest influencers of online success. 

So, what do you think, is content still the most important aspect boosting your prospects online?

Blogging for Business Success

It has been a while since I have blogged as I was very busy doing other things, such as revamping my businesses. Granted, I’ve been thinking about starting for quite a while, but decided to begin at the start of a new month. New beginnings are always an exciting time. To top it off, I decided to join the Ultimate Blogging Challenge. I thought that posting a blog a day for the next 31 days would be a lot of fun.

I intend to get one of those nifty, I COMPLETED THE CHALLENGE badges on my site at the end of the month. So, my steps to success in this challenge, just like for business success are:

• Planning: I’ve started to assign my topics for each day of July. Of course, some days I may end up writing about something else if it is relevant and timely. That is also the way to success, being able to move with the tide when necessary.  
• I’ll definitely be writing some topics ahead of schedule. Those who make hay while the sun shines can rest when it rains without worrying.
• I will also be assessing how much traffic the articles I write for this challenge brings to my blog or website. If it is not what I expect or want, I will learn from it and possibly change the focus of the articles.

These days, the need for quality content is more important than ever. As an article and website writing article services provider, I know the value of re-evaluating and re-assessing website traffic to reap online success. Blogging is still definitely a great way to get hits and grow your business online.

July, here I come!

Avoiding Seeming Plagiarism in Article Writing

The Internet and the ease of finding information online have brought the issue of plagiarism front and center. Plagiarism is nothing new, but it is much easier now for some writers to take the creative work of others and try to pass it off as their own. Unfortunately, sometimes people are unfairly accused of this when they really didn’t copy someone else’s words. As an article writer, I’ve learned that while plagiarism may seem apparent when reading two almost similar articles, it may well be that both were written independently of each other.

                                             

Two persons can easily write sentences and paragraphs that are so similar it would be hard to convince others that no copying took place. I know it is possible because I’ve written articles almost without research and then when using plagiarism checkers was stunned to see almost word for word what I had written. This shows the importance of checking your writing before submitting it to clients or article directories. 

Good Plagiarism Checkers

Plagiarism checkers are sold online but some are offered free as well. Some are better than others, but so far, none have been shown to be 100 percent accurate, but some do come pretty close.  Five popular plagiarism checkers are:

NAME	FREE	PAID
Copyscape	X	X
Advanced Plagiarism Checker	X
Plagiarisma.net	X
Doc Cop	X
PlagScan		X

Being accused of plagiarism is hurtful when you know that you are innocent. It therefore pays to double-check your work before submitting it to avoid being labeled a plagiarist. The five plagiarism checkers listed above are just those that I like, and there are many more. Do a test run of some for yourself to see which ones you like. As an article/web content writer, you have to use a plagiarism checker to avoid being accused of plagiarism.

Patience is Key in SEO Efforts

There are some businesses that can be considered overnight successes. For most however, success comes with a commitment to a long term approach to building a customer base. It would be nice if it was as simple as starting a business and watching customers come through the door. Thankfully, the Internet gives us an important tool in helping businesses succeed that did not exist before. But just as important as having the tool is knowing how to use it. Having realist expectations is pretty important too.

Setting an SEO Timeline

First off, you should know that it is not always possible to set a timeline for seeing returns on SEO efforts. Remember that there are many other sites competing for the same visitors. How quickly your efforts pay off depend on a number of things such as:

• The quality and relevance of information provided
• Frequently updated web content
• Making proper use of keywords in articles

Of course, even with all of these things falling into place there is no guarantee that things will happen as quickly as you want them to. At the very least you should be willing to commit to SEO or web content development for at least six months. Even then, this is just considered the initial phase in building your brand online.

Getting the Job Done

If you are not confident in your writing skills don’t panic. There are freelancers and companies that offer article writing services online. Remember, developing superior web content is what will set you apart from the competition. Think of this as another business cost, one that is an important investment in our company’s future.

Web content developers have experience in developing articles suited for your target audience. Additionally, some of them have strong backgrounds in research. This means they can sort though the endless supply of information online. The end result will be web content that is usable and above all attractive to anyone who visits your website.

It is easy to tire of the job at hand if results are not immediate. This is why some business owners find it preferable to use professionals to coordinate their SEO efforts. They generally have a good idea of what to expect, and know what it takes to methodically build a client base online.