SEO Blog

Alternative Content - December 18th, 2008

We know that content is hugely important in improving rankings. We also know that writing regular content that is informative is better than duplicated or pointless content. Keeping this in mind, most people might think that a blog or news feed is the only way to achieve this kind of consistent and unique information flow.

This is not a fact. There are several other significant means of keeping your content fresh. One such way is through developing software tools for people to use. These can be any kind of software. For instance you might notice how the Just Search website features an SEO Tools section. These tools are all developed in a way to aid the SEO of websites.

Creating software that is openly accessible, easy to use and free is very useful. The free element in particular increases the chances of success for that particular tool. When software is used, it is likely to get discussed and potentially linked to. This can help generate “free” links (excluding development time and costs) and also create an extra source of advertising.

Developing a tool that will be useful can be difficult. Below are some tips to help ensure the success of a new software development:

1. Try to be unique
   There’s no point in creating a tool that searches the internet for matching the text a user inputs because it has already been done. So unless you can beat the likes of Google, think of something new.
2. Use your expertise
   Use your talents and knowledge. The tools offered on the Just Search website tend to be built for search engine optimisation purposes. Do what you’re good at.
3. Balance cost and benefits
   You need to plan your ideas and development. Try to predict the potential benefits and costs then compare the two to decide if the project is viable. There is no point spending £1000 on developing a tool that will reap £100 worth of reward.
4. Research
   Just because this is my final tip doesn’t mean you should do it last. On the contrary, you should definitely do this before anything else. You should do this at same time as coming up with the unique idea. Proper and effective research will save time and ensure a much better product.

The “alternative content” approach can definitely be very rewarding, especially in the long term. Given time it can pay for itself simply through the internet marketing it can do for your website.

Stefan Crowe
Creative Developer

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Rankings or traffic - December 9th, 2008

When you’re optimising a website for the search engines, it can be easy to lose sight of why you’re doing it. Some people become so obsessed with ranking first for their chosen search terms that they forget why they’re even pursuing that in the first place.

Think for a moment and you’ll say that it’s to drive large quantities of traffic to your site. More specifically, you want to drive large quantities of targeted traffic to your site. That’s the ultimate aim when you set your site up to rank for a specific search term, but it’s not the only way of achieving that and if you focus all your efforts on that approach, you could end up overlooking others that could be equally productive.

While ranking first for your chosen search term might net you a few hundred or a few thousand visitors a day, you could receive an even larger amount of traffic by hoovering up less competitive search phrases and ranking for those.

The less competitive a search phrase, the easier it is to rank for it. The majority of terms entered into search engines are longer, less predictable phrases and the best way to appear in search results for these is with content. Produce regular, unique content and you’ll find you rank for all sorts.

As long as the content you produce is related to your industry, all this traffic is good and focused and just as much use to you as any you’re likely to receive from the key phrases you’re deliberately targeting. Why rank first for one term when you could come top for hundreds?

Alex Bowden
Creative Developer

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