Yes, but too many of them attract lots of dross and cons. I particularly avoid LinkedIn and Pinterest, both of with I regularly strive to leave and have referred to LeakedOut and Pissedoff in complaints to them about how insecure they are and how difficult it is to quit them. My OH and I had a joint blog for work until last year until somebody linked us to a nasty site somehow and we started to get abuse. My problem with much of it is not so much internet security as either reporting breeches of online security and abuse seem to meet with stunning amounts of useless waffle. The person who taught me most of what I know retired last week and is off on a year's jaunt around SE Asia with his OH, he will be sadly missed at a time when I think the offer is becoming overwhelming, the race to be best is equally mindblowing and innovation is faster than my head. All of that and I have your a), b) and c) too of which too little is a).
haha,
Do you think they are of any use in improving web visibility? or should I avoid that?
Hi Neil. The altruism thing may warrant a different thread at another time, perhaps in the Think Tank group?
NB I now have my own issues with Pension providers hence my other post on QROPS.
On the Wordpress front I am fielding a good 100 hits a day. Which seem to fall into 3 Categories.
a) Seemingly genuine and articulate pats on the back for quality, and ( of course ) a link to their trading entity, or Institution or Cause.
b) This mish-mash of non sensical ( foreign sounding ) twaddle attempting to be complimentary, but equally bouncing to some legit entity.
c) The MOST complimentary but with a direct link to something 'iffy'. These are the ones which sound 'automated' or virtual 'call centre' like.
I have buzzed round your Nuts 'n Bolts blog which is very slick, user friendly with excellent and informative content, plus top-notch pics which should encourage return visits. What I have deduced is that the 'tags' are all important. So I gather that keywords such as: trains,railways,redundant,steam whatever, should draw those, shall we say enthusiasts whilst adding: photography, graphics etc etc. should attract those with those interests, and even people would follow both. ( perish the thought )
The most important ( in my inexperienced view ) is to name your photos cannily. An accurate description of content, ( best echoed in the text matter ) but add another element to qualify...trading name, location, discipline...whatever. From my experience it is the pics which zoom up the Google rankings and seem to drag the text, Blog/Site/FB up with it, following in its wake. Not everyone agrees with this point, and I'm happy to be corrected.
James would remind me to be mindful of 'keyword stuffing' which is not the done thing as far as Google is concerned and is likely to down rate your site.
What I have been doing is to utilise the whole Social framework, the barest minimum, in my view...
Static Site ( no Flash or HTML5 ) because it looks to me that any named pic is re-named by the system/scroller/slider. They still get up the rankings none-the-less. Again, if I'm wrong anyone please say so.
FaceBookPage ( or several )
MOST IMPORTANT Wordpress. It has the fresh content aspect, and encourages other users to, in effect, increase visibility.
I suppose visibility is one thing, getting people to make a purchase or offer a commission is another.
Derr.... that's as far as I have got. Oh...haven't explored FRESHLY PRESSED ( which seems to work well ) plugin yet, nor do I pay too much heed to the SEO plugin I have ( free ) but only because I can't be bothered.
What I have deduced is the the open source WP templates you can get, whilst functional and flexible do not seem to have the pulling power of a licensed template, lodged with a hosted site. A set of four tasty templates is no more than 30$ a year but they seem so much more flexible, and will offer brilliant plugins which are only available to a hosted site.
Much of the SEO stuff is detailed in Sheila's Website Group, but the same criteria apply. Whilst it is only a personal view, I think that a workable marketing matrix should be: a static website as an information hub, from which stem satellites: FB,LinkedIn,WP,Blogger,Pinterest etc. I would also have ( even if its a freebee ) another site Wix,WP etc. but with the URL describing the Product/Service/Concept as distinct from the trading name, and link or point it to the central hub. Virtual shops could also 'linked' if they are required.
Boring meself now! I hope you don't mind, Neil, that I have used this reply to crystallise my thoughts, and waffle. But I am interested to hear other real bloggers' methods, thoughts and observations.
Is 100 comments a day good? p*ddly? Do vacuous comments have a value for linking? How can I eradicate these manipulative comments that seem to emanate from only a handful of sources?
One plug-in I am having problems with is those ADD IT boxes: FB, TWITTER etc etc. I can get the things to work, but a click only takes you to the Widget on a blank page. I must be doing something wrong?help.
I think Wordpress is a wonderful Platform, and improving all the time..I have seen superb samples which exist as a Artform alone, selling nothing but itself. Very exciting.
Phew, I've just read this through, and can't understand a word of it. Hope you can.
I wish Neil, but in the children's rights world things fire out of a lot of cylinders - inlcuding possible paid contracts which keep us afloat, perhaps alive.
I seem to get very few comments (or even visitors) on my rusty nuts blogs or on my idea site so lucky you. With e mails I look on the server first and unless I recognise who it's from, it's deleted.
I can be a bit altruistic but as I spent all my money and stupidly didn't live in a cardboard box and give it all to a pension provider I now find I have a very small stipend to live on and therefore like to get a bit of dosh for my time and effort. I like to keep busy as well and have a lot of self-generated projects on the go-paintings, prints, design, etc.
Kno wotcha meen....
Hello Brian, Thank you for the response. I don't know if the altruistic bent is part of the condition, or something genetic. I have always been like it, but on the other hand I can be very sharp but fair in business, when I did that thang. I have to keep busy ( like many I know in this network ) otherwise I would go mad. I will pick upon the other points laters. Popping out to see a man about a dog.
Ron, a couple (actually more) of times I have been told that altruism will get me nowhere. Perhaps in the bin. I say "done that, have t-shirt". Leaves people little to say. I am working, some rare times for payments, others because that's what I do. Like others, I increasingly work online. The trouble is that there are so many 'unknowns' out there looking over my shoulder. Over my four addresses I reckon to have three or four hundred emails a day. Lots go straight into spam, others sneak through and I have no idea what 95% of them want from me. If it involves buying anything whether a kilo of bananas or a pension with my own free island in the Caribbean chucked in, I ain't buying.
Then I get survey, questionnaires and who knows what. Several of them give the equivalent of airmiles but you never know how to cash them in. Oh lawdie, just won the competition on this research site and won participation in another questionnaire. Am I cynical? About this online traffic, you bet... It's different but the same and at the end of it I guess I have the same question at my fingertips.