Click! Oh well…better luck next time eh? Taking a photo which doesn’t strike a nerve, get your blood pumping, or grab your heart and throw it at the nearest wall is a bit disappointing to say the least.  Every budding photographer wants that extra oomph, or how do you say – je ne sais quoi? Creating a photo which turns heads is difficult – fact. Photos are fantastic, inspirational and emotive snatches of art. They have the extraordinary power to spring emotion up in the viewer from a single, still image. If you are not impressed, then you are not a true photographer.

I would never dream of calling myself a professional photographer (just an enthusiastic nipper stumbling blindly after the perfect photo with my FinePix S2750), so I can definitely sympathise with budding photographers aiming to achieve the perfect photo.

Pondering this (as you do…ahem) it soon occurred to me that there are strong parallels between photography and SEO.

Lights! Oh wait you need an Idea:

Unfortunately, ideas don’t always hit you on top of the head (although I wish they would sometimes).  This means that to get a great idea, you usually have to look for one. You probably already knew that great snippet of advice? Well here’s another glaringly obvious hint – you need to focus your photography on something that you are passionate about. This is pretty much essential. If you have a cause or passion that is close to your heart, photography gives you the perfect opportunity to interpret your passion and capture it.

Believe it or not – when it comes to SEO, our clients also have to generate clear ideas on what they want to promote. Obviously this is connected with their business (duh!). Creating a key phrase is usually achieved by ascertaining what our clients are passionate about in their business – whether this relates to a service or a product that they supply. If you don’t select the right products and services to promote at the keyword selection phase, you could find that your client isn’t happy, even if his key phrases are on page one position one!

Action! “You’re a tiger! You’re Tony the Tiger! You’re grrreat!” Even Austin Powers found his creative “Mojo”

As any inspiring photographer, artist or film maker will know – with every idea there are numerous angles which you can take. Everyone can stand looking at a photograph and take a completely different meaning, idea or emotion from the person stood next to them. This is what makes them fantastic – postmodernists eat your heart out.

All of us content writers get numerous titles through the day – and finding an angle that we know suits our client, and the product in order to build their growing authority on Google can be extremely difficult. The same applies to blogging and writing site content – sometimes you just need to start writing and see where it takes you. Photography is exactly the same – so get outside or in a studio and getting snapping at everything and anyone. Your perfect image could end up being a photo of your Grandad snoozing on the sofa with the cat sneaking some of his forgotten fruit cake – you never know!

By and large the search engines value natural links, and for your article marketing strategy or long tail campaign that means writing fresh and authentic copy. Write about what you know; take a photograph of real life and describe in it words (not forgetting your keywords of course!)

To change or not to change – How fake will you go?

So you’ve taken the photo – now do you leave it as it is or have a little fun with Photoshop? Personally, tinkering and improving a photo with the help of Photoshop has never been more fun (yes – I do have a life thank you very much). Looking at past iconic photos – whether you prefer Diana seated in front of the Taj Mahal while her marriage was in public disarray, or the iconic fashion photo of Marylyn Monroe with the flirtatious and cheeky image of wind blowing up her dress. They are all iconic – and yet looking at them they haven’t noticeably been altered.

Like all things, sometimes keeping the image in its raw formation with a few tweaks made just to reaffirm or improve the original and authentic character of the photograph has the best effect. This is exactly like SEO – keeping the whole process of SEO natural is essential. Therefore SEO tries to mimic an organic growth, rather than something inorganic and synthetic. Keyword stuffing or article spinning is the SEO equivalent of photo – shopping a photo to death – it looks fake and uninspiring.

Err…You’re not finished yet mate!

Now, unless you are planning on leaving your perfect shot in a photo album underneath your bed somewhere, you need to consider how you’re going to present it. First thing’s first – how can you improve it – what would strengthen the character, emotion or meaning in your photograph? There are lots of different ways to present a photo. Whether you prefer the minimal (and dare I say lazy?) approach of whacking it in a photo frame, or a more creative and quirky way of thinking which is completely outside out the box (go you!), presentation of the overall picture is essential.

Like photography, SEO needs to be presented in a certain way. In article marketing, external articles need to be stripped completely bare of any mention of the company name if they are to be accepted by the web community. In contrast, for the internal articles – well let’s just say we can let our hair down and get a little bit loco shall we? Always conduct your SEO campaign as if someone is watching, because they are, and these observant search engines have the power to make or break you or your clients’ company.

So if you think you can top my photography tips or you would like to know more about what a SEO Company can offer you, then drop us a friendly line below.

Right…Off you go then.

How the decisions of the nation’s sweetheart mirror the choices we face in SEO

Another week, another healthy dose of celebrity gossip; this week, the rumour mill has been churning loudly with speculation that Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell are preparing to jump the X Factor UK ship in favour of its American counterpart. The rumour got me thinking about this dynamic duo, especially Cheryl Cole and her phenomenal rise to fame; with many of her (and her agents) decisions being not totally dissimilar to the choices we face when it comes to launching a campaign with a specialist SEO company.

The Coming Together of Two Successful Components: Cheryl Cole’s Marriage to Ashley Cole

In a seemingly perfect coupling, the beautiful Girls Aloud singer Cheryl and talented footballer Ashley fell deeply in love from the minute their eyes met across the corridor of the apartment block they were both living in at the time. The pair were inseparable and their marriage boosted both parties fame enormously. When thinking of how partnering can strengthen and enhance the individual’s success, let’s turn our attention to SEO.

An SEO campaign begins by a company wishing to strengthen areas of their business. The best way to do this is to team up with a successful and experienced SEO company who can enhance your business through thoughtful, natural and plentiful SEO techniques. Blending your expert knowledge of your business with their expert understanding of SEO, you can work together to achieve the ultimate goal of a page one Google listing.

The Empowerment of Cheryl Cole: Her Eventual Divorce from Ashley Cole

I don’t think there were many of us left rooting for adulterous Ashley in the end, as the world watched with baited breath, praying that Cheryl would cut all ties by ending her marriage. Having taken him back once, we were all a little dubious as the second round of cheating allegations came to fruition. Cheryl took her time, but eventually she announced she had left Ashley high and dry, the world sighed in relief and uttered the words ‘good riddance’.

Cheryl proved that good things come to those who wait as her career then went from strength to strength. Apply this to a successful SEO campaign and we begin to see the correlation; organic SEO takes time and patience, but the result can prove astounding in terms of the success of a business, so stick with it, have faith in your SEO consultant, and you will soon be reaping the rewards of your perseverance.

We Heart Cheryl: The Increasing Exposure in the Media

Now, don’t get me wrong, we were always fascinated by the lovely Chezza, just how does she get her hair so shiny? How does she rock the riskiest of outfits that would make me look like a sack of potatoes, but on her, look effortlessly amazing? BUT, it’s safe to say media hype was at an all-time high after she announced her newly single status. Pages of newspapers, magazines and websites were filled to the brim with photos and salacious gossip regarding the pint sized star, and with every piece of content, her status grew.

When thinking of extensive content, it isn’t hard to apply this to a successful SEO campaign; a key factor is the growth of the website; adding relevant and well written content on a regular basis serves to increase size and popularity of the site. New articles can not only attract new followers of your site, it also gives existing followers something to get their teeth in to, remember, retaining is just as important as gaining!

Cheryl Joins the X Factor Panel: The Nation’s Sweetheart is Born

In 2008, Cheryl embarked on her new career path as a judge on the X Factor, and quickly became the favourite member of the panel. Her links with Simon Cowell, Will I am and many other A list celebrities all serve a purpose; the ever-savvy Cheryl is no stranger to link building.

In SEO, link building plays a fundamental part to the success of a campaign, although it is important to remember that the key to the campaign is through a blend of effective methods; Cheryl has this down to a T with her blend of celebrity links, optimum exposure and endless patience.

So, once again, the nation waits for confirmation on this latest Cheryl related rumour, will we be saying a fond (or perhaps not so fond) farewell to the girl we have all come to think of as our English rose? Only time will tell, so whilst you wait, have a think about how the elements of SEO can help a business rise to fame, with the right SEO company. Like the transformation of Cheryl Cole, a business without SEO is the girl growing up on a council estate with an undesirable set of knashers, a business with SEO is the glamorous and powerful queen of the nation (with expensive veneers). As for Ashley? Well, like the collapse of the Yellow Pages, he was useful at the time, but there simply isn’t a need for him anymore!

If you’re anything like me, when watching the BAFTA’s or Oscars, you’ll take great pleasure in slating each and every award recipient, simply because they’re famous, rich, and usually good looking (there are exceptions – see Ricky Gervais, Chris Moyles and Ann Widdecombe).

As stars revel in the glitz and glamour of the awards ceremonies, living rooms across the UK will be filled with things like ‘Wow, he’s put on weight?’ and ‘Look at that dress! She looks like a quality street!’

There’s a certain satisfaction in this harmless fun, which is why you might be delighted to learn of the Razzies – a longstanding and eminently venerable organisation that’s been presenting awards for the worst Hollywood has to offer for over 29 years.

With this in mind and in the name of fairness (see last week’s blog by Holly Earp, entitled ‘The 2011 Social Media BAFTA’s…the SMAFTA’s), let’s rip into some of the webs worst social networking sites, tools and everything in between.

Welcome to the SNAZZIES!

The “Underground” Award:

No, this doesn’t refer to some under the radar cult hit, it refers to Myspace – the social network that’s fallen so far from grace we’re all beginning to wonder if it will ever hit the bottom.

Rewind just a few short years and Myspace was the place to be; Tom was absolutely loving it. He couldn’t get enough of it could he? Putting out weekly updates, sponsoring everything that moved…It. Was. Awesome.

Sadly, Myspace recently announced 500 job cuts, despite a major site overhaul and rebranding as a Social Entertainment hub. Needless to say, Tom’s Christmas card list will be considerably shorter this year.

How it helps SEO: It doesn’t.

The “Space Waster” Award:

In an award that’s completely the opposite of last week’s ‘Best Real-time Social Media Site’ SMAFTA, this award goes to the Little gossip website. This horrendous site has been in the news consistently this week, and is the prime example of completely useless online social interaction. The premise is that anonymous users can post hurtful comments about people online using Twitter – like software.

Not only is the site useless from an SEO perspective, it’s completely worthless to the human species as a whole. What the site demonstrates is that, although a resource may have a large readership and good traffic statistics (as Little Gossip undoubtedly does), this doesn’t mean that it will reflect well on your brand and overall social media marketing campaign should you attempt to reach customers there.

Posting on Little Gossip might gain your company exposure, but it wouldn’t end well for you.

The “Pet Hate” Award:

The award for the most annoying social media feature goes to a bit of a pet hate of mine that’s probably been around a little longer than 2011, and would likely be solved by a settings change if I had the time or inclination to look into it. If you’re wondering what I’m referring to, log in to your Facebook account and take a look at the newsfeed.

Here you see all of your friends’ very latest posts, links, photos and status updates right?

Don’t be daft, presented before you is content that’s labelled ‘Top News’ and consists of that activity that is sometimes days old! I’m constantly baffled as to what the purpose of this feature is, why would I want to see status updates from yesterday before those made today?

Every time I login – it takes a few valuable seconds to click the ‘Most Recent’ link at get to the good stuff! How annoying…

What this does demonstrate is that, in the main, consumers want up to date information presented to them where social media’s concerned. If you’re not actively posting and updating your accounts, potential customers will soon get bored and leave in search of fresher profiles.

The “Strong and Silent” Award:

This final commendation goes to MSN messenger, for going from saying everything to saying nothing. Once upon a time we all used MSN to chat with friends after work, school or college and to network with those living in different countries across the globe.

However, 2010 saw Skype truly solidify its hold on instant messaging, at MSN messenger’s expense. While this has no direct effect on SEO, it does influence business processes; for that next conference call there’s a good chance you’ll have to use Skype, as few business use messenger anymore.

So that concludes the awards ceremony; there are plenty more award worthy sites, features and tools out there, but I’m in danger of getting too carried away! This brief list could be useful as a guide regarding what to avoid in your social networking endeavours. If you have any to add, please write your comments below.

This is a new concept we are tying out at Creare Communications; a bite size chunk of what’s been happening over the last 5 days in the world of Creare.

Obviously, not every week is the same and we can’t possibly clog up the blog with interesting facts about what we’ve all been up to in the week. So here is a simple update of what has occurred over our working week ( as this the first we’re only including 4 features.)

1.    SEJ:

Now we are big fans of Guest Blogging and we’ve built up some great contacts in the last few months.

So last week my fellow Content Writer, Joel Tarplin, put a blog up for auction. Then this week Search Engine Journal owner Ann Smarty kindly offered to host this on her page rank 7 blog; an offer which we just couldn’t refuse. You can read the article here, and please, feel free to comment or re-tweet.

2.    Rinylo and Bavington Video Post:

Those of you that tune in each week to watch Creare’s web design and SEO videos may have noticed a change this week. Nick was joined by a second member of the Bavington family; James’ brother Rob. Check out the video here, and view a whole host of other videos present on our YouTube channel.

3.    PPC Advancements:

Our Pay Per Click campaigns run by Tom Nolan of the SEO department are in full swing. However, this week Tom has been commencing with campaigns from slightly further afield; Australia to be precise.

These clients have come about from an Australian affiliate of Creare and we’re excited to be undertaking work that is not only challenging but of a completely different nature.

4.    Finally: It’s Chinese Food Time!

Tonight the whole SEO department is getting together outside the hours of 8am- 6pm and going to grab some grub at a Chinese restaurant in Leicester. The place won’t know what’s hit it when 30, 20-35 year olds walk through the door talking about Number One positions and link building.

After a belly full of food, some members are then moving on for drinks elsewhere in the city, as others head home after stuffing their faces with noodles, prawn toast and spring rolls.

So that’s this week’s news, we’ll give an update this time next Friday of what’s occurring in the world of Creare. See you then!

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the world of Social Media met with the Red Carpet of the BAFTA’s? Here, the big names battle it out for the prestigious title of King of the SMAFTA’s.

Given the recent release of BAFTA nominees, I thought it’d only be fair to recognise some of the major players who have contributed towards the success of Social Media within our SEO company throughout the last year. Of course, no BAFTA ceremony would be the same without a Razzie to quash any ounce of success or accomplishment which hardworking filmmakers have tried so relentlessly to attain, but I’m too nice to announce these just yet.

So, without further ado, I present the Creare 2011 SMAFTA’s (Social Media Awards For Triumphant Achievements)…

Rising Star Award 2011:

Winner: Hootsuite

With businesses taking hold of social media as a fully fledged form of promotion and marketing, it’s important that they are able to monitor their progress. However, many businesses may find themselves juggling a variety of accounts, and become a bit lost in the process…this is where Hootsuite swoops in.

How it helps in SEO:

Hootsuite brings all of your Facebook and Twitter accounts into one place which allows you to easily monitor your online presence, as well as posting updates, links and more to all sites at once. So you can wave goodbye to monitoring individual accounts, and embrace an all-compassing social media dashboard, which enables you to make the most of the SEO potential and marketing power, that social media sites provide.

Best Real-time Social Media Site:

Winner: Twitter

If there’s any breaking news, you can be sure to find it on Twitter first. Over the past year in particular, Twitter has emerged as a great way for businesses to communicate, to both customers and other businesses.

How it helps in SEO:

If you’ve got a piece of news to share, Twitter is the perfect way to announce it to the world (in under 140 characters of course!). Along with the help of handy URL shorteners, new, fresh and regular content is a great way to build relationships with your followers, and encourage more traffic to your site.

Best Social Media Contribution to SEO:

Winner: Facebook

Much like the BAFTA’s I thought I’d be boring and predictable by giving the top award to the champion of social media; Facebook. Although I’d love to make a shocking surprise announcement, it’s prevalence as the most popular social media site in the world to date, is pretty hard to ignore.

How it helps in SEO:

The Facebook developers have been busy all year round looking for new ways to appeal to wider groups of people, and throughout 2010 we’ve seen a real shift from people using the site as a personal way to interact with friends, to a new and exciting way for businesses to connect to their audiences.

Profiles, pages, groups – take your pick, they’re all useful for businesses in one way or another! A great and easy way to gain links and create an online presence and personality, companies all over the world have been able to take advantage of Facebook as an essential tool within SEO.

Best New Social Media Feature

Winner: The ‘Like’ Button

I like Social Media. And I like Facebook. I also like lots of other things, such as eating Cookie Dough ice cream and watching ITV2, but what I like the most, is that I’m able to let everyone else know that I like them. And for that, the introduction of the Facebook ‘like’ button deserves a little credit.

How it helps in SEO:

Previously labelled as becoming a ‘fan’, people now have the ability to ‘like’ Facebook Pages. This little yet powerful feature is great for businesses looking to expand their audience. Many run promotions, such as ‘like this page to be entered into a free draw’, which is a clever way to quickly increase the popularity of the company. Seeing as the Page is indexed by Google, people who click on it will be able to see just how popular a brand is by its number of ‘likes’, which will invariably contribute towards the impression a potential customer forms.

So there you have it. A snippet of 2010-2011′s greatest social media contributors. Undoubtedly, the relationship between Social Media and SEO will grow from strength to strength over the forthcoming year, and maybe we’ll even see a whole new range of useful Social Media resources emerge onto the web.

Is there anyone you would nominate for a SMAFTA? Tune in for next week’s Razzies, to see didn’t do as well in the big wide world of Social Media and SEO…