Adrian
Google Give Real-time a PuSH with PubSubHubbub
Posted by Adrian on March 8, 2010 4:40 pm
Posted in Blogging, Google

PubSubHubbub, otherwise referred to simply as PuSH, is the real-time search engine publishing tool developed by Google. Announced a little over half-a-year ago, PubSubHubbub could finally about to revolutionise content distribution.

When PubSubHubbub was announced [see: What is PubSubHubbub?], it was seen as a new, real-time way to distribute content. Whilst Google Buzz, Wave and the Caffeine update may have taken the spotlight in the interim, it appears that PubSubHubbub (PuSH) is ready to come out of the darkness.

The principle is simple. Content distributors automatically fire their latest blog post, news story or update to a hub. This hub then redistributes to subscribers in real-time. The whole process is automated and is complete in seconds. It is a great win-win situation. Content gets wider distribution to targeted traffic streams. Readers get instant updates, reducing search time. What could be easier?
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Stephen
What Makes the Perfect Blog Post?
Posted by Stephen on January 21, 2010 10:23 am
Posted in Blogging

The Internet is strewn with very well articulated blog posts. By all accounts they are good, indeed some are excellent, but somehow they fall shy of perfection. So what is it that makes a perfect blog post?

First and foremost, the success of a blog post is ordinarily measured in the amount of attention it receives. Whether this is through the media, social networking or swollen traffic numbers, cold hard statistics tend to be a determining factor in the success of a blog.

Not always though, at least not independently at any rate. Occasionally there are posts written to provoke action, reaction and change. When writing with a purpose, the success can only be charted in the post’s ability to effect the intended change, whether through a single post or creating a movement amongst its readership.

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Stephen
Is your Businesses Blog Still Fresh?
Posted by Stephen on October 12, 2009 5:36 pm
Posted in Blogging

You’ve created a blog, it’s started bringing in traffic, but is it doing enough? It’s a conundrum faced by many websites, just how do you measure the success and relevance of your blog?

The old adage that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ might work in some online ventures, but the same can’t really be said of a blog. Whether it is used as an accompaniment to a primary site or as a standalone information resource, a blog needs to maintain a certain level of freshness to avoid slipping into ambiguous irrelevance. So what can you do?
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Stephen
Keeping the Faith in your Corporate Blog
Posted by Stephen on September 11, 2009 3:49 pm
Posted in Blogging

Dormant, untendered blogs lie littered across the Internet. Not updated since that first week back in June 2007, they create a visual eyesore and clutter up SERPs with their wanton insignificance.

But a blog should never be beyond recovery. If you’ve taken the time to set one up, it only takes one post to reinvigorate it and bring the page out of its enforced latency period. Why not kick it back into gear and make it a key part of your business once more.
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Stephen
Using Your Blog as a Marketing Tool
Posted by Stephen on August 13, 2009 2:29 pm
Posted in Blogging

Some people see blogs as a burden, others as an unnecessary waste of resources; but in truth, you should be looking at your blog as an ideal marketing opportunity.

If you’re not yet a micro-blogger, or even if you are, having a blog on your site can help you to engage with your visitors. It’s an opportunity to show off your expertise and provide further reassurance that you are a reputable firm. All of that of course will help bolster your more overt marketing work.
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Blogs have become an extremely popular and lucrative enterprise. The immediacy and interactivity with which the most popular examples operate has garnered hundreds of thousands of hits each day. One of, if not the most popular blogs in the technology sector is TechCrunch.

With great power comes great responsibility though, and this weekend TechCrunch made the kind of error that highlights the issues of publishing online. Essentially, their European branch wrote a story concerning James Whatley, head of social media at Spinvox. In it TechCrunch suggested that he may leave his role in the coming week.

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Stephen
How blogging is changing media reporting
Posted by Stephen on July 28, 2009 4:45 pm
Posted in Blogging

Not all that long ago all of our news would come from the media. Whether it was the morning newspaper, radio or television, accessing the latest stories was pretty much a standardised formality. However, the rise of the Internet and, more particularly, the blogging community has all but put paid to traditional media sources.

Internet bloggers have a number of advantages over their offline counterparts. First and foremost is the immediacy of the online platform. As soon as a blogger receives a lead they can get started on a post and have it live within seconds. There’s no red tape, no editorial to pass through and no restrictions on content. Almost anything goes on the Internet, something the media can and probably never will be able to replicate.
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First Class Sailing are an existing client of Impact Media, who are keen to look at ways of getting even more out of their search engine marketing.

Adding a Blog to any site is a great way to get fresh updated content onto your website, to keep the search engines coming back for more. They help to engage your audience as well as improve your visibility for the blogged about subjects. More…

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Rob
How To Set Up A WordPress Blog?
Posted by Rob on July 27, 2009 12:58 pm
Posted in Blogging, Impact Media News, Search Engine Marketing

More and more companies are enquiring into how and why they should enter the world of Blogging?

Having a Business Blog has many benefits including:

  • Raise brand and company profile
  • Add fresh updated content to your site
  • Increase your online visibility for the subjects you blog about
  • Position yourself as an industry expert and authority
  • Develop a greater link profile as posts act as link bait
  • Keep existing clients informed
  • Offer potential clients information on promotions and offers
  • Engage with your community and capture feedback More…
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Stephen
Classic Media Beating Blogs to the Punch
Posted by Stephen on July 15, 2009 11:12 am
Posted in Blogging

According to a new study conducted by Cornell University, highlighted by Search Engine Watch, traditional media sources are still first with the news; surprisingly beating blogs by an average of 2.5 hours. So whilst the immediacy of Twitter has caused serious groundswells in the halls of the major news outlets, it appears that speed isn’t being translated to blogs as yet.

Journalists may be restricted to reporting news that they can unequivocally confirm; however, due to the breadth of their research and reporting power they are still able to get to the stories first. Whilst the newswire may be slowly fading out, it clearly maintains a high level of importance in how soon and how accurate our news is.

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Stephen
UK MP Expenses Scandal Continues to Generate Buzz
Posted by Stephen on May 29, 2009 1:33 pm
Posted in Blogging

The Parliamentary upheaval caused by the MP’s expenses scandal shows no sign of abating. Using the latest statistics provided by Blogpulse, it’s clear that our elected officials are still getting a pretty rough ride online as well as in Westminster and their constituencies.

If nothing else, this indicates the power that bloggers and professional news sources have. The blanket coverage, with the news represented from all angles and viewpoints, has been merciless. Major stories don’t simply appear and disappear like they may have done previously. Buzz can grow and continue to snowball through the ever-growing online blogging community as illustrated below.

This chart highlights the popularity of the term 'MPs Expenses'

This chart highlights the popularity of the term 'MPs Expenses'

Blogpulse gives a fantastic insight into what is popular at any one moment in time. It shows the peaks and troughs that all topics go through with clear charts and statistics. Anybody can simply search for a specific term or even a selection of different stories to find out exactly what is hot and identify those trends early.

The graphic below shows the relative popularity of three events that may well have people talking in the days to come. This compares the popularity of the terms ‘FA Cup’, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ (both of which reach their final stage on Saturday) and ‘MP’s expenses’, just for a marker. From this we can see that Britain’s Got Talent is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of blog mentions and I think it would be a big surprise if that trend didn’t continue over the weekend too.

 Comparative popularity of Britain’s Got Talent, FA Cup & MP’s Expenses

Comparative popularity of Britain’s Got Talent, FA Cup & MP’s Expenses

Whilst the results shown above may not be particularly useful to many businesses, it does give a clear indication of what the rest of the world is talking about. Plus you have the opportunity to shape the words searched for to suit your particular sector, there’s no boundaries to who or what can be analysed.

Whilst it can be a passing dalliance of interest and a bit of mischievous fun (see below for the comparisons of Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and talent show finalist Susan Boyle for clarification), understanding where the buzz is before anyone else can give you some real leverage, particularly in the competitive world of blogging.

Gordon Brown lags a long way behind both Boyle & Obama online

Gordon Brown lags a long way behind both Boyle & Obama online

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If you’ve been left wondering “how can I boost my website’s visibility?” you’ll be relieved to know that there are a number of potential avenues to explore. PPC advertising, strong links and improving content to be more keyword orientated are just a few of the common methods.

Leading search engines have their own methods of analysing and ranking websites. One thing that they all look for though is good quality new content that is regularly updated. So rather than going through your site and adding or adjusting existing pages to boost visibility, why not set up a news section or blog?

Blogs are a simple and highly effective marketing device. By writing exclusively about your industry, using personal insight and knowledge where applicable, you can provide an exceptional service to clients, both existing and potential, as well as to your site’s online presence. It’s an extremely straightforward way of providing an added dimension to a company website, whilst also helping boost your content and hopefully your online visibility.

Blogging for Business Success

Remember, a blog needn’t be simply stating the daily facts and figures within your own company. Whilst it is good to keep customers informed of what is going on, there’s a whole world of related information and news that can serve the same purpose. Relating your company’s activities with the latest industry news and events can provide an interesting spin on the latest breaking stories, helping generate additional interest from organic searches.

If you visit any successful website, you can be sure that there will be a blog in one guise or another; in fact many include a whole range of them for individual sectors. The quality of content is obviously integral to its credibility. If you don’t employ an SEO copywriter in-house or anybody else who can provide the same high level of focussed copy, then you may need to outsource to a specialist just to ensure that you’re getting the very best results from your blog.

Unique copy, written to the very highest standards with thoroughly researched keywords and titles used throughout, is what every business website should look to achieve on each and every page. This of course is true of a blog too. Your blog articles should be about creating an immediate impact, but always keep in mind that they can also help boost your long-term rankings too. As they are archived and stored on your site indefinitely, articles can really aid optimisation of the overall content; providing a vital additional source of keywords and phrases.

Boost Your Site’s Search Engine Visibility

Successful blogs generally tend to have a unique niche or something else that distinguishes them from any others. Creating a preferred writing tone, perhaps reflecting that used elsewhere in your site, whilst also maintaining regular updates will help visitors build up a trust of your company. This credibility boost may even help turn sceptical visitors into long-term clients or customers.

Best of all, blogs needn’t take up too much critical time. A short post here and there throughout the week, along with a few more detailed articles when larger news stories break, will help keep your site fresh and new, whilst also drawing in those search engine spiders for a closer examination. If you have the time to dedicate to it and are able to produce useful and informative articles with greater regularity, the results should follow suit.

As with anything in business though, you tend to get out of it what you choose to put into it. Regardless of your site’s status, the ability to improve its visibility is at your fingertips. Site content is quickly becoming the most important aspect in any SEO strategy. So whether creating a cutting edge blog or just filling your website’s pages, quality and clarity of the copy used is essential in improving your popularity with the search engines and your intended market.

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Adrian
The Importance of a Good WordPress Theme
Posted by Adrian on February 20, 2009 5:50 pm
Posted in Blogging, Wordpress Themes

Blogging is now a vital part of any online marketing strategy. But blogs are not just about making an impact with what you write there, it’s very important to accompany the text with a powerful visual style and interactive functions for the reader.

A blog theme demonstrates your authority and reveals your personality. A professional-looking theme gives the visitor a great first impression and helps your words to carry the authority that you intended. A weak, untidy looking blog tends to make the reader feel that the material might not be accurate or authentic. When you choose a good theme, people can see that you care and value their opinion of your blog. If you’ve taken the time to make the site look good for visitors, they know you’re investing time in them.

Visual Impact
There are some awful, ugly themes available for free and some scary looking premium themes ones too. You need to match the theme to the style of your blog. There’s no point having a theme that doesn’t suit the type of blog you write, or the product or service that you are promoting. If you’re unsure, ask other people, most people have a good opinion about what they don’t like!

Widgets
WordPress uses widgets to help you control what appears on the sidebar without having to edit the code of your theme. The trouble is that not all WordPress themes support widgets, so make sure you check before you select your theme.

Newsletter
The best WordPress themes have built-in Newsletter functionality. This means that there is an involvement device on the main page of the blog that allows visitors to join up and receive your regular newsletter. If it’s a good theme, it will support the entire process from sign up to newsletter delivery.

Browsers
Not all WordPress themes work with all browsers. If you’re blog visitors are using Safari or Opera, they may be prevented from reading your words by poorly constructed themes. Don’t pick a theme that limits the type of visitors your blog receives.

Search
You’d presume that a search tool was standard on all blogs, but there are still plenty without one. Make sure your theme has a search tool so people can find the content they came to your blog looking for.

Video
Of course, there are people that need video function built into the blog. It’s possible to post embedded YouTube clips directly into a blog, but it doesn’t make the same impression as built-in video. Until recently, there were very few free themes that incorporated video. We set out to change that with our free WordPress Video Theme. This provides professional looking video functionality in a free theme.

When you’re deciding on a WordPress Theme for your blog, remember the impact you make on your visitors is important to the success of your blog. Some themes are free, some you need to buy, but ensure that they tick all the boxes before you choose either.

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Adrian
8 Blogging Resources
Posted by Adrian on December 20, 2008 12:00 pm
Posted in Blogging

On the 8th Day of Christmas, Impact Media share 8 blogging resources:

1. Wordpress. Open-source blogging software. A multitude of uses
2. Free WordPress Video Theme, courtesy of Impact Media
3. BlogPulse. Find out what’s hot in the blogosphere
4. Backtype. Find, follow and share comments
5. BloggerDesign. Great tips on blog design and usability
6. Performancing Metrics. Blog stats, in real time
7. ProBlogger. Darren Rouse provides ‘sledgeloads‘ of tips and advice
8. BlogCatalog. A ’social blogger community’, i.e. blog directory with interaction between bloggers

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Ben Norman
Free WordPress Video Theme
Posted by Ben Norman on December 10, 2008 6:03 pm
Posted in Blogging, Search Engine Marketing, Video Marketing, Wordpress Themes

It is finally out of development and ready for download:

The theme aptly named “WordPress Video Theme” is just that and has a whole host of other goodies built in like:

  • Video functionality
  • Newsletter ready
  • Blog included
  • Contact form set-up
  • Use as complete website or just a blog

Using the widgets module you just cut and paste your code and your video and newsletter is embedded  and can be easily updated at any point. Other useful features are:

  • Widget ready
  • 2.7 compatible
  • 2 column design
  • SEO friendly clean code
  • Instructions included to make it easy to customise
  • Video walk through to help with set-up and customisation

This theme is free to use and can be downloaded right here. If you are looking for a stylish theme with all the features you could want and need then this is for you and the best part is its totally free.

Why? because WordPress is a great platform and by promoting this theme we help further promote this great platform and make life easier for people starting out by giving them a great starting point.

We are going to keep this up to date and keep adding functionality to it so if you have any ideas or things you would like to see added, removed or changed leave a comment as we will be using this to work out the changes for Rev. 2.

To download the theme click here.

To download the instructions click here.

If you would like to be walked through the set up just watch the video below:

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