Image Source: https://www.gocomics.com/moderately-confused/2009/07/21
Get to know the protocol of the social media networks you are on that you are thinking of using. Yeah it’s okay to tweet something that happened yesterday, but it may also mean you don’t have enough to say every day and if you don’t have enough to say every day (or 3 times a day!) … Twitter’s probably not the place to play. Each social network has a unique audience – Google+ is still a bit geeky, Facebook for ‘downtime’ and keeping up with friends and gossip, and LinkedIn for business networking. All you’ve got to do is figure out which networks will be the best place to build your audience. It doesn’t have to mean you’ve got a presence on all of them, but you should at least use one of them. I’m sure that I can think of a network for just about any business out there so don’t stop looking for your perfect match.
Image source: https://www.getelastic.com/funny-business-tech-cartoons/
This one’s a personal pet peeve and a digital industry ‘no-no’. Flash – don’t do it! Unless you are Gucci or Porsche or someone with a target audience of about a gazillion pounds to spend that 100% for sure has the latest technology, don’t ask your designer or your digital agency to incorporate flash into your website. It’s slow to load, search engines don’t index flash content, it’s hard to change or tweak and a few browsers and mobile devices (notably Apple devices) don’t do Flash. There’s really no need for it. These days you can do most things using javascript or HTML5.
Image source: https://www.anchormobile.net/portals/1/funny-seo-comic.jpg
SEO – the magic of Google! I can simplify this algorithm a little for you – be good and adhere to some of the search engine advice you hear – the stuff that makes sense – title tags with catchy titles and your company name (because that one makes sense), descriptions that make your users want to click through and that hint at the content on the page (obvious again) and of course, optimised content. What do you want your website to get found for? Obviously you should be targeting those keywords. Not spammily, but naturally and so that the search engine crawlers get the idea. Keep a blog, invite guest bloggers, do guest blogging on other sites and link back to your own site – do as much as you can to naturally increase your online reach. Just as a tree with lots of roots can absorb more water, so too can a site with a lot of content increase its online reach and therefore the likelihood of ranking well in the search engine pages.
Image source: https://www.blogperfume.com/top-25-funniest-comic-strips-about-blogging/
If you do what this graphic entails…you will have NO problem gaining followers, admirers, fans, buyers, loyal customers, leads, friends and whatever else you’re looking for…
This is pretty much the approach Google takes to innovating – do something that people will find useful. Do something to make the world a better place to be. Or, as their motto encourages: ‘do no evil’. Yes, they’re probably not angels but they have pioneered some amazing products – from the self-driving car through Google Earth, Google Glass and even more recently, ‘Timelapse’. Check that one out if you’re interested in seeing how the earth has changed over time due to deforestation, global warming and other such events.
Again, this isn’t just relevant to blogging. It’s important to get every aspect of your website working using content that ‘doesn’t suck so bad it makes people want to kill themselves’.
Word of mouth spreads if you are funny, different, interesting or useful. Pick two of them. Pick one of them, just don’t do the normal boring thing.
Image source: https://tomfishburne.com/2012/04/going-digital.html
Okay…don’t do this. Please. Yes, there are some channels you SHOULD ideally be using but please, if you don’t have anything to say on them you’re probably doing your company and your reputation more harm that you are good. Pick a couple of networks and use those well. Use them with a purpose. What’s your digital strategy? What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to reach?
Image source: https://blog.3dcart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/contentmarketing_comic.jpg
Linkbuilding…the real way to do it is honestly. That’s really the only way that people are going to want to trade links with you, that people are going to link to you without you asking and that Google will approve of. In the post Panda-Penguin days, artificial linkbuilding as an SEO tactic is something to be incredibly wary of. Yes there are still reputable agencies that do it, but, how long before the search giants clamp down on it? Try to do your linkbuilding as naturally as possible. Harness the power of social to increase links to your site. Do your social bookmarking and remember that sooner or later, spammy SEO tactics will get your website penalised.
What next?
Have you come across an interesting digital cartoon? Something that sums up the generation and the future? If you have, post the link below. We’d love to see what you’ve come across. If you enjoyed the post, don’t forget to share it!
