Setting up your profile

Write your profile copy

Identify your target market

Choose the keywords for which you want to be found (by your target market)

How does it work?

Quality content - People view it, search engines crawl it

Why Network?

Quality and quantity in networking

In the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) there are also a set of 7 heinous deadly sins. Whilst, these sins are unlikely to offend anyone's God, they will certainly offend the Internet's all-powerful deity known as Google and its lesser deities the other Search Engines such as Yahoo and MSN.

These sins can be roughly divided into three separate categories: Spamming, Style over Substance and Beginner's Errors or Mistakes.

SIN 1 - SAME TITLE TAG - Webmasters and Website owners make one consistent deadly SEO sin. They use the same Title Tag on every page throughout the entire site. The Title Tag can make or break your ranking, why be stupid enough to risk your ranking for a lack of imagination? The Title Tag is your best opportunity to have your keywords or keyphrases read by Search Engines. Calling them all the same thing is a Beginner's Error that could cost you dearly.

SIN 2 - SAME META DESCRIPTION - A close relation to SIN 1, this is a Beginner's Error that is made very frequently. Rushing to get the site up with SEO friendly content, the beginner simply fills in the Meta Description with the same details on every page. Even so-called SEO gurus can make the same mistake sometimes. But unique content includes the Meta Descriptions; so don't fall foul of this sin.

SIN 3 - ABSENT KEYPHRASES - If you optimise a website for keyphrases that don't appear in your online copy, you won't get the SEO value out of them. The optimised keyphrases must match the content. Keyphrases and keywords must originate from within the content. That's why the content needs to be keyphrase rich. Write content that includes the keyphrases that you want to be found for. However, take care not to alienate real human visitors by creating content that's difficult to read because it's all about SIN 7.

SIN 4 - FLASH ONLY SITE - Flash websites can now be read and indexed by Google. However, it's still very much early days and has not been fully and properly tested. A site that's made entirely from flash components is still a major No-No. This is a Style over Substance sin and it's patently stupid. If most search engines cannot read flash, and only Google can index it at all, if not particularly well, a site made of flash will be practically invisible to search engines looking for text.

SIN 5 - BUYING LINKS - If one of the real 7 Deadly Sins were Stupidity, this would be covered under that sin. In order to help alongside optimisation, it's important to create backlinks. Google likes to think that the sites with the best rankings are sites that are regularly visited and sites that other people support enough to make links from their site to your site. These are called backlinks. When you have high quality backlinks, you look good to search engines.

Of course, some bright spark came up with the idea of selling backlinks to those who need quick fix SEO. These enterprises are called Link Farms or Backlink Farms and are going to get you in trouble with the Search Engines. Google severely punishes those who commit this sin and considers this practice spamming. Of course, it won't be just the link farm that gets banned; it will be your website. Don't spam, you can't afford the consequences.

SIN 6 - DOORWAY PAGES - It's become common practice on the Internet to create lots of SEO pages with just a few of the keywords or keyphrases changed. For example, you get the same page of content but where Recruitment Manchester was on one page, Recruitment London is on the next, or Recruitment Glasgow or Recruitment Reading. This type of page is considered spamming and could cause Google and the other Search Engines to ban your site completely. Is it worth getting your site banned for this?

SIN 7 - KEYWORD STUFFING - There are lots of ways that you can over-stuff your content. Since some people believe (wrongly) that up to 25% of your content density can be keywords, keyphrases or keyphrase related. But that would mean that your sentences would look something like this nonsense:

Whenever a keyphrase is used with another keyphrase, the keyphrase is employed as a keyphrase that can help another keyphrase.

It makes no sense whatsoever, it's impossible to understand, it's offensive to both search engines and human readers. But wait! There's plenty more keyword stuffing idiocy that goes on.

Using white text on a white background so that only the search engine can see it is a common sin. If this sin is revealed, the search engines will systematically ban you and no one will find you by using a web search engine.

Using tiny font to create pages of tiny unseen text, stuffed full of keywords will result in the same punishment. Stuffing loads of keywords in at the end of the page, out of sight of the normal surfer is also an offence that search engines such as Google will ban the site for. It's simple, you've been warned, confession will not save you from this sin of stuffing your website with keyphrases, repent now and change your ways!

These are the Seven Deadly Sins of SEO and they will lead your website straight to Google Hell.

However, don't panic! It's still possible to save your SEO soul, legitimately gain the SEO advantage that you seek and end up in SEO website heaven. If you need to take the steps to get there, choose an SEO company that can keep you on the straight and narrow.

For more information on how you can avoid the punishment for committing the Seven Deadly Sins of Search Engine Optimisation and achieve the rankings that you and your business need, contact Nikki at Nikki@NikkiPilkington.com or visit the Internet Marketing Expert.

However, there is a certain set of rules to help you to use Article Marketing to promote your services, products and website, so here are my Top 10 Tips on Writing and Publishing your own Marketing Articles:

TIP ONE: Don't Sell - Give It Away - This type of article is not sales copy. The aim is not to sell your goods or services, but to give away your knowledge for free. Sounds crazy, but the more you give away, the more potential business you'll receive back. Demonstrate your range of knowledge and you'll see your online credibility building.

The more free knowledge you give away, the more people will see you as the expert in the field. When those people need what you're selling, they're much more likely to come directly to you.

TIP TWO: Tailor your Title - Make your title alluring and attractive. Questions such as 'How to...' and 'Why' are good for attracting the reader's curiosity. Top Tens and Top Fives work well too. Try to place a keyphrase within your title for maximum SEO opportunity.

TIP THREE: Paragraph - Make your paragraphs short and to the point. Try to avoid paragraphs larger than five lines if you can help it. Think about writing for Internet readers who like to scan for the best bits, so make it easy for them to read.

TIP FOUR: Keywords - You should carefully and strategically plant your best SEO keywords or keyphrases throughout your articles, but it's vital that they do not obscure the meaning of the sentences or make the article less enjoyable to read.

Don't make the article just about the keywords; just naturally allow the keywords or keyphrases to be used throughout the article. Use a keyword tool to find the most relevant keywords or phrases to suit your needs.

TIP FIVE: Publish - Internet publishing isn't like the restricted environment of printed media publishing. The Internet is a great democratic space that allows anyone to get published. When thinking about where you want to publish your articles on the Internet, start with your own website(s).

Next, stake out a few Article Directories such as EzineArticles.com and take a look at their article submission policies. Work out the FIVE or so article directories where you might put your work and make that part of your publishing process. Finally, look at the social networking or business forum sites and consider publishing your articles if their terms and conditions allow.

TIP SIX: Link - At the very bottom of your article, you should add a backlink to your website. You can add something like 'For More Articles - visit XXXX or email name@company.com. Some sites do not allow this, so read the submission rules very carefully. Don't fill your article with links; the focus is the content, nothing else.

TIP SEVEN: Tasters/Hooks - Some of the article directories allow you to put a short taster paragraph as part of the submission. This is great, but it's better to use that same taster idea elsewhere. Post a 'hook' or 'taster' paragraph up on a forum with a link to the article on your own website. Make the taster drive the reader to your site where they can become a potential client or customer.

Doing this will create a backlink that will improve your SEO and since the forum will probably be optimised too, your article hook will come up on the Search Engines too.

Writing a good taster means giving just enough information to tempt the reader into wanting to finish reading the article. So when writing an article 'hook' it's a balance between giving too much or too little information away.

TIP EIGHT: Word Count - Articles between around 300 and 1000 words are a good length for Article Marketing purposes. Too little and you can't communicate enough to build credibility. Too much, and the average reader will get bored and stop reading before the end. This will prevent them from seeing the link to your website. Don't waffle on; the length of the article need only be enough words to make your point.

TIP NINE: - Topic - Choose the kind of topics that people are likely to search for. Imagine that all people using a Search Engine are looking for a solution to a particular problem. Consider how you provide a range of solutions to potential customer problems. Write your article questions or Top 10s around those problems and solutions. When someone uses a Search Engine to find a solution, they should find your article as a potential answer to their problem. Topic choice should be driven by this philosophy.

TIP TEN: Outsource - Consider employing an article writer to produce the high quality content you need. This can often save you time and money and keeps the flow of articles coming for as long as you have the budget to pay for the service.

Not everyone has the confidence or ability to write articles, don't miss out on the value of article marketing just because you lack time, confidence or aptitude. When choosing to outsource your articles to a professional content writer, make sure that they demonstrate to you the ability to write on your topic area and always, ALWAYS choose someone whose English is better than yours.

Writing and publishing your own articles online will provide you with some very valuable exposure across the Internet. The more high quality articles that you write, the more potential traffic you could receive and the stronger your credibility will be.

*This article has been reproduced with the permission of internet marketing expert Nikki Pilkington. Nikki has been a fantastic source of knowledge to me on internet marketing and SEO, and I would recommend her unreservedly.

If you are interested in Article marketing and would like to know more, please feel free to either email Nikki on nikki@nikkipilkington.com or call us on 0844 980 0404.

If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it with others using the 'Share This' button to the right of the screen.

What is professional networking?

How can iStadia support the Development of Sport and Exercise Professionals?

Case Study: Blogging Teachers

What's stopping you?

It is something that athletes, coaches and commentators seem to recognise, but seems to be quite difficult to pin down.

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action." - Vince Lombardi

Jones et al (2002) attempt a definition of mental toughness, that centres around being, determined resilient, staying in control and remaining focused in the face of pressure. They also listed some characteristics of mentally tough elite athletes, namely:

Self-belief, Motivation, Focus and Composure, or ability to handle pressure.

One of the reasons that mental toughness can be hard to pin down is that is contextual - it can be used to describe someone running an ultra marathon, a golfer on the final round of a major championships, a team that finds an extra level of performance in a "must win" game..

"Mental toughness is doing whatever is necessary to get the job done including handling the demands of a tough workout, withstanding pain, or touching an opponent out at the end of a race." - Jennifer Eberst, Women's Swimming& Diving1

One thing that the mental toughness literature seems to ignore is that some athletes not only cope with the pressure of competition, with the pain of training, but thrive on it. In other words, they enjoy it. This isn't just about being resilient, about managing something unpleasant, but actually gaining pleasure from tough situations.

How can we understand this better?

Well, Reversal Theory (Apter) provides a structure for understanding human experience that is based on 8 motivational states, organised into 4 oppositional pairs. There are two important, related concepts;

Motivational Richness: The more of all of the motivational states that you experience, the more satisfied or happy you will tend to be  

Motivational Versatility: The ability to change motivational states to match the demands of the situation is the key to being more effective

Indeed, a therapeutic method based on Reversal Theory called the "8 Rooms" technique, that by imagining, drawing, or describing eight different rooms, each associated with one of the motivational states, has been developed and used with mental health patients in France. Use of the 8 Rooms technique has led to reductions in anxiety and depression.

What does this mean for sport? Well, what I'm saying is that rather than just about coping, resilience and "toughness", which is all about the 'mastery' motivational state, "mental toughness" might be about being able to access a wider range of motivations, to match the demands of the situation, for example:

In the...

...'serious' state, staying focused on the primary goal

... 'playful' state finding enjoyment in intense competition, and staying in the moment

... 'conforming' state staying within the rules of the game, accepting decisions

... 'rebellious' state able to adapt when things aren't going to plan

... 'mastery' state, being determined, tough and competitive

... 'sympathy' state remaining aware of yours or team-mates emotional needs, taking care of your body

... 'self oriented' state, focusing in on your own performance

... 'other oriented' state, doing what's right for the team

So the ultra-marathon runner might at one moment push hard through the pain (mastery), but at other times take inspiration from their family (other), and at others focus on meeting the expectations of sponsors (conforming) or just enjoy the "runners high" (playful). The golfer in the last round of a major might be concerned with staying in control (mastery), might go against conventional wisdom or the advice of their caddie in playing a hole (rebelliousness), or even take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the course (playful).

In the end, the person that can pull on the right motivational levers at the right time, and thrives under pressure or in adverse conditions, is labeled "mentally tough", but perhaps the next time that happens you'll wonder what's really driving them.

References

1Yukelson, D. What is Mental Toughness and how to Develop It? http://www.mascsa.psu.edu/dave/Mental-Toughness.pdf

Jones, G., Hanton, S., & Connaughton, D. (2002). What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport performers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 205-218.

Measure your mental toughness with the MTQ48, or your motivational styles (Reversal Theory) with the Apter Motivational Styles Profile.

Do you want to improve your mental skills? Try Ken Ravizza's DVD "Mental Skills for Competitive Athletes" or Daniel Gould's DVD "Five Essential Mental Skills for Sport"