Imagine the scenario: you’ve just completed an amazing article, you know in your own mind it will be well received, everything about this article is great – but you have nowhere to put it!

So where do I place this content refugee? Article directories, on my website, on an online newswire or do I find a great third party site? There is no one answer, but one thing is for sure: article directories are a no- no. Quality content should be positioned in such a place so you gain a readership, links, social media signals and a return on the time you invested in writing the article. Here is Buzzwords breakdown of the pros and cons of posting on each platform…

On my own website

If possible, always post your content on your own website. Not only does it create fresh content for your site (ideal for the post -Panda world) but it also creates those much sought-after links pointing back to your site. Links are not the only perk.  An increase in site traffic, social media shares and potential sales all make posting content on your site more attractive. If you decide to post content on your site, make sure you market the content in the right way. This means using social bookmarks, social networking, e-mail and word of mouth techniques (outreach) to maximise the reach of your content. Posting content on to your website is not always the best answer, however.  If you have produced content that could feature on sites with higher readerships, maybe you should start looking at third party sites.

Online newswires

Maybe not the cheapest method, but posting your content to online newswires is the least time-consuming. Online newswires such as PR Web are a great way to get your content “out there” and picked up by various news outlets or online magazines. For a modest charge, a newswire will post your content to hundreds of online news outlets who may (or may not) pick up on your content. Regardless of take-up rates, newswires provide great link juice.  You can also add anchor text links and an author ‘bio’ link.

Guest blog post

This method is probably the most time-consuming (and maybe the most difficult) –  but  it’s well worth the effort. Guest posts provide you with potentially priceless anchor text links and improve your link portfolio. Difficulties arise with guest posting when trying to source an appropriate site/blog to publish your content. When deciding on this, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

• What is the Page and Domain Authority of the site on which you’re posting?
• What is the Page Rank of the site?
• How many RSS subscribers does this site have?
• Does the site have a readership that shares content via social media regularly?

If the site ticks all the boxes, you are left with the task of persuading the site owner  to publish your content. This is the difficult part – often referred to as outreach.  It can be carried out through social media, e-mail, over the phone or any other means of communication. Remember, having your content published on one site with a high PR can be 100 times more powerful than  1000 low PR links.

Why article directories are a no-no

Article directories have steadily been downgraded in their link building importance by the search engines. They hold little weight and have been downgraded in the name of quality control.  Article directories are not monitored; they will publish almost anything; and you’ll probably have few readers.

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What I mean here is visually-related marketing ideas – linking a persuasive and benefit-led headline with a relevant and eye-catching visual.  By overlooking this potentially huge aspect of commercial creativity, online communication has lost something along the way.

The comeback of creative concepts is long overdue I say.  There’s already been a resurgence in transforming web pages into something more persuasive than mere information vehicles for SEO purposes.

What we’re seeing is a return to a direct response ‘sales letter’ copywriting approach.  With Google’s out and out drive for quality content, surely it’s inevitable that real creativity will return to the mix?

What we have at the moment is an undue emphasis on words for their own sake.  Having the right words in the right place are fine from an SEO viewpoint.  Whether this will thrill or persuade the end user to take action is another issue.

The satisfying (and therefore persuasive) harmony that a well-crafted concept creates in the mind of the reader is the ultimate ‘quality’ experience that Google hitherto has failed to articulate.

Keywords are currently king because they are the most easily measured element on a page for SEO purposes (the other main measurable element of course is the number and quality of inbound links that a web page and website has).

Measuring the effectiveness of a web page’s creativity and how ‘useful’ this is in satisfying a searcher’s need for information is probably not relevant.  However, if the notion of ‘quality’ is ever going to move forward, there will have to be some means of measuring the link between quality and creativity.

This could take the form of people ‘voting for’ or ‘re-Googling’ a page in such a way that it contributes towards the quality score within the total search engine algorithm.  There’s little doubt that ‘creative quality’ would make a page more ‘sticky’ and it would very likely reduce ‘bounce’ rates.

These factors are already part of Google’s criteria for ranking pages.  What is needed is a new way of assessing what is an exciting dimension in asserting a web page’s ‘value’.

As far as is practicable, I will certainly be advocating the creative concept approach for all Buzzwords’ clients.  The potential and significance of this simple yet powerful idea should not be overlooked.

It made the name of advertising in the 1980s as a quasi-cultural art form that paid huge commercial dividends.  This could easily be repeated profitably today.

Back in the 70s, the advertising of Saatchi & Saatchi and a dozen other London advertising agencies ruled the marketing roost.

It was the age when ITV was the only commercial channel.  Ads shown in the prime-time Coronation Street slot, for instance, would be seen by millions.  Back then, TV advertising was powerful – and ad agencies were sexy.

Today, there are dozens of TV channels (and many more commercial radio stations).  Advertising budgets are spread much more thinly so the ads themselves rarely become part of the national consciousness in the way they once did.

With no Internet, newspapers had far higher circulations, so press advertising was much more influential.  They were the perfect medium for ‘direct response’ off-the-page mail order ads – and ‘corporate advertising’ was always a good way for a big company to reinforce its brand advertising activities on TV.

This was the golden era of mass persuasion.  Nowadays, marketing has taken on a far different persona.  Now, it’s more a case of ‘mass collusion’.  Audiences can no longer be targeted as passive recipients of mass marketing messages.  ‘Persuasion’ was hardly necessary back then.  Mass hysteria and/or hype ensured that stock would shift and bums would be placed on seats.

Persuasion is now a tad more difficult – and that’s not entirely due to economic recession.  Audiences are fragmented.  The Internet – and social media in particular – has empowered individuals and consumer groups.

Big companies nowadays are no longer the Great Persuaders.  They have to watch their step.  They know that one false move could bring a brand to its knees.  Reputation is everything.  Customer service and value is being carefully observed by the eyes of every mouse in every house that has a computer.

Back in the day, advertising was a powerful  force.  In some ways, it was an art form.  Interestingly, the art of persuasion is now in the hands of patrons whose powers of persuasion are rooted in an entirely different marketing culture.

Slogans can conjure up images of in our minds, influence us and even impact upon our every day language! So what makes a great slogan? Is it humour? Is the logo important? Should we keep it simple? Here is a list of what we think are the greatest slogans of all time! Feel free to share your top 10!

10. “Every little helps” – Tesco

Britain’s number one retailer came up with this genius slogan, it’s obviously been effective, Tesco is now the third-largest retailer in the world.

9. “The best a man can get” – Gillette

This famous line belongs to Gillette. Back in 2010 Gillette was obviously the not the best Tiger Woods could get, when they dropped his 20 million pound “best a man can get” endorsement.

8. “If Carlsberg did…” – Carlsberg

Carlsberg series of “If Carlsberg did…” adverts have become almost iconic, combining humour and laddish banter, to form a slogan worthy of a place in the top 10.

7. “It does exactly what it says on the tin” – Ronseal

“It does exactly what it says on the tin” was originally an advertising slogan used by Ronseal back in 1994, which has become a common idiomatic phrase in the British vocabulary to this day!

6. “It’s the real thing” – Coke

Need I explain, but this is obviously one of the most iconic slogans ever written. Coke came up with this slogan to fend off fierce rivals Pepsi.

5. “Keep calm and carry on” – British Government

“Keep Calm and Carry On” was a propaganda poster produced by the British government in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. Seeing only limited distribution, it was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of other products.

4. “Make Love not war” – Gershon Legman

“Make love not war” is an anti-war slogan commonly associated with the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War, but has been invoked in other anti-war contexts since. Gershon Legman claims to have discovered this famous slogan.

3. “Have a break have a Kit Kat” – Kit Kat

Since 1957, the slogan for the Kit Kat has been “Have a break… have a Kit Kat”.

2. “You either love it or hate it” – Marmite

My personal favourite, this slogan is almost bigger than the actual product now. Marmite realised there was a polarised opinion regarding their product, so in the 1990s came up with the love hate concept and still stand by this today, genius.

1. “Just do it” – Nike

Iconic, legendary, genius – these words cannot hope to sum up this slogan. According to Nike company lore, one of the most famous and easily recognised slogans in advertising history was coined at a 1988 meeting of Nike’s ad agency Wieden and Kennedy and a group of Nike employees. Dan Weiden, speaking admiringly of Nike’s can-do attitude, reportedly said, “You Nike guys, you just do it.” The rest, as they say, is (advertising) history.

Who would have thought just five years ago that SEO Services would  be a fully paid-up member of the copywriting fraternity.  And yet, Buzzwords now has a new website page of the same name which we’re promoting through Online PR (practise what you preach, eh!).

In many ways, it’s no surprise that SEO and copywriting have become such close  bedfellows.  If you look at the main elements of SEO that Google is rewarding in the wake of its many Panda Updates, you’ll see that the ‘quality content’ which is now top of the greasy SEO pole does in fact refer back to copywriting skills.

Quality content is essential to the various skill sets used in link building programmes.  I’m thinking here of Online PR, for instance, or Corporate Blogging, On-page SEO Copywriting and Article Marketing.

It’s fortunate that copywriting now forms the central essential skill required for basic SEO.  I’ve been writing offline press releases and articles for many years.  Not far behind is the time spent on website copywriting, blog writing and social media posts.

Clients sill think that SEO is a black art that requires an in-depth knowledge of HTML and other esoteric online tricks.  I’m not saying that a knowledge of this aspect of SEO inputs doesn’t help – it does.  Five years ago, I was so much in awe of  this type of geek-speak – I decided to take a course in  it!

As a website copywriter, I appreciated being able to go ‘behind the scenes’ as it were.  It allowed me to look web designers in the eye and – yo! – I could even join in their geeky conversations.  SEO is a similar discipline in so far as it demands enormous attention to detail.  Where it differs is in the sheer application that’s needed over many weeks to achieve a highly specific goal.  Applying On-page SEO is usually relatively quick.  Link building on the other hand calls for perseverance of a totally different order.

Writing high quality articles and guest blog posts calls for intellectual stamina that would exhaust many people – especially when they’re trying to combine this kind of SEO activity with other ‘day job’ activities! That’s why hiring professional copywriters (with enough insight into SEO to really make a difference) is now a sensible option, especially for owners of small to medium-size businesses who want real value for money that doesn’t involve being blinded by science.