• From your browser, navigate to www.Google.com.
• In the search bar -  search for your site.  (do not type in the whole URL, you want to find your site in the search results.
• Once you find your site, click the “Cached” link.  (This is a visual snapshot of your site as Google last saw it)
• Navigate to the top toolbar – click “View.”  Scroll down to “Page Source” and click it.
• A screen will pop up – this is the code for your site.
• Scan the code for any URL’s that do not belong.(It should be obvious as hackers will stuff hundreds of links)
• The spam links are usually at the very top or bottom of your page.

Once you have made sure you have/have not been hacked, follow these steps:

• If you have been hacked, get your website administrator to get in and delete them all.  It is probably a good idea to review security protocols so that it does not happen again.
• If you have/have not been hacked, go to Google Alerts and set up some automatic alerts.  Google will tell you if someone has posted your URL with the keywords of your choice.  Simply type in www.yourwebsite.com [insert your favorite pharmaceutical word here] and set the other settings to your preference, and click “create alert.”  It is that easy – Google will alert you that someone has posted it.  Your reaction time will be much faster.

There’s to a hacker free 2011 – enjoy!

I am not chickening out of the debate (seriously). For too long it has been an either or debate. Does homeopathy work for some – yes. Does it not work for others – yes. The same can be said about modern medicine – yes. Your hard liners on both ends will stick to their guns. But if you have all the naturalists on one hand and the modernists on the other and average their life spans and quality of living – its going to be a dead heat. The problem is not the cure – but the people. Sure, you are going to have the jokers who listen to some of their doctors advice, but not all. Same with those that go to their homeopathic caregiver. And since a half cure is no cure at all – both sides can look at the other and say it does not work.

I am a hybrid. I like having a doctor and a homeopathic caregiver. When my appendix gave out, I did not reach for herbs. I got it removed. When I am feeling fatigued, I don’t reach for crazy stimulants. I cut down on my carbs and get lean proteins and fruits (not at the same time). I create a system that works well for me and keeps me going strong.

It’s the same with business. Are there many plans for business success – yes. Do a lot of them work – yes. Do some people try them and miserably fail – you bet. When it comes to business, its all about listening to sound advice, implementing it, and tailoring it to who you are. If there are a million businesses out there, there should be a million business plans.

So when it comes to your business, you decide it’s DNA. You are the architect. Try something new and have follow through with it. Look at the results and tweak it to who you are. Learn, implement, tweak, repeat – that is the business model of success.

Merry Christmas!

Here it is, the end of the year. So much has happened. I know that I have taken a long hiatus from blog writing – we have seen an explosion of work here at Encompass.  But going this long without talking to our people, our clan, was never the intent.  Making sure our customers got 110% meant putting some of the fun stuff aside until we could get some major projects pushed through.  So, at the end of the year with our goals accomplished, I take time to thank you all for the encouragement, support, and friendship you have given.  We look forward to talking and blogging more in 2011.  Merry Christmas & have a Happy New Year!

Content Writing that Produces the Right Emotion:

Content Writing for Fear:

Fearful & smart, two emotions that Vivos, a bomb shelter manufacturer, set out to invoke with their website.  And, indeed, their site does a good job. With black backdrop, iconic disasters flashing on the screen, and images of human suffering – it adds up to a state of anxiety.  Then comes the content.  Verbal images of prophecy, governmental ineptitude, and  immanent natural disasters – and this just in the first paragraph. Next in the copy write is the solution – mother earth herself.

“The soil of the Earth itself can provide the best shelter for most catastrophes, including a pole shift, super volcano eruptions, solar flares, earthquakes, asteroids, tsunamis, nuclear attack, bio terrorism, chemical warfare and even widespread social anarchy.”

This is content writing 101.  Get them anxious and emotive, then provide them with a solution at an intuitive level.  Good ‘ol mother earth solves everything, right?  From there, a person is left feeling smart for finding the solution – The Bomb Shelter.  And no ordinary shelter, but a communal shelter with everything a person needs.

All in all, they do an OK job with the flow of the content.  I know, I should not be praising a site that preys on fears of the people.  But for accomplishing what it set out to do, I give it a C.  The reason I can’t give it a higher grade, The critical thinking skills of the site, a little lacking.  They hinge the site on 2012.  Really, 2012?  Referencing the prophecy of a society’s demise 800 years after it already happened…  I would say the Maya’s were a little off.  For that reason alone I should give it an F, but some aspects of the content are redeemable.

Search Engine Optimization Woes:

Overloaded Keywords

This is a Search Engine Optimization goldmine.  Or should I say, spam.  They overload the site with keyword after keyword.  It is done to be mind-numbing.  And they succeed.  for that, F.  I don’t know what Google thinks about it, but I doubt it is good.

All in all, it is a site to show what not to do.  I doubt that they will win any awards at the css awards.  But, I could always be wrong…

Here is the set-up.  You have twenty minutes to squeeze in a blog. You want make sure you get all your search engine optimization keywords in.  You know that most people will just skim the article anyway.  So you forget your copy writing etiquette and stuff the keywords in any ‘ol place.

Here in lies the rub: your blog, in many cases, will be your first impression to potential clients.  What they read will determine what they think about your company, your offerings, and what you can do for them.  If they find a jumbled mess of words – what will they conclude about our products and services.  Having keywords that get you to the top of the search engines is one thing, closing the deal with that person is another.

Good Content Writing Speaks to Google:

Let’s face it – if Google doesn’t like it, its not good for business.  They determine who gets ranked first page or last.  And Google does not like  keyword soup.  To them, it’s spamming.  The best search engine optimization practice is writing like you are having a conversation.  In a conversation there is flow, contrast, and progression.  Keywords should be evenly spaced, make sense in context, and never blindly inserted in the text.

Google only has the searcher in mind.  They want to offer high quality results to each search.  We can play that game.  It means offering high quality content to be searched.  In the end, its kind of a no brainer.  We have high quality businesses, why shouldn’t our online presence reflect it?  Content writing for search optimization, after all, should be about giving our best spit-and-polish to our image as we welcome new clients through the door.

Many of you aware of the N-word heard ’round the world (or rather 11 N-words) uttered by Dr. Laura Schlessinger on her evening talk show.  She was counseling (used loosely) a African-American gal who was married to a white fella.  The caller felt her husband did not defend her when people around them made racist comments.  Dr. Laura made the point that using racially heavy words does not mean you are racist.  And, to illustrate, she referenced Black comedians who continually use the N-word but are not considered racist.  The caller was taken aback by the use of the epithet and so was the rest of the nation.

Here is the rub.  Dr. Laura was making a perfectly valid point.  As a content writer, I love words.  Words describe, words illustrate.  I would rather paint with words than use actual paint any day.  We should have no holds barred on words.  But any copywriter will tell you, words are also emotive.  As an experiment, go to your favorite social media, be it Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Take note of your facial expressions as you read.  As you engage with the text, it forms a reaction – an emotion.  You can’t help it.  You are affected by the words.

This can be an asset to the content writer.  You can tap into the heart of people.  You can get them to engage, be fully aware, and respond in kind.  Copy writing is about knowing your audience and coloring your text accordingly.  Dr. Laura had to resign because she forgot that words, verbal or written strike a cord with those that hear it.  The N-word, when spoken, recalls a time when we had a second class in our society.  A time when all Americans were not endowed with certain inalienable rights.

So let that word stand as a testament of the potential ugliness of the human heart.  Let us not forget.  Neither use it as a club to shame whites or use it as a curse to the blacks.  Let it stand an unspoken word.  It’s silence a remembrance of what we can never return to.

Sorry Dr. Laura, you forgot the cardinal rule that everyone should remember, edit twice, publish once. Even with the spoken word, you need that internal editor.  I am telling you, if everyone had a great content writer in their corner, the world would be a much more happy place… 

When our skin comes in contact with the ultraviolet rays of the full day sun, our bodies produce this group of fat-soluble secosteroids which boost the immune system and regulate the proper mineralization in our body.  Most experts agree that 10 to 30 minutes a day of exposure to the sun from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will give us our daily amount.

Search Engine Optimization:
What does Vitamin D have to do with Search Engine Optimization?  Top search engine optimization companies follow this one, simple rule: exposure to new ideas, top news, and the latest trend equals compelling content.  Let’s face it, blogging about the same thing, day after day, month after month, can get a little monotonous. We need something to stir the blood,  generate new ways of thinking of things, and provoke emotions.  We need to interact with the world around us. The best search engine optimization companies blog about their clients topic & the world outside their client’s niche.  It brings depth.  It brings well-roundness.

As you reach for you search engine optimization goals, keep in mind that people will be reading your copy.  Remember the first rule of the top search engine optimization companies and throw in your vitamin D.  Keep interesting, keep it fresh, keep it new.

Steven Slater

It’s all over the news.  Flight Attendant cusses out unruly passenger after being verbally assaulted and clipped in the head with the overhead compartment door.  I won’t rehash the details here.  We have ten thousand other blog sites to do that for us.  But it did get me thinking.  How many times have I wanted to go off on when I was treated less than human.  Steven Slater, the flight attendant, has become an overnight sensation because he did what we all have been seconds away from doing.  And, because he spoke for thousands of harassed service workers with his antics; his fame is assured, at least for fifteen minutes.

But we in the blogosphere have a secret weapon when staying sane.  If a copywriter is ticked, they can spill their emotions in rough draft, edit, and redact till a polished yet punchy product is produced.  Our poor flight attendant did not have near that chance.  I think that is one of he great joys of content writing.  You can emote, express, and be unique.  There are no constrictive boxes holding you down.  No rigid uniforms, no pat phrases to tell customers, no hours of polite “yes ma’am,” or “no sir,” through gritted teeth.

Those who blog can get it out, shake it off, and come back tomorrow for more.  Yes, we deal with the crazy comments and the spammers looking to hock their wares, but we respond back, in kind.  We can get it off our chest.  It is our arena.  Our world.  The one piece of advice I would have given our blue collar pitcher of verbal poo as he slid down the emergency slide – “quite your day job and become a writer.”

“Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was sighted as the most important marketing medium from respondents with 45%, with social media a close second with 42%. Other marketing media plans included word of mouth with 37% of the vote and a surprising 27% said that direct mail would be main channel for their marketing over the next few months.”

We are witnessing the dominance of social media and optimized websites as a marketing juggernaut.  As a content writer, I welcome the trend.  By optimizing websites for search engines, we are just giving people what they are searching for.  And giving people what they want opens the channels for increased sales.  And increased sales precipitates an economic recovery.  In my view, this casts the lowly SEO copy-writer as the economic “super hero”.   A sort of mighty butterfly’s flapping wings that starts the tsunami.  I think I shall start wearing a large “S” on my chest.