Do You Have A Blog Or A Splog?

What is a splog?  

We've all seen those 'blogs', for want of a better name, which are little more than a few pages of poorly written, usually meaningless, content, heaps of affiliate links, advertising, promo banners and the like.  That is a splog.   

Just as spam emails are emails written purely to advertise products, affiliate links and websites, a spam blog is a blog written purely to advertise products, affiliate links and websites.  Granted, they are a lot less common these days than they were a few years ago - we can thank the search engines for that.  They regularly weed out these types of sites with new algorithms and rules.  However, there are still thousands upon thousands of sites out there masquerading as legitimate 'blogs' that are in reality just sophisticated splogs.  They clutter up the Internet and provide very little in the way of real value.  

A splog's main purpose is to send people to associated/affiliate websites and landing pages.  To this end, they're specifically designed to manipulate search engine results and hog rankings for particular keywords.  All the rage a few years ago but search engines are getting smarter and smarter and keyword stuffing, which is what most splogs are full of, is more likely to have the opposite effect these days. 

Duplicate, or near to duplicate, content is also an issue with many splogs.  Article spinning software is a serial splogger's best friend - it gives them the remarkable talent of being able to use other people's work and rephrase enough of it to fool search engines.

And as for wanting to know something about the author ...  Forget that - IF there is any information provided it's likely to be very sketchy at best and completely fake at worst.

Then there are the links and ads; they're everywhere in a splog.  No tasteful and relevant placement tactics involved whatsoever - just make the text fit the link and then shove half a dozen ads on there as well so no-one misses the point.

Sploggers beware however - these days search engines are placing more and more emphasis on quality content and reader engagement and they're penalising websites and blogs that are deemed to be overly promotional in nature and not providing value.  Website hosts, particularly those who offer free websites and free hosting, are following suit and many 'bloggers' are suddenly finding themselves 'blogless' literally overnight.  Blogger and Wordpress in particular are starting to jump on anything they consider is more splog than blog.

And the solution??  That's a no-brainer - make sure you have a blog, not a splog!

Do Your Blog Posts, Articles & Web Content Make Sense?

Make sure your blog posts, articles and web content are written correctly and make sense....

You know the scenario....   You have several blogs and / or websites and you are determined to keep the content on them fresh by posting at least one new post or article daily.  But - where to find the time to write them, let alone come up with new ideas for content on a daily basis.

Enter outsourcing via PeoplePerHour, AirTasker, Elance, Odesk, Fiverr etc.  These services are a godsend to the active blogger BUT there are some pitfalls.  One of the most common problems, if your blog posts and articles need to be written in the Queen's English, is that many of these writers do not write the Queen's English particularly well.  Chances are the pieces are sometimes even written in another language altogether and then translated into English by our friend Google Translator.  Certainly some of them read that way....

Another favourite method is the ubiquitous article spinner; a very handy tool indeed in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing with it but the producer of very ordinary, and sometimes quite amusingly bad, articles if one doesn't keep on top of them.

Some cultures also favour verbose, ornate, flowery language which again is not typically English.    Which is fine unless your native language is English. Then it just looks kinda .... strange and  'spammy'.

Or those pesky SEO words and phrases, that have to be included if you want anyone to actually find your blog or site, look like they’ve just been plonked into the text without any real attempt to integrate them!

Now, I'm not saying ban outsourced article writing altogether!! I have an online research, writing, editing and proof reading service myself so I'd hate to shoot myself in the foot.  What I am saying is that if you are in the habit of outsourcing some of your writing then you should at least read the article, blog post or whatever before you post it just to be sure it makes sense, both literally and figuratively.  There is already a proliferation of poorly written garbage out there in Internet land so why add to it!

Recruiting The Right Person For The Job – Yes It Is Important!

Hiring the right type of person to fill a role within your company could just be one of the most important business decisions you’ll make.  Employees can, and often do, make or break a business.  If you’re in the retail business for instance, your team members on the shop floor are your first line of contact with your customers.  And given that it’s those customers who bring in the money to keep your business running, it pays to make sure you have the right team members in the right positions.  Not everyone is cut out to work in retail.  Recognising this simple truth is a key factor in successful recruiting, regardless of the industry being recruited for.

Know Your Requirements And What You’re Looking For When Recruiting

A good retail team member needs to possess certain skill sets or they simply won’t be able to do the job satisfactorily.  An outgoing, friendly and pleasant personality for example is a big part of being a successful retail employee.  Someone who greets customers as they walk in the door to your establishment with a big smile and a warm greeting goes a long way towards establishing a favourable first impression of your business.  On the other hand, an employee who ignores customers, is grouchy, uncommunicative, unfriendly and unwilling to help will usually send customers back out the door as fast as they came in!

Another attribute a good retail employee should have is an aptitude for picking up product knowledge.  They should know, or be prepared to learn, about the products they’re selling.  Customers almost always expect sales staff to know at least the basics and will often ask for assistance or product information.  If your sales team can’t provide that information, your customer could well take their business elsewhere.

This is just one example of how important it is to ensure you have the right people doing the right jobs for you.  So how do you work out before you employ someone just what you’re looking for?

Job Analysis – Making Sure You Put A Round Peg In A Round Hole

The first step is undertaking a thorough job analysis with a view to putting together a detailed job description.  Make a list of the responsibilities involved in the position you’re hiring for.  To use the retail example above, if you’re hiring a senior team member, the person may be responsible for all the day end activities which includes shutting down the point of sale system, counting and reconciling the day’s takings, putting it in the safe, doing the banking and so on.  Therefore, you would expect some prior experience in these activities.  And as they’ll be handling money, you should also probably factor in a police clearance.  On top of that, they should also have a good sales track record with relevant experience of the retail industry.  On the other hand, if you’re just hiring a junior sales clerk, the person may not need to be anything more than a well-presented pleasant, outgoing personality who is willing to learn on the job.

Yes Virginia, Dusting Is Important But So Is Helping Customers

Therefore, knowing the requirements for the job at hand, and the duties the person will be required to do underpins successful recruiting.  You should also be able to clearly define the relative importance of those duties in terms of the overall position.  Your junior sales person for instance may be required to dust the shelves each morning.   However, their number one priority is attending to your customers.  What you don’t want them doing is ignoring customers because they ‘have to get the dusting done.’

Yes Virginia, Dreams Are Possible!

Even if sometimes they seem impossible .…

We’ve all had ‘those’ dreams…. The ones where we dream that our bank account is loaded with cash, giving us the freedom to live our lives as we please. Buy what we please, go where we please without ever having to count the cost.  

For many people, the closest they come to realising this dream is a trip to their local lotto kiosk to buy their weekly lotto ticket. Along with the millions of others who do the same thing. All dreaming that impossible dream – that they’ll somehow wake up one morning and find themselves on the list of ‘newest’ millionaires. Or at least a few thousand dollars richer.

Unfortunately for most folk, that’s all it ever amounts to – a dream. Your lotto numbers never seem to come up, or if they do, hundreds of others also had those same numbers. And if winning lotto is the highest you aspire to, then that’s fine and may you be that lucky one in a million whose numbers come up in the top division.

For the rest of us – we need to learn how to aspire higher. Set goals that, whilst achievable, challenge us and push us outside our comfort zone to achieve more than we’d usually achieve.  We need to get over thinking we ‘can’t’ do something because, sure as eggs, if you think you ‘can’t’ do something, you won’t do it. If you believe it’s too hard to create an income for yourself that will achieve all those things you dream about, then it will be too hard. If you think being rich beyond your wildest dreams is unattainable, it will be. Guaranteed. BUT only for YOU though, not for anyone else who is prepared to dig deep and find the resources within themselves to get the hard things done.

Think about all the things the human race has achieved…. We can soar with the birds but 200 years ago that would have been thought impossible. Lucky for us the Wright brothers thought otherwise and were prepared to work hard to achieve their dream – that one day mankind would be able to soar with the birds. 

It’s the same for most other inventions that today we take for granted. Someone, at some time, had a dream but instead of believing that their dream was unattainable, or hard, or impossible, they set themselves a goal to DO it. Whatever it took. And by and large, most of them succeeded. Limiting yourself with self-doubts, with self-limiting assumptions, WILL surely limit you. But if you take hold of your dream with both hands, if you break it up into attainable goals, and if you steadfastly stick to achieving each and every one of those goals you will inevitably find that, before you know it, your once impossible seeming dream is within touching distance. The impossible has become possible….

It was Thomas Edison who famously said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Unfortunately, most of us prefer to think of success as being the other way around – 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration. It isn’t.

What’s your dream and how close are you to realizing it!