BUT we do have a number of things to do when we simply can’t write…

5. A history of…
Well why not? A history of certain subjects can actually prove weirdly interesting to read as well as write. Working at redsauce, we absorb a lot of knowledge about topics we initially knew very little about; ask us now about them and we can give you a comprehensive description!

4. Why should I…?
Opinion pieces are a great way of mixing factual information with a healthy dose of keywords and positivity. We tend to avoid negative pieces here (we don’t want to bring anyone down, y’see), but positive pieces are generally quite straightforward to write and can be really informative.

3. Figures and reports
These pieces are usually pretty easy to write – simply find a genuine report on the topic you are writing on, pick out and interpret the important figures and then précis it to make an effective and informative piece. These tend to attract a good number of pingbacks from sources that may not want to sift through reports as well as create unique items for Google News.

2. Honing in on a particular location
Sometimes there just isn’t any news readily available to find, so we need to be a bit more specific with our search techniques. In my experience, we can often find the best stories from online local papers – there might not be a huge amount to write about, but with careful planning and spacing, these pieces are typically simple.

1. Top 10, 8, 6, five!
Lists! Everyone loves lists – heck, some of the most popular websites get a great deal of traffic through posting lists, such as Listverse and Cracked. Lists are really quite easy to write, are a great way of expressing an opinions and can yield a number of opportunities for injecting ways to improve the SEO. Only problem is the number of items you have in your list and the amount you write for each – often a top 10 list rapidly becomes a top 5, simply for clarity and to keep the reader interested.

We’re rarely short of something to write about here – whether it’s movies, iPhones, Lost, beards or… Nantwich, but it’s always good to have something to fall back on when it’s a slow news day.

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I will fall to my knees and beg you to stick by just one more Lost post, just because I’ve been a bit slow to watch through to the end and I reaaaally want to talk about it. But hey, why am I apologising?! This is my frickin’ blog post and no one tells me what I can’t do… *Inside reference hi-five*

If you haven’t watched it, shame on you and prepare for a big fat spoiler alert you big fat spoilsport. Now it turns out that the island was a mystical source of energy and all the characters met in a sort of afterlife meeting room. It’s kinda like they all have an unspoken pact to meet after death on the basis of their connection in life. It was definitely a tear-jerking feel-good ending that will be music to the ears of a lot of Lost fans who saw all their favourite characters get their happy ever after ending.

However some things will leave Lost lovers burning their box-sets – why *exactly* was there a polar bear there? What happened to Walt’s spooky powers? What did the numbers really mean?

But cynics aside, it was one of the most absorbing shows of our generation and will be truly missed by its fans. But before you switch channels because I’m not getting to the point, it’s worth thinking about redsauce.com as a bit of a mysterious island in its own right. You might not know how we got there, why we’re there or what we’re up to, but the journey will lead your company somewhere special if you’re willing to take the plunge. The nature of what we do means we need to keep a bit of mystery about our SEO and content secrets, but make it through season three and you’ll be glad you stuck with us.

SEO you in another life, brother…

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Logically I should tie my redsauce blog today into something to do with the news; football, tennis or how one of Jedward fell and hurt his ankle on live TV (that actually was kinda funny, in a harrowing way).

Not today though, for today is the 5th July and that means ‘Arbitrary Celebration Day!‘

What is ACD? Nothing at all, but get enough people talking, blogging and tweeting about it and it becomes something. This is demonstrated neatly in Twitter using trending topics – essentially a list of what everyone is tweeting about.

Some of the top trends worldwide are #mostpopularlies, Maradona and #thereshouldbeanapp. Chances are one person tweeted their most popular lie, someone found it hilarious and it has since spread like wildfire. You can even see the lifespan of particular trends and the sudden speed with which they tend to boom.

For example, the #mostpopularlies trend began at around 3.30pm yesterday and by 7PM, approximately 1.97% of Twitter was tweeting that particular subject and by midnight, that number had fallen to 0.26%. Fickle, to say the least.

I don’t expect my ACD to get any kind of attention on Twitter – I only have 25 followers and I still don’t really see much of a benefit, but it’s interesting how one thing can spread so widely in such a short space of time.

Now to trend some SEO, methinks.

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Now this afternoon we’ve been taking it in turns to try our hand at picking a winning chocolate. So far, so good! The croc’s managed to avoid a coffee one, which he informed me if he did find he’d be sick on me, and even the tech guys have been pleased with their picks.

OK, so now you know our unhealthy diet habits but how could this possibly relate to the content team as a whole?

Well… apart from us all having sweet looks (pay me later for that one guys!) we’re completely different to anything else on offer. We all have quality, tasty attributes but we’ve been lost slotted in amongst the cheapo fruit chews and gobstoppers. No, I’m not talking about the rest of redsauce.com –  I’m talking about the other content teams out there!

Just like our cut price chocolate misshapes, the redsauce.com content team are a hidden gem with rich, velvety centres. Our aim, just like the misshapen chocolates, is to make you and your website look and feel good. Each member of the team has a different filling, a different look and unique talents which are there to meet all our clients’ requirements.

We know you’ve been fooled in the past by other luxury brands. They promised you high quality confectionery goods and unique content but in the end you were just left with cheap-tasting, melted chocolate and a whole lot of duplicate content.

To that we say no more cheap chocolate and content! From now on you deserve unique, specialist content and luxury, exotic chocolate treats to match! So say hurrah for the chocolate misshapes that are the redsauce.com content team and contact us today for all your chocolatey content needs! Now… who ate the last chocolate?!

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Instead, I’m sitting at home watching the Tennis; at the moment it’s Federer vs. Melzer and Federer is up one set (and yes I did write this yesterday).

But I hear you ask: “What’s this got to do with SEO?” Well, I’m about to tell you.

Going to work day in and day out really limits your experiences and thought-processes. I’m not saying a routine is a bad thing but unless you experience something new, think something new or feel something new then eventually you are going to run out of things to say. Or for the content team, write.

Think about it: unless you watch a new TV program, talk to a new person, go to see a new film at the cinema or read a new book, then what have you got to say or write about?

You need to have new experiences not so much to give you a new topic to write about but to broaden your horizons, to let you see a new perspective and even to increase your vocabulary.

I’ll give you a specific example: by talking to someone new in the office I became open to the idea of Twitter, something I never conceived of using beforehand and now I’m on it everyday. I even used it as a topic for a recent redsauce blog.

So what I’m trying to say is that me sitting at home and watching the tennis is important for my writing, which in turn is good for the company.

Do you think my boss will buy that?

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I say we, I mean the English football team – a sorry, tired bunch of overly familiar and disappointing faces struggling to keep up with fantastic play from the Germans. A rag-tag group of cocky, overpaid individuals who appeared lost on the field; maybe they had greater intentions to return to the studio and make a few more adverts.

And yet, these people supposedly represent England – a glance over the headlines reads ‘A DARK DAY FOR ENGLAND’ or ‘ENGLAND DEFEATED’, but this is all wrong; they represent the English football team, that’s it. We are not our football team.

Enough of my rant, I’m now going to demonstrate how this ties into SEO and content. A content site should be built upon many different factors so as to spread its reach and ensure that it has the best search potential as possible.

As well as this, should something go wrong with one aspect of the site (bad news, coding issues, or simply lack of new content) you will have nothing to fall back on and your site will be in a significant state of jeopardy and uncertainty.

Essentially, the moral of the story is: manage your website well, keep your avenues of content open and remember that you are not your content – your content can only be decided by you.

Oh, and stop talking about the football – IT’S BORING.

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So one week in and let me tell you what I think.

Well, I never thought I’d say this but I actually prefer it to Facebook and that’s because it’s like Facebook but a lot faster.

Let me explain…

I don’t know about everybody else but I just used Facebook for the status updates. I checked the updates and then I didn’t know what to do, so just logged off.

But with Twitter the updates (or tweets) are faster and there are more of them, so I can just leave Twitter on in the background and wait for the tweets to roll in.

But I hear you ask: “what’s the point of that?”

Well, you can follow anyone or any subject and get up-to-the-minute news from all around the world and for journalists this means that it is a vital resource.

Take me for example, I used to scour the web or Google news to find news about office space, commerce and gadgets, which usually took over 30 minutes a day. But now I’ve got twitter I can subscribe (or follow) office news and receive it instantly without doing anything.

Twitter also allows me to do a shout-out which essentially gives me my own 11 year old boy shouting “read all about…”. Whenever I write a blog or an article I can use Twitter to self-advertise and raise the web presence of my writing.

And by following key users or key topics I can get noticed and develop a following. Last night alone I gained 10 followers and I’m pretty sure that’s all down to who I follow myself.

Now if I link to one of my articles and just one person follows the link, then isn’t Twitter worth it?

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If you’re inclined to agree with Michael, you might say “Why the heck should I?! No one ever reads my blogs, I should just end it all now!!” while reaching for a pointy broom handle and motioning hara-kiri. But the fact of the matter is that someone IS listening and that someone is called Google.

Even if your blog is about as thought-provoking as a Hollyoaks calendar, it’s worth remembering that Google loves you and your content, no matter how trifling. It’s a bit like a mother that loves her son even though he’s a beardy, oatcake scoffing computer nerd with trainers from the market. I name no names.

All that Google asks is that you keep your content as unique as possible and that you keep it coming regularly. Persevere with these tips and you’ll see your SEO soar beyond your wildest dreams!* (*Disclaimer: Within the bounds of reasonable expectations.)

With increased visibility comes followers and authority, so be patient and have faith in the power of the blog: it will all pay off. It’s like the disembodied voice once told Kevin Costner – “If you build it, he will come…” Listen to that voice and trust that Google is taking notice. But I’d probably stop short of building a baseball diamond in your back garden.

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This week the content team have been going a bit grammar nuts. It has caused a number of heated debates at Casa del redsauce, with our content team particularly perplexed by the role and purpose of a serial comma. Needless to say, we don’t get invited to many parties.

But it got me thinking about the importance of grammar to us writers and how it can make or break your content.

As we women oft scream at our perplexed other halves, “It’s not what you said, it’s the way you said it!” This couldn’t be more true of grammar as it provides a vital context for our writing. If you want to write beautiful, grammatically assured prose, be sure to brush up on your grammar basics.

To make your writing fully professional, consistency is the key. You should ensure your content adheres to an established style guide, such as the University of Oxford Writing and Style Guide. There is also no shame in pulling out your grammar guide and getting to grips with the rules.

So haul out your inner grammar stickler and bask in the glory of your grammatical greatness! Your content will thank you for it.

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Essentially these ‘games’ revolve around the use of language and how we use words to convey meaning to have a communication exchange with another person.

So if you went the shop for 5 red apples, the shop keeper would have to match the “5”, the “red” and the “apples” to an image in his head in order for you to get what you want.

So talking, or shopping, is like playing snap with words until your cards match the cards of the other person.

With this in mind I thought I’d give “the content game” a few more rules.

[Start ‘content game’]

So¹ what¹ is¹ content¹ about¹? I’d¹ say¹ most¹ importantly¹ use¹ unique¹ descriptions¹ and¹ refrain¹ from¹ writing¹ or¹ typing¹ the¹ same¹ word¹ more¹ than¹ once¹. Which¹ can¹ be¹ hard¹, very¹ difficult¹ indeed¹.

This’¹ especially¹ true¹ when¹ describing¹ things¹ several¹ times¹, something¹ that’s¹ often¹ done¹ at¹ redsauce¹.

However¹ you¹ should¹ try¹ then¹ your¹ company¹ could¹ improve¹ Google¹ ratings¹.

[Finish ‘content game’]

[Final score: 100%]

If you haven’t guessed the modified content game involved only use a word once and in my attempt I got a perfect score. Not one word is repeated and I’ve even numbered them to make sure. (Hopefully I haven’t made a counting mistake).

Just to let you know I intended to write to the end of the blog with the new rules but I had to stop. Try the game for yourself and you will see how hard it is to write a prolonged piece of writing and only use ‘to’ once.

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