So aside from Milton creating a new word (“Something’ll”) in his previous blog, moving is perhaps the most ground-breaking occurrence on our calendar to date. It took blood, sweat and tears to lug a mountain of desks, two trellises, a pot plant called Jazzy Jeff, a Johnny Cash-singing dragon, a plastic egg with nothing in it, a farting gnome, two Slinkys, a tamborine, copious dismembered computers and more plastic tomatoes than are logically conceivable…across the road. We are located on the other side of the roundabout, looking back at the office we spent so many of our days in, as if stuck in perpetual nostalgia….ah, those were the days…

But there’s no looking back when the future is so bright! It’s all go in our new crib, with the excitement of moving mingling with the potent wafts of fresh paint – it’s a heady concoction. Everyone is feeling the buzz and moving office is perhaps the most effective form of team building there is (cheapskate managers take note). It’s such a great time as not only are we moving into a new office and embracing a new phase of our company’s journey but we’re physically helping to build our new work place. C’mon guys, time for a group hug…

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I’m dead jealous but also happy that something she’s been working towards for the past few months has actually proved fruitful (plus she may share her earnings with me if all things go well so I must not flagrantly exhibit my envy).

The point I want to make is that as soon as she found out she rang me at work and shouted down the phone – this was massive news for her and news is something that must be shared.

The very essence of a newsworthy article or blog is the fact that reading or hearing about it makes you want to pass it on to others. This is especially important at redsauce.com. We write hefty chunks of news each day for our client sites and we want the things we write about to draw attention from a cross section of diverse sectors. We want lots of reciprocal relationships and links leading to and from our sites to strengthen their authority and appeal.

Creating interweaving links from multifarious sources and writing exceptional news blogs is the stuff that we are made of. If only I had a delicious pie to munch on while I did it. Alas I do not, so I am going to wait until my sister returns from her travels and get her to rustle up something tasty for my packed lunches.

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Although your visitor numbers have slightly increased, you find yourself “wasting” hours of your time writing, in your own opinion, a load of garbage! You’ve exhausted all your content ideas and now you’re just babbling on about nothing in particular. Uninspired, you feel like giving up…

Stop right there! Giving up now is the worst thing you can do! You need to go back to basics and fall back in love with blogging all over again! Remember why you were writing the blog in the first place – to display facts, information, offers and news content to your visitors.

You need to identify why your blog isn’t working for your business and change tactics! If all you do is post about how great your company is then it’s going to turn visitors and Google off. While it’s great to acknowledge your accomplishments, no one likes a business which is constantly blowing its own horn. The best way to blog is to add a bit of diversity – try to mix your posts up. Including a good mix of news, offers, advice and stories is the best way to attract and keep both customers and Google.

Sick of blogging? There’s no reason to say your blog can’t be written by more than one person. By using different contributors you can add even more diversity to your site, plus it might help to eliminate the monotonous feeling you’re currently experiencing. Here at redsauce.com we use this tactic and find it works brilliantly – we get a great mix of content and styles, which is something that Google looks for when visiting a site.

Another key thing to remember when blogging is not to let the quality slip. Bad spelling, grammar and poor sentence structure instantly shout out laziness or incompetence - neither of which is a great look for your company.  Poor quality blogs also displease Google and can have a huge effect on rankings.

Although blogging might seem like a lot of work for minimal results, it is worth it. Adding quality content daily to your site is the best way to make sure Google visit your site regularly – something which is essential for any online company. Blogging is also a great way to interact with customers and regular news-worthy content can help you become an authority in the eyes of Google.

So hang on in there young blogger, it’ll be worth it in the end – you’ll see!

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A move can mean lots of things, can’t it? It can mean things are going to radically change, that new people are going to be hired and that our jobs are going to drastically adapt.

But let me tell you something: it’s been a long time coming but a change is gonna come. So you have to just accept it.

The fact of the matter is that change is inevitable (in my head I can’t say that without sounding like Mr Smith from the Matrix) and you just have to adapt.

This is especially true within the IT sector and for internet based company. If we didn’t adapt and roll with the punches then it would be like using a MS Dos or a Commodore 64 to compete with Steve Jobs, which is frankly impossible.

We are working in a sector where new developments occur almost on a weekly basis, there is always a new product, a new idea or a new strategy and if we didn’t adapt then we wouldn’t be successful.

We can all get used to doing things in a particular way and can really enjoy our little habits and ways of doing things but unless you adapt you will soon be obsolete. I mean, we don’t use Betamax’s and 8-tracks anymore and if we did then our choices would be pretty limited.

So what does the move mean for the company? Well, I’d say that it means we appreciate the need for change and that by doing so we can stay ahead of the curve.

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One of the most competent writers of the team (well, compared to Selena, anyway), Javaria has an amazing talent for flowery and a plethora of delicately eloquent and sumptuous language – this isn’t just content, this is Javaria’s content.

Javaria, however is not without her flaws – it is a common situation where there will be a sometimes interesting, but usually bizarre, conversation in the office, during which she will carry on dutifully typing away… Until a particular word or phrase is mentioned, at which point, Javaria will chime in, asking what is being talked about, requiring a full explanation of the conversation that has ALREADY HAPPENED.

Regardless of this minor inconvenience, Javaria is a very hard-worker, with an amazing calm demeanour – we often wonder what exactly is in that flask of hers; but let’s not mention that incident with the billionator shall we.

So, on this relaxing bank holiday, we can rest assured that Javaria is calmly cooking up a delicious recipe and watching absolute trash on the television – probably something on UK Living called ‘My Beautiful Liposuction In The Dark’.

Next week, we will be looking at Amy, but in a way that doesn’t jeopardise my job. Obviously.

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Okay, so MySpace isn’t exactly dead, but in the world of social media it hasn’t upped its game enough to keep pace with Facebook and Twitter. It takes me back to the heady summer of 2004 when teenagers like Tom spent their evenings locked in their bedrooms, applying their older sister’s make up, brushing their hair into their faces and staring up into their camera phones. It was a narcissists dream. That is, until Facebook took the very essence of looking at yours and other people’s faces and made it a priority.

To the untrained eye, these sites are virtually the same – both allow you to chat, check out people’s pictures, stalk the person you fancy and share websites. Sadly, however, MySpace was replaced by MyFace and YourFace and the PersonYouUsedToGoToSchoolWithButNeverSpokeTo’sFace in a far more user-friendly format that changed with the times before the times even knew they were a-changin’.

In the fickle world of social media, movement is an intrinsic aspect. To successfully harness the powers of social media to the benefit of your business, you just have to ride the wave and look out for the next big tidal change. It’s a bit like Emo Tom – he’s moved on to tweed jackets and cravats because hoodies and guyliner is soooo 2006. It’s ever-changing and at the mercy of its users, but you’d better believe that whatever it comes dressed as, social media aint going anywhere.

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The office was ablaze with questions when Javaria announced her lunchtime intentions of cheese pie. I stared at her with wide, innocent eyes and implored her to describe this “chee-se pi-e” of which she spoke. Sadly, her thick NAAAARRRRTHEEEERRRRNNN accent made this an impossible code to crack. I was none the wiser upon turning up at our local B-list celebrity themed cafe. My heart leapt when I saw ‘Cheese and onion pie’ scrawled on across the specials chalk board and I ordered it without hesitation.

Cue a montage of waiting, such as clocks ticking, leaning on our elbows and lying face down on the table before the waitress finally arrived with this fabled “chee-se pi-e”. I had visions of oozing Cheddar, strings of mozzarella and a plate like an oil slick. Javaria reassured me that I’d made the right decision, while I secretly envied the arrival of Tim’s lasagna.

And thus it arrived: a mountain of beige crust hiding piles of potato. It came with chips on the side which added to its plethora of beige. I had the carbohydrate palpitations before I’d even stuck my fork in it. Despite the alleged “onion”, this cheese pie was the antithesis of vegetable and the mortal enemy of nutrition. As ever, my content brain ticked over and wondered how this pie could be fitted clumsily into a hastily-written Friday blog post. Content can sometimes resemble a cheese pie…. *cough* stick with me… When we write content it can be a great filler upper, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will add any intrinsic value to the site. With a bit more cheese, this pie could really have been a contender and like it’s content counterpart, just needed a few more specific flavours. I’m talking keywords here people!

Great content is not just a bland, filling slab that stops web pages from going hungry – it can be jam-packed with keywords that take it to another level.

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I started going to the gym when I was 18 to try and shed some excess pounds. My mother used to come along and walk on the treadmill positioned behind the exercise bike that I was using. Unbeknownst to me she was secretly praying that my bottom would shrink to a manageable size while she quietly sweated away muttering to herself  in a giant t-shirt and trainers from God knows where (I have made her sound crazy but she isn’t).

Anyway her prayers worked and I started enjoying working out. Even now I like the sense of feeling healthy and strong that only comes with regular exercise. Working out makes the body stronger and any nutritionist/fitness guru/Gwyneth Paltrow will tell you that our bodies are a tool that should be looked after and respected.

The same can be said for writing – it’s only through practise and regular maintenance that writing gets better. My writing muscles are tools that have to keep me in good stead for the remainder of my working years so I’m intent on flexing them at every possible opportunity.

There’s an abundance of words and phrases that writers use, which sound grand and can sell the dullest of products in an instant. And the knowledge of those expressions and words can only come through experience, analysis and trial and error. Ultimately the best training a fledgling writer can benefit from is simply to write as much as they can.

Only then will they be able strengthen and improve their existing skills and hone their talents to perfection.

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A report from the illustrious Los Angeles Times states that the digital newspaper would feature short, bitesize stories which would initially be written by staff at Murdoch’s New York Post and Dow Jones. If the venture proves successful, it’s believed News Corp would take on more staff to cope with growing demand.

The report goes on to say the digital newspaper would be available exclusively on Apple’s iPad and smartphones and could be a big hit with businessmen on the go. At the moment there’s no guidelines in place for pricing, although many believe it would work on a similar pay wall to News Corp’s Wall Street Journal app, which currently costs users around $4 per week.

At the moment this is only a rumour but it does seem to underline the company’s excitement about the prospect of tablet devices and media consumption – just a few weeks ago Murdoch excitedly announced great things for the new tablet devices.

“I think we’re going to see, around the world, hundreds and hundreds of millions of these [tablet] devices… We’ll have young people reading newspapers. It’s a real game changer in the presentation of news,” he enthusiastically proclaimed.

If News Corp does go ahead and launch an iPad-only newspaper it could change the face of online media consumption as we know it. It’s no secret that iPads are already ridiculously successful and have millions of dedicated fans (we even have a few in our office) but does the device really need a newspaper designed specifically for its users?!

The Los Angeles Times reports that the programme could be out in America before the end of this year so it seems we won’t have to wait long to see if 2011 is going to be a very different year for media consumption.

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That’s not to say we’re perfect  though… we all make mistakes from time to time (some of us more regularly than others!) and sometimes it’s worth re-assessing your writing to see if it’s really packing the punch you intended. Sometimes the mistakes can be quite sneaky and hard to spot and can often take another pair of eyes to track them down – that’s why we often help to proof-read one another’s blogs to check for errors on spellings and grammar.

The redsauce.com content team have kindly put their heads together to come up with a list of 5 mistakes which should always be avoided if you want to be the seasoned blogger you know you can be!

1. Using Americanised spellings: If you’re writing for a UK audience, use English spellings. Using American spellings will only help to alienate your audience and can make you look incompetent. This means using an “s” instead of a “z” (Milton – no matter how much you deny it, we’ve seen the proof!), using “centre” instead of “center” and choosing “office” instead of “commercial real estate”.

2. Stating the obvious: While you might think it’s essential to state the obvious, it’s not always necessary. Stating the obvious can oversimplify a post and can leave visitors wondering if they’re actually 7 instead of 27. Just use common sense and, if in doubt, ask someone else if it’s 100% essential. Remember, your blogs should be short, simple and sweet; anything else is just unnecessary and time-wasting.

3. Using an apostrophe in the possessive “its”: Although an apostrophe is essential when talking about possessive companies or objects, “it” is the exception to the rule. We’re getting down to nitty-gritty grammar here but it all counts in the eyes of Google.

4. Forgetting to use paragraphs: The key to blogs is simplicity. Large chunks of texts on a blog can look intimidating and can act as a turn-off to visitors who think there’s simply too much text to read. Keep it simple – limit paragraphs to 2 or 3 sentences and get to the point – rambling on will bore both you and the visitor and is a sure fire way to make sure visitors won’t return.

5. Using irrelevant quotes: While it’s great to use quotes, you need to make sure they’re relevant. Using random quotes which don’t relate to the article will just look out of place and will throw the validity of your whole blog out of the window.

There’s lots more to blogging than just these 5 key points, but if you remember these points then there’s a good chance you’ll become an efficient, respected blogger in no time at all!

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