Search Engine Optimisation; an experiment
I’m going to categorise these particular blogs, my Search Engine Optimisation blogs, as SEO.
Now, whether you are interested in my online murder mystery games or not, I am hoping that, if you are starting out in Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO), you’ll find these blogs useful.
But be warned: I am NO EXPERT.
Although I’ve known about SEO for donkey’s years, I have no idea what Google (other search engines are available…apparently) are looking for in 2020.
Or, at least, I didn’t. I am beginning to find out. So this article (and articles that will follow for reasons that should become obvious) will inform you of my early findings. Basically, if you have a NEW WEBSITE, and you want to get that site to the top of Google, I will record what I know…as we go along.
This is what I know as at 11 June, 2020.
Is Search Engine Optimisation Easy?
Great! Start me off with an easy question.
In some ways, yes. It is easy. Once you get your head around a few principles, it is dead easy (it gets a lot harder when you start delving into the Google Analytics; keywords, phrases, etc.)
It seems to me the word ‘NICHE’ comes up a lot (and no-one really knows how to pronounce it).
However, and here is the thing, SEO ISN’T SOMETHING YOU DO ONCE AND THEN FORGET ABOUT.
THAT, my friend, is the BIG LESSON. It its the reason I am thinking of treating this website as an experiment (notwithstanding I want to make the site actually work).
SEO and External Links
There were TWO friends, both early players of my Lockdown Murder Mystery (and not the sort who would normally even play an online murder mystery) who said something that jumped out at me.
The thing is, they BOTH had websites. Fairly well established websites. Tom has a site called UpToSpeedMedia and Simone has a site called SimoneMicallef.com.
Simone makes some very nice jewellery. Her site title is her name, not the best SEO course of action; who searches Simone Micallef unless they know her. Someone looking for Bespoke or Handmade Jewellery would search for those terms.
Attractive Jewellery, Designer Jewellery. If you can get this sort of thing in your domain name, it can’t do any harm.
Tom, on the other hand, has Up To Speed Media as his domain name. He ran a series of media training courses so having Media in the domain name is GOOD.
His problem is that he hasn’t really bothered with the site since he first built it. This is FAR FROM UNCOMMON.
Constant Content for SEO success
Tom is NOT ALONE when it comes to leaving your website to its fate.
When I first started producing murder mystery shows way back in 1990, nobody used the internet. Ten years later, after much pressure from our printing firm (who had moved in to the new world of web-design, we got our first website. I didn’t give it a murder mystery name, unlike some of our rivals. Instead, I named it after the company name, Accidental Productions. My domain was, and has remained ever since; accidental.co.uk.
But, until yesterday, I haven’t really touched it for almost five years. Same for my video site, ShortWebFilms.com. It is just too easy. You spend ages building your site and then, when nothing much happens in the first few weeks, you let it go. After all, it is still there, so what’s the problem?
The fact is, it’s like a house. You don’t look after it, it will fall into ruin.
Back in 2013, I came up with a ‘Great, comedy idea’. I created a character called Mike Ash, The Spoof Millionaire.
He was based on those internet marketers that bombard you with Get Rich Quick stuff. I abandoned him and my site after a few years, although some of the videos are still on YouTube (check out Mike’s advice on How to Look Wealthy or his take on making money through Currency Exchange.
I don’t know if you are anything like me, but I have bought a LOT of domain names over the years.
In fact, I sometimes MARK the passing of the years by the domain name renewal dates. I will think of an idea, buy a domain name for it (just in case I get around to actually going ahead) and park it. In two years, I will get a reminder to renew it. And I almost always do.
How often do you visit a site and spot one of two things; the first is that the copyright sign is WELL OUT OF DATE – © 1997 (or something like that), the second, the number of blog posts. It all started so well, with ten ‘daily’ blogs uploaded in the first fortnight and then…nothing for six years.
Where to get SEO advice?
We are all guilty of these things, and I am as bad if not worse than anyone else.
This time, I tell myself, will be different. This time, I am going to get this site (despite its name linking back to a certain time – Lockdown can only mean 2020 (hopefully)). That’s why I think of these blogs as an experiment. I am going to share (in the blog category of SEO) some of the tips I learn along the way.
I’m going to start with the obvious place; YouTube. You can learn so much from there. There are the big hitters when it comes to SEO – people like Neil Patel. But this morning (in fact, the reason I decided to take on this content creation challenge) I discovered The Income School (I think that’s what they’re called).
I watched THIS VIDEO which challenges Neil Patel. Their argument is that Neil’s advice is fine for ESTABLISHED sites, but they are concerned with sites like this one (and perhaps yours too?). Sites that are BRAND NEW.
Next in my SEO series
Of course, my main task is to get my murder mystery games online and successful. So my priority will be promoting them. However, whilst I want to talk about and promote the actual murder mysteries (note the plural), I realise I have fairly extensive knowledge on the individual parts to my game; writing, acting to camera, lighting, filming, editing, etc. So I may well produce blogs on each of these topics.
It strikes me there must be millions like me out there. People who have recently started a site and really, really (honestly) intend to stick with it.
SEO is the work that is required to do that. It is easy to do but incredibly time consuming. Over the next few days, weeks and (if I manage to stick to my guns) months, I will be sharing what I find out about it as I go along.
So, if you do manage to find me, please come back.