Will Guest Posting Ever Become Obsolete?

Anyone with an interest in SEO, or who has put together a campaign for their own website knows how important link building is in respect of a well-rounded set of SEO activities.

However, with every Google Panda or Penguin update seeming to target links of some description, many are asking whether guest posting, as a means of gaining a link, is set to become obsolete.

Not the First to Go

Of course, the link building landscape has changed massively over the years, with certain ranking toppers of years gone by now consigned to the history books. Article directories and private blogs offering paid links are probably the two best examples of these.

Once link building winners, they are now represent little value and can even see you dropping from search results altogether if you’re still using them.

Google’s Guest Posting Outlook

As for guest posting, Google aren’t as against it as many would have you believe. Their problem is more when guest posts are appearing on irrelevant sites, are filled with spam content, or the same anchor text is used hundreds of times over in a blatant attempt to rank for one keyword or phrase.

In general, however, Google actually encourage webmasters to link build. There is a worry that this encouragement doesn’t mean anything in terms of the bigger picture, especially as Google has, in the past, been notoriously fickle, at least from an outsider’s perspective, with certain elements of their algorithms.

Is Guest Posting Becoming Worthless?

We never know what Google is going to do, and our only clues often come whenever Matt Cutts decides to drip feed some information to various media outlets. However, we’re confident that guest posting isn’t going to become obsolete and go the same way as article directories.

What Google is likely to do, however, is become much more focussed and stringent when it comes to identifying what represents a good blog or a bad blog. So, if guest posting is a major part of your search marketing plan, you’d better look to improve your content quality as well as finding the best blogs to target.

What Is a Good Guest Post Opportunity?

Again, who knows how Google is going define a good guest posting opportunity? We can already use several discover which posts are the best, and these are unlikely to change too much should Google change the way they treat links from guest posts.

Consider these factors when identifying opportunities:

• · Does the blog have a large following that regularly get involved with comments and ideas?
• · Is it a regular blog with a common topic, or a glorified directory made up of random guest posts?
• · How does the site rank for various metrics?
• · Is the blog authoritative, and are there strict guidelines to adhere to?

Positive answers to those four points indicate a quality guest posting opportunity, and definitely represent a relationship with a blogger that you will want to build.

The Future of Guest Posting

Guest posting is unlikely to become obsolete, but it will become a much more focussed and specialized aspect of SEO campaigns, with those providing the best quality to the best blogs seeing the biggest benefits.

Robert is a passionate local SEO professional who is regularly seeking out great guest posting opportunities for local businesses to help them make a name for themselves both online and in their local area.

Why Do Women Struggle With Work/Life Balance?

Achieving something that resembles a healthy work and life balance is something that many of us aspire to.  That said, there are various studies and reports from around the world that suggest that women struggle a lot more than men when it comes to achieving this.

We explored why this is the case, and while some of these reasons are exclusively linked to women, there are others that could also affect a man’s ability to achieve a balanced lifestyle, too.

Fashion Fixes

One huge problem for women is that a lot of ‘professional’ clothing isn’t the sort of thing that they would wear in a social setting. On the other hand, men quite happily head out to the bar after work in their suits before making a longer night of it.

In contrast, while women might go for a quick drink, they are more likely to want to go home and get changed into something more comfortable. Then what happens is that they get home, realise how tired they are, and don’t head back out.

Although women’s fashion has moved forward in recent years so that there is more functional and comfortable clothing that can be worn in any and all environments, work clothes are still a problem when it comes to work and life.

The Need to Impress

There is a school of thought that suggests, somewhat accurately in some cases, that you need to work ridiculously long hours in some industries in order to be noticed and progress. Of course, for ambitious individuals this means they often have no life outside of work. They will work hard to achieve promotion, then continue putting the hours in to prove they deserved it. Having done this, they continue to work in order to achieve the next level on the scale.

Although this can be said for both sexes, many work environments are still male dominated, meaning women have to do that little bit more in order to be noticed, with their social life often being the thing sacrificed.

Dominant Parent

Despite what modern think tanks and research groups may tell us, it is clear that women remain the ‘dominant’ parent in most cultures around the world. This often means that their lives are taken up with either work or their children, meaning no ‘me time’ for those in this category.

At the same time, it can also mean that opportunities for getting into work are limited, therefore shifting the balance too far in one direction.

Getting it Back

How can everyone, but women in particular, improve their work and life balance? The truth is that there is no easy way to do it. We can all say we are going to leave work on time, but how many of us will really walk away if there is something important to be done? In the same context, we promise to meet up with friends but decide that a Facebook conversation will have to do, instead.

Still, at least social media is a ‘social life’ of some description, and better than none at all. In future years it may even become our only type of social life!

Aisha Malik is a fashion consultant who specializes in desirable Islamic clothing, and items such as the hijab, that modern Muslim women are increasingly wearing as they play multiple roles in today’s society.

How To Boost Your Facebook Page With Apps

Facebook applications or as everyone calls them ‘apps’ are the new value for entertainment and functionality.

By adding them to your Facebook profile or fan page you can definitely increase the number of followers you have as these apps will provide people a great deal of enjoyment. They are a good trick marketing since you don’t have to pay anything extra to install them.

Some great apps

It is very necessary to correctly choose the app that you want to install to your page. It needs to attract more visitors to your profile without compromising the quality of the content that you put in. Here are some of the apps that you might be interested in.

Network Blog – You can install this one directly on your page or even your profile. Some people who write blogs tend to add them to their notes section in the profile. That gets a little troubling for other people to check out and give out their feedback. By installing this, all your writings from your WordPress or fan page blog will directly get posted on your profile. No need for extra work plus people can access your work easily and that enables you to get better public feedback.

Video apps – There are a variety of video apps that you can add to your profile which enable you to interact with your customers and clients better. You could also set up live streaming here and connect with your potential clients. People will look ahead for your videos and you can include them in all your parties or product launches. It’s a great marketing technique plus people can get to know you personally. It gives a great business insight too. So all you need is a webcam and your videos can get posted almost immediately to your page or any other site.

Chat apps – Live chatting apps helps you to interact better with people. There are a few apps of this kind where people need to like your page first and then they can be automatically directed to a live chat. Zinzz is a chat app that allows people to interact with you or even amongst them. It is great for networking or expanding your circle. This live chat will be posted as wall posts where people can ask you questions regarding your products.

Location Based apps – These apps allow people to check in a physical place using their mobile devices. Firstly you need to register with Foursquare enabling them to know that you have claimed the place. Once that is done, you can install it on your fan page since it will display your area and address on it. Then, you can keep track of all the people that will physically check in your business location.

You could also visit a few websites and add some contest related apps to you profile. This helps interacting with the people better. You can also copy the URL address of your recently uploaded posts and paste it on your Facebook page from your blog to expand the number of visitors. All of these are simple ways to turbo-boost your Facebook with apps since they don’t require spending of too much money.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

Dholakiya is SEO & VP of Marketing at Ny Seo solutions, a company that specializes in SEO Services. Follow him @Dholakiya.

Health Plan For Work At Home Individuals

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How Do You Conduct Business On Bad Days?

Have you ever experienced a day when nothing seems to be going right? You start with big plans to make your day productive but nothing seems to work well. Your laptop crashes and the batteries of your cell phone are drained. Searching for a charger you remember that you have left it home. You are rushing for an important meeting and somebody carelessly spills coffee on your shirt. You also have to meet a client for lunch. What do you do?

The first thing is: relax and re-focus. Your day is not entirely ruined. There are in fact a few things that you can do to save your day from being a disaster.

Show You Care

Showing others that you care is a great way to stay stress-free. When you have unexpected moments of free time in your busy schedule, try to make the most of them. You can write little birthday wishes for your friends and staff or hand-written messages for your clients. You hardly have time for all this in your schedule but this helps to keep you close to your customers and staff. This can make you feel productive and can actually prove effective for a business. Such unexpected gestures can make you closer to your customers and also to the workforce that will help you stand out from the masses.

Learn from Your Experience

Eliminate all the things that have put you in trouble before or can likely get you in trouble in the future. This is another important way to avoid any unprecedented emergencies.  Though it does not mean that you will never have an emergency again, nevertheless it can definitely reduce the chances. For example, you can buy multiple chargers for home, office and can always carry one with you. You can also use a smart phone so that you have access to important email even when your laptop has crashed.

Better to Carry Extra

If your shirt is really spoiled and you cannot attend the meeting, you can re-schedule it or can appoint somebody else to attend in place of you. Inform the customer about the change in your plan and also excuse yourself for the change in plans. But it is also advisable either to carry or keep in the office a new shirt and pair of trousers to avoid emergencies like this.

Learn the Technology

Technology kinks can also make a day completely unproductive. Suppose you are in a video conference and you spent 20 valuable minutes just learning the technology to be used in the conference.  This is not only irritating but can prove disastrous for a business. So it’s better if you can set aside time before the scheduled event for a walk-through. This will make you accustomed to the technology that you are about to use and save you from any unpredicted disasters.

Renew Confidence

There are times when we get so caught up in what is happening and we are so busy that we panic about a situation that is really not as bad as we perceive it to be. You should relax first. When unprecedented situations crop up, stress is a natural thing but remember you cannot allow it to take you in its grip. You cannot let a day go just like that when you have lot to do.  Start again with a deep breath. A deep breath can actually refresh you long enough to allow you to be able to focus again.

Carol Wasserman is an Online Marketing Executive at iTeleCenter, a company that provides local, 800 and toll free numbers in conjunction with their virtual phone system. Call forwarding, Virtual PBX extensions, an automated attendant and voicemail are just a few of the included features that are perfect for small and home-based businesses. Visit www.itelecenter.com to learn more.