As of this week I've tweaked the way the jWAG website functions because I believe another large change is going to take place in Google's SERPs within the next 6 months. My belief is based on some observations, painful realizations, and predictions... but honestly, that's how all my best SEO stuff is formulated, I just don't normally tell you about them until I have proof.
In this case, I'm not waiting for the proof, because it will be too late for you...
Last month wrote a series of Daily Golden Nuggets about blog writing. Everything I shared was in hopes that you would follow my examples and start blogging for business success.
One morning over the past 30 days I had a realization that Google's been insisting on "fresh" content for several years, to the point that jewelry website SEO experts throw around the phrase "content is king" as if they actually understand the depth of impact that Google is creating... and honestly, I didn't realize it either.
Before Google's Panda and Penguin algorithms, many companies, and many unwitting jewelers, were hiring low cost SEO professionals to create fresh original content. Once Panda started munching and Penguin was pecking, much of that "original" content was discredited because it turned out to be rehashing of information that was already on the web.
In the Panda/Penguin wake we now more easily see the good content that was on the web. Businesses are finally starting to realize that you need to do it right, and real employees are starting to write the blogs instead of outsourcing the job to some unknown freelancer.
He comes my epiphany... Google demands the good content; companies finally start producing it themselves; employers ask employees to do the writing; employees try, but suffer through; companies soon realize they need to higher more skilled writers; the demand for skilled writers will increase, which will probably lead to a shortage of writers for a while; ultimately Google's demand for good content will create a new generation of people who can write professionally, or a reeducation of people to learn how to write professionally.
The last time I checked there were more than 700 new book titles published every day. There are a lot of really skilled writers in the world, but Google's insistence for new quality content is going to spur many many more.
The expression "I'm not good at writing" just might not be so common in a few years. But until we get there Google still needs to figure out how to separate the quality writers from the writers who are just hiding behind a veil of secrecy.
Many blogs are written without a "byline," that is, the blog is written but then no one takes ownership of it when it's published. I've never been a support of this method because this is clearly indicative of an outsourced blog post. I feel strongly that, if a jewelry store employee is writing the blog, then their name should be on it. If your blog posts are ghost written, but use your ideas, then you should still put your name on it.
The byline is the first step in establishing the credibility of a blog post. It also helps to develop the professional reputation of the author, and finally, it creates a transparency for your jewelry store. Customers will actually walk in your store asking for that blog writer by name because they want to know more about the topic of that specific blog.
On the jWAG website this week I've changed the byline of all the Daily Golden Nuggets to simply say "by Matthew Perosi." I went back through all the Nuggets and changed the byline from "the jWAG Gold Nugget Team" to remove the veil that I thought was needed 2 years ago.
However, the change wasn't that simple. There's more to it, which leads us to the topic of Authorship... which is the subject for tomorrow's Daily Golden Nugget. Until then think about the subtle differences of how you should be writing your blogs and who's name should be on them.
