Search Engine Optimisation & Pay-Per-Click Advertising

This post deviates a little from what this blog has been devoted to for the last 8 posts. This entry will give you a basic explanation of the digital marketing techniques, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) & Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC.)

So what is SEO? SEO is a process by which companies get their website to the top of page 1 on search engines in the natural results. Natural results are the main results that AREN'T paid for; Google separates them clearly whereas other search engines do not. So take Google for example; you see the list with the top link e.g. you searched "Apple" and behold, the homepage of Apple Inc. appears with a few more links below e.g. the wiki page on the fruit etc. Search engines like Google do this in a number of ways.
   Firstly 'spiders', also known as bots, 'crawl' through the millions of results that are probably relevant to what you searched for. From here, they are indexed according to certain key factors such as the meta-tag i.e. that green address below the hyperlink, providing information on the type of document such as HTTP or HTML. On-page ranking i.e. number of relevant words on a page and 'building links'. Building links is the process of linking to external sites and having as many sites as possibly linking back to your own, since it can obviously increase the flow of traffic to the main site and affiliates. It is for this reason that back in the early days of SEO, companies would link to sites such as the US Library of Congress, since it was the largest in the world in terms of links. This kind of manoeuvre would propel companies to the top of page one very quickly. The latest Penguin updates from Google however, would ensure that you will be penalised, so don't complain to me when you lose out because you thought you'd try and cheat the system.
   Whilst on the subject of inadvisable tactics, keyword 'stuffing' will also be penalised. The meta-tags mentioned previously can match up with the keyword searched for and thus take the page higher up in the results for that specific keyword/phrase. However, when you literally stuff your site's page with repeated metadata, it renders your text clunky and it will become a burden to read. You may have noticed that text found on the Internet can sometimes be arduous to read or that there isn't something quite right with it. Much text on the Internet is optimised for search engines, but simply placing text like the following example will most likely result in you getting shot down by Penguin:

"Welcome to Awesome Cycling Inc. At Awesome Cycling we care about the cycling needs of our awesome customers, so much in fact that we have created a whole awesome bunch of awesome deals to meet your awesome cycling needs. At Awesome Cycling we care deeply since you are all so awesome and love cycling so much. Why would be here at Awesome Cycling .com if you weren't interested in cycling in the slightest..."

Okay, so I may have overdone it at the end, but you get the point. Now let's move on.
   After the slight digression, we now move on to Google returning the results to you. Google, upon receiving your keyword and assorting data, will then feed back to the closest server to your IP Address and from here, the search page, optimised by the aforementioned criteria is returned to your computer and Internet browser. From here, you may select the most relevant link or adjust search terms to possibly yield more favourable results.

That is basically all SEO is pretty much, a method of increasing page prominence via, keyword relevance, link-building and metadata relevance. However, where to paid-for results come from? Let's find out!
 
Paid results are those 'sponsored links' that appear on Google. These are paid for usually by the thousands and will result in pay-per-click advertising (PPC.) PPC will be an added cost to a business the second someone clicks on that advert Google placed on the side of the page, whether they buy something once there or not. Potentially, a company could buy out the clicks of competitors e.g. Pepsi buying clicks for 'Coca-Cola' to aid competition in the paid results section. Google do this via a tool called AdWords which can be used to deduce the price of a hyperlink placement. This is done through the number of daily, monthly etc. searches of that keyword and geographics i.e. where those searches come from in the world and how many in relation to your location i.e. nationally. This helps to determine the cost per click.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and (hopefully) found it interesting at the very least. I will be posting again sometime soon and may update certain pages outside of here for example the Pinterest page. I have also decided to continue work on 'Myths to Believe In' and have pretty much compiled a list of poems to place within it. I will write again soon so in the mean time, stay tuned.

Regards, Jake            

Space Opera (and Future Posts)

The poem below is entitled 'Space Opera' and is a likely contender for being featured in "Myths to Believe In." Hope you enjoy this poem as always and would love to hear from you all. 

I'm thinking of writing a post based around marketing, my chosen career, most likely on the digital marketing aspect. In any case I'll post again soon and I thank you all once more for the views, clicks and enjoyment. 

Floating seamlessly between distant twinkles.

This vacuum expands with every blink of the eye.

Black, it awaits an eternity to die.

Filled with homes, most lying without residents.

A specialist life form needed to fit,

Their idiosyncratic, moving not static;

Celestial planets; environmentally lethargic.

Lifeless places.

Why be like this?

Why have so many creatures come to pass, live, roll around in the grass,

When upon rising to a pinnacle they be destroyed,

Feed fires of the cynical.

This body in space upon which we sit,

Changes throughout all of the generations, to pass.

It sits apathetic, while a little life resides upon it.

Relative to the rest we remain content.

Now let us think of the other 99%. 

A Pinteresting Update

Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of days I set up a Pinterest page so you can see the poem images already uploaded to this blog. The only difference is that I added a description of each poem, so you can check those works out and be more informed etc. I also created an additional board entitled "Poem 'Cards'" that features quotes and snippets of longer poems or even whole short works. These will be featured on an artistic background as an image, hopefully providing bursts of inspiration or something. I uploaded the first as a trial from a not-yet-released work entitled "Ballad of the Dream Weaver." I hope you appreciate the work and enjoy it. If you enjoy visiting this blog please tell people about it, rate, comment, subscribe etc. and if you did/do that I'd really be grateful for it. Thank you for reading once again and if you clicked the link, even better and hopefully, I shall upload some substantive writing some time in the next week or so.

Kindest Regards,
Jake.  

Update

Hello everyone,

I've been busy this week with work etc. but have continued writing poetry. With that in mind, I thought I should possibly share with you what approach I personally took to writing and compiling pieces. Also, if anyone wishes to know about creating volumes, chapbooks etc. I could share thoughts on this too.

So first of all what do we have? We have a horrible blank page and a lack of cogent ideas. The way I got over this step was to think of a scenario or narrative of some sorts to fit with a general message/idea. It really does help when you have a beginning, middle and an end. With that, try to think of concrete things to include, i.e. use imagery so, for example, a woodland. With your scene-setting image, you can then think about what emotions emulate from this image and how they fit with your narrative. To take the previous example of a woodland, you could decide to write about tranquility.

So we have a woodland, we have a general outline e.g. Start in middle of woods ---> Find path to a waterfall ---> Go up the hill to the top, discovering animals on the way ----> See a peaceful viewpoint to conclude the narrative. With this, each stanza should convey an idea, an image and an emotional reaction to that image, remembering the old adage of writing fiction: SHOW DON'T TELL. Describe physical reactions that denote the emotion for maximum effect, using metaphors and similes, but don't overdo those, especially if they are too cliche. Just remember to describe following those general rules but remember to have fun doing it. Break the rules occasionally, see what effect it has. you never know, it might just surprise you.

As you work your way through the story, use mystery on the way to keep the reader engaged, but remember to tie up the loose ends when the poem finishes. There is the exception of course that you may wish to explore an aspect of the poem further, but ensure that when the poem ends, it conveys what you set out to do so the reader is satisfied and when that is done, they may wish to read the sequel to that poem where a small aspect is continued or possibly, the character continues his/her quest for new reasons. For example, in The Steppe, the imagery included a tower/castle as well as the obvious steppe that the title implies and conveyed a message of majesty, with an undertone of the place not being real but inside the head of the protagonist. This theme was explored in the Steppe Part II: Revelations where, upon travelling to a forest he meets a woman who tells him so, leaving no doubt in the reader's mind and providing the real message of the piece.

As for compiling works, the obvious task is to create a flow from one piece to the next. You can group them in any way you feel is best including: Theme, voice, imagery, perspective (1st/2nd/3rd person) etc. Just remember to read them to ensure that they aren't too disparate in any of those criteria and whatever other criteria you may wish to apply. Try different orders, drop certain poems, include others, add more to the end if possible or use more works as 'bridges'. To be honest, the editing and compiling of Distant Lands was trickier than the actual writing of the poems, but maybe that was just me. In any case I hope the above information helps and would love to hear back from you.

See you soon.

'Posters' for Distant Lands

Apologies if you dislike the formatting of this post. These images correspond with the different poems found in the e-chapbook 'Distant Lands' just to give you a flavour of what lies within each poem. Unfortunately, the images aren't in the book itself due to some formatting difficulties in Amazon's Kindle services. In any case, I hope you like the images and hope that you consider the purchase. I'll see if I can write a real post soon, possibly uploading some other short work of fiction. I'll get back to you soon. 

Another Poem? Of Course

This was written quickly in a burst of inspiration that just came then went. It probably took less than 30 minutes to write and I only edited it once after it was written. I hope you like it and would appreciate feedback if you want to give it. Apart from that there really isn't anything else to say so I bid you good day.

THE SPIRE

The Spire stands high and stretches far,

Inundated with vines and decay:

Apropos to the rest of the land.

The sandstone fire of failure’s despair,

Tasted in the desert that engulfs its dying light.

The eye of the sun that watches it wither and die.

It blinks in the night-time sky.

Watch it die.

It sees those who made it find peace easy.

It watches rivals provide and override,

Turn the tides.

While this humble stone fades from existence,

It tries bouncing back with bursts of persistence.

It’s infection of poison ivy,

Crawling along with relishing glee.

Sand whistles through its cracks while light peeks to see.

The eye of the sun bears down upon the tower.

Beyond its base lie armies of dead flowers.

Up to its apex, a discordant gong of the bell,

That would be The Spire’s Tainted Song of Its Hell.

A Second-Person, Flash Fiction Piece

I began writing this a while ago, but never got around to finishing it. It had some major problems with the narrating voice and its use of imperatives directing the story, providing a demanding voice whom the character obeys. It took me at least an hour to rewrite almost from scratch, the general story/ plot format unchanged. In any case I hope you enjoy the piece and any comments, critiques etc. are most welcome.

MALICE IN WONDERLAND

Salty sweat runs down your neck. You can’t wait around much longer. Move! You crawl along the floor like a pathetic child to the white cabinet. Your hangover intensifies as sunlight punches you in the eyes. You see double. The gunfire grows louder as screams echo out from other rooms. Around the corner, the bathroom, quick! Your hands touch the metal strip below the white doorframe. You slip forward when half in half out of the room, your hands wet and cold. You look down to see urine yellow against the perfect white tiles. A woman lies dead in the shower, her eyes gouged out with a stream of blood below each socket. Don’t be sick! Crawl into the bathroom and wait.

   You kick the door shut, struggling to your feet, using the sink as support. Don’t breathe so loud! You try to keep your eyes away from the corpse; it isn’t easy. Footsteps: *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* Each grows louder, congruent with your heartbeat, the sweat tastes disgusting as it enters your lips, like salt mixed with the grease from your skin. You can’t hold it back, don’t! You spin around as a final glance at the corpse tips you over the edge: You’re sick. Your head in the clean white bowl, dirtying it with an off-white-golden mix of bile and not-yet-fully-digested concoction of whatever you drank last night. Sounds become muffled as your hearing strains against the noises of your regurgitation. Weakness strikes your limbs, your arms aching, your legs like jelly as your grip tightens on the sink. You creep out of the bathroom fatigued.

   Upon exiting, it comes from the door behind you: *Knock* *Knock* The window, go! You creep with speed past the floral pattern duvet on the king-size bed. A glimmer of sunlight breaks into the room from a small crack in the curtains. You pull them apart, a gateway to safety. You open it. Just before you walk onto the outside windowsill, a foot penetrates your door, the black boot kicking the wooden white thing off its hinges. Dressed in black like a secret agent he stands 20 feet away from you, brandishing a black, hi-tech shotgun across his chest like a bouquet of flowers. Teeth bared, barrel turning. You drop backwards.

   You see the shot fire out of the window, the sound deafening as some of the glass cracks, a vaporised potted plant falls with you, the dirt showering over you. Debris hits you in the face as you travel, some entering your mouth. Don’t be sick here, please! You count the floors as you go, other windows smashed and damaged. The floors disappear: Fifteen… Fourteen… Thirteen… Eventually, you hit the pool, the water rising up around you: It stings you as if you’d been bitch-slapped all over. Panting, you swim frantically to the edge and rise from the water. Gasping for breath, your lungs are aflame as if you’d just run a marathon. Get up! Rising slowly, gaining balance; you look towards the hotel, then turn around to see the deep blue sea and coastline, the sun glinting on the surface of the Caribbean water. 

   Behind the hotel, an explosion. It deafens you. You cower like a frightened animal as the light blinds you, missing your sunglasses since they’re no doubt destroyed. The explosion clears away, bloody parts of corpses, furniture, some of the guys in black who killed everyone, left in its wake: Just in front of you lies the man from your room and next to him, his shotgun. A splintered piece of wood impales his left leg, his black sunglasses broken. You remove the glasses. Pick up the shotgun. Ready the aim. Ignore the cries for mercy. And fire!

   And like the potted plant, his head lies vaporised, before a once 5-star hotel.           

A poem from "Distant Lands"

ET OBSERVABANT CASUS IMPERIUM

This dark shadow on the world is your greatest fear,

As you watch, look up, to see death come and rear to flee.

This land is cruel,

You must be strong and escape the clutch of all that they hath wronged.

This obscured sun is dark,

Lacklustre of light, you all take off in fearful flight.

Darkened place hath no grace, for it is they, that violate my will and that to which, I dedicate.

Embracing and kind to you,

I hath been. For it is my nature,

serene, and benevolent,

my people of this world whom are gravely important.

An eagle I watch.

Looking down, on this accursed land

to find a way to escape my celestial body,

the chains that bind me,

Rendering me incapable, of intervening to provoke a change, or lending the long-awaited hand that you seek.

Without fear you must be,

for I prepare you to see, what must be done to reach this peak.

I trust in you and your adamant will, that they be thereupon decimated, your right to life still.

A great many have fallen to this death-bringer, this hearse,

and as I remain in a state of safe slumber,

like no other, I see a bigger picture, a revelation discerned.

I realized soon that I was blessed with a curse.

Those who hath fallen.

Those who hath died.

Decide; collapse this pervasive entity from the core inside.

Looking down from my throne you act quickly and independently,

for it is I you disown.

The virus is spreading,

contagious and ready,

to take over this world and destroy all of my progress, enacting a change that is no longer steady.

En masse you all move to the source of your torment and infinite doom.

Celestial spectator of this event for I am glad,

that you have all decided to take arms and clad

Yourself in your protection,

the safety in numbers.

The comfort that arises from the community and solidarity, revolution is imminent.

Growing scared, scared of your might,

collective,

It reaches new heights that none other hath seen.

My planet is dead.

Environments pillaged of resources they fed.

Take back what hath been stolen,

for they require that which I hath granted before them.

Betrayal of my trust will only result in

invocation of my wrath, you people, my ambassadors of death, projected most far.

Tears that I hath shed:

Waterfalls in my world now dead.

Therefore I task you and your companions

to rebuild this world once the powers hath fallen.

Good riddance to its dishonesty

for once it hath fallen, it crashes into the sea and its nefarious will be lost, to the pages of history.

This saga nears its end.

As I watch I can see their agents fall to their knees, which fills me with glee.

Coming into a close you all besiege

the centre and nexus.

The deplorable evil and its masters, intrinsic to existence.

As you stand over these monsters,

these things.

I ask of you to consider those who hath died

Fighting, to bring an end to the construction, of an imperium that stretches, till the bells hath ringed.

Heavenly and contemporary,

you hath brought destruction lavishly.

As I cast the moon across this sky of midnight,

I invite you to take a step back for from this height you can deduce,

that as you watch the empire fall,

Sto splendescat in luce.

* Just so you know, the title translates to: "And They Watched the Fall of the Empire," while the final phrase translates as: "I stand brightly in the light." 

I hope you enjoyed reading this poem. Personally, as much as I enjoyed infusing the Latin language into the poem at the end as something poignant, especially when considering the imagery implications, the rhyme seemed a little excessive, turning it into a possible rap, which, when read to certain speeds can detract from the message, although this criticism would be better applied to other poems in Distant Lands. Maybe I'm just being too critical, but overall, I liked the story with the background featuring just 'cutout' characters so that readers can grasp the message and make the story specific to an issue in real life, or one that they have had some experience of etc. In any case I hope it did something for you and if you do want to see the whole work, the first post features an embedded link to the Amazon Kindle page. 

That's all for now & thanks for reading.