Are you looking for a real, B2B upscale, respectable, fun, creative second or first stream of income from writing about what you love?  Well, so does everybody else: and now it is here: if you are looking for a B2B home business, you may want to consider writing a column for the B2B Home Business Network News!

This will be a mass emailed e-zine that will be used to build traffic to Uplog.org as we grow.

This is 100% “Play-2-Pay” free advertising for anybody who we feel will do a good job of writing monthly high quality informational articles for our B2B Home Business Network entrepreneurs.

Interested parties: writing sample to info@uplog.org

OK, it is probably not a surprise when I tell you that you cannot make good decisions of you cannot clearly answer the above questions, and many more that deal with marketing online.

It probably will be a surprise, though, when i tell you that you can get all the training you need to answer these questions, support, classes twice a week for 2 hours each if you want to to attend, and top placement on Google organic search for any term you like at the same time, overnight almost, for only $179.00 per year at Uplog.org.

Listen, I have been telling people for ten years to be enabled and empowered to take over their own website and marketing: you need to learn this stuff: but can you really afford to put your business on hold until then?!  Let me help you!  It is free!

>>>from the 2011 Rothman Guide to Guerrilla Marketing free online e-book>>>

Subscribe here

“My name is Brian Bentow and I published my book called The Computer Athlete’s Handbook: Your Guide to a Happier, Healthier Techy Lifestyle through CreateSpace,  Amazon Kindle, and MobiPocket over a year ago and had moderate success.  I sold around 100 copies, mostly through Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Athletes-Handbook-Healthier-Lifestyle/dp/0982044704/.

I had read Dan Poytner’s Self-Publishing Manual.  I recommend reading that book.  However, the version I read was a bit outdated and did not discuss the benefits of Print-On-Demand services at great length perhaps because they were relatively new at the time. Consequently, I had to do my own research and make my own decisions.  I decided to do Print-On-Demand because it has the following benefits:
1. You can update the content of your book at any time and I wanted to get feedback and planned to make a new edition in the future (This turned out to be extremely important because after I broke up with my girlfriend, I needed to update my dedication page.)
2. You don’t have to worry about returns, shipping, or fulfillment
3. You don’t have to buy a few thousand books and invest several thousand dollars and garage space
4. Createspace has a special program to put your book on Amazon.com for you
5. You can always do a large print in the future if the book becomes very successful and distribute the book through bookstores

Many of the self-publishing platforms including CreateSpace, Lulu, and others make it very easy to do print-on-demand self-publishing.  I decided to publish my book through CreateSpace because approximately 30% of all books are sold by Amazon.com and if you plan to sell through Amazon.com, using CreateSpace for print-on-demand makes the most sense economically. This is because Amazon.com owns CreateSpace and it costs Amazon less to print-on-demand from their fulfillment centers as opposed to using another print-on-demand service like Lulu and then shipping your books to Amazon. Amazon splits the cost-savings with you when you use CreateSpace and undercuts all of the other print-on-demand companies when selling through Amazon.com which riled many self-publishers and print-on-demand companies.

After writing my book and self-publishing it, I thought that most of the hard work was done.  I was so wrong!  I began learning about how to market a book through the CreateSpace community forms and blogs.  People recommended creating a website, blogging, using Twitter, and doing social media marketing.   I developed my website ComputerAthlete.net and then found that marketing a website is almost as difficult as marketing a book.

I talked to some PR firms who wanted a few thousand dollars as a retainer fee and then a monthly fee for their services.  Having already spent nearly $2000 on my website, book cover, and editing, I was extremely reluctant to hire a PR firm even at this recession adjusted price point.  Once again, I decided to do the work myself in order to save money.
I started working on a collaborative web series called Your Computer Is Killing You – the side effects of our techy lifestyles. I produced several episodes which received thousands of views, talked to people from all over the world, started a Meetup.com group in Los Angeles for Computer Related Injury and held around 10 meetings, and started helping people with their techy lifestyles.  I spent several more thousand dollars on equipment, video production, video commercials, and advertising.  I believe that these efforts added a lot of value but did not sell many books.

Now, I am cash-flowing my book as an e-Book and with Adsense.

http://socialmediasystems.com/computerathlete/

Basically, the idea is that people can find my book using Google, Yahoo, Bing searches and when they click on the Adsense links, I get instant cash.  If people want to get the paper copy, they can click the link on the left hand side which takes them to my Amazon book page that has reviews.

I purchased the e-book package from Social Media Systems:  http://socialmediasystems.com/computerathlete/

I think that this is a great idea because:

1. People will be able to find my book more easily using the search engines and all of my content is findable.
2. People can try before they buy.  Few people will want to read a 100 page book from their computer.
3. I can get instant feedback from my readers through the commenting on my e-Book pages.
4. The e-Book is a living, breathing thing.  I can make updates at any time and link to images and my videos, etc..

Lessons Learned:

Creating and marketing a website requires a special skill set and is a ton of work.  It is as difficult as marketing a new book.  You can check out http://socialmediasystems.com/rothmanguide/ which has a ton of great info.  It gave me insights on why my website was not getting the visitors that I wanted.  I was so impressed, I joined the company.

Let me know if you have any questions about my experience.  I spent 100′s of hours promoting my book and several thousands of dollars on top of the few thousand dollars I spent on creating my book and websites.  I could have avoided a great deal of time, expense, and frustration if I had known what I know now.

Now my book is on the top of Google for computer injury self help and for computer related injusry book, and many other combinations of the words that make people whom I want to meet find me.”

Well said, Brian.  In fact, there has always been a huge industry in  ‘Vanity’ or “Subsidiary” self-publishing: but now, more than ever, everybody has access to the marketplace, the hits are easily monetized through Google Adsense (the owner of the Webpages gets 75% of the money for every click!).

But , in the words of the great deceased pith-man, there is much more:  Look at the numbers from our publishing our e-Book:

From our Google Analytics:

Bounce Rate:  17.4%  (Unheard of!)

Average time on this page: One Minute, 47 Seconds (It takes half that long to read everything on the page)

Bounce Rate 50.45%  (When you consider that nearly 80% of our visitors are first time visitors from Google organic search, this is absolutely amazing!)

Percent Exit 17.4%  (In other words, the rest read on!  Amazing)

Our hits to our already very busy website have nearly doubled!

See for yourself: you can have one of these for only $299.00 complete:

Inexpensive Modern Web Design

“

“New regional reports highlight variation in health care affordability, access, and quality

California’s sprawling size and the diversity of its regional health care systems result in care that is organized, delivered, and financed differently throughout the state.

As part of its continuing effort to explore this variation, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) today published six regional market reports, providing a first-time, in-depth analysis of six distinct California health care economies. The goal is to better understand the market dynamics for each region studied (the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside/San Bernardino, and San Diego). Topics include the supply and organization of hospitals, physicians, and other providers; and the accessibility of services for low-income residents — of particular importance during the economic downturn…”

The report goes on:

“San Francisco Bay Area

• The health care safety net in the Bay Area is relatively strong but faces growing challenges from the economic downturn. Safety-net providers see increasing demand for services, yet some face eroding funding support.
• Pressured by low reimbursement and recruitment difficulties, Bay Area physicians are increasingly finding independent practice untenable and are moving into medical groups or affiliating with hospital systems.

Sacramento

• Sacramento is dominated by powerful hospital systems with significant bargaining leverage over health plans. While they compete vigorously, the degree to which they also cooperate — in areas such as community benefits and research funding — contrasts sharply with many other communities. Most of Sacramento’s physicians practice in large groups that are exclusively aligned with one of the hospital systems.
• Sacramento’s stable delivery system for insured residents is in stark contrast to its weak and fragmented health care safety net. Sacramento County clinics and private nonprofit clinics are relatively small and financially fragile. Most area clinics have gone without direct federal funding because they lack federally qualified status. There is no designated county hospital.

Fresno

• Greater Fresno’s population has grown rapidly in the past decade. Area residents have lower income, education, and health insurance levels, and worse health status than average for California. The economic downturn is intensifying an already bleak situation.
• Fresno’s physician workforce is aging and there aren’t enough physicians to meet demand. Access to care for the low-income population is hampered by the shortages of health care professionals — nurses and dentists are also in short supply.
• HMOs have a limited and shrinking market presence. As in many other parts of California, PPO enrollment is growing.

Los Angeles

• Among the Los Angeles market’s hospitals, the gap is growing between the financially advantaged “haves” and the disadvantaged “have-nots.” The “haves” serve a predominantly affluent and insured population and enjoy leverage with health plans, while the “have-nots” serve largely Medi-Cal and uninsured patients. Some hospitals are operating in the red and their continued viability is uncertain.
• The Los Angeles health care safety net is well developed and relatively stable. The county operates three acute-care hospitals and many more health centers and clinics. The network of 42 independent community health centers plays a key role in providing care to lower-income residents.

Riverside/San Bernardino

• The Riverside/San Bernardino region encompasses a vast geographic area, creating significant health care access challenges for residents. Most of the region’s hospitals are concentrated near the major population centers. Hospitals in Riverside and San Bernardino are viewed as competitive, but some collaborate in an effort to keep patients from seeking their care in neighboring Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties.
• The region’s health care safety net is anchored by two county hospitals. Both counties maintain their own hospitals, which are major tertiary care centers as well as mainstays for the safety net, but differ in the way outpatient care is provided. In Riverside, the county is the key provider of primary care for low-income residents, but in San Bernardino primary care is mostly delivered by private organizations.

San Diego

• San Diego’s market is dominated by four large hospital systems. The area’s hospitals are moving to tighten affiliations with physicians — a move that strengthens already significant negotiating leverage with health plans. Historically, capitation — or fixed per-patient, per-month payments — has been the dominant payment method in San Diego, but some hospital systems have pushed to shift from capitation to fee-for-service payment.
• San Diego’s safety net is fragmented, and the county is widely perceived as having a weak commitment to health care for the low-income and uninsured. San Diego County operates the County Medical Services Program as part of its state-mandated responsibilities to provide indigent care, but restrictive eligibility requirements have held down enrollment. “

If you are dogmatically doing business with the same insurer without getting competitive quotes to make sure you are paying the right premiums for you current residency, you are making a mistake!

Get a secone opinion, get a free california health insurance quote: keep them honest

It must be unique – different from the information on your website.
This content is used to promote you as an authority in your field. You will need to compose (or have someone compose) an initial individual or company bio that invokes authority. It should say who you are, what your experience is and why they should respect your opinion and recommendations.

Many customers provide two posts, initially:
One as an introduction which contains a bio or description;
Another post, containing content that can be used for promotion.
Example: An article offering tips and advice or discussing industry-related problems and solutions.

Sample Posts

In order to illustrate this, here is a sample ABOUT/ARTICLE section of the questionnaire. In this example, Blue Widget, Inc. manufactures and provides specialized service and support for blue widgets in the widget industry. Their current website is a brochure site that encourages visitors to buy blue widgets and offers support information.

Author Bio:

Paul Smith is the president of Blue Widgets Inc, a manufacturer of premium blue widgets. He has 15 years of experience in the widget industry, dealing with small businesses as well as large corporate clients. He is interested in helping people discover blue widgets and has worked for hundreds of clients over the course of his twenty years in the field. Paul is a member of the Blue Widget Professionals’ Organization and holds an MBA from Washington State University, where he focused on blue widget fabrication techniques. Paul enjoys playing golf on weekends and spends as much time as he can with his family.

Examples of types of posts you can write:
1. Tip post

Top 10 Tips for using Blue Widgets in your industry.

Hundreds of companies have discovered the value in premium blue widgets. Once you’ve bought a blue widget there are some easy things you can do to get more out of them. Here are ten simple tips to optimize your blue widget usage:

1. Be a _____
2. Watch _____
3. Be sure to ______
4. Know ____
5. Use ___ when _____
   
   

(Recap of news / industry related item)

“Blue Widget Sales up 1,000%
In the past week, Widget Magazine (link here) published a story about blue widget sales being up 1000%. This is another example of mainstream media giving attention to the new blue widget phenomenon. I expect growth to continue for some time, now.”

“From my experience as president of Blue Widget Inc, more and more smaller companies in the widget industry are seeing the tangible quality difference that sets blue widgets apart in their field. This shift is paving the way for a more large-scale industry migration towards blue widgets.” –Paul Smith, as quoted in “Widget Monthly Digest”.

2. FAQ Post

Q. What the difference between green widgets and blue widgets?
A. That’s a question I run into a lot, both from those who are new in the field, as well as those who’ve been involved in widgets for some time.

3. Further Ideas

a. Comment on a news item in your industry / field;

b. Answer a basic question that a perspective user / buyer may have;

c. Post and comment on some type of metric or article published somewhere else;

d. Relate personal stories or anecdotes, this is the place to be human and speak directly to your audience.

Here are some quick links to excellent articles about creating valuable content and a more effective blog:

http://socialmediasystems.com/11/12/business-blogging-tips-for-non-writers/
http://socialmediasystems.com/10/24/dont-be-an-im-a-realtor-too-site-stand-out-market-your-site-with-quality-content/
http://socialmediasystems.com/04/11/10-rarely-used-quick-and-easy-tips-to-supercharge-your-blog/

For example, take a look at some of our local authors, especially prolific writers like Legacy Real Estate and Gitta. These clients have gotten tons of leads and traffic. Why? Because they consistently provide good content that is totally relevant to their readers.

In a competitive industry like real estate, everyone is searching for the best way to stand out and creating a steady flow of good content, from video and text to podcasts, is integral to gaining a strong presence online. People searching for real estate in your area WANT to know about it. They’re searching for the best location for themselves or their family; they want to know everything: where to find the best schools, markets, neighborhoods and more.

And who better to help them than you?

With years of experience as a real estate professional, you can help your readers and potential clients find what they need, when they need it, just as you do in every-day interactions offline. Approach any creation of content the same way you would approach a potential client and keep in mind the audience for which you’re writing. There is goldmine of information inside your mind, you just need to sit down and start typing. If you don’t want to write, record yourself talking and upload it as a podcast or create a video blog; there are numerous options available.

Text Specific Content:

The most common form content takes currently is text, but this is gradually changing. “But I’m not a writer” you might say. However, think about the accumulated knowledge in your head and how much you know about the areas you service and the real estate industry in general.

Before you start writing, take a moment and pick two or three target keywords. For example, a target keyword phrase if you’re a realtor in Orlando Florida might be “Finding Homes for Sale in Orlando, Florida” or “Real Estate in Orlando Florida.” Just think about what you’re going to write about and choose the keywords based off your topic. If you’re writing about home mortgages, make sure you include home mortgages once per paragraph. Simple elements like this will make your articles seo-friendly.

Here are a couple forms of common, highly effective article formats:

The Top Ten List

10 (or 5 or 7) Tips for Finding a Home in (City, State)
Intro paragraph – give a little background and stats about the city and state here.

1) Consider where you want to be in City, State
Always look at the areas in and around City, State. Decide which are is ideal for you and your family…

2) Find the right realtor
Find a realtor who really knows their stuff…
Tip 3
….
Tip 4
….
Tip 5
Tip 6
Tip 7
Tip 9
Tip 10

Conclusion- tell the reader why this area is great and why they should think about buying a home here, e.g. neighborhoods to see and things to keep in mind.

The Topic List

Buying Your First Home
Selling Your Home
Getting Your First Mortgage

Topics like those above can take any format you want, but the most effective are short paragraphs with headers:

Selling Your Home
Intro – Introduce and reiterate topic, then follow with something like ” If you’re thinking about selling your home in somewhere, here are some things to keep in mind:”

Get an experienced real estate agent.
An experienced real estate agent can make all the difference in getting a great price for your home…

Take your family’s home needs into account.
Think about the type of neighborhood or home that is best suited for your family…

Conclusion-why, when, how and where.

There is much misinformation and scare tactics are common among vendors who have an ax to grind: they seek to scare you and keep you in the dark to control you and your purchases by keeping you ignorant and/or dependent on them for your technology.

Custom written, proprietary solutions have this disadvantage, and, unless you are a huge company with the resources to own and replace if necessary the personnel on which such an application depends, I must recommend that you use only open-source solutions.    The problems with proprietary solutions are many:

• The secrets are outdated by the time they are protected, because the market moves so fast.
• You may as well give the vendor all your stock and control of your company, since you will be completely dependent on them, and them alone!
• The creator of such a solution becomes indispensable: if something happens to him/her you are out of business.
• Proprietary solutions are expensive, and the purveyors of this technology will protect their investment by re-selling it beyond it relevancy to the ever-changing market. (they will protect and adhere to their knowledge and code base even when it is outdated – usually takes about ten minutes these days)

I could go on, but I think you get the message that I am partial to open-source solutions for most web applications. 

While it takes some effort to keep up with changes, upgrades, and plug-ins for these applications, they allow a constant research and development environment at no cost: developers all over the world are constantly updating, improving the code which is owned by nobody, and can be worked on by many.

Plug-ins and add-ins are constantly being developed, and a huge troubleshooting knowledge base is available online, and security holes are plugged as quickly as they are found: that’s right, these solutions are actually safer and more secure than the secretive counterparts which are often peddled with fear of hackers as a closing ploy.

I would be interested in your feedback, vendor horror stories, etc if you would offer your feedback here:

http://socialmediasystems.com/forums/topic/caviot-emptor-buyer-beware-of-vendor-subversion?replies=1

And stay tuned, next week we will complete this ten part development series up by making some philosophical points and bringing it all together.

Okay, we’ve covered copyright and contract issues for clients; now its time to examine how they affect service providers. Service providers, like their clients, almost always benefit from a contract, especially if they’ve agreed to relinquish their rights to any finished work. This holds especially true in the freelance world, where service providers are generally more susceptible to getting screwed over by various companies.

This is why a contract can be one of the most valuable tools ion the proverbial service provider’s tool box. Whether you are a freelance web designer, graphic designer copywriter or anything in between, accepting a new project entails a ton of responsibility. Ensuring you keep a solid history of records via tightly controlled invoices, emails and other valuable correspondence can ensure your rights are protected. Like your clients, you don’t necessarily need a lawyer to make a contract agreeable and convenient for both client and service provider.

Rights to work are another important aspect of a contract and are a key component to ensuring designers and service providers lay out the specifics of a project and how it is going to work. This can take the form of a simple proposal that is signed by both parties; it doesn’t it need to be really long filled legal jargon to make a solid agreement between client and service provider.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, one of the most common arguments between designers and clients stems from a lack of understanding of the terms. The end of a project is not the time to be surprised by all your work getting ripped off without payment (sadly, this does in deed happen quite a bit).

Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can make it easier on yourself, the first and foremost being, of course, a contract. This doesn’t always prohibit someone from taking advantage of you or your work, but may inhibit certain negative behavior. If a company knows you’ll report them or thinks you’ll uphold your contract, they’re much less likely to break it. Secondly, always get a minimum amount up front, no exceptions. This way if you do get screwed, you are not only protected with a contract but money down for the work put into it.

If rights to work are important, keep in mind that the moment a piece of work is created, it is the property of the creator. Thus it is legally the property of the designer, writer, programmer etc. who made it, even if they sell it to a client. A service provider must transfer any rights to materials directly to the client, via written agreement, in the event they choose to relinquish rights.

A large number of freelance professionals simply include these rights in their services; still others maintain all rights to materials and concepts. On one hand, this messes the client up a bit, as it results in them not having easy, needed access to important materials. On the other, keeping credit and rights to materials can be integral to a freelancer’s profession, will allow them to control what happens with the materials and ensure their work isn’t modified.

Think of it this way: if it�s a $300 project, most professionals will probably relinquish any rights; if it�s a huge 10,000 project that incorporates major branding and marketing, the service provider will likely want to keep rights to the materials and final product.

A decent compromise if you do give up all rights to your materials is to include a clause in your contract stating that you must be credited for any and all work done even after you transfer rights and materials to a client.

Ultimately, giving up rights to materials and creating a contract between you and a client is a matter of personal choice, but is a solid way to protect your own interests and those of your client. After you sign a contract, you’re on level ground and can start a project knowing that all the details have been ironed out. One more thing to remember is that the more detail, the better. Leave nothing ‘open ended’ unless its in your best interests; however, specifics are almost always preferred.

Here are the other parts to this series:

INTRODUCTION

PART 1 – Clients

[tags]web design contract, copyright, freelance contracts, copyright infringement, creating a contract[\tags]

If you’re the client, make sure you include the following steps when hiring a service provider to ensure you don’t get involved in a mess like a copyright or legal battle, no matter how much you trust them. While this may change after you’ve worked with them and established a relationship, there should always be a WRITTEN agreement in the beginning, signed by both parties. It may sound simple, but too many times people forget, or make one and don’t give specifics. Now whether you need a contract for the $200 graphic design or writing job is up for debate, but for larger projects you should always have a contract.

Writing up a contract, even if it’s just a paragraph, can help immensely with any disputes that may arise. Keep in mind that despite popular opinion, a lawyer isn’t necessary for a contract to be legally binding. There are some excellent templates available for free or for a small fee. Just make sure each of yous signs the agreement. You can even prepare what’s called a copyright assignment, which assigns you, the client, with full, long or short time copyrights.

A lot of web designers and graphic designers keep the rights to the designs they do for clients; for example, even if a graphic or web designer creates a layout, logo or other graphic, they automatically own the copyright, even if they sell you the work. This can create problems for the client in the long run, and a lot of disputes occur because of situations where the site owner wants to modify, change or take their site in another direction but can’t, or if they do, are required to use the existing designer, writer, etc. Copywriters often do the same thing, which is that they essentially treat the work they do as a permanent loan to the client that can’t be modified.

If you’re doing something like web design or graphic design, the key is to get all the files from the designer that you need in case you wish to perform any modifications. A good designer will give you these anyways, and if they don’t, they should. Tons of website owners get screwed because of this, as they have to pay the designer to do every single modification, even if they have a webmaster. Thus, check your options and make sure you establish this before you hire someone to do your website graphics, layout, content, etc. An exception to this could be really large projects, as these usually invlove branding and marketing; the publicity and credit a designer gets for these projects ensures they’ll probably keep the files.

Another thing people don’t take into consideration is agreements via email. Technically, if you agree to hire someone or if a contractor agrees to provide a service, you are obligated to follow through. The same is true of emails discussing copyright. Since these are hard, cold evidence, keeping every bit of correspondence is critical.

The US Copyright Act, created in 1976, states that the owner of all the rights in copyright is the creator, or author, of those rights. From the first moment a designer creates something that can be copyrighted, the rights belong only to the designer, thus you have no claim on the work in question.

Section 201 of the US Copyright Act talks about initial ownership: “Copyright in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work. Section 204 of the same Copyright Act goes on to state in part: Sec. 204. Execution of transfers of copyright ownership (a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent.”

In a nutshell, this means is that if the client or business owner doesn’t get a written contract, they may not have any rights to the work once its done. Granted, some clients don’t care, but many others do.

The bottom line is that a copyright is a bundle of rights that should, in my opinion, always be protected by a contract. Who owns the rights and who doesn’t depends on what your contract says, what’s agreed to and many other factors you have to hammer out with your service provider.

More on the copyrights and contracts series:

INTRODUCTION

PART 2 – SERVICE PROVIDERS

[tags]creating a contract,web services,web design, copywriting,web design[/tags]

You’d think the answer to this question would be simple–always sign a contract, period– but it isn’t. While this question applies over a broad spectrum of fields, it is especially ambiguous in the freelance world. This series of articles is geared towards individuals or companies looking to hire service providers like web designers, copywriters and internet marketers on a contract or freelance basis.

Too often, there seems to be a strange reluctance between service providers and clients to sign a contract. Why? Only they can answer that question. Maybe they don’t want to be locked in, or feel like they’re obligated (which is a little silly, considering the situation). Maybe they really trust the person and feel like a contract isn’t needed, or perhaps they want to keep things open. Maybe one person feels like its an insult to the integrity of the other to request a contract. There are any number of reasons, but the bottom line is that a contract is completely necessary; furthermore, it is in the best interests of both parties to negotiate an agreement.

A contract is simply a way of outlining everything you’re going to be doing, who gets to keep the copyright, for how long and ______ fill in the blank. A contract for copyright is especially integral, as this is often a huge point of dispute between service providers and clients.

I’m going to be writing two installments: one for clients looking for work and one for services providers. I’ll provide links to places with templates and examples, and generally talk about best practice when it comes to contract and copyrights for buyers and sellers. A shorter third installment will talk about the benefits of a written contract to all parties involved.

I imagine that anyone who’s ever contracted out for services has dealt with this issue at least once. On the web, it seems to come up a lot with services like web and graphic design, copywriting and many other mediums where copyrighted materials are involved.

More on the copyrights and contracts series:
PART 1 – WEB SERVICES, CONTRACTS AND COPYRIGHT- FOR CLIENTS

PART 2 – FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS

[tags] contracts,copyright,web design contracts,writing contracts[/tags]

For content writers, this means standing out from everyone else is getting more difficult; luckily, standing out to major search engines like Google is becoming easier. As Aaron Wall (of seobook.com) mentions, search algorithms will become increasingly sophisticated and start using visitor feedback as a quality signal; thus high quality content will become increasingly rewarded and poor content will cease to be profitable.

Thus, the key in producing effective content will depend on how many people like it and how quickly it spreads virally. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean grammatically perfect, incredible prose; it means meaty, focused writing with a point, opinion, purpose, and attitude that speaks to users and makes them ‘vote’ for or link to it. This also means the use of social media will become increasingly important to how well content does on the search engines.

This is good news for writers who value quality and have long been frustrated at the proliferation of bad writing on the web. While this in no way means that poor content will stop being profitable, it does mean that a) higher quality content will become more rewarded than poor content and b) the more user’s give value (e.g. via links, diggs, mentions) to an article in the near future, the better it will rank in the search engines.

[tags] seo, quality content, social media, link baiting[/tags]

After researching the term and trying to come up with a specific definition, I realized that it just wasn’t possible, because ‘quality’ content can’t be defined by itself; it has to be defined by its audience. The main audiences concerned with quality content online are:

• Users;

• Search Engines;

• Website owners, Webmasters & SEOs.

Quality content from a user’s perspective

From a user’s perspective, quality (or my preferred term, valuable) content, whatever the medium, is characterized by one essential factor: it fulfills the user’s needs at the time they’re looking for it.

While average, informational, well-structured content may be considered “quality” content, for users, true “quality” comes in the form of any unique idea, tool or medium used to give people the information they want on a given topic. This can range from humor-filled or debate-stimulating articles and crazy video blogs to interactive websites or those just offering expert advice. Essentially, any material that engages their emotions, expresses opinions, invites interaction, commentary and debate, and most importantly, meets their needs.

For example, in the beginning of my web-based writing career, I put too much emphasis on the particulars of writing: if it was well written, if it was long enough, if it was grammatically correct and well-structured, etc. I soon came to realize that, while these factors are still important, they are not necessary to creating “quality” content. Authors of wonderful, incendiary or groundbreaking articles struggling with structural and grammatical errors ranked above many of mine every time because they gave people what they were looking for.

Quality content from a search engine’s perspective

From a search engine’s perspective, quality content seems to be determined by the most on-topic (relevant) and trusted material in the online community.

Relevancy is affected by the number of links to a page’s content (like ‘votes’ for the page), the content’s significance, how well the search engine algorithm understands the meaning of the page (semantics) and how well the content matches the searcher’s topic.

Trust is the other part of the equation, and is determined by the types of sites that link to a webpage. For example, .edu sites are generally more trusted than other domains. Because of this, sites with lots of .edu links will probably do very well. Sites highly trusted on a particular topic, or “authority” sites, range from smaller websites with lots of ‘quality’ content to larger sites considered leaders in their field. The search engines love these sites, so if several link to your page’s content, it gives your page validity with the search engines.

Note: this is a purposefully broad generalization; there are many subtleties that go into how a search engine determines the quality of content, but I’m not writing a book?; I’m simply taking a stab at generally understanding how the search engines analyze ‘quality’ content.

Quality content from a website owner, webmaster or seo’s perspective:

From a web owner’s, web masters, or website owner’s perspective, quality content is simply content that garners links, offers value to users, is properly optimized and draws traffic that can be used for brand recognition or monetization.

More recently, a large determinant of a website’s quality of content has been its ability to gain links through a number of methods, including social bookmarking. If a user likes a site, they can bookmark it or link to it; this in turn increases the site’s prominence.

In his guest article on Blog@v7n.com, Aaron Wall of Seobook states that “you can write a thousand pages all day long on your site and absolutely nobody is going to care if they do not know who you are.” I see where he’s coming from, as most content offering basic tips, a glossary about thingies or a how-to guide will be ignored by most people. Users will go to the sites they trust, the people with the rep, or sources like Wikipedia before they read an unknown website or blog�unless you create content with a unique slant (opinionated, editorial, catchy, humorous, creative) or content that’s ultra detailed (e.g. a fifty page guide to thingies or a super reference site).

However, I think that a large part of problem also lies in the fact that many website and blog owners don’t know how to market or promote their content properly. If they lack an understanding of seo, internet or viral marketing and other methods they can take to get themselves noticed, such as commenting on blogs and in forums, optimizing their site or blog correctly, etc., they have no chance to compete against the big guys, no matter the quality of their content. However, if they have valuable content, know how to promote themselves effectively and use the vast array of online tools available, the little guy can win, even without the rep. Acclivity’s blog, Stir Crazy, is an excellent example.

We set out with the intention of creating enough valuable content that our blog would take off with a running start. And it did. Less than a week after we launched Stir Crazy, Chris Crum approached us with an invitation to join WebProNews as a blogging partner; needless to say, we did, and one of our articles was even featured on the main page of Searchnewz (as of Dec. 3). The website and blog have been up less than two weeks, and we already rank for some decent terms.

In the end, quality content means different things to different audiences. So give ‘em all what they want and reap the benefits: universally valuable content that offers unique ideas, meets their needs, satisfies their algorithms and gets them links.

[tags]quality content, seo, search engine marketing, web content, blogging, blog writing, website optimization, seo advice, seo writing[/tags]

This article was posted previously elsewhere; here are the comments that were made:

reseller hosting |eukhost.com/resellers.php |�

Along with quality/good content you need to have expertise to promote your blog up against those who have already done that.
SEO is a must nowadays to promote your site.

Dec 5, 3:37 PM

Chris Crum |� webpronews.com |�

You know, I didn�t realize that your blog had only been launched less than a week before. I�m glad to hear that the partnership is giving you good results!

Dec 5, 9:54 PM