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Have you ever worn the same thing as someone else to a party?
What if you went to a party and when you got there, over 100,000 people had the same idea?
That’s what would happen if you write a blog post called “how to optimise my blog post for SEO”.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="786" height="511" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9696" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1.jpg 786w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1-250x163.jpg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1-768x499.jpg 768w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1-700x455.jpg 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1-120x78.jpg 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/blog-image-1-80x52.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 786px) 100vw, 786px" />
What’s happening everywhere is that original thought and compelling content is being threatened (or at least drowned out) by those who:
<ol>
<li class="p1">write just to rank</li>
<li class="p1">are too conservative</li>
<li class="p1">have no strategy</li>
<li class="p1">have little to say about their product, service or industry</li>
<li class="p1">have little to say about their company</li>
<li class="p1">are just plain lazy</li>
<li class="p1">fall under all of the above&#8230;</li>
</ol>
Personally, I have a real problem with the overabundance of what’s called “topic cluster content”. This is pushed by the likes of HubSpot, the <a href="https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/10/topic-cluster-content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Content Marketing Institute</a>, and many more. To explain this concept: you simply find your core topic (that people are searching for) and then you write more blog posts about related sub-topics (that people are searching for).
<blockquote>&#8220;The internet is being flooded by content that has absolutely no value. Content for the sake of content. And it must stop.&#8221;</blockquote>
<h3>Kind of Boring</h3>
So for example, if I was to write about how to optimise a blog post for SEO, then I might proceed to write a piece a week later about how to build relevant link to said blog post. Logical, right? Yes, but isn’t it kind of boring?
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="480" height="240" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9712" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/giphy.gif" alt="" />
Writing for SEO is okay to a point, but far too many brands are picking up on this technique and creating content that has little to no value. And it&#8217;s sort of all the same. At best, it might be slightly useful &#8211; but it’s probably been written over 100,000 times before. And much of it ends up in TL;DR territory.
Let’s get to the point of what is considered to be poor quality content, and then stay where you are so that we can discuss what to do about it&#8230;
According to Google&#8217;s own guidelines, your content is of poor quality if:
<ul class="ul1">
<li>It&#8217;s lacking in purpose</li>
<li>It is harmful or offensive</li>
<li>Presents unsubstantiated conspiracy theories</li>
<li>Promotes hate or violence</li>
<li>The page is just a copy of an idea already present on the internet</li>
<li>There are numerous grammatical errors or misspellings</li>
<li>and many more&#8230;</li>
</ul>
And hidden somewhere within their documentation if you look closely enough, there is also this key piece:
<ul>
<li>Little to no time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users</li>
</ul>
Now that&#8217;s the real problem right there. They do not like lazy content.
Google has felt the need to create guidelines like <a href="https://www.semrush.com/blog/eat-and-ymyl-new-google-search-guidelines-acronyms-of-quality-content/">E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) </a>because most people simply cannot follow their advice by writing with honesty&#8230; and for the user.
<h3>Getting away with it</h3>
The internet is being flooded and, over time, ruined by those creating content time and again that has absolutely no value. Content for the sake of content. And it must stop.
The mere suggestion that you should have an opinion can be met with, &#8220;Yeah maybe if we were Ryanair or Paddy Power then we could get away with that.&#8221; A knowing guffaw will usually follow. Well, guess what &#8211; those brands are getting away with it and it&#8217;s getting them a lot of exposure. Their content is often original, has a supporting strategy, dares to create debate&#8230; and come on, they&#8217;re having fun.
Brands who create content with honesty don&#8217;t give much of a sh*t about what people are searching for, or what they will write about next week based on, well, what people are searching for again. They will write with authority, they will have an opinion, an original piece of thought, a tone of voice, a strategy&#8230; all of the core elements that are missing from most content.
<h3>Not just Storytelling</h3>
The next time you sit down and strategise content, think about all of this. And very importantly, if you have a topic then Google it before you write so that you can ascertain if it&#8217;s already been done a million times or not. And if it has then you&#8217;d better make it bloody good or else don&#8217;t bother. Good content is not just storytelling, it&#8217;s telling your story well.
And don&#8217;t be afraid to have an opinion. If it doesn&#8217;t work then life will go on (assuming you haven&#8217;t said something completely ignorant or offensive). But you MUST have an opinion or a voice, or your content will not stand out. It just won&#8217;t.
Furthermore, there are so many blogs that are chock full of articles about products or services and you&#8217;ve got to wonder why these are not just given a logical/permanent home on their website. Your blog is your place to have an opinion or a voice, not to shove a product benefit down someone&#8217;s neck&#8230; again. Let your product pages be great at doing that.
Don&#8217;t focus on what everyone else is saying and then try to say it better. Instead, focus on trying to say what nobody has said yet. Now that&#8217;s something of value. That&#8217;s something I&#8217;ll read. And so will many others&#8230;
<h3>Where to Start</h3>
We know that this is not easy&#8230; you do need to research your audiences, engage with them and better understand their needs, you need a direct line to those with the authority to greenlight and/or produce this content and have the opinion, you need the resources to produce something compelling.
So if you&#8217;re wondering where to start with often limited resources, then:
<ul>
<li>Look at your own industry &#8211; there are surely developments that you (or someone in your organisation) can have an opinion on. Everyone between four office walls has an opinion so be bold, back that up and talk about it.</li>
<li>Read a lot &#8211; If you are not keeping pace with your industry then you may have an opinion that is out-dated &#8211; or that someone has already had.</li>
<li>Do NOT immediately look for what users are searching on Google for. Most searches do NOT end in a purchase, remember? Instead, use informed <a href="https://friday.ie/expertise/strategy/research/">research</a> and ask them what they&#8217;d like to see from you.</li>
<li>Is there any industry experts who would be willing to write for you? They will be less afraid of judgment and might even have some credibility to lend.</li>
<li>Weigh up the risks and rewards and maybe just do something cheap but fun. Like that time Friday created TDer, which is still <a href="https://www.tder.ie/">worth a look</a>.</li>
</ul>
With the right amount of effort and willingness, you&#8217;ll not just be creating content that delights your audiences.. but also your audience&#8217;s audiences.
Now go and take risks with your content, because the answer is always no if you&#8217;re never even asked. Don&#8217;t just be like the rest.
Fancy taking a risk with your content? <a href="https://friday.ie/contact/">Get in touch.</a>

Where Has All The Good Content Gone?

If this headline caught your attention and you’ve come here looking for the answer, you’ll be disappointed.
But don’t go anywhere, this is still relevant…
The question you should be asking instead is “How good should my blog posts be?”
<h3>It&#8217;s not about length</h3>
Too often in discussion around content, this question is asked. “How long does it need to be?”. If you’re asking this, your approach is all wrong.
There’s nothing new to say here that we haven’t already been trying to drill home. It’s not about length, it’s about the <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/user-centric-content/">user</a>.
It’s about relevance, originality, quality, and engagement. And if it can be entertaining, informative, controversial or opinionated, then even better &#8211; people might actually share it.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="477" height="158" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9584" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screenshot-2019-07-25-at-15.29.57.png" alt="Share my content" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screenshot-2019-07-25-at-15.29.57.png 477w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screenshot-2019-07-25-at-15.29.57-250x83.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screenshot-2019-07-25-at-15.29.57-120x40.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screenshot-2019-07-25-at-15.29.57-80x26.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" />
You may have seen studies out there suggesting that the longer your piece of content is the higher it will rank on Google. And yes, this is true in many cases. But not in every case. Let me explain…
I just searched on Google for “how long should a meta description be?” and this page ranked first &#8211; <a href="https://blog.spotibo.com/meta-description-length/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://blog.spotibo.com/meta-description-length/</a>
You know why? It’s rich content, its original, it’s got the length checker tool, there’s a useful image and then appropriate text length. That’s the key here &#8211; “appropriate”. It’s not two thousand words long but it certainly goes a long way towards answering my query.
Now, if my question instead had been “why do I need meta descriptions?” Then there’s an argument for writing more in order to give background, context and actionable value. Now that’s one I could easily write 2,000 words on. Not that length matters&#8230;
<h3>One core question</h3>
There is 1 core question you need to ask yourself at 3 key points while creating a blog post. And that question is: “Why should someone read this content and not someone else’s?”
And you should ask it:
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li1">Before you create your piece of content</li>
<li class="li1">While you write it</li>
<li class="li1">When you review it for publishing</li>
</ol>
So, at every point.
If you cannot answer that question, then start again.
You should ask yourself the same about your brand, product, service, website… it should be a part of everything that you do. But that’s another day’s discussion, and that could easily be 10,000 words&#8230; or whatever is appropriate.
<h3>Keeping things simple</h3>
There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple. As I write this, that is exactly what I’m aiming to do. This blog post is not for the purpose of making Friday Agency seem smart &#8211; it’s to show that we can make sense with minimal effort.
On this topic, even some very well-known websites have been getting it wrong from time to time. Take Search Engine Journal for example, which states <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/rank-higher-than-your-competitor/309929/">here</a> that: “Your content has to communicate your company’s unique selling proposition using the words that people who are looking for your goods and services are most likely to type into a search engine.”
Sorry, but this is b*llshit.
You do not need to broadcast your USP in every communication &#8211; this is a trap that far too many brands have fallen into. As a result, their blogs become catalogs, or About pages with added tumbleweed. It also leads to word count for the sake of length comparison.
Here is another <a href="https://searchengineland.com/tf-idf-the-best-content-optimization-tool-seos-arent-using-319122">article</a> on TF-IDF, which would have you believe that if you can analyse who ranks in the top 10 on Google and emulate the keywords/topics that they use then you can do the same &#8211; and, boom! you’ll be there too.
Not true.
But it will help you to maintain a certain level of unoriginality.
Covering related topics is fine, but don&#8217;t solely rely on tools and competitors to suggest these for you. You&#8217;re the expert.
<h3>Rank without copying your competitors</h3>
Your content can rank for what you want it to rank for, even without using the exact keywords. It can rank without copying your competitors. Google’s algorithm is smarter than mere comparison. It doesn’t require that you repeat yourself, state the obvious or be a collection of the thoughts of your competitors.
I stumbled upon another quote recently: “Analysing the top ranking content for LSI keywords, sub-topics they’ve included, who they link out to, what kind of media they use, etc. can be really effective at helping you understand how Google wants to answer the searcher’s query.”
Now, this is fine up to a point. But guess what &#8211; it’s not Google answering the query &#8211; it’s you. For your user. So write for them, and don’t spend the term of your natural life analysing what others are doing. Certainly take a look, but it’s not everything.
Spending all of your research time looking at what competitors are doing is about as useful as a pogo stick in a minefield.
The same goes for your word count. Do not be over-concerned about the length of your competitors’ blog posts. Answer the user’s query with honesty and expertise, and then send it out into the wild. You&#8217;ll know fairly soon if it&#8217;s good enough.
<h3>A final thought</h3>
There are so many factors involved that influence your blog post’s ranking position, and word count is just a very small part of it.
Here’s a final thought &#8211; how about you try to be the brand who are first to use certain engaging keywords and topics within your article? Say things that your competitors are not saying.
Have an opinion. Suddenly, you’re authentic.
Hey, you won&#8217;t find another blog post like this one on this topic!
Even if this very blog post doesn&#8217;t go on to rank no.1 for &#8220;How Long Should My Blog Posts Be?&#8221;, then at least it&#8217;s original.
Struggling with original content? <a href="https://friday.ie/contact/">Get in touch.</a>

How Long Should My Blog Posts Be?

I’m Dave, the UX director at the Friday Agency. Sitting beside me is Gavin and Martin, good guys and both very experienced digital marketing professionals. Naturally, we work very closely together and like to have the occasional laugh at the expense of each other! They provide me with a wealth of statistical information around user behaviour. I like to think I provide them with more attitudinal research-based user insights. This brings up all kinds of great discussions around usability. While we interpret data differently from our own perspectives, we all have the same goal in mind — to gain user empathy through research and not assumptions.
<h4 class="graf graf--h4">Office banter</h4>
A good discussion started last week about the use of title case vs sentence case in both digital marketing and UX design. Before I go into how I think the lads are wrong let me explain a couple of things.
Title case means that the first letter of each word is capitalised, except for certain small words such as articles and short prepositions. With sentence case, only the first word and proper nouns have initial capitals, the Queens English so to speak!
Title case: 
Gavin and Martin Think They are Right, Dave has Other Ideas.
Sentence case: 
Gavin and Martin think they are right, Dave has other ideas.
Spending a lot of time working in Google Ads, Gavin and Martin need to write attention-grabbing headlines in 30 characters or less. Research has found that using title case for Google Ads is more effective for getting users attention, fair enough. The issue I have is that the lads seem to apply the same logic to almost all titles, subtitles, headings and sub-headings, lists and bullet points. This willy nilly approach upsets me, its all over the place — no rules, no control — it&#8217;s literary anarchy!
There is no doubt that title case works well online for headings, it gives a visual hierarchy to different text elements and helps guide the reader. You don’t want users starting with a sub-heading. My feeling is that title case works when there is less than 10–12 words, after that it just gets messy and hard to read. To my horror Gavin suggested that sub-titles should also be in title case, this is where I draw the line. There is no way the sub-text legibility in the Google Ad below benefits from being in title case… no way, sorry Gav!
&nbsp;
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="143" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9342" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA.png" alt="" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA.png 750w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA-250x48.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA-700x133.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA-120x23.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1gKbN40Wahe3K0qkQJo0ZmA-80x15.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
<figure class="graf graf--figure"></figure>
<h4 class="graf graf--h4">A/B testing</h4>
So, being the research nerds that we are, we decided to do some A/B testing around this. We created 2 almost identical Google Ads for our UX services. The only difference was that the sub-title was title case in one and sentence case in the other. We wanted to see which ad had the highest click-thru rate.
<div id="attachment_9340" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9340" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-9340 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA.png" alt="" width="600" height="78" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA.png 600w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-250x33.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-120x16.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-80x10.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />Sub-title in title case</div>
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_9340" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9340" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-9340 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA.png" alt="" width="600" height="78" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA.png 600w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-250x33.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-120x16.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1jYvY4FzLSVSihw5qZN0MtA-80x10.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />Sub-title in sentence case</div>
<figure class="graf graf--figure"><figcaption class="imageCaption"></figcaption></figure>
<figure class="graf graf--figure"><figcaption class="imageCaption"></figcaption></figure>
To our surprise, there was only a 0.5% difference in performance between the two ads in favour of title case, marginal and inconclusive for most but huge for the likes of Amazon. This may hint that title case will grab slightly more attention but doesn’t offer us any insights into legibility. To be fair to Gav and Martin, we do it not because everyone else does — but because it gets higher click-through-rates and therefore more revenue for our clients!
This got me thinking about what the ‘rules’ are around this for marketing or UX. I did a bit of reading on the subject and it seems there are no rules. It’s highly subjective. There is a general consensus that titles do get more attention in title case but the jury is out on whether longer titles or sub-titles in title case are easier to read. Studies have found the difference in reading efficiency between title and sentence case is actually quite minimal. My views might be based on aesthetics, it looks choppy and for me it is harder to read but you may not agree.
<h4 class="graf graf--h4">Laying down the law</h4>
The hypothesis that I offer is that title case has a high level of prominence but the legibility suffers as a result, you’d never read a full book in title case, would you? The use case depends on what you want to achieve, do you want attention or have easy to read text.
I found a great example below. These are different notification popups on iOS and Android screens. As you can see on the left Apple have a policy of title case on titles while Google uses sentence case throughout. While they are different messages, you can’t tell me the iOS message is easier to read, can you?
<figure class="graf graf--figure"></figure>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="735" height="604" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9339" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w.png" alt="" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w.png 735w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w-250x205.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w-700x575.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w-120x99.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1JK5LEHfHgufxivS9AMmD0w-80x66.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px" />
While there are plenty of well-established rules for how to use title case, there are few rules about when to use it. Everything seems to be subjective and based on assumption. It’s the wild west out there! Somebody needs to take charge and make decisions.
I am going to do what no UX designer should ever do, I’m going to make the rules based on my own opinions and assumptions. From this day forward I will be known as the self-appointed Sheriff of sentence capitalisation.
<h4 class="graf graf--h4">Sheriff Dave’s 4 Golden Rules for Sentence Capitalisation</h4>
<ol class="postList">
<li class="graf graf--li">Only use in main titles</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">Only use in titles shorter than 12 words</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">Never use in sub-titles, lists, bullets or anything that is not a main title (see point 1)</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">Digital marketers may not be the best guide on the appropriate use of title case</li>
</ol>
Take it or leave it.
What do you think? Am I the Sheriff or are Gavin and Martin entitled to put a bounty on my head?
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="400" height="308" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9347" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/giphy.gif" alt="" />

Making the Case for Using Title Case or sentence case in UX Design and Digital Marketing

It&#8217;s Time to Step Away &amp; Put Your Users at the Centre of Your Content Strategy
For many businesses, creating content can be an arduous task. Usually this is because in-house resources are rather tight when it comes to creating content on a regular basis. Or sometimes, the skillset simply isn’t there. However, another barrier I come up against, or more slows the process down in the beginning, is the lack of understanding in the value of creating content. When I say “value” I do mean revenue!
For an Ecommerce business, for example, the primary goal is transactions and revenue generated. It’s totally understandable. You’re in business to make money!
Where’s the value in creating content? Oh yeah, for SEO. I did that in the beginning, but it took up too much time and I didn’t see the return I wanted.
If you have been creating content (or none at all in many cases), with the sole purpose of your business revenue goals in mind, rather than the user, you could be in for a bumpy ride down the rankings.
Graham said it perfectly in his blog “<a href="https://friday.ie/blog/building-trust-into-the-customer-experience/">your customer’s goals should be your goals</a>.”
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 75%; position: relative;"><iframe loading="lazy" class="giphy-embed" style="position: absolute;" src="https://giphy.com/embed/xUNd9GIay1fKQTSWIM" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/soultrain-soul-train-don-cornelius-xUNd9GIay1fKQTSWIM">via GIPHY</a>
<h2>Google’s Algorithm Update (March 2019)</h2>
On March 12th Google confirmed that it had made an <a href="https://searchengineland.com/googles-march-2019-core-quality-update-stories-of-recovery-314347">update to its core algorithm</a>. Targeting predominantly those that fall under the Your Money Your Life (YMYL) category, essentially websites that fall under the health segment. As a result a lot of websites saw their traffic deteriorate dramatically. Phew! I hear you say. But wait there’s more.
The algorithm update seemed to favour and reward websites that had content optimised to Google&#8217;s E-A-T standards. These standards put an emphasis on the overall Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness of a site. The higher Google scores you in these areas, the greater the reward.
Although many of the websites initially affected were health centric, there were a large number of other sites across a variety of industries affected by the update. I think it’s important to read between the lines here. Google’s goal, from a user point of view, is to return the most relevant search results to a user’s query. It’s that simple. With artificial intelligence becoming more advanced and user’s expectations of search evolving, your content has to go beyond trying to rank just for those high volume, high value keywords.
<h2>Content Experiences</h2>
Content marketing, it’s about simply creating &amp; distributing, right? Unfortunately not. It’s about creating an experience. A <a href="https://hub.uberflip.com/blog/what-is-content-experience-definition">content experience can be defined as</a>, the environment in which it lives, and how it engages users to take action on your site. 
In layman&#8217;s terms, it is the experience you get, both good and bad, when you interact with a piece of content.
<h3>What’s A Content Environment?</h3>
The environment in which it lives. Essentially the aesthetics of the content. It relates to the overall presentation of the content. Is it structured in a digestible and easy to navigate format? Is it in line with the brand? It’s all about creating attractive content that users want to consume and engage with and ultimately give them a positive user experience. It is about integrating relevant copy, image and video with good quality UX.
<h3>Engaging Users</h3>
You want your content to serve a purpose, for both you and the user. It is important to create content that is as relevant as can be to the user’s query. Once you’ve given them a positive user experience, the next step is for them to engage with you (all going well). 
The more personal the experience the better. User’s want to feel as if the messaging has been tailored to them. If you want to bring your user on a content journey, or simply want to generate leads, then make sure your CTA’s are relevant and natural. Think about what is relevant, and better yet, what fits contextually.
<h2>Creating A Content Experience</h2>
Creating incredible content isn’t about finding high volume keywords and churning out a long-form blog once a month. To create an experience, you need to begin by diving deep into that particular topic and consider all the possible needs your potential customers may have related to that topic.
Remember, you don’t have one type of customer. Your content has to satisfy a wide range of user needs. These needs can be transactional, but also informational.
For me, a content experience doesn&#8217;t have to begin when a user visits your site. It can now begin on the search engine results pages. With SERP features like Featured Snippets, it gives businesses an opportunity to entice and engage users before they even click. As users enter the top of the funnel and begin their research, you can seize the opportunity to be top of mind.
Consider an online retailer selling laptops. Now consider all the different types of information a user might search for around the keyword “laptops”.
They may be interested in;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Brands</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Software</li>
<li>Comparisons</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reviews</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Storage</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Speed</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Use cases &#8211; for designers, college students</li>
</ul>
User research is a crucial part of developing a content strategy. There are numerous data sources you can use to help research what type of content to create. It’s about thinking outside the box. 
<ul>
<li>Focus Groups</li>
<li>Customer Personas</li>
<li>Your Employees</li>
<li>Keyword Research</li>
<li>Forums</li>
</ul>
<h3>Focus Groups</h3>
If you can, start with a research focus group. This is particularly beneficial in highly competitive, niche markets where there might not be many product or service variations. Getting your customers in front of you can reveal a lot about their needs.
At Friday, one of the first steps we take in the beginning of any project is carrying out user research. Whether it’s driving a UX project, a new web build or a content strategy, research helps create that roadmap. 
<a href="https://friday.ie/blog/importance-of-ux-research/">Don’t base your decisions on assumptions</a>, it’s far more beneficial to just ask.
<h3>Customer Personas</h3>
If you can’t access a focus group, then try and get into the minds of your customer personas. What way do they think? What needs do each of them have? It’s not just about providing a product or service that they need. They may have had a particular thought process justifying why they need it. They may have gone through a series of events which led them to come looking for your product. Whatever the needs, each user has their own unique situation.
<h3>Employees</h3>
Talk to the people that deal with your customers on a daily basis. They will have a wealth of insights into what your customers needs are. 
<h3>Keyword Research</h3>
This should all be supported with in-depth keyword research. In particular, more long-tail keywords and queries. As long as it makes contextual sense. Start with your core keywords and work out. 
Gathering, grouping and categorising all of this data can then help mapping out your content pillars and calendar. The real work begins when it comes to creating and publishing.
<h3>Forums</h3>
Get on to forums relevant to your industry. See what everyone is talking about. They can be a goldmine of information. If you can&#8217;t get in front of your customer&#8217;s this is the next best thing.
<h2>Expertise + Brand = Trust (A Winning Formula)</h2>
When you gain trust, you build valuable, long-lasting relationships. 
Creating content that covers the length and breadth of a particular topic showcases your knowledge, experience and expertise. When your content is in-depth and consistently provides users with exactly what they want, it will positively effects for your brand
When you build your brand and establish yourself as the expert, you’re not only gaining the trust of the user, but you’re also gaining the trust of Google. 
From an SEO perspective, even if you’re not appearing in first position, if your brand is strong enough, and recognised as an authority in a particular field, users are more likely to click on your search result. Why click on a result from a brand you know nothing about, when you know you’ll get exactly what you want from the link in position 3?
<h2>User Intent</h2>
Does your page solve the user’s problem? Does it meet, and hopefully, go beyond their expectations? When you’re content matches the intent of the user, you’re providing them with positive user experiences. 
We don’t just love positive user experiences, Google loves them too. Positive user experiences translate to positive user signals. It’s these <a href="https://www.searchmetrics.com/glossary/user-signals/">user signals</a> that can benefit your organic visibility. Examples of these signals are; 
<ul>
<li>Click Through Rates</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Length of Time on Site</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Lower Bounce Rates</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Number of Pages Visited</li>
</ul>
Of course, these metrics are case dependent. Sometimes a user gets what they need and leaves. There’s no need for any further action. For example, looking for the contact number of a business.
<h2>So What Next?</h2>
Making the shift to creating high quality, user-centric content will pay dividends in the long-run. We’re living in a digital world saturated with advertisements and what sometimes feels like too many options.
Why would you want lots of options, when there could be one choice that solves everything?
If you want to avoid slugging it out in the trenches with growing numbers of competitors and rise to the top, then you need to put your efforts into positively strengthening your brand. You need to gain the trust of your target audience. Once you have that, a lot of the work is done for you in terms of consumers deciding whether to choose you or your competitors.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-9153 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top.jpg" alt="the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top" width="642" height="361" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top.jpg 642w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top-250x141.jpg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top-120x67.jpg 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/the-cream-always-rises-to-the-top-80x45.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px" />
How do you get there? Start by giving your users exactly what they want, and then give them more. There’s potential customers out there, that you didn’t even know you had. Give them positive, unforgettable experiences and become ‘the’ expert in what you do.
If you&#8217;re curious about creating a user-centric content strategy or would like to know more, then feel free to <a href="https://friday.ie/contact/">get in touch with the team at Friday</a>.

It’s Time To Start Creating User-Centric Content

The most common browsers in use in Ireland <a class="markup--anchor markup--h4-anchor" href="http://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/ireland" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="http://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/ireland">at this time</a>, and shortcuts for clearing your browser cache, listed below.
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Chrome: Desktop</h4>
On your browser Toolbar, click More &gt; More Tools &gt; Clear Browsing Data. 
Check Cached images and files and then click Clear Browsing Data.
PC Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Delete (To Open Settings) 
Mac Shortcut: Shift+⌘+Delete (To Open Settings)<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/chrome.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3101" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/chrome.png" alt="" width="400" height="535" /></a>
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Chrome: Mobile</h4>
On your browser toolbar, tap More (⋮). Tap History, and then tap Clear browsing data.
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/chrome-mobile.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3103" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/chrome-mobile.png" alt="" width="400" height="711" /></a>
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Safari: Desktop</h4>
Safari &gt; Clear history.
Although poorly named “Clear History” this command actually clears all caches and cookies from the browser as well as the browsing History.
<h4><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3109 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/safari-e1511446904155.png" alt="" width="290" height="359" />Safari: Mobile (iOS)</h4>
Open the Settings app and navigate to Safari &gt; Clear History and Website Data.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/iOS_safari.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3107" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/iOS_safari.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="711" /></a>
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Firefox</h4>
Click the menu button and choose Preferences. 
Select the Privacy &amp; Security panel. 
In the Cached Web Content section, click Clear Now.
PC Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Delete 
Mac Shortcut: Shift+⌘+Delete
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3105" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/firefox.png" alt="" width="867" height="440" />
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Internet Explorer</h4>
Tools (via the Gear Icon) &gt; Safety &gt; Delete browsing history.
PC Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Delete
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3106" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IE.png" alt="" width="678" height="352" />
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Android</h4>
Tap the menu icon &gt; Settings. Tap Privacy or Privacy and security. Tap Delete Personal Data. Select Cache and Cookies and tap Delete.
If you have an older device or version of the app, you should see options to Clear cache and Clear history here. Tap them to clear them.
Note that this process will vary slightly between devices and operating systems.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3102" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/android.png" alt="" width="400" height="715" />
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Edge</h4>
Click on the menu button situated in the upper right corner. Click Settings &gt; Clear Browsing Data. Check Cached Data and Files, and Cookies, click Clear.
PC Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Delete
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3104 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/edge-e1511445984395.png" alt="" width="357" height="588" />
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">Opera</h4>
On a PC click on the Opera button in the top left corner &gt; Settings &gt; Delete Private Data.
On Mac, from the Opera drop-down menu, select Clear private data.
&nbsp;
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3108" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/opera.png" alt="" width="239" height="282" />
<h3>WTF is caching?</h3>
<iframe loading="lazy" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p85xwZ_OLX0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Often when a client calls with an issue on their site, particularly one that’s undergoing development, I feel like Roy from <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/">The IT Crowd</a> — except instead of saying “Have you tried switching it off and on again” my line is “Have you tried clearing your cache?”
Sometimes I feel like a broken record, but this can definitely be frustrating for a client who is calling with an issue and the first thing I‘m telling them is that it’s an issue with their browser and not the website.
The reason for this is that we need to rule out the simplest potential causes for an issue first, before digging deeper. Sometimes the issue is caused by caching, sometimes not, but taking the relatively short amount of time to do this will rule out caching as a potential issue, potentially saving a lot of time down the line.
Without getting into too much fine detail, we can break caching down into two broad types; Browser Caching and Server Caching. When I ask a client to clear their cache, I’m referring to the Browser cache — while they&#8217;re doing that I’ll check and clear the server cache in the background. Let’s get a sense of both:
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">1. Browser Caching</h4>
Your browser is the software application you use to access the internet, e.g. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer.)
When you first visit a website through your browser, your browser will download all of the necessary assets needed for that website to function, this will generally consist of stylesheets, fonts, javascript files, etc. The types of assets will vary greatly between individual sites.
Your browser will save and remember these types of files locally for a while, so that when you revisit or browse to different pages on the site, that these assets aren’t downloaded every single time. The result? Much faster load times for repeat visitors.
<h4 class="graf graf--h3">2. Server Caching</h4>
Server caching is a much more complex beast when you break it down, but essentially the goal is the same — to speed up load times for users.
Instead of being specific to your local machine, these caches run on the website server, so instead of saving data for individual users via their browser, they save and remember requests for all users. Leveraging Server caches (to improve performance) can be done in various ways, but if done properly can lead to much faster load times for your website.
We leverage server caching on a number of sites we manage here using Firewalls. Firewalls work to protect your site from a security point of view, protecting from unauthorised access. Enabling caching further strengthens the resilience.
By default, our servers clear their caches in intervals of 3 hours. So making a change on your website may not be visible for this time period. It will however take effect effect once the server caches have cleared either automatically, or manually.
Depending on your set-up you may be able to clear server caches in the admin area of your website, but this will vary from website to website.
Happy Caching!

How Do I Clear My Cache?

Over the years I have written a post or two about our process for planning, designing and developing a website or app. It’s always evolving as technology changes, we learn new techniques and come across fresh challenges. I find looking back at how I used to do things is a bit like looking at old photos of myself &#8211; cringe! Time highlights how experience has given us new tools, expertise and knowledge that we didn’t have before, such as the content first approach.
While the core of our process hasn’t changed dramatically, what is always changing is what’s happening inside each of the main stages. What I find is that the sequence of events is critical to the success of a web project. Each stage feeds the next and working ahead without completing a previous step can often have a negative effect on the project and the quality of the output.
<h2 class="graf graf--h3">Prioritise Content First</h2>
Content is the life blood of a website or app, it’s what your audience come for, whether it&#8217;s a brochure, eCommerce, data capture, information or entertainment. Content creates the design, functionality and purpose of your website or app. Form follows function and the function is usually based on the content.
It’s not uncommon for us to be asked by some clients to begin the UX and design process before the content is ready, a requirement usually created by project time constraints. The problem with this is that we are creating the information architecture, wireframes and design by guessing what the content might be and how much of it there is. Using “lorem ipsum” as placeholder text and through wireframes and dummy images in design is no substitute for actual content. In fact its not uncommon to still see placeholder text go unchecked on a live website. It&#8217;s a mistake to create content to fit a design. You make a shoe that fits the foot, not find a foot that fits the shoe.
From experience the design first approach will usually result in multiple design changes being required after the website or app has been built. This is a counter productive way of working and can effect the project timings and the budget. We also find that if the design is not tailored to suit the content it can often end up looking less bespoke, more generic and not fit for purpose.
<h2 class="graf graf--h3">Why Content First?</h2>
When we use a content first process we are taking the content centre stage, this ensures we consider the opportunities, constraints and implications of content on our designs. We can think about how to display the actual content so it’s easy to digest, especially on mobile. The content will inform and drive the design and that’s when good UX design takes the delivery and communication of content to the next level of experience.
Content creators should be closely involved in the planning stages of any project and they should work closely with the UX designers, project managers and developers. It’s key that everyone understands what is expected and what the common vision is.
<h2 class="graf graf--h3">Jamie&#8217;s Story</h2>
Jamie, one of our UX designers here in the studio told me a story about a client he was working with when he was in a previous company, the client had a new product they wanted to launch online and he asked Jamie to work with him on creating a promotional landing page for the product. Their initial conversation went something like this.
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote">Client: 
“I need a design for a web page that explains how our new subscription product works, I want to put it live next week.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote">Jamie: 
“No problem, can we get together and look at your content. I can sketch a wireframe and then I’ll come up with a first draft of the design.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote">Client: 
“I don’t have any content yet, I was hoping you could design something that I could look at before I work on the content.”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote">Jamie: 
“But if I don’t know what the content and functionality is, how can I create a design for it?”</blockquote>
I have heard people suggest that the choice between content or design first is an eternal question, like &#8220;which came first, the chicken or the egg&#8221;? This simply isn’t the case, it&#8217;s always content first, there is no debate.
<h2 class="graf graf--h3">Best Practice</h2>
Copy should be written with an idea of how it will be displayed on-screen. It should be written with many questions in mind — should there be a more concise version of the content for mobile devices? Does it need accompanying graphics or icons to get the point across? How will a piece of content work with the other content on the rest of the page? When it comes to images, if we are supplied images after the site has been designed are they going to work and fit into our layout and will they work across responsive screens?
All this detail needs to be worked out through close collaboration between the UX designers and the content creators and the final wireframes should always feature content that is as close to approved as possible in order for a final design to begin in earnest.
Timings can be a challenge for any project, it may sound like a good idea to work on content and design in parallel and in isolation to save time but from experience the opposite is true, it&#8217;s simply counter-productive. Using actual content (both text and images) throughout the design process will inform and guide design decisions and result in designs that scale well and communicate effectively as the content intends. Everybody wants the best possible output.
What is your process? How do you handle content creation in the mix of UX, design and development? Let us know in the comments below.

The “Content First” Approach to Creating Your Website

Content is King is a term that gets thrown around quite often, but what exactly does this mean and how does it relate to SEO and content marketing? High quality content has a purpose, meets a user’s intent in a satisfying way and tells search engines how suitable the content is to that user.
Search Engine Land has a nice infographic called the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://searchengineland.com/seotable" data-href="http://searchengineland.com/seotable">Periodical table of SEO</a>, in which they consider quality and research to be the most important factors in relation to creating content. In this post I will discuss the elements of page quality and how you can use this information to improve your search presence.
Before I get into page quality it’s important to understand that Google is trying to satisfy users based on a search query. Google is becoming increasingly intelligent and understands that many people are simply people are looking for answers to questions. Just consider what <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/insidesearch/howsearchworks/algorithms.html" data-href="http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/insidesearch/howsearchworks/algorithms.html">Google themselves say</a> about the goal of search:
<blockquote class="graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“Our goal is to get you to the answer you’re looking for faster, creating a nearly seamless connection between you and the knowledge you seek”</blockquote>
Their knowledge graph is a prime example of this. Understanding how people are searching can give you ideas on how to optimise your content. There are a number of ways you can find just exactly how your audience is searching. A quick and simple test is to look at Google’s autocomplete function. Say for example, imagine you wanted to do a piece about responsive web design:
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1499 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/responsive-web-design.png" alt="content marketing" width="778" height="182" />
This shows you some top searches and could help direct you as to what people are looking for in relation to responsive web design i.e. Tutorials, templates etc.
Google keyword planner is also another handy tool to get search volume for specific keywords. This will give you a good insight into the potential reach of a content idea. All you need is an AdWords account to access this tool
Google is also assessing your page based on how well it meets the user’s intent. Every page should have purpose and should meet a user’s intent. There are 3 main types of intent that I would like to draw attention to:
<ol class="postList">
<li class="graf--li">Do — complete an action or accomplish a goal e.g. “buy car insurance”</li>
<li class="graf--li">Know — find out information e.g. “how to make chocolate biscuit cake”</li>
<li class="graf--li">Go — navigate to a specific page or website e.g. “brother hubbard cafe”</li>
</ol>
Once you have decided on the purpose of your page you need to write content that meets this purpose to the highest degree possible. No matter what your chosen topic area you must ask the question “What is my audience looking for?” and how does my page meet the intent of their search query?. Incorporating user intent into your content marketing strategy will focus your efforts on exactly what your target market is looking for.
<h3 class="graf--h4">Assessing Your Page Quality and Content Marketing:</h3>
Pretty much every page can be split into 3 areas; main content, supplementary content and advertising. It’s important to look at each element and ask yourself some questions:
<ol class="postList">
<li class="graf--li">Main Content — This is the meat of the page. It is the part that helps the page achieve its purpose. This can include text, images, video, reviews etc. Being thorough is key here. You need to ask yourself does the content look like it took a significant amount of Time, Effort, Expertise or Skill to complete? Essentially there are no easy shortcuts to creating high quality content, you need to do the labour.</li>
<li class="graf--li">Supplementary Content &#8211;This type of content contributes to user experience but is not directly related to the purpose of the page. This could include navigation, related articles, related products etc. The key point here is whether the SC is helpful? If not then why is it there?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Advertising — Quite self explanatory; how much advertising is on your page. Ads can affect user experience so ensure that you don’t overdo it. If you are reliant on advertising as a revenue stream, focus on using industry-approved standards. Check out <a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6002621?hl=en" data-href="https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6002621?hl=en">Google AdSense </a>and <a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="http://iabireland.ie/councils/display-ad-standards/" data-href="http://iabireland.ie/councils/display-ad-standards/">IAB</a> guidelines.</li>
</ol>
So how can you assess whether your content is of high quality? Going back to 2011, Google <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ie/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html" data-href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ie/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html">posted 23 questions a in blog post</a> looking at what makes a high quality site. These are still highly relevant today and are very similar to their internal page quality guidelines that were ‘leaked’ last year. I won’t list all the questions in the post but here are 6 key ones that I find help me assess content:
<ol class="postList">
<li class="graf--li">Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?</li>
<li class="graf--li">Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?</li>
</ol>
These questions should be applied to all of your content marketing no matter what the format. This will help you to deliver higher quality content that your audience will be more likely to engage with.
<h3 class="graf--h4">Expertise Authoritativeness and Trust.</h3>
E-A-T. These are 3 elements that search engines consider as factors when judging page quality. So how does this manifest in relation to your content? In short, you want to display high degrees of these traits for any given web page. Expertise and authoritativeness relate to who exactly is writing the content and do they know what they’re talking about. For example, health advice should come from individuals with medical expertise (i.e. Doctors)**. So how do you display this? Well this could simply be referring to professional sources, citing academic sources or completing bios which signal expertise.
Trust relates to the website as a whole, examples of how can you show this is ensuring you have an About us, Contact Info, Author Bios and Customer Service page. Other methods include enabling user ratings, security trust marks and of course high quality inbound links.
<figure class="graf--figure">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="graf-image aligncenter" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*OwtQ6rIUM_4VxTDd." alt="content marketing" width="531" height="169" data-image-id="0*OwtQ6rIUM_4VxTDd." data-external-src="https://cdn-static-1.medium.com/_/fp/img/media-loading-placeholder.b31hiO4ynbDLRrXWEFF4aQ.png" /></div>
</figure>
**Please note Google holds pages that affect “Your Money Your Life” to higher standards than usual websites. So keep this in mind when choosing a topic.**
We at Friday understand the importance of quality particularly when it comes to search and content marketing. If you would like to connect or find out how we can help you improve your SEO, get in touch!

CONTENT MARKETING – HOW TO IMPROVE PAGE QUALITY

Content Marketing – How to Improve Page Quality

Number 1 on the first page of a Google Search &#8211; it’s what we’re all looking for in life really, isn’t it? 
Even when putting my own name into the goliath Search Engine Google I remembered my glee when I noticed I had pipped the other Gillian Hunt, the American photographer to the top spot. 
Yes indeed, this Gillian Hunt was once upon a time a Number 1 Google Search Result. One of my biggest claims to fame &#8211; maybe… achievements &#8211; well perhaps not. To be honest I had little or no idea why my LinkedIn Profile was ranking above any other search result in Google, but it still made me smile!
For an individual the need to be the number one search result may just be an ego thing **cough cough** but for a business it can mean the difference between success and failure, life and death, kick ass Christmas parties or tea for one… you get the picture. 
Being found on the internet by potential customers is key for a thriving business in today&#8217;s world. And that’s where SEO comes to the party.
<h2 class="graf--p">The basics of SEO &#8211; Optimisation</h2>
Search Engine Optimisation, so really what is it? SEO in its simplest form is a marketing discipline which primary focus is to increase the visibility of a search engine result of your business. 
Now to do it well you need to look at both the technical and creative aspects of your website. But with a strategy in place genuine SEO can improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines. 
Sounds easy doesn’t it?
And some of it is; Search Engines want users to find what they are looking for but they need to know your business is the most, or one of the most relevant results given the search terms/words entered into that little white box. 
SEO has a specific set of tactics in it’s toolkit endorsed by the Search Engines that allow their technology to easily crawl your website picking up and indexing all the relevant information, (<a href="http://www.smartbugmedia.com/blog/10-on-page-seo-tips-to-use-in-2015">Read more</a> on some of these techniques). 
That’s one component of SEO “optimising” the relevancy of the site. But hey kids SEO is not all about ensuring you are presented accurately on the web, so search engines can match your relevancy to a search. Oh no… now not only do you need to be relevant, but you need to be popular too! What the?!
<h2 class="graf--p">Domain Authority</h2>
Yes Search Engines decided if your content is shared or linked to from other sites than this is worth a higher ranking particularly if those sites themselves have a high “Authority”. What the hell is Authority I hear you ask? 
Well just like the real world online authority suggests power and control, a site with a high domain authority is listened to by users, people read, engage with, share and link to these type of sites and Google award that site for well… being popular. 
When a popular site with high domain authority links to your site **Bing** your ranking is improved. It’s just like hanging round with the cool kids or even the cool kids mentioning you while they chat to their cool kid friends. 
Feel like you’re in school again? Well it’s not far off it, relevance and popularity is what it’s all about and any SEO strategy worth its salt is going to influence just this, how relevant you are by optimising the site and popular by getting your site links out there into the interwebs.
<h2 class="graf--p">Mobile Optimisation</h2>
So I have been keeping up to date with SEO standards and tweaking my site, linking back to it and getting my content out there in the web, basically trying my very best and then someone mentions mobile. WHAT? With significant Web traffic coming from mobile devices, companies cannot afford to ignore the mobile Web and yet many still do. 
For Google, mobile comprised almost half of all traffic from June to November, with 52 percent coming from desktops and 48 percent from mobile. <a href="http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2388915/why-mobile-web-still-matters-in-2015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(Read more on mobile and browsers stats.)</a>
That’s a lot of mobile users getting online and you know it because you’re one of them. And suddenly the game has changed for all those sites who have not thought about mobile. As of Tuesday, April 21, 2015, Google has made a massive change to the way it ranks websites. How massive? Seemingly some people were calling it the “Mobilegeddon”, which could be a slight over reaction. 
But maybe not, if your website is not mobile friendly Google have said themselves:
<blockquote>
&#8220;it will have a significant impact in our search results&#8221;.
</blockquote>
So SEO is not just about relevancy and popularity or certainly not just on desktop, all of that now needs to be applied to the mobile web. 
So is your site mobile ready? <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Test it here</a> and see how you rate. 
We had to try it ourselves and ohh look… The Friday Agency is AWESOME, but of course we are, that’s our business (and just us… we’re just awesome).
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Friday-Mobile-Ready.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1384" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Friday-Mobile-Ready.png" alt="Friday-Mobile-Ready" width="767" height="477" /></a>
<h2 class="graf--p">Responsive Design</h2>
So what can you do after some good SEO strategies and your site is rating reasonably well on a desktop search but lost down a dark lane of a mobile search? Google’s number 1 suggestion for mobile optimisation is Responsive Design. 
We have spoken at length about Responsive Design in our Journal <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/responsive-web-development/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mobile Apps or Responsive Websites</a> <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/mobile-apps-responsive-websites-choose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Responsive Web Development</a> (see what I did there… linking back to our site, good SEO).
Basically it’s building one site that fits all, one URL, one website that adapts for phone, tablet and desktop. Other options are dynamic serving, where Google sniffs out what device is searching and serves up different HTML, but even Google says this can be error prone. 
Of course there is also the Mobile site which was one of the earliest mobile optimisation strategies. But seriously all this sounds like too much work 2 sites, 2 builds, 2 SEO maintenance works to be constantly updating. I’m tired just thinking about it. 
Responsive design &#8211; One site, built for all, users like it, Google really likes it and of course SEO marketers like it. It&#8217;s a simple concept, but so many businesses are still playing catch up. 
Now you may think I have been unfairly Google centric on this post, but really, with all devices included, StatCounter Report’s for the last quarter Google has over 93% of the Search Usage in Ireland and just over 90% Globally… so I thought I might just do that, focus on the big guns, it’s all about relevancy and popularity after all.
 <a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/StatCounter-search_engine-ww-monthly-201505-201507-bar.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1374" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/StatCounter-search_engine-ww-monthly-201505-201507-bar.png" alt="StatCounter-search_engine-ww-monthly-201505-201507-bar" width="616" height="375" /></a>
If you need help with SEO or optimising your site for mobile through Responsive design and development, give us a shout &#8211; it’s what we do.

SEO –  So you want to be number 1?

As a digital marketing agency, naturally, we work a lot with content and with photography.
But whether you are client or agency side, getting <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/photography-web-design/">good photography is essential</a> and it can take a bit of work from researching, finding, buying, licensing and so on.
There’s nothing new in the notion of free photography but you’d be forgiven for thinking that something free and stock might not hold the best quality.
Not so; check out these 5 cool resources for getting your hands on quality stock photography in a few clicks without spending a cent.
&#8220;Only 5?!&#8221; you say. Well, there are plenty more free image resources out there, but for me, these are the best 5.
<h3><a href="https://pixabay.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pixabay</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/paris-pixabay-843229_1280.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1319" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/paris-pixabay-843229_1280-1024x682.jpg" alt="paris free photography" width="1024" height="682" /></a>
This is a nice atmospheric shot of the Paris skyline. It’s completely free for commercial use and you don’t need to provide attribution if you use it.
<a href="https://pixabay.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pixabay</a> is one of my favourite resources for stock and it has a massive database of images (over 400,000 at time of writing).
<h3><a href="https://picjumbo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PicJumbo</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_copy.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1316" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_copy.jpg" alt="sm_copy" width="767" height="370" /></a>
<a href="https://picjumbo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PicJumbo</a> is another great resource with some top quality images with good variety.
They also have a paid service for $6 per month which is good value and offers exclusive content and complete photo collections.
<h3><a href="https://unsplash.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unsplash</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_mountain.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1312" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_mountain.jpg" alt="sm_mountain" width="767" height="439" /></a>
Not a massive resource and more creatively-led content than corporate, but <a href="https://unsplash.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unsplash</a> has some fantastic images; cityscapes, lifestyle, nature &#8211; always worth checking in on.
This landscape shot with the dock is great. I would print this and hang it, it’s that good. And, of course, it’s free.
<h3><a href="https://stocksnap.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stocksnap.io</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_bokeh.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1315" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_bokeh.jpg" alt="sm_bokeh" width="767" height="511" /></a>
A good selection of high resolution photography, and they add hundreds more every week. <a href="https://stocksnap.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stocksnap.io</a> has more of a commercial angle, and there&#8217;s no need to give attribution.
<h3><a href="http://deathtothestockphoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Death to the Stock Photo</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_DeathtoStock_Medium7.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1317" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_DeathtoStock_Medium7.jpg" alt="sm_DeathtoStock_Medium7" width="767" height="246" /></a>
The <a href="http://deathtothestockphoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Death</a> guys format is to email you a batch of new high quality lifestyle images on the first of every month.
Some really great photos here, just hand over your email address and you’re in.
<h3><a href="http://nos.twnsnd.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Old Stock</a></h3>
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_launch.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1318" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sm_launch.jpg" alt="sm_launch" width="767" height="517" /></a>
A cheeky 6th resource is one called <a href="http://nos.twnsnd.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Old Stock</a> which has some cool old photos of retro stuff. Also worth a look.
So there it is, a tidy collection of resources for some very good stock content &#8211; free to use.
Granted, you won’t find near the range and volume of images here as can be found at the likes of iStock, but definitely a handy go-to when you’re putting together a digital project, a series of blog posts or even a random photo print for the wall.
Hope this post was helpful. Happy hunting.

5 Inspiring Resources for Free Photography

Following up on my recent post about creating a great <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/mixing-a-great-content-marketing-strategy/">content marketing strategy</a>, I want to talk about how you can go about writing great content to fill it.
Let&#8217;s start with picking a topic.
<h3>Picking a topic</h3>
Choosing a good topic to write about is important if you want to grab your reader’s attention. It’s always best to have a content strategy in place &#8211; your strategy should already have a list of juicy ideas to post about.
Try to have a mix of what we call &#8216;stock and flow&#8217;. Stock content is ‘evergreen’ content, that your targets will be looking for over a long period of time. Flow is the type of content that is more day to day and reminds people that you exist.
Also, it might seem obvious, but try to write about content that comes easily to you such as the following:
<ul>
<li>What you work at.</li>
<li>What you know about.</li>
<li>What you’re interested in.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Writing a Title</h3>
A good title is essential &#8211; it’s the first thing people will see and it sells your content.
Unless you don’t need people to find you through search, your title should strike a balance between using clever wording to grab people’s attention and including at least one good keyword or keyword string.
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/friday-writing.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1204" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/friday-writing-1024x768.jpg" alt="writing content" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
Once you’ve got past the title you need an engaging introduction to draw your reader into your topic. Use humour, tell a story. If you can make an introduction funny or personal, it’s much easier for people to engage in it.
<h3>Make a point</h3>
Identify the goal you want to achieve before you start to write your blog post. This would usually be at the same stage as picking topics to talk about. Whatever your topic, you will want to have an angle or an opinion on it &#8211; this makes it more interesting, engaging (or controversial) for the reader, otherwise it could get boring.
<h3>Depth &amp; Quality</h3>
From the intro, you move into writing a story &#8211; creating a clear and interesting narrative.
Even if you’re writing a simple news piece, you will want to keep your audience’s attention and for them to know that they’re following a story.
Here are some ways of doing that:
Tell a storytelling a story helps engage the minds of readers, to persuade and to help reinforce your points and ideas. I like how Seth Godin puts it: &#8220;Great stories succeed because they are able to capture the imagination of large or important audiences.”
<a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/rsz_chalkboard-620316_1280.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1217" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/rsz_chalkboard-620316_1280-1024x514.jpg" alt="what's your story?" width="1024" height="514" /></a>
More from Seth on <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/04/ode_how_to_tell.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How to tell a great story</a>.
<ul>
<li>Add Quotes 
See Seth&#8217;s quote above! A good quote reference will back up your points.</li>
<li>Use Examples 
If you can reference an example, readers will not only come away with an idea of how to do something – they’ll have seen it in action.</li>
<li>Add your opinion 
Facts mixed with your opinion make posts more interesting.</li>
<li>Add Photos 
It’s incredible what a simple image or photograph can do to help make a point, particularly <a href="https://friday.ie/blog/photography-web-design/">with photography online</a>. I’m not just talking about eye-catching title images – but those that actually add value and depth to your posts. If you don&#8217;t have your own photography bank, you can try stock or royalty free or there are some very good stock sites that offer content that is free for commercial use. See <a href="https://unsplash.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unsplash.com</a>, <a href="https://stocksnap.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stocksnap.io</a> and <a href="http://www.raumrot.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">raumrot.com</a> for example.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Publishing &amp; Promotion</h3>
It’s always good to test what works for you and your audience. At Friday, we usually only publish blog posts on weekdays and generally towards the end of the week. Our target audience is working office hours and will mostly consume our content during those periods.
The end of the week can work better to publish, as many people are often busier at the start of the week.
Once you have published content on your website, search engines will pick it up pretty quickly but you’ll want to push it out on through your relevant channels also. For example:
<ul>
<li>Email Newsletters</li>
<li>Social Channels e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn</li>
</ul>
Check out this nice <a href="https://friday.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/social-media-best-times.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">infographic</a> from SurePayRoll on best times for each.
<div>Courtesy of: <a href="http://www.surepayroll.com/">SurePayroll</a></div>
That’s it, happy writing. If you liked this post, feel free to share it.