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Headsmacking Tip #21: Write Better Headlines Than Anyone Else |
Headsmacking Tip #21: Write Better Headlines Than Anyone Else Posted: 26 Jun 2012 08:07 PM PDT Posted by randfish This tactic is so simple and obvious, it's probably illegal somewhere. Every day, the web produces millions of pieces of content. Several thousand are almost certainly of interest to folks in your niche - those who might be reading your blog or sharing the content you produce. Creating unique stories requires creativity, research and time that many in the field don't have. But... writing the best piece, or even just a decent piece of content about an interesting topic and giving it a fantastic headline? Well, let's just say there's no such thing as a free lunch, but this one costs just pennies. Here's how it works: Step 1: Get Informed
E.g. The other day I found a research paper from Cambridge (via Reddit) on how negative thinking adversely impacts problem-solving ability. Step 2: Choose the Best Pieces Each Day/Week
E.g. That research paper had been written up in some small press pieces (as seen via this Google News query), but had yet to receive any major writeups, suggesting it's a perfect target. Step 3: Rewrite the Headline Phenomenally Well
E.g. "Stay Away from Negative Thoughts to Improve Problem-Solving Ability" could be transformed into headlines like "Scientific research suggests haters really are harming your productivity," or "Is distraction a better problem-solving technique than deep thought?" Step 4: Cover the Story from Your Angle
E.g. If I were writing for the marketing world, I might take an angle focusing on what gets marketers stuck in ruts, provide suggestions for distraction and draw on some of my own experiences (like those frequent ideas in the shower moments). Many folks will presume this only works for news-focused sites or news-focused content. False! You can relate news and events to nearly anything you desire and make it function with the brand and voice you're trying to craft. E.g. "How the Facebook IPO Will Change Commuting Patterns in the Bay Area," "Will Rising Sea Levels Affect Your Favorite Beach Getaway?" "Dental Implants May Be a Thing of the Past Thanks to Gene Therapy," "The Privatization of Space Flight Will Come at a Cost for Floridian Home Owners." I'm not suggesting any of these are particularly excellent, but hopefully you can imagine how to extend the concept of headline-writing into your field. p.s. If you're looking for some headline advice, I particularly liked this piece on Why Gawker's Writing Better Headlines Than the Rest of the Web and this section on Copyblogger. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
Watch Out for Long Title Tags - An SEOmoz Case Study Posted: 20 Jun 2012 01:53 PM PDT Posted by RuthBurr Here is the all-true story of some intriguing events that have transpired at the MozPlex in the last couple of weeks. It all started when Jamie wanted to look up his fantastic post from last year, "Custom Reporting Using Google Analytics and Google Docs - The Ultimate Analytics Mashup." Not having the URL committed to memory, he did what any of us might do: he Googled it. Imagine his surprise (and my consternation) when instead of a useful, keyword-rich, call-to-actiony title, he saw this:
For some reason, Google was displaying the text from the unique part of the post URL, rather than the title. A quick survey of Mozzers found that several of us had seen similar results when Googling old blog posts:
But it definitely was NOT happening on all blog posts!
I'm gonna be honest with you guys: I could NOT figure this out. I checked various factors for correlation. Could rel=author be causing this? Was something happening with the way title tags were being generated on the back end of the blog? Nothing seemed to match up. One factor that I considered, but almost dismissed, was a change in how titles are truncated. The Google Inside Search blog had just released their monthly list of algorithmic tweaks for May, including these 3 that specifically had to do with how titles display:
In short: When your title tag is too long, instead of simply truncating it and adding an ellipsis to the end the way they used to, Google is trying to algorithmically determine a better title for the post. But surely, I thought, SURELY this wasn't what was happening here. How could a string of words separated by dashes and pulled from the URL be a better title than the actual title? Even a shortened version of the actual title? My mistake in my initial round of sleuthing was that I ignored Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. I tried shortening the title tags and it worked like gangbusters:
What We LearnedLike many blogging platforms, the SEOmoz blog has an option to include a custom title tag. If no custom tag is created, the title tag is generated from the title of the post. We've got some pretty long titles of posts in our library, but many of them had no custom, shorter title - post authors were relying on Google to truncate as needed and focusing more on writing a great headline. It looks like having a short, search-friendly title tag has increased in importance - without it, Google could replace your title with just about anything, including part of your URL. This doesn't exactly create the user experience we want, and a replaced title tag is a lost opportunity to encourage searchers to click. How Long Should My Title Tag Be?There's a great post that just went up on SEOMofo about how long title tags can be and still be displayed in the SERPs. To sum up: the old rule of "70 characters or less" is no longer as hard-and-fast as it used to be. SEOMofo's experiments show that now Google is truncating title tags based not only on number of characters, but also on the pixel width of your title tag. So title tags rich in wide letters like W and A won't be able to fit as many characters in before getting truncated, when compared to title tags rich in narrow letters like i and t. We'll need to experiment further to figure out exactly where the limit is on title length/width. In the meantime, make sure your pages with long headlines have shorter (still keyword-rich) titles in the title tags, and be aware of your use of wide characters. In my spare time recently, I've been slogging through years of posts and adding shorter titles as needed; I recommend you do the same. Update: AJ Kohn has more on this topic - including other reasons Google may replace the title tag, such as relevance to the query - over here. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
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Not so simple, actually, and about more than just classical marketing:
There are a hundred people in a room, perhaps a trade show or a small theatre. What's your choice:
Most people say they choose #2. In fact, most marketers actually do #1 or #4, and it's only #3 that gives you the best chance--create a remarkable product or service, don't depend on getting picked to have a lucky break on stage, and gradually spread your purple cow among people who are truly interested.
Apple and Nike and Starbucks are trotted out again and again as marketing gold standards, because they are beloved by many and ignored or distrusted by few. But these are the outliers, the .0001% that don't represent what actually happens when successful ideas reach the marketplace.
The mass market is no longer. There is almost no room left for the next Procter & Gamble or Google. Instead, you are far more likely to do your best work if you are willing to delight a few as opposed to soothe the masses.
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Posted: 26 Jun 2012 10:26 PM PDT Chris Martensen had a nice interview on Capital Account with Lauren Lyster today on shadow banking. Here is the link if embedded video does not play: Chris Martenson on Shadow Bank Runs and how Central Banks are Missing the Boat! I discussed the same topic earlier today as did Zero Hedge. Please see Zero Hedge Provides Empirical Proof of Deflation (However, He Does Not Even Realize It) for a discussion. Adobe Flash Errors By the way, YouTube videos completely stopped playing on Firefox for me after I went to the latest release of Adobe Flash. I had to uninstall flash, then return to version 10.3. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 26 Jun 2012 02:31 PM PDT Spain has reached it budget deficit target of 3.5% of GDP. The problem is, Spain did it in 5 months, not 12. Via Google translate, Spain has Budget Deficit 36.364 Billion Through May. The State had until May a deficit of 36.364 billion euros in national accounting terms, equivalent to 3.41% of GDP, representing an increase of 30.6% compared to 2.59% in the same period 2011. The figure almost touches the 3.5% target it has set the state for the entire year.Regional Debt Not Included in Above Totals My friend Bran who lives in Spain adds this explanation ... Clearly, Spain's deficit is well off track . The primary difference between the "state" and the "whole of the government" is regional government debt.Taxes Going Up, 456 Prescription Drugs Dropped The debate now is over how much taxes will go up and what government services are dropped. Bran supplied a link to 456 prescribed drugs dropped from funding to save €440 million. The Ministry of Health, Social Affairs and Equal propose a list of 456 drugs that may be excluded from public funding and, as calculated by the department led by Ana Mato, would be a net savings to the NHS of 440 million euros.How long before Brussels sends in a team of experts telling Spain what it needs to do? Three hours or three days? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Monti Threatens to Resign if No Eurobonds; Specter of Early Elections Posted: 26 Jun 2012 11:04 AM PDT Courtesy of Google Translate, via a link posted on the Guardian Live Blog, please consider this choppy clip from Monti: EU summit difficult But Knight gives the alarm Perhaps the Prime Minister Mario Monti has finally accepted the ultimatum of Cav and decided to download Frau Merkel. Perhaps the government, dealing with the preparation of the European Council of 28 and 29 June, will have a movement of pride and will be presented in Brussels slamming his fists on the table. Perhaps, indeed. For now, sources close to Palazzo Chigi, Monti wants to ensure that clamped down on the German Chancellor. A professor there to shake the thought that Silvio Berlusconi has decided to launch an ultimatum to the government "should immediately change direction." At the end of the summit with Prime Minister, Cavalieri, the actual government falters in an absolute uncertainty and that, to get himself out of this impasse is to take a firmer line in Europe: "We are left with a feeling of uncertainty about the proposals Italy will do.Specter of Early Elections Early elections in Italy are certainly not on the wish list of nannycrats. Yet early elections appear increasingly likely. Monti would not survive such an election. The economic situation in Italy worsens every week. People are becoming increasingly frustrated, not only with government in general but with the euro itself. For details please see Italy "Gasping Like Beached Whale"; Berlusconi Reiterates Euro Exit "Not Blasphemy"; Beppe Grillo Discusses "Taboo of the Euro" Five Star Movement Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement gains momentum every day. Grillo supports an exit from the eruorzone and the Five Star Party is now the second largest party in Italy. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is leader of the PDL, Italy's third largest party. Berlusconi is now anti-euro, as is the Northern League. These are very significant events. For more details, please see Six Reasons Why Italy May Exit the Euro Before Spain; Ultimate Occupy Movement. Also note Monti Begs Germany to Stabilize Interest Rates; Merkel Pours Cold Water On "Theoretical Discussions"; Italy Official Denial #1; Why Monti's Days Are Numbered. The nannycrats do not want Monti to resign nor do they want early elections. However, delays in calling for elections actually plays into opposition hands. Each passing day weakens Mario Monti, and each passing day strengthens the anti-euro movement in Italy. "See you in the next Parliament" Beppe Grillo said after the local elections in May. Let's hope so. Addendum: I did not understand the phrase "ultimatum of Cav" so I pinged a friend "Andrea" who is from Italy but now lives in France. Andrea explains ... "Cav is short for Cavaliere, a nickname for Berlusconi. The site Il Giornale (where you found the article) is owned by Berlusconi and is therefore very Berlusconi friendly. The newspaper nickname him the Cav." She also added the article states ... "In a meeting he had with Monti, Berlusconi complained that there is absolute uncertainty about what the EU will adopt at the upcoming summit. Berlusconi sought a much tougher position on Merkel noting the discomfort many of his party representatives and senators face in supporting Monti's government." Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 26 Jun 2012 09:44 AM PDT Inquiring minds are reading "Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union" by the gang of four nannycrats: European commission president Herman Van Rompuy, ECB president Mario Draghi, José Manuel Barroso of the European commission, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the leader of the 17-country eurogroup. Don't expect any details. There aren't any. Instead the document consists of a wish list wrapped in a wordy package that says virtually nothing. Wish List
Details are allegedly coming December 12 2012, with an interim report due in October. Van Rompuy "expects to reach a common understanding on the way forward for the EMU at our meeting at the end of the week." I expect more bickering, if not a major battle because Germany was not included in the preparation of the white paper. By the way, this pathetic detail-lacking document is all there is to see from the purposely leaked story on June 3, regarding a "Secret Plan for a New Europe" Germany "Pooh Poohing" Paper Already The Guardian offers these thoughts on the "plan to save the eurozone" [The plan] calls for a quick start on establishing a new European banking union, says that the ECB could be given supervisory authority over EU banks quickly, and proposes common resolution funds (for winding up bad banks, funded by a banking levy to spare EU taxpayers) as well as a common deposit guarantee scheme for Europe's savers.Merkel Torpedoes Idea Please consider these comments from the Guardian Live Blog. 4.13pm: Markets are getting spooked again, and here's one reason. According to Reuters, German chancellor Angela Merkely has said at a coalition party meeting that Europe will not have shared total liability for debt as long as she lives.Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Zero Hedge Provides Empirical Proof of Deflation (However, He Does Not Even Realize It) Posted: 26 Jun 2012 12:28 AM PDT Zero Hedge, citing a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report on Shadow Banking, makes (without even realizing it) a sure-fire case for deflation. I encourage you to visit the link shown above, but also take a look at On The Verge Of A Historic Inversion In Shadow Banking by Zero Hedge. Here is the introduction by ZH. While everyone's attention was focused on details surrounding the household sector in the recently released Q1 Flow of Funds report (ours included), something much more important happened in the US economy from a flow perspective, something which, in fact, has not happened since December of 1995, when liabilities in the deposit-free US Shadow Banking system for the first time ever became larger than liabilities held by traditional financial institutions, or those whose funding comes primarily from deposits.Empirical Proof of Deflation Here are the pertinent charts and commentary. That chart is from the NY Fed. On a similar chart ZH commented ... "As another reminder, US Shadow Banking liabilities - a combination of Money Market funds, GSE and Agency paper, Asset-Backed paper, Funding Corporations, Open market paper and of course, Repos - hit a gargantuan $21 trillion in March 2008. They have tumbled ever since, printing at just under $15 trillion at the end of March 2012, the lowest number since March 2005 when shadow banking liabilities were soaring. This is an epic $6 trillion in flow being taken out of credit-money circulation, with a $143 billion drop in Q1 alone!" Sequential Change in Shadow Bank Liabilities click on chart for sharper image The chart immediately above is from ZH, not the NY Fed article. ZH comments ... "It is precisely this ongoing contraction that the Fed does all it can, via traditional financial means, to plug as continued declines in Shadow Banking notionals lead to precisely where we are now - a sideways "Austrian" market, in which no new credit-money money comes in or leaves." Emphasis in bold by ZH. Deflation It Is There is nothing "sideways" about it. The charts clearly show credit money is indeed leaving (contracting) to the tune of a whopping $6 trillion since March 2008. Interestingly, Zero Hedge did not mention "deflation" once in his post. Yet, those charts, without a doubt, depict deflation if one accurately describes inflation and deflation as measures of credit, not prices. Based on real-world experience of what is most important, here is my definition: Inflation is a net increase of money supply and credit with credit marked to market. Deflation is the opposite, a net decrease of money supply and credit with credit marked to market. If one woodenly sticks to the view that inflation and deflation are about prices (while ignoring a devastating collapse in housing), then yes, the US is still in a period of inflation. Likewise, if one foolishly sticks to measures of money supply like M1, M2, or TMS (true money supply) by Michael Pollaro, then the US is also in a period of inflation. Real World Viewpoint Neither money supply nor the CPI can adequately explain interest rates, housing prices, lack of jobs, and numerous other real-world phenomena. In the real-world, in a credit-based economy, it is credit that matters. The above charts show the real story. That story explains 10-year treasury yields at 1.61% and 2-year yields at .29% even though the CPI is 1.7% year-over-year. Those charts also show why hyperinflationists are in an alternate universe and why proponents of "huge inflation but not hyperinflation" are on Mars. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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