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In this month's issue:
Thoughts on changes in the way we learn and
how this relates to SEO work.
Please pass on Thoughts of the Gurus to people in your network.
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Word count for that issue: 1400 words
Approximate time to read: About 8 minutes
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Changes in the way we learn
I was reviewing some of the material I
had used for workshops I had run, and I came across this quote
"The illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot read and write,
but those who cannot learn, then
unlearn, and subsequently relearn".
Written by the sociologist and
futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970 via his book Future
Shock.
The classic, Future Shock was written in 1970, a 6
million copy best-seller co-written with his wife Heidi that
predicted the computer revolution, cable television, video
recorders, cloning, and the rise of the knowledge economy.
To me that quote encompasses Western
society today. We have outsourced or off shored most of our
manufacturing to countries like China and India. What we
have left is a knowledge economy, as predicted by Toffler,
and the only constant in the knowledge economy is change.
The IT workshops that I ran around 2000 have
little relevance, except as background material, to
workshops I run today. Not only has the technology changed
but how we apply that technology has changed. Western
economies are now service economies, based on
how can we take the low-cost products
manufactured in Asia and add value and margin to them by providing a service to our customers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) takes
this a step further, maybe becoming the classic knowledge
economy service, there is no product involved, nothing
to build value around and the service is delivered over the
Web.
At Gurus, we believe that we learn new
things about SEO everyday, the search engine companies
have teams of very bright people continually refining and
changing the algorithms used to rank websites on their
results pages. We have to keep up, we have to adapt, we
have to learn new ideas.
However, probably the most difficult
part for us is the "unlearning". Techniques that worked
well yesterday, may not work well today. Some SEO companies
used to write white text on white backgrounds on their web
pages. This meant humans couldn't
see it, but that it was visible to the
spiderbots scanning the actual HTML code. Today, if you try
this your site may well be sandboxed for 6 months.
Sandboxing is a method that search engines use to penalise
the rating of sites that flagrantly try to buck the system.
Our aim has been to always work with
mainstream ideas plus techniques which build the value and
web presence of a site over time. We know tricks we can
use to boost our performance today, but long term anyone
using these ideas will be penalised.
that is what makes true SEO work so
challenging for the enthusiastic amateur. Unless you
are willing to track each search engine's new rating
methods, you may find yourself sandboxed for using a
technique which seemed perfectly OK yesterday. Many of the
sites we look at are using keyword stuffing which in the
main seems OK today, but we do believe that this will be
penalised in the future, and maybe the first you know will
be your site disappearing for 6 months!
One further word of warning - each
search engine uses different techniques to rank websites,
some being much easier to spot than others. Without
mentioning names, the one that is most difficult (let's call
it Bigman "G") is also by far the most popular. That is the
reason many SEO companies focus on the lower ranked search
engines is that they are so keen to see you that they don't
bother with penalising you for dubious techniques.
And now our poem
Just to prove we aren't just
left-brain logical mathematicians, a poem from my partner
- about the SEO Gurus!
Am I alone as I survey that vast wilderness outside,
Sat at home every day fettered by my own foolish pride,
I may believe I can conceive stunning cunning plans,
Yet I perceive the web I weave comes lacking vital strands,
It may transpire my destiny is to conquer virtual space,
But I must wire the best of me to another spidery face,
For although knowing everything about business and site,
To grow means throwing other experts in to get it right,
So even this experienced spider who spins webs so fine,
Needs for bliss a guider to show the whole world online,
His creation, born bred and reared , now standing serene,
Will evoke elation and be revered if it can only be seen,
There’s no point in Picasso no mike in Michelangelo,
If the joints a no go and the sound man doesn’t show,
So that treasure you're concealing from total global view,
Measures up and has meaning with others helping you,
We all have inborn talent and also inborn failings,
So often scorn a balance, chained up to our own railings,
And our world misses a website that deserved to be a star,
But not unfurled in all its might, merely cowering from afar,
Why not take your Van Dyke, or Rembrandt seen by few,
And let us make it see the light, exposed to global view,
Don’t hide them in shadows behind barriers of your mind,
Where pride and jealous arrows make them hard to find,
Instead turn to experts just as good that you would strive to be,
Who you’ll learn to trust, and who will set your website free.
He would never tell you this but the
Poet Laureate, Philip Larkin, whom he worked with at
Hull University Library for Geac Computers,
when installing and tailoring the University Library system,
actually liked his poems and wrote note to the effect
saying he liked the Voles one best - I'll stick to writing the ezine!
The Gurus Helpful Hint
Besides being Mathematicians we both
benefited from a classical, English Grammar school
education. Maybe, in a later ezine we will explain why
being beaten with canes and given cold showers is
good for you! But, the fear of beatings, does improve your
ability to write grammatically with proper punctuation.
The reason that is important now is that we
have found that spiderbots love correctly written English.
Bullet points or the text style grammar used on mobiles and
chat rooms is definitely marked down as D- see me. Good
well-written sentences get the class prize.
Surprisingly enough, interviewed a graduate with an MA in
English who told me that grammar and punctuation are now
seen as unnecessary and involving English is the way
forward. Well, he obviously doesn't spend time talking o
spiderbots like we do (sad but true!).
So, this month's helpful hint is to
write your website as if you were writing an English essay
at school - good punctuation, with good grammar, capitals only in
the right places and well-constructed sentences.
SEO Gurus Free Offer
We believe that anyone who actually
subscribes to our ezine will have a real focus on
improving their website and their general visibility on the
web. So I thought we would offer an additional free
service to you, our customers.
All you need to do is send me,
john@seogurus.co.uk,
your website URL and we will give you our free audit of your
html code. The audit will show you if there are any broken
links on your site, which makes it more difficult for the
spiderbots to index.
Customer of the Month
Every single month we will endeavour to bring you a "Customer of the Month", a successful site
which you can visit and compare to what you may have in mind for the future yourselves.
This month, it is the Kids Exchange clothing site, based in
Cheshire.
That is a novel idea where people swap designer clothes from
top labels rather than buying them once at great cost.
Kids Exchange are now offering these great, nearly-new
designer clothes on the web for both UK and international
customers.
Click the link
Kids Exchange Link
to find out more.
If you have any comments about our ezine
(good or bad) please contact me.
To unsubscribe, reply to this email with
unsubscribe in the title.
On a lighter note, watch out there are teddy bears about…….
Each month we are including an adventure from the legendary
Stiffsteiffs Teddy Bears
So for July we bring you, at great personal cost…..
http://www.stiffsteiffs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bobtrains.htm
have fun, but beware these are bears with attitude.
Final poem to sum up our new Ezine.
When this you see, remember me,
And bear me in your mind,
Let all the world say, what they may,
Speak of me as you find,
I may cost naught, but spare a thought,
Perchance also spare your time,
And peruse, our monthly news,
Perhaps chuckle at our rhymes,
A minutes mirth, is often worth,
Hours with your pricy shrink,
So read the verse, to not feel worse,
And follow all the manic links,
You may not agree, with all you can see,
Your humour might not be ours,
If that is so, then why not go,
And look at some nice flowers.
First take a vase……….
then you get the flowers
Bob the Brave
We hope you enjoyed our show.
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