April showering of SEO in 2013: tags

With April showers misting outside it is time to revisit the SEO advantage of metatags in your blogging. Sort of a strange name and WordPress has shortened it to “Tags.” All the bloggers here at the cyber wigwam have moved their Tags sidebar box up under the Publish box to be a little more prominent. Tags are one of the most important elements of getting SEO* advantage from your blog posts. It is like hanging tags on your blog post that say “Find Me!” We’ve had cases at Council Blogs where one blog post with very unique tags can be found on the first page of Google. The really neat thing that our bloggers find is that they can attach their blog posts to their other social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Maybe someday, even YouTube. At lept Like A Blog we call this the Social Media Marketing Framework.

*SEO – What the heck is that? Search Engine Optimization.

St. Patrick’s Day — Time for getting those blog posts out in 2013

Like the 3 elements of the shamrock there are 3 good reasons to adding blogging to your web presence. Of course, that’s assuming you have a web presence. If you don’t then adding a blog is an efficient way to develop a web presence too. Here at the Cyber wigwam the bloggers realize that having good content is what readers are attracted to.

1. “Content is King”

The more you have something genuine to say the more people will be interested to read. It doesn’t necessarily have to be profound. Just like the old adage, “be yourself.”

2. Keeping Fresh

With unique content comes great responsibility to keep it up. Consistently providing your readers with news is almost as important as the news itself. People will be attracted to your ability to keep them informed when you set a pace and stick to it. We find at Council Blogs that once a week is a good pace. You don’t kill yourself but if published regularly, your readers are kept informed.

3. News is attractive to Search Engines

Search engines like finding new stuff. What’s newer than your post with unique content? We find at the cyber wigwam that the more natural, “organic” methods for SEO incorporate consistency and good tagging. There is no better way to keep your readers satisfied and at the same time increase your “findability” than publishing your blog posts. Well, YouTube videos can be as powerful but require a little more energy to produce. Actually, some bloggers at the cyber wigwam are repurposing their blog posts into YouTube videos. That works really well too! You can find training and courses in both at lept Like A Blog.

Do you need a Social Media Mentor in 2013?

January is National Mentoring month (you can read all about that here) and here at the Cyber Wigwam we are considering the impact of having a mentor. You can attend classes at lept Like A Blog in Social Media. But if you want a little more help you can consider a mentor. Just like any topic, having someone pass along their experiences in Social Media can shorten your learning curve significantly. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress or YouTube you can spend a lot of time to master them.  If you need help in social media you can email the bloggers at councilblogs@tpmtech.biz and begin a dialogue.

How often do you watch a YouTube video? Once in a blue moon? It’s here in 2012

You  may say that you watch a video on YouTube once in a blue moon. Chances are you watch one more often. In 2010 the number of users on the internet climbed over 2 billion. With 4 billion views per day on YouTube  that means that there are an average of two videos watched every day per person on the internet. Currently there are about 48 hours of vidoe uploaded to YouTube every minute. Here at the Cyber Wigwam we have some bloggers venturing out into YouTube and have developed their own channel. YouTube classes are available from lept Like A Blog if you are ready to start producing some unique content.

Curiosity landed, new ventures in social media. Mars landscape, no Martians in sight?

Congratulations to the JPL team for the Curiosity landing. Pictures are spectacular. The animation of the landing process are phenomenal. The PR staff is realizing the power of  social media, setting up a special sub domain for social media. You can check it out by clicking below. Social media is allowing us all to participate in the revelry.

Special Guests on Social Media – the power of YouTube responses

Have you ever seen a video response to a YouTube video? Having a response video on your YouTube video adds more depth to an already robust marketing tool. With Google owning YouTube,, a video can improve your search rankings tremendously. Add a response video and your ranking have an extra boost. The poeple at Google figure if someone went to the bother to do a response video it must be extra interesting. What a great way to embellish your unique content. Here at the cyber wigwam we have we have classes in YouTube. You can read about them at the lept like a blog site. If you have any experience with YouTube vidoes or repsonse videos, we would love to hear your story. Feel free to comment below.

Remember to tag your posts in 2012- The Year of Findability

At Council Blogs we consider 2012 the year of Findability. Every week we highlight advances in SEO as part of our blogging club meeting. What can you do to make your site findable when people are looking for your talents or services? It’s easy for us bloggers - TAGS!! Here at the cyber wigwam the bloggers have all moved their Tags widget on the WordPress editing page up under the Publish widget so we don’t forget. Our three item list that Gayle has engrained:

1. Unique Content free of Bad Stuff
2. Images
3. Tags

Think of tags as aids to search engines during classifying your blog post. Tom Johnson has a wonderful and extensive, 51 part series on Findability on his site, click here. Tags are equally important in your YouTube video. As bloggers, content is king, but tags are the scouts that bring in the visitors in the first place. So, don’t forget to include your tags. Remember: Content is King, Tags are IT when it comes to SEO!

We always love to hear from the blogosphere. Feel free to comment and interact with our club below.

Reperio Citius: Swift Findability – Olympic Gold

Swift like Mercury go the Olympic Bloggers for Findability in 2012. This year’s Olympic Games in London has the bloggers at Council Blogs thinking about the traits of the olympians. Swifter, Higher, Stronger. What we see in the blogoshpere is that time waits for no one. Don’t be plagued by writer’s block. Get out and blog, no matter how terse it is.

2012: Year of Findability – SEO like the Pros

Here at Council Blogs we named 2012 the Year of Findability. Our bloggers have found new and creative ways to develop their Search Engine Optimization or SEO. We find the term ‘Findability’ is more descriptive and palatable for novices. But, novice aside you can enjoy SEO like a pro. Here at the cyber wigwam we have explored techniques for increasing findability in our all our social media tools like LinkedIn and YouTube as well as Google. And of course, the battle cry for all bloggers in 2012: “Don’t forget your tags!”

390 years of Pilgrim’s Progress – being social

There is a lot of interesting history on the making of Thanksgiving as a legal holiday. The first Thanksgiving is assumed to be 1641. The story goes that the Pilgrim colony invited the native Indians to help celebrate and give thanks to the new life the pilgrims had found for themselves. In this case their social medium was food. Can we learn anything from the pilgrims? Well, one thing that is true today in social media is that you have to offer something. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all provideYou have to interact or extend an invitation to interact. Our blog engine makes it easy to invite comment. It is easy and natural to invite interaction on various discussion topics. Feel free to comment below with your thoughts about being social.