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Originally Posted by mrb

“All good points Steve (as usual). ”

Holy Moly, long time chap, how the devil?

I'm afraid the forum is a little neglected and I've been on a 5 year mission to boldly come up with a plan, but get easily sidetracked, normally by the Newmanator who harasses me on a near daily basis 

What are you up to these days? 

This is a laymans guide to SEO written ages ago and last amended in 2020. You'll even see a reply from ArchieDavidson

SEO fundamentals haven't really changed that much. But taking shortcuts and hiring ropey SEO bods has always been the best way to upset the Google god and throw money down the drain.

In the modern world, with endless platforms, media and messages vying to gain our attention, the art of clear and concise communication has never been more important.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) is very aware of effective and concise communication and has over a number of years developed a number of resources instructing and advising readers on the principles of communication. The most famous is the Joint Service Publication (JSP)  101 Defence writing guide. Lessons here can be adapted and incorporated into any organisation or business and the basics are outlined below.

First principles
We can start by setting out some fundamental principles of good written communication:

• think about who you are writing to and what you want to achieve;
• use plain English and avoid long or complicated words when short or easy ones are available;
• use active language, not passive. It is usually clearer, more direct and more concise and does not disguise who is doing what. For example, ‘We will decide on your application once we have received your letter’, not ‘Once we have received your letter, a decision will be made on your application’; and ‘We recommend that you…’, not ‘it is recommended that…’;
• avoid technical language and jargon unless you are addressing a specialist audience and even then use it with care;
• use short sentences without multiple sub-clauses. Sentences should usually be no longer than 25 words; and
• you can usually remove a third to a half of what you write in a first draft.

If you do no more than just follow these first principles, your content and communication will be at a higher standard than the majority of web content.

Follow this link to view the whole JSP 101 Defence writing guide as a PDF document.

Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre – Writers’ Handbook

Another excellent resource from the UK MOD is the writers’ handbook. This takes onboard the principles of JSP 101, combining them with the principles of the Plain English Campaign of which the MOD is a corporate member.

They start with the plain English principles, which are:

• plan your work;
• write in a style appropriate for the audience;
• write the information as clearly as possible;
• think how to best present the information; and
• check your work.

The writers' handbook breaks each of these subjects down and goes into great detail and can be viewed online following this link and downloaded as a PDF.

Style guides and consistency - BBC

A lot of large organisations, both private and public sector have available style guides that can emphasise the tone, agreed usage of language to ensure all content creators are meeting a minimum and consistent standard.

One of the biggest challenges for those writing content is agreeing on a standard style. Many words have American or UK spellings, or can have completely different meanings, eg “pants”. Over the last twenty years, more American spellings or language has entered UK mainstream usage, even if not officially sanctioned. You need to decide what your stance is, and stick with it.

An excellent resource to help you is the BBC News style guide. It is a complete A-Z guide on acceptable spellings, style, grammar and punctuation. If it’s good enough for the BBC, it’s good enough for you. BBC News style guide - BBC Website

Writing about ethnicity

This can trip a lot of people up or cause unnecessary stress. The UK Government website has a very useful page explaining how to or how not to describe people or topics from ethnic groups. Writing about ethnicity guidelines – UK Government

Writing about disability

Another concern for many content creators is ensuring any disability issues are correctly covered. Again the Government has a handy style guide. Writing about disability guidelines - UK Government

Other resources

• The Guardian and Observer style guide -  similar to the BBC one and very useful.
• Plain English Campaign – They have numerous resources and free guides to help you.
• Hemmingway App - This is a handy tool that analyses your text to see how readable it is, highlighting any complex wording or sentences that readers may find confusing. 

Are there any tips or tricks you can offer any aspiring or struggling content creators? Are you a fan of JSP 101 or any other style guides? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy content creation!

It's not just awards. Here's a play on the  Charity / Emergency Services / Schools magazine scam.

Steve, you are chosen by our editorial board to be featured as "Top 10 Inspiring Leaders of 2022."

The featured leader's biography is designed from a business standpoint in a comprehensive 700-word article, giving the reader a clear understanding of your firm, its culture, and the principles that govern you to mastery by emphasizing the leader's vision, ethos, expertise, diverse hypotheses, and aspirations for the My Local Services.

To reaffirm:
For $ 1500, you'll get a two-page profile, an online magazine link, an HTML link back to your website, a digital logo and certificate, two ads with limitless reprint rights, and gratis to publish your company's press releases, as well as a social media presence for all of these.

Can I share with you the contract order to start with the profiling process?

Matthew Smith
IE Magazine

As tempting as it is, I'll pass 

If anyone previously had a business bank account with NatWest, then like me you may been told over the last few years that your account would be separated off to a new bank, as part of their requirements for being bailed out by the Government back in the financial crash of 2008.

After the proposed new bank got canceled, our accounts were returned to NatWest. Then early last year we were offered £4,000 to switch banks and go somewhere else! I finally took the hint and a few weeks later my accounts were moved to TSB and my NatWest ones were closed as agreed. 

Or so I thought.. 

I recently had this letter out of the blue where NatWest are ceasing their banking relationship with me

NatWest do seem insistent on getting rid of me, even when I no longer bank with them! I didn't think I was that bad a customer 

If nothing else it's a good lesson to make sure any of your own customer databases are up to date and be wary of communications that are going out. I wonder if the families of deceased customers get the same letter? 

I did a post about getting nominated in the business excellence awards back in 2015 - vanity cobblers!

But years later the awards for everything industry are still going strong. So far this year I've been nominated as the best business directory in Wales and Scotland. Not England though, so must be slipping 

I've always been very cynical about these nominated awards companies, it's basically a business model that requires you to take out expensive tables at an awards ceremony, where there is pretty much an award for everything. But parking my cynicism, lots of businesses play long and make a big show of receiving their award. So is this just another form of marketing that works well for those that play the game? 

I've seen many Facebook posts and tweets from proud business owners thanking everyone for their dedication and being recognised of being one of the top 500 companies in their immediate area, or words similar. Some of these companies are canny operators, and posts quickly follow emblazoned with the trophy or certificate of greatness, or maybe even on the home page.

Let's be honest, "we are the multi-award winning cat sitting business in Bognor" does have a good ring to it, versus we are cat sitters in Bognor!

So is my cynical outlook outdated and accept this is just modern marketing, or is the smell of scam wafting across my nostrils? 

Had a dabble running a YouTube campaign in April this year. Ran the campaign for a month, had 32,483 impressions, 1,314 views, which gave a view rate of 4.05% (no idea if that is good or bad!).

Spent £108 over a month, but couldn't track any direct results back to the campaign. It was more of an experiment having never really done anything with YouTube before.

I'd consider it again but with better tracking in place.

I completely understand the need for protection in countries where adequate law and order isn't in place. There's also nothing wrong with being pro-gun, or maybe a gun enthusiast is a better way of putting it. In the UK, for people who enjoy shooting, we have a variety of clubs and activities from clay pigeon shooting to pistol and rifle target shooting.

For those particularly aggressive squirrels, then farmers can apply for shotgun licenses. But it's all controlled. You could never imagine a civilian strutting around the UK with a semi-automatic rifle, the idea just sounds ridiculous. 

Like yourself, me along with millions of Brits over the years have had military training, from SMG's, rifles, pistols and general purpose machine guns. You are taught to treat weapons with respect, never point a weapon in jest and the training is so embedded I bet I could remember all the drills from over 20 years ago. Brits that have been exposed to weapons see them just as tools to do a job, and when that job finishes, the tools are left behind.

Not once since leaving did I think I need to get a gun for home defence, or my life isn't complete unless I have a rifle. Maybe it's just a cultural thing, for us, our national obsession is (or was) with alcohol rather than weapons, which is a different topic!

The sad thing is, unsurprisingly there have been more shootings since I first posted this, and this one will disappear into history. After all the words of condemnation, nothing happens and nothing changes. American society isn't ready yet to act. 

Back in 2014, I chartered the rise of mobile web traffic, just based on our UK business directory. The talk at the time was whether you need a separate mobile site, as responsive websites at that time were not particularly great. But there were still far too many businesses that hadn't woken up to mobile web traffic.

So as an early adopter, I created the below graphic to demonstrate not only the importance of mobile traffic but also to make sure your website was displaying correctly on tablets, as that new type of device started to take off in popularity.

Now lets fast forward from 2014 to 2021

Looking back, and reviewing the stats since 2013, it's interesting to see what actually happened next.

Far from tablets gaining 20%+ market share, they peaked at 13.4% before declining back to 6.6% as it currently is in 2022.

Then look at mobile traffic. The talk at the time was mobile would surpass desktop/laptop web traffic as we all became mobile and searched on the move. So website design had to allow for ease of functionality and for use on small screens, with speed and good layout being essential. 

While that is true, and today easily achievable with responsive designs that automatically change the look and feel based on the type of device, actual smartphone traffic peaked in 2019 at 42.1%. Combined with tablet traffic, it overtook desktop traffic for the first time, with just 48.7% of traffic coming from desktops or laptops.

Then everything changed. From 2020 desktop traffic started increasing, going to 55.3%, then reaching 61.2% in 2021. Meanwhile, tablet traffic steadily declined pointing to less usage from this kind of device, along with mobile traffic.

Why?

The obvious answer is the pandemic. From 2020 we had lockdowns, and we're encouraged to work from home, reducing time outside. The end result is more web surfing on desktop devices and less mobile and tablet traffic. 

From January 2022, you might expect the picture to reverse and mobile traffic to dramatically increase. Whilst mobile traffic has picked up looking at the figures from Jan to May 2022, tablet traffic has remained in decline and it paints a picture of changing work habits. More hybrid working, more people permanently working from home, less train commuting and it looks like this is going to become an accepted way of working.

What can we learn from this?

In 2014, the mantra was all about the mobile site. Don't forget your mobile traffic, don't alienate potentially 50% of your visitors. In 2022 I would argue you could reverse that, and don't forget your desktop visitors! I suspect more people are surfing during the working day, whilst sitting at home with no boss looking over their shoulder. So make sure you capitalise on this market.

Check out your site and call to actions. They may be obvious and look great on a smartphone, but do they still have the same impact on a 1920 x 1080 resolution monitor?

There are some great tricks you can use in responsive designs to show more or less data depending on screen size and to change layouts. But make sure your web designer isn't just obsessing with the look and feel of your site on an iPhone.

• How does it look on your laptop?
• Where do most of your customers come from, mobile or desktop, or a mix of both?
• Analyze your analytics and make sure you are optimised for the right audience, or all audiences on all devices.

Does anyone have any of their own experiences? Have you seen customers or visitors change searching habits? 

Do your stats and analytics echo the same picture, or are you seeing something different?