Slow Notes
Success, choices and other lies
Success! More than anything, that's what you desire. You measure your value as a person, the value of your business and the value of your choices in the terms of success. Sometimes it's about money, sometimes it's about health, sometimes it's about the impact you make. Choices, they must lead to success. Fake it 'til you make it. Not the first time you heard that , is it? Pop that phrase in to your preferred search engine and you get loads of articles about how to become a success by following the philosophy. No wonder. There are many psychological effects in the play. According to some ...
Blog post SEO: External and internal links
A few years ago links were considered as the most important search ranking factor. Due to many algorithmic changes, that were made after people started to game search engines, the value of links has been diminished. This has lead people being rather cautious about links, in a fear of being penalised. How do links affect your blog post SEO? Can you use them to improve your search ranking? If you ask anyone with a good knowledge about how the web works, they will tell you that anchor, , is the most important element in HTML. Yes, some might say it's , but they forget one basic trut...
The meaning of colours in life, business and design
"The psychology of colours. In design, colours matter more than you think. The importance of colours in branding. Men's and women’s favourite and least favourite colours. The meaning of colours." If you have a blog or run a business, you have by now read all the articles and seen all those infographics about colour psychology. You know that red conveys excitement, passion, maybe anger. You are well aware that orange is the colour of warmth and joy, and it's the colour of profitability and drawing attention. Blue is all about trust and strength and green is the colour of health, growth...
Blog post SEO: Targeting long tail keywords
One of the latest big hits in current search engine optimisation (and advertisement) is utilising long tail keywords. Most recently bloggers have waken up to using long tail keywords in optimising their blog posts for searches. What really are long tail keywords and how to target them? Long tail theory is a widely used theory of the culture and economy shifting from focusing on the relatively small number of "hits" toward a bigger number of specialised products and niches. For example this would mean that a hit song would sell less than multiple less known songs as a combination. Or that a...
Getting back in blogging shape
I took a little blogging break. It wasn't exactly planned, more like it happened. And starting to blog again after a break isn't easy. How am I getting back in blogging shape? To start with blogging again, I recommend checking out my best tips on how to keep on blogging. To follow my own advice, I'm back with my three times a week schedule, I have re-established Shared Spaces series and I've been reading a lot (and a lot). Good, that's done. The next step is to write more again. I haven't been writing that much during my break. Reading, yes. Writing, not so much. Thus I must get my wri...
Smile (don't whine)
While there are those of us who call for non-glittery authenticity and understand that even well doing people have bad days, there's this pressure of being positive online. Uplifting stories of success and happiness are in. Anything else is to be silenced to death. During my daily selfies series on Instagram I've noticed an interesting behaviour depending on which sort of post I make. There are those who loyally like and comment even the less uplifting posts. Then there are those who only like and comment the smiley pics. The wider the smile, the more likes. I also get comments which tel...
What is branding
A brand is more than just a logo. It is more than the colours and fonts. It's more than your social media avatar and slogans. I keep talking about branding here on my blog, in my weekly emails and all around my social media feeds. For some of you it seems like an empty and cold marketing buzzword. But, maybe surprisingly, branding is something much more human. So, what is branding, anyway? Brand is what distinguishes you, your business and your product or service from other people, businesses and products. You can think your brand as a promise of what can be expected. It is the way you, yo...