Clare Cook

SEO: a four step guide to writing and winning

SEO should be incorporated into the way journalists write stories, says Branded3.
There is a practical four step guide that takes into account speed being key, which can all help magazines and media organisations be successful.
The Mirror is a case in point: it was within three of the top search results for Peter Andre's divorce story with no sponsored links.
How?
speed.

Whoever publishes first gets 'query deserves freshness'Google search terms. Google thinks they have published it first. In reality, it is essential for media organisations to ping Google on the instance they publish - anything like the blog ping that wordpress uses - and you can achieve a full post index within a minute.

One key strategy for companies is trend watching: pic out hot topics and write about them - which is a really good tactic for getting on the search engine and optimising it. That way you will get on digg and other search sites to drive traffic.

Patrick Altoft from Branded3 says SEO should be integrated into the process from the start.
Seo and social media should be a central part of your content strategy:

one: research - find out what people are talking about online already and how to tap into it

two: creation of the content

three: optimise team to look again at SEO, google news is important but only crawls page once so if wrong title in the headline then needs editing - they may not spider it twice (usually takes 12 hours to happen again) write headline has to be written before you click publish

four: promoting, thinking digg and stumbleupon. social media and other promotion sites - someone who is paid to write the article does not have the same incentive unles they are paid per page impression. instead of them moving onto a new story they should have time to promote the one they have already written.

keys: build a promotion method of promoting content which should include RS, twitter, email subscriptions and google news.
The first 30 minutes is crucial

Magazines: celebrity sector needs to work harder for readers

THE celebrity magazine market needs to be on its guard - as people become more agnostic to where they get celeb news online.
Robin Goad, from Hitwise, has today said that The Telegraph is the most successful news site at generating readers from general searches.
And he told the Digital Editors Network that people simply do not care which brand gives them celebrity stories - so the market is wide open.
It is the clearest indication yet that celebrity magazine titles are in for a rough ride when it comes to keeping their readers online.
The Telegraph picked up more traffic than the Daily Mail or any other like The Sun for celebrity.
It is clear that people are less brand loyal when it comes to celebrity stories.
HItwise said 7.62% of traffic picked up by the Telegraph was from Google on celebrity.
people less brand loyal for celebrity online

What are people searching for? Celebrity made up 24.1% of all Google searches - the biggest single sector. Search topics are sending traffic to Google news, which proves that people are agnostic as to where they get their celebrity news from.

Twitter is also a key playing field for driving traffic.
Twitter sends 54% of its traffic to other entertainment or lifestyle sites or social networks. Compare that to 39% of traffic from Facebook and the fact that Google drives traffic more to commerce and business sites.
Hitwise stats prove that celebrity magazines need to be hugely active on these hip sites (which have exploded since this January in the UK with celebrity endorsements from Stephen Fry as well as the Ross scandal).
The Guardian is top for driving traffic via Twitter due to personality journos like @jemimakiss, @charlesarthur.
And the twitter feed with interaction and that retweets stuff is more successful because poeple find it appealing when it is viral.

There is also evidence to suggest that magazines that want to be 'more' online in terms of community and generating users as more than just passive readers can become commercially viable. Martin Lewis form the money saving expert is a clear example. 
In the fourth quarter of last year he was the most searched for person: martin lewis, money saving exert, higher than Barack Obama and Diana Vickers.
He is the prime example of someome taking user generated content and making money off it, said Robin Goad, Hitwise.
What he has done is taken all the ideas that people have and made money off it - filtering it to give people what they want.

How have Telegraph used digg so effectively?
They have simply made loyal Telegraph readers use it by making it easy - so stories move up digg. In this way you are makng your core audience big up your content so that people in America will use it and find it.
They have also matched their content to taylor consumer demand eg more celeb
The Telegraph is actively trying to pick up traffic from the celebrity sector - so dumbing down on line and spreading their wings... by using pics and video more.

There are plenty of lessons for magazines...