Disqus - Latest Comments for Glenn Murray

Re: Fires in Victoria and Social Media in Australia

Glenn Murray — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:32:08 -0000

Hi Lee. Great post mate. You really are a good man. This post shows a lot of heart (and insight). Well done. Stay safe.

Re: Movember update

Glenn Murray — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:55:21 -0000

Then again, that's why they invented divorce and u-haul.

Re: Movember update

Glenn Murray — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:28:30 -0000

Beauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful! If only I wasn't married!

Re: The 2008 Social Network Analysis Report - Geographic - Demographic and Traffic Data Revealed

Glenn Murray — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:35:22 -0000

Hey Brian. Great post. Thanks! Interesting that only 15 of these services are showing noticeable growth. What's your take on that? (Or does that ratio actually compare favorably against non-social media sites?)

Also what's your Twitter id?

Glenn (@divinewrite).

Cheers.

Re: The 2008 Social Network Analysis Report - Geographic - Demographic and Traffic Data Revealed

Glenn Murray — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:09:54 -0000

Great comment, Sarah! Very interesting. I'd love to see some of those results (both those you already have, and those you're planning to uncover). Any chance you could share? - Glenn (Twitter: @divinewrite)

Re: SEO vs. copywriters: Fighting the same side of the same algorithm

Glenn Murray — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:54:38 -0000

Great post! I think (or at least hope) that the momentum is shifting in the direction of writing for readers, once again. The search engines aren't so smart that we can completely forget about keywords in our copy, but they're pretty close.

I proved this, relevant to my own copy, in a guest post at Science for SEO. Go to http://www.scienceforseo.com/guest-posts/seo-co.... (No, this isn't a cheap attempt to drive more traffic. CJ attracts plenty of traffic to her blog simply by being great. And it doesn't hurt that Rand recommends it, either! The post is very relevant to this one.)

Re: So you wanna put your brand name in the title tags…

Glenn Murray — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:25:56 -0000

I think it all depends on what the brand is. If it's a big brand, it'll definitely improve click-thrus, so it may well be worth doing it.

Re: The Birth of the SEO Self Regulation Community

Glenn Murray — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:13:08 -0000

Good stuff! Count me in.

Re: How Many Australian Twitter Users Are There?

Glenn Murray — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:20:33 -0000

No idea mate. But I'd be very interested to know!

Re: 3 good SEO-related posts

Glenn Murray — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:15:36 -0000

Heya Angus. Just a quick note on the keyword density issue. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's crap. It's just not what everyone thinks it is. It's still a useful metric, but only to help you ensure your target keyword phrases are used more often than any other phrases. But it's crazy to focus on it too much. If your copy is actually helpful, it'll naturally have a whole lot of words that Google recognises as related. These count in your favour too.

Note, if you want an insight into how meaningless specific keyword density percentages are, check out: http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/Mar05/garcia.....

Cheers.

Re: How I was taught to stop worrying and love the passive voice

Glenn Murray — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:20:40 -0000

Hi Angus. Wow looks like a great post! I have to admit, though, I skipped to the end. I'll definitely be reading it, though. It's bookmarked for later reference. This sort of material needs a little time. And perhaps a coffee. (It is grammar, after all!)

Cheers
Glenn Murray (Twitter: @divinewrite)

Re: Objection! Part 1: Why you shouldn’t always answer objections

Glenn Murray — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:34:51 -0000

"...there are ignorant customers you want to stay ignorant, and vague customers you want to stay vague." I like it! Well put Angus. I'm afraid I have nothing constructive to add here. You've covered it all beautifully! Well done.

Re: Objection! Part 1: Why you shouldn’t always answer objections

Glenn Murray — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:49:25 -0000

Doesn't sound evil at all, to me. Does that make me evil too?!

Re: Copywriters and marketers: the word “killer” must die!

Glenn Murray — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:48:54 -0000

I KNOW there are many! I just can't think of any off the top of my head. Proves I'm not a killer copywriter, anyway! If I come up with any, I'll return and comment. LOL "channeling Jane Austen..."

Cheers, Glenn (Twitter: @divinewrite)

Re: 40 powerful emotional benefits you can offer business clients

Glenn Murray — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:51:28 -0000

Nice list Angus. Might Delicious this. Very handy when writing copy! Thanks.

Re: Why every local business needs an up-to-date Google Local listing

Glenn Murray — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:57:32 -0000

Nice post mate. It's worth noting, though, that Google doesn't serve local results for ALL searches. As you've noted, it definitely serves them when a location is part of the query (as in your example). But it only SOMETIMES serves them if the query doesn't include a location. From what I've read (and heard from @theGypsy), the longer the query, the more likely it is to return local business results. But my own testing shows some inconsistent results. For example, when I search for "seo copywriting", I get local results. But when I search for "seo copywriter", I don't. Interestingly, this flies in the face of logic as, typically, people searching for "seo copywriter" are more likely to be looking for an actual copywriter, and would, therefore, be more likely to want local results.

Re: Google’s SearchWiki Is Here To Stay: Is This The Death of SEO?

Glenn Murray — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:33:37 -0000

I hadn't realised this:

"the user’s selected listings are saved based on URL, meaning that if another search query is run where the same URL comes up, then the listing/URL is automatically at the top."

IMHO, that just doesn't make sense from a user perspective. I can understand why a user might want to see a particular listing at no.1 for a specific search, but I can't see why they'd want that same listing AUTOMATICALLY at no.1 for an entirely different search???!

Is that really the case?

I know that this situation is only likely to arise for very similar searches (as it's page-based, not domain based), but still, doesn't it seem strange to everyone else?

Also, I think there's real danger in allowing users to lock off the entire first page of SERPs. It sounds like it's empowering the user, but in reality, it's simply limiting their choice. Who's to say the listings they promote today are going to be the most relevant or helpful in two weeks' time? I know the user could simply use the de-promote option, but they may not think to do that. Not all users are that proficient. What's more, without seeing a more relevant listing pop up in front of them, they may not stop to think that there might actually be one.

In answer to your question, I think that searchwiki makes SEO more important, because it's now more critical than ever to be on the first page for a first-time search (before users start promoting other listings and locking you out). But I believe it'll eventually make Google less relevant. So it's probably a moot point.

Re: Google’s SearchWiki Is Here To Stay: Is This The Death of SEO?

Glenn Murray — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:05:16 -0000

Jayson's right: 'Promote' is just another word for 'Bookmark'. And (as per Jaan's comment) people won't bookmark in searchwiki based on content, they'll do it based on brand name, title and desription. So IMHO, it'll make no difference whether you use blackhat or whitehat tactics, or whether you have quality content.

But I don't think any of it's likely to become an issue, because I don't think it'll ever really take off.

The big problem is that there's no real value in being able to Promote/bookmark a listing. The value of proper bookmarking is:
1) you've found a good page (searchwiki fail - all searchwiki tells you is the title & description; you don't know if it's good 'til you get there);
2) you quickly save that page (searchwiki fail - you have to press back first and find the listing); and
3) you can quickly retrieve it (searchwiki fail - you have to open searchwiki, remember the search query, perform the search, and click the promoted listing)

So who's going to use it? Who'd would WANT to bookmark a page before they see it? And who'd want to use searchwiki to bookmark when there are so many better ways of doing that?

I reckon Google will realise that most people won't use it for the above reasons, and those who do will simply be getting less value out of Google search. So it won't last long.

What's more, as a bookmarking system, it's pretty lame because it only allows you to bookmark those pages that you find thru search. In my experience, most people (power user webmasters & SEOs aside) use one method for bookmarking. They're not going to want to use one method for pages they find thru search and another for pages they find through some other method!

And finally, there's the question of who's likely to actually perform the same search repeatedly. People who are after different results each time, of course! And what use will they have for it?

I'm not discounting my other comment above, I just don't think it's gonna get to that.

Re: Words that you social media and agency types need to stop killing

Glenn Murray — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:54:35 -0000

"Evangelist"!!! (Not sure if someone else has mentioned it. I did a Find on the page, but couldn't read all the comments. Just too many.) I'm not saying I hate people who use the word. Just hate the word!

I hate "relevancy" too. I would have thought "relevance" would do the trick. Not enough letters maybe? ;-)

Oh, and while I'm on my soap-box, I hate the way people use "unfollow" when they mean "payback"!!!

That's all from me!

Re: How to make content that converts: got an idea for ADMA Forum 2009?

Glenn Murray — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:13:20 -0000

I’m by no means an expert on viral content. So I’ll leave that particular discussion to someone who is. However, not all interesting, useful content is intended to be viral. (Well, not primarily anyway.)

Here are some quick thoughts to include in your discussion of HOW to write:

1) Don’t hype! In my experience, readers are sick to death of hype. In fact, many buyers of my SEO ebook have told me they bought the book BECAUSE my sales page isn’t hype.

2) Use a conversational writing style. Even C-level readers have conversations, every now and then, you know! Conversational writing is friendly and easy (quick) to read.

3) Start sentences with conjunctions!

4) Use transitional devices to create flow between sentences and paragraphs. (e.g. “What’s more...”) Read more on this at http://www.divinewrite.com/blog/copywriting/wha... .

5) Tell a story (but still lead with your main point).

And here are a few to include in your discussion of WHAT to write about:

1) Think of all the questions you get asked by customers and prospects. These questions show you what people are interested in. Once you start thinking about it, you'll probably find there are hundreds of topics you could write. You may even have some of them partly written, already, in your instruction manuals or installation guides, etc.

2) Monitor the ‘Most Popular’ and ‘Up-and-Coming’ pages on some social bookmarking services (like Del.icio.us & StumbleUpon – which has a downloadable toolbar for Firefox). Also try some niche-specific services. (e.g. Sphinn is a great Internet related social bookmarking service.)

3) Check out some news services (like Google News & CNN.com). Also, look for some niche-specific news services (e.g. InternetNews.com is an Internet related news site.)

4) Sign up to Twitter. Twitter conversations cover an amazingly diverse range of topics, including the news. In fact, I find I usually hear the latest news first on Twitter.

Can’t think of any more off the top of my head. Hope these help.

Cheers, Glenn (Twitter: @divinewrite)

Re: Why some men are so lost - Man Week

Glenn Murray — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:19:55 -0000

Mark. Great, GREAT post. One of the best I've read in a long time. Thanks mate.

And yes, I relate.

I didn't carry a weapon, as a kid, and I wasn't tough. Didn't even pretend to be. But because I was big and gentle and scared of violence. Not scared of being hurt; I played all the really rough games, and loved 'em. I was scared of the spite and anger of violence.

So I grew up avoiding violence. In fact, I grew up avoiding any situation that might result in violence. Yes, that left me feeling vulnerable, but even worse, it really undermined my self-esteem. I agree that as a kid and young adult, malehood is all about physicality. And by that logic, because my fear diminished my masculinity, it also diminished my worth.

I'm still scared of violence. And to be honest, I still feel this diminishes my masculinity. But, importantly, I no longer feel it diminishes my worth.

Like you, I'm a father of 2 (in 4 weeks, I'll be a father of 3). Being a dad has given me some extremely valuable perspective. I know that my sensitivity is a positive thing. Yours is too, Mark. Much more valuable than the narrow concept of masculinity.

You don't need a role model to be a good dad. It sounds like you're already there.

Next time I'm down in Sydney, we'll have to catch up for a beer. (When I'm back on it! Been dry in moral support for the preggas wife.) IMHO too few men are strong enough and secure enough to speak as you have. It's refreshing and endearing.

Keep it up.

Cheers.
Glenn Murray

Re: SEO is Branding

Glenn Murray — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:17:29 -0000

Nice post, Ben. This is a great way to look at keyword analysis. Most people aren't going to get LSI. And with this perspective, they don't need to. In fact, I think you should change the post title to 'LSI is branding'!

Re: Blog Posts Versus Articles

Glenn Murray — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:54:08 -0000

Hi Kim, (Hi Angie). It's an interesting topic. I actually don't make the same distinction. I've always injected the same personality (where relevant) into my articles as I do in my blog posts. I used articles for years for SEO, and distributed them on all the major article directories. I think the same rules apply: show your personality and you'll engage more readers. And I had equally as much feedback from my articles as my blog posts.

However, I suspect that most writers draw the same distinction you have. It's much easier to splash personality when you're in your own home. When you know your article is gonna appear in lots of other peoples' homes, it's a bit more difficult to get your head around.

Glenn (@divinewrite on Twitter)

<abbr>Glenn Murray’s last blog post..It’s not your length that matters, it’s how much they like it!</abbr>

Re: 99% Perspiration

Glenn Murray — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:28:43 -0000

Hey! I was gonna write that very post! ;-) Nice one.