Using “stop words” and SEO
When writing for important areas of your web pages i.e. titles, meta tags, meta descriptions, headings, etc, try as much as possible to avoid using “stop words” examples of which include (but not limited to) ‘in’, ‘or’, ‘it’, ‘the’. These words do not have contextual meanings when used in short text such as headings and titles as well as limit how much text you have left to play with.
In my experience when I decide to sit somewhere quiet to think about what new blog post to write, I go through a process which I can only describe as the love to commitment cycle…
First there’s the excitement – I’m excited about the prospect of saying something new, instilling knowledge or being creative. I’m excited about making my voice heard in the cyber world and being a part of a buzzing global community.
Then the crippling doubt sets in – Am I making a mistake? What if I say something stupid or I’m really not as funny as I’d like to think. I want to be informative, to add value and be appreciated.
So I decide to do some serious research around a topic I know well and of course I go into information collection overload, what some very imaginative people call ‘information paralyses’- too many sources to choose from, to many intelligent people are saying something – you guessed right – intelligent! So what new spin can I put on it?
In comes the anger – now I’m angry with the world, I’m frustrated at the abundance of information out there, I’m irritated by this silly pressure I have willingly, how-be-it, subconsciously placed on myself. I am wasting time harbouring this writer’s block, this is silly, get on with it – I say to myself…
So I get on with it – I decide to dump all the research I’ve done and speak from my heart; it’s a blog after all and it’s supposed to be personal! I write about my experiences around my topic of choice, what I did right or wrong and what were the outcomes of my choice, I talk about other people’s perception on the topic and think of images that best fit my story. I’m on a roll now, I like what I’m saying and I don’t really care what people think about me, what is valuable is their perspective on the subject.
I’ve made it scannable, easy to understand and (to the best of my ability) interesting.
I’m getting excited again – I feel free, the kind of freedom that comes with the freedom of speech, I am on top of the world, I’ve scaled a mental barrier and I’m happy with my work. Does the subject matter? Not so much, what matters is I’ve said something new, because I spoke from my personal experience. A little self-centred I suppose, but hey that’s the age we live in.
Is it worth it? Yes…. Will I do it again? Most definitely!
I love my blogs.
See you next week 
