Search engine optimazation and the writer

In my last post I ranted and raved a bit about my disappointment with the way websites required writers to write to a certain formula – specifically one that used target words that would draw searchers to the article.

Shortly after, while checking out my twitter page, I noticed a reference to some software that writers can use to turn one article into a half dozen different versions of itself. I guess it could be considered cloning? I guess I could be old fashioned but the very thought of this takes me back to high school and using the Cliff Notes or Classic Comics to avoid the real work of reading,

The idea behind the software is that it will save the writer tons of time in the originality seeking department while providing different ways to extract saleable material from a single article. The purpose is kind of wonky, if you ask me, because instead of requiring that a person write solid, well-researched, informative content, the software agrees that the real reason to have articles published on the web – beyond the monetary reimbursement – is to provide a website with search engine optimized verbiage.

All this certainly flies in the face of the rules George Orwell wrote should be followed by every writer.

(Image via Wikipedia)They are:
• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

To read Orwell’s entire essay, check out Politics and the English Language.

Getting readers to your blog

I'm on the hunt for readers.

Actually, I've been hoping to increase my readership since the day I started blogging. That's why I subscribe to bunches of newsletters and blogs that focus on luring interested folks to my party here. The trouble is, since starting this little gig, I haven't seen anything new that has increased my readership!

Of the dozens of tips I've explored, just a couple have brought positive results. But for the most part, each has been little more than a repetition of another. It's been so frustrating, I'm wondering if I should just rewrite some of those repetitive blogs. After all, they drew me in; maybe I can use them to draw someone here.

So far, I've resisted some of the hard-sell stuff because, athough it would be nice to see some green, my focus isn't on money making.

I look at the blog as a journal I've never been able to keep, a place to lay down the random thoughts that come to me like fireflies at night, to let the voices in my head be heard, even when they don't make sense to me.

It make sense to me to do this because I have an interest in random thoughts and advice -- not just from other writers but from readers of everything and anything. It's an unfathomable universe out there with a huge amount of information. And since life seems to be a never-ending learning experience, why join the hunt?

I can't see how search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click would do much more than take readers away from the blog.

But then ... I'm not about to second-guess the people who are touting their advice for blogging so I'm off to explore some of the ideas I've tabled.