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If you’ve written a decent blog, there’s no surprise that you may also want to use it across more than one site – perhaps on a sister brand, or even a guest blog post for a third party. Yet, doing so may see you fall foul of duplicate content penalties from Google and Bing, and with those rules not always clear, how do you know what is right and what is wrong? Here’s our six top tips to re-using your content without causes red flags from search bots.

1. Be the best and be the first
Search Engines dislike duplicate content, but they love duplicated content. Well not love, but if it is clear to a searchbot that you wrote and published it first and that the copy text is just that and duly linking back to your website, that should help boost your ranking.

2. Re-use but re-purpose
There’s something to be said for the old adage that nothing is ever original. People have been writing books, magazines, etc long before online content ever came about and even stuff about techie subjects is often a fresh subject but well-worn approach and comments. So coming up with original content doesn’t actually literally mean that. It is perfect acceptable to use old content and re-package it. Re-focus it for a new audience, maybe a new age-range requiring different language. Search bots are clever but they look for language patterns and if you are re-writing a blog in a different style and with different words, they probably won’t spot the similarities.

3. Vary your approach
Statistics are great, they can mean anything you want and the same is true about words, phrases and even official statements. Even if you use the same facts the wide variation of newspapers that still exist in this country shoes that with a different take on them you can write a very different piece, and certainly not one likely to come across and duplicated.

4. Pick a new entry point
If you first wrote a piece about first-time car purchases, have a think how you can give the same piece a slightly different starting line. Obviously you need to change more than just the opening line, but you will be amazed how that opening sentence has a massive influence on how the rest of your blog will flow. For example: Consider a blog on the effects on the car industry as a whole given the choices now available to the first-time car buyer, or perhaps the information sources now available to the first time buyer and how that influences them. Same facts and research probably, completely different blog.

5. Re-examine your research for new gems
As I pointed out, this is nothing new. Freelance journalists have been using these tricks of the trade for years. One exclusive interview will only normally be published in one magazine but some of the unused quotes from the same interview can probably be used in another three or four articles, not just focused on that interviewee, but the subject they talk about, etc.

6. Turn a news piece into a reflective piece
Another journalistic tool. If you wrote a blog last month about the imminent launch of the iPad 3, there’s no harm in re-using much of that for another blog elsewhere but update it. No longer news, now you can add comments of those lucky enough to have been using an iPad3 in the past few weeks. How has it compared to what they expected?

Using and reusing content, is becoming a  must in the busy demands of the online world, but you need to have a strategy about how you achieve it and how it all works together. As ever, don’t just churn out content, make sure it fits somewhere and has a part to play in your longer-term strategy

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It’s a question still asked in board rooms, on conference calls and in face-to-face meetings probably a thousand times a day. What is the ROI of Social Media?

Google as ever love to listen and offer solutions and it’s aim is to answer that question with the latest update to Google Analytics.

The nature of social media makes it difficult to really quantify where or when sales funnels begin and what exactly social media is responsible for, but with the new set of social reports within the much trusted Google Analytics system Google claims to “bridge the gap between social media and the business metrics you care about”.

The ‘Social Report’ as Google label it, should help you identify the full value of traffic from social sites and measure direct conversions and also their impact on future conversions. The official Google Analytics blog has a good introduction to the new features. What is particularly helpful is the analysis of shares, via Twitter, Google +, etc which is often a strong indicator of how well your content is being pushed out and your reach is being extended beyond just your own following.

It is far from perfect, but for free this latest tweak by Google Analytics goes a long way towards catching up the with Web 2.0 world it has never really been able to serve. The ability to track downloads of MP3 fileslike podcasts is still awaited, but at least now you are able to track more readily in a single place, who is ‘sharing’ your content and promotions.

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This week’s Budget setting out the Government’s updated economic strategy wasn’t packed with too many surprises, but did you spot the main elements that may affect your business?

Whatever your politics, here’s our quick run down of the main points you may like to look at in more depth. You can find full details of the Budget announcements on the HM Treasury website

Super-connected Cities

A re-confirmation that Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle have been selected to become broadband super-connected cities. The £100 million investment was first announced in the 2011 Autumn Statement and a further £50m has been announced to fund a second wave of cities.

Corporation Tax cut

In an attempt to spur on more companies to drive the economy forward, the main rate of corporation tax is to be reduced by an additional one per cent. The rate will now reduce from 26 per cent to 24 per cent in April 2012 and then to 23 per cent in April 2013 before a further reductio to 22 per cent by April 2014.

Corporation Tax relief for certain tech

Subject to final state aid approval, new Corporation Tax reliefs will be introduced from April 2013 for the video games, animation and high-end television industries.

Simplification of small business taxation

The Government has announced a consultation, reference introducing a voluntary cash basis for unincorporated businesses up to the VAT registration threshold as well as a simplified expenses system for business use of cars, motorcyles and homes as well as the possibility of a disincorporation relief.

VAT Threshold increase

From this April, the VAT taxable turnover threshold, governing who must be registered for VAT will be increased from £73,000 to £77,000.

Income Tax changes

For those lucky enough to be earning over £150,000 you are probably well aware that the top rate of income tax will be reduced from 50% to 45% in April 2013. The key change however, affecting almost everybody in the working world, is the rise in the basic individual income tax personal allowance to increase by a further £1,100 – taking it to £9,205 in total – also by April 2013.

Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme

This scheme designed to help SMEs recruit and retain talent is set to provide additional support to help start-ups access the scheme and more than double the grant limit to £250,000. A more detailed blog about this scheme is already planned by 123-reg in the next few weeks.

Obviously, there are many other aspects that will impact on your business but we believe these will be the main items you probably need to be considering in the next few months. We will be following up on a number of these points in our business-focused blogs in the next few weeks.

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When you’re dealing with the day-to-day issues of running a website (not to mention running a business), worrying about security can come way down your list of priorities. And that’s understandable: if your website’s never been hacked or attacked, it’s hard to grasp quite how much damage it can cause.

After all, why would hackers target your site at all with so many higher-profile targets out there? Big brands like Lush and Adidas, media outlets like The Sun and Gawker and some less salubrious sites have all come under attack in recent memory.

Website hackers turn to smaller targets

However, online criminals are increasingly turning towards smaller businesses. With fewer resources to dedicate to online security, they’re easy targets, as the Wall Street Journal article has explained:

Hacking at small businesses “is a prolific problem,” says Dean Kinsman, a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s cyber division, which has more than 400 active investigations into these crimes. “It’s going to get much worse before it gets better.”

And don’t let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security because that article focuses on US websites. Website hackers don’t have to respect national borders. They can go wherever the easiest targets are.

Some hackers do it for fun or to cause disruption. Others do it just to prove they can. But nowadays, many have more sinister motives.

Quite simply, there’s serious money to be made in website hacking. From stealing credit card details to committing business identity theft to harvesting names and addresses to sell to spammers, all too often hacking is motivated by hard profit.

The damage website hackers can cause

If you’re still not convinced that protecting your website should be higher up your list of priorities, it’s worth taking a minute to understand the sort of consequences you could face if a website hacker gained unauthorised access to some or all of your website files:

1. Lost business is the most obvious and immediate problem. If your online shopping site gets compromised you might have to suspend trading or close the site altogether. But simply having to divert resources into securing a hacked website will take you away from other tasks.
2. Your reputation can take a beating if word gets out that your site has been hacked. It takes a long time to rebuild trust with existing and potential customers and suppliers. Sure, its hard to quantify that damage, but it can be very significant.
3. You could lose vital data too. If you don’t regularly backup your customer list, a hacker could destroy it in a few seconds. That would mean losing the details of hundreds or maybe thousands of happy customers who’d buy from you again if only you got in touch.
4. Search engines might penalise your website. Search engines like Google actively blacklist hacked websites to avoid them causing harm to internet users. But it can take a while to get a blacklisting lifted – research has found found the average length of a blacklisting is 13 days – meaning you’re in real trouble if you rely on search engines for traffic.
5. Fixing things is a total headache. Trust us on this one. It takes real time and effort to put right a hacked site – often the only safe thing to do is to delete everything and start again. It takes time and – if you need to bring in an external supplier – costs money.

If it’s not quite registered with you yet, suffering from a website hacking attack can cause significant disruption. If you’re relying on your website to maintain your business cash flow, a serious incident can cripple or even destroy your business.

If you’re not already thinking about website security, it’s about time you did:

• There’s great website security advice available from Get Safe Online
• Mashable has some excellent information about how to cope if you get hacked
• Ten ways to beef up your website security

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Last week the .uk registry, Nominet, announced that it had surpassed the landmark of 10 million domains to re-inforce its position as the world’s second largest country code registry.

Here at 123-reg , as the UK’s largest .uk Registrar we are very proud to have played and continue playing such a big role in the importance and value of .uk domain names. The strength and brand benefit of using a .uk has never been stronger…and it continues to rise.

As we reported last month multi-year registration periods come into effect from 1 May 2012 for .uk domain names, making it easier to secure your domain for longer.

We love the statement a .uk makes and the immediate attraction and esteem it has amongst our customer base and we think you should too. A .uk defines your business at being at the heart of the fastest growing internet economy so why not show that off? Secure your next batch of .co.uk domains now with us from just £2.79 per year.

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There’s less than a month left for entry submissions to the Nominet Internet Awards so what are you waiting for?

The annual awards recognise and raise awareness of UK businesses, charities, individuals and public and private sector organisations that are making a difference on, or through, the internet. Every year the awards highlight the great work that embraces the web and finds solutions to the challenge of making the internet a secure, open, accessible and diverse experience for all.

Last year’s winners included the Silver Surfers initiative that helped older people to get online, a web TV station aimed specifically at young British dads and an online tool to help schools review their own e-safety policies.

If you think you have a project worthy of a nomination details about how to enter can be found here along with a full explanation of the categories. Don’t delay too long though entries need to be submitted by 12 April 2012 after which they will be reviewed by an independent panel of judges. The winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony on 5 July 2012.

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The chances are if you are running your own business, you regularly have business meetings or at least meet business contacts in coffee shops. Even if you have an office, it is often more convenient and being less formal, more friendly.

Amazingly, these sort of meetings are also very fruitful – they must be or we wouldn’t all keep holding them there. Now US academics have come up with some reasons as to why they are successful and in fact why we should spend more time in coffee shops too, to help our businesses.

The thing with coffee shops is that however busy or not busy they are, they are never quiet and researchers at the University of British Columbia are now saying that makes us more creative than being in a more sterile, less dynamic environment. Apparently, a little noise can go a long way towards getting you better ideas.

The study of over 300 participants comes close behnind other research that suggests that a that a flexible schedule has a positive effective on the health, happiness and productivity of employees – something that is sweet music to the ears of employers.

Participants showed better creative responses when playing word association games in an environment with the simialr noise level you would expect in a coffee shop, when compared to silent and loud and very loud environments. The researches describe this as “A moderate distraction, which induces processing difficulty, enhances creativity by prompting abstract thinking.”

While silent spaces tend to be grat for full concentration, when creativity is required, some stimulus helps get the creative juices flowing – althought his can easily be drowned out by too much noise too.

This could also explain why open-plan offices are often more productive than individual spaces and why many one-man businesses – especially creatives – choose co-working shared office space instead of working alone – whether they knew about the impact or not.

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We all know the power of Google and while it has dipped toes into the social media sphere before and failed, this time, with Google + most of the experts are taking notice and suggesting they’ve got it right. But why?

1. It’s indexed by Google

This clearly means that anything you put there, any mention of your business, any discussions you are involved in are definitely throwing your name out there. The more mentions of your name, the more appearances on Google search and hopefully the more business will come your way.

 2. It’s busy

People signed up in their thousands last year to Google + and while that is slowing down, it is not something those already signed up are ignoring. Latest research suggests that 60% of Google + users are logging in every day and that 80% of them are engaging with their circles every week.

3. It’s big

The total number of Google + members is said to have passed the 90 million mark, so that’s a pretty wide potential audience. Not as large as other more established networks of course, but remember thise signing up to Google + have probably done so as they are more committed to engaging and want to take more of a part in the network. Those go-getters are perfect for your business.

 4. It’s more customisable

Maybe not in look, but in function, which is perfect for you when you are trying to run a business too. Gooogle’s search background is clearly evident in what you can do with Google +. Rank other people’s posts and shares and personalise how you order people within circles (effectively groups) you have created. You can define how, what, where and when you see and engage with what is going on on Google +.

 5. Creating a business page is easy

OK, it’s not branding friendly, but people are still searching for text, so that is perfect. Creating a page is literally a few clicks with the minimum of fuss and you then have a hub to work from on the network and increase your brand or at least ‘name’ visibility.

 6. Your competitors may not be there… yet

Stealing a march on the opposition is always good and when the tool is as potentially powerful as Google + that could be massive. More and more businesses are wising up, so you may have to be quick, but becoming an expert on Google + may just be the perfect way of staying ahead of your competition and at least showing to potential customers you are not stuck in the dark ages.

If you are serious about using social media as part of your business – and if you are serious about your business you should be – then Google + is where it is about to all happen. If you learn nothing else and appear on only one social media network, Google + is most likely where you need to be.

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Possibly the last thing you will think about when designing your new look website is the font and format of the text on your site, but it is probably the most important part of the site and the design.

Text needs to be mixed with images and white space but too jumbled and your site will lack identity. So here are six top tips to help minimise your potential headache:

1. Bite-sized chunks

People have an ever-shorter attention span, especially on the internet, so you need to grab their attention quickly and say everything you need to say quickly and filled with facts. Smaller modules of text look neater and will be more attractive to your potential reader. They should also be easier to incorporate into your site design.

2. Prioritise

Imagine your site content as a news story. Give them a headline (A clear sign-posting heading). Tell the most important part of your ‘story’ first. Then if there space, elaborate on it further down, using facts, statistics or a case-study. Then round it off with a summary, repeating your opening lines – but in different words. If you have lots of points to make on the same page, take a similar approach, making the most important point at the top of your page.

3. Words will govern width

The width of a formatted text block has a big impact psychologically on  a potential reader. Too many words on a line and the reader will be overwhelmed and put off, much more so than a long page of text. Keep your block manageable. 7- 10 words is an acceptable guide. Much less and your text will look disjointed and also affect the flow.

4. Scrap the scroll

While longer lengths of text are sometimes impossible to avoid, especially if you are keeping an eye on the width, too long and you will also risk losing your reader. We’ve covered the aspect of ‘the fold’ before and there is still something psychologically off-putting for a reader if they constantly have to use the scroll bar or scroll button to read everything on your site. If your text really is too much to get in one screen, try and break it up into separate pages instead, this will create a more natural read for people used to reading traditional books.

5. Bold and italics are not always best

If you want to make an impact, there are more creative options than bold and italics, size has a bigger influence on a computer screen. Colour can help – but don’t overdo it – and remember underlining works much better in books than it does on the screen.

6. Use a master grid

You are probably designing your site on a grid system anyway so make sure your text fits the same. Keep your pages in a familiar form. If people are clicking through your site that familiarity will hook them to keep reading.

Just six tips on keeping your text under control and making it trap your reader on your site – in a nice way – but there are many more. Remember always get honest opinions from others before your site goes live. What you think looks great may come across very differently to others.

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While all the attention from last week’s Facebook announcements has been on the adoption of timeline for Business Pages – have you seen our new look page? – the biggest impacting tweak appears to have gone fairly unreported – and it’s good news for Business too.

It has long been an fact that while social media is all about the here and now, those relying on Facebook’s very own analytics had previously had to wait several days for traffic analysis and stats to be ready. This is addressed in the latest wave of changes with a slightly enhanced page analytics system but one that more importantly provides real-time analysis of Facebook traffic. That makes it perfect for time sensitive campaigns and probably even time-limited campaigns as you can immediately see what is needed for the final push. Something that may also make reacting to customer sentiment easier too.

What are your thoughts on the latest set of Facebook changes?

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