Content has taken centre stage

Good luck tricking Google

Bashing out generic press releases with repetitive phrases and words is quite possibly the worst way of producing content. Write something customers will want to read. If what you write is enjoyed, it is more likely to be shared across social media. Facebook users constitute the biggest gang of sharers on earth. As such, Google notices when content goes viral across this as well as other social media platforms. Remember to write for your audience, don't bother trying to work out the complex algorithms Google uses because you'll be up all night and none the wiser. If what you write is interesting, relevant and useful then your customers will do the hard work and get it read across the board.

'I've written an epic. Who wants to publish it?

Online publishers are buried under a deluge of daily requests. The MOSH inbox is under constant attack from spammers claiming to boost our SEO with template emails which have quite clearly been fired off to hundreds of companies. It's frustrating and useless. Do some research before you target a potential publisher. Have a look around at where your competitors are being published. Note the journalist's name and see what else they write about. Build a picture of what kind of content a particular publisher favours. Get to know them. Target your contact to a person, not to the contact us section and write a personalised email stating exactly what you have written about and how it will work well for them. Be clear, honest and concise.

It looks like they like it. Who are they?

Track who has shared your content. If your content has been published on a news website, see who has shared by copy and pasting the link, title and possibly variations into Twitter and seeing who the biggest hitters are. Set up Google Alerts and receive a daily heads up as to who's talking about you. Thank them, follow them, start a conversation. All this activity spreads the content further. At a higher level, services like Muck Rack cost money, but do all the hard work tracking down journalists and writers who are both researching your company and writing about it. Being tipped off about stories ensures you can get engaged immediately and potentially increase the reach of your content.

• The absolute key to writing great content is to write for humans, not robots or corporate entities.
• If you write something you'd be interested in reading, you are probably on the right track. Don't pepper the content with repetition.
• Don't spam. Target publishers personally and write an attention grabbing subject line in emails.
• Don't be tempted to use capitals to grab attention. It has the opposite effect.
• Monitor who is sharing your content. Thank them, start conversations.
• Use Google Alerts or engage a slick outfit to sift around the internet on your behalf, sniffing out journalists writing about you.