SEO success!

My business website is ranking on the first page of Google for my new chosen keywords, hurray! As I explained in a previous post about making money online, I learnt all I know from free sources available on the internet then applied some common sense. There is no magic formula nor dark art involved. 


I have touched on SEO in a feature I wrote on Suite 101 last year on how to create a website for around £40 and this is what I wrote about website promotion: "Once the website is up and running, a website owner needs to ensure it ranks well on search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. A website owner should try to improve search engine ranking by using SEO techniques. There is good SEO and bad SEO and some search engines have developed formulas for penalizing sites that use bad SEO. It’s best not to stuff a site full of keywords without backing them up with articles and sound information. At all times when a website owner is working on content, they should bear in mind that easy-to-read text is more search-friendly than word games or puns. It’s also a good idea to caption photos as they will turn up on image searches. SEO can be learned from free online guides and from online conferences or workshops." 

This feature is just over one year old but a lot of it still stands. If I may update that section a bit, I'd say, just worry about Google, then the rest will come. Of course more social media tools have become popular, such as Pinterest and BrandYourself. Twitter has become massive with its millions of users and LinkedIn rules the professional world (Facebook for business? Not really unless you sell consumer goods).

So how does an ex web dummy like me and ex young bright thing get to know about social media trends? Well, there is  LinkedIn  and its professional groups, Britmums for blogging and a very handy newsletter from the Social Media Examiner. Yes, it's a lot of reading, but I'm getting results and keeping up to date with what is going on in the digital world.

Watch this space, an ebook for social media virgins beckons....

Parenting and homeworking

Why homeworking works for parents

In November 2010 I told my story about how I became a homeworker. Since then I have been continuing to feature blog posts about balancing parenting and work. I even had my very own (unofficial) homeworking blog carnival, which attracted entries from female and male parents (sourced from professional forums and BMB).

This year I pledged to recycle-reuse more and to campaign (in my small way) for homeworking, with the slogan Homeworking can save families and the planet (read one mum's story here). I have also tried to initiate conversations in LinkedIn about the need for UK employers to exit the Dark Ages and believe that some jobs can be done from home using remote technology. One of my rants won me a ticket for the TedxGranta conference, which was about how ideas (and women) can change the world.

I have received negative responses from potential UK employers (and agencies that target freelancers) so far, so aside freelance writing I copywrite for a foreign agency, which allows me to work from home. I also do indexing for a publisher. I have a lot of experience as proofreader but the competition is huge so I rarely bother to find any job in that department.

Working from home and being a parent

How do you do that? There are frequent discussions about this on Mumsnet in the freelance chat area. If you have a baby that has naps during the day, it's easier, but what if your child doesn't nap at all at daytime? Some mums use partial childcare through nurseries and preschools, others need full childcare and might consider a childminder for more flexibility... I didn't have childcare till preschool and my daughter was never a good, reliable 'napper', so in the first years it was mostly voluntary work (NCT newsletters) with a bit of paid work when I could fit it in, such as product reviews, teaching Italian, the odd feature, proofreading, etc. I used to work early in the morning or when she went to bed and at weekends. If my partner was around and could look after her, then I'd work weekdays.

Then I landed a bit copywriting job in December 2009 and, luckily, it was during the Xmas holidays. So I used most of the holiday period to work, while my partner was around. I had Xmas and the 26th off, the rest of the time I worked around eight-nine hours a day to meet the deadline. More work followed, but my partner got very busy so it started to be a big juggling act, as I was still volunteering for various charities. The work volume was still OK, but it got really busy when my daughter started preschool in September. She was only doing 15 hours till November when I paid for extra hours so she could be in from 8.40 till 3.10 one day a week. I couldn't have any more slots as it's a busy preschool and I'm reluctant to go the private way, so it has been manic, especially since I like to volunteer now and then at her preschool. 

Basically if I have a big job I get up early (sometimes I am foiled by my daughter waking up though) and work when she is gone to bed. During the day I work through her preschool hours and manage some hours while she is around by giving her activities such as painting, playdough, anything that will keep her busy for half an hour or so. I have learnt to work through interruptions (games, snacks and occasional TV noise). 

I take advantage of any free time my partner has to do my work and volunteering, and work a few hours every weekend. But I'm happy because I'm raising my child, having some social time with her (outside preschool hours we go out to groups and a music class, plus playdates) and contribute to the family's finances. I have to be very organised and give up a lot of 'me time' but it has been worth it. I don't miss working in an office one bit as I'm in touch with so many people through forums and we have virtual watercooler moments.... So if you are thinking of heading this way or you'd like to support my small campaign, please leave a comment and I will be happy to feature your story and even plug your business!

I will post on why it's great for employers in the near future...

Homeworker's day out - TedxGranta - Part One

I usually work from home wearing my not-a-yummy-mummy clothes and chatting to colleagues through professional online forums, so when I won a place at TEDxGranta, I was thrilled at the chance of getting out, networking and finding out how ideas and creativity can change the world. As a creative I'm all for it and there was even a bit of technology thrown in! So I fished out some suitable clothes from the back of my wardrobe, entrusted my toddler to my partner and trotted off on my high-heeled boots towards Churchill College. I live close to it so it was a pleasant walk down leafy roads (less pleasant at the end of the day when it was dark and wet).


A quick glance at the programme suggested that the ideas had  far-reaching consequences in terms of tackling poverty, environmental damage and even political ideologies, so the idea I submitted to win the place paled in comparison. In a nutshell, my idea is to promote homeworking as it can save families and the planet (think of carbon savings).  I know, it sounds corny but I know lots of parents who want to work from home to be with their children. Those who managed had to overhaul their career and jump through hoops (you can read some stories here) and taking a big paycut in many instances. Personally, working from home is the only way I can volunteer for my various charities, look after my daughter when she is not at preschool and earn money. I'm not asking for the moon, but it has been hard as employers' mindset are still stuck in the Industrial Age when workers needed to be seen attending to their machines (I am being kind here, I did mention Dark Ages in a LinkedIn discussion). I know some jobs cannot be done from home, but my old job would have been perfect for a homeworker - I was spending hours staring at a screen with limited interaction. So why not doing it from home? Because most media companies want the freelancer to go inhouse even if the freelancer doesn't have a 'team role' and doesn't attend meetings. But enough of this and let's go back to TEDxGranta's Cambridge conference.


I was so inspired I took several pages of notes. It was very intense and I have material for several blog posts, so expect more in the coming days! The conference was structured in three sessions with conversation breaks. Session 1 was about New Angles, which included:

• a video of H. Rosling carrying the intriguing message "If you have a democracy, people will vote for washing machines" (a great speech exposing the hypocrisy of green campaigners and our patronising attitude towards developing countries)
• an empowering live speech by J. Barnes on why we need to take control of our medical history and records
• a video of C. Breazel on personal robots (we all loved the furry one and I daydreamed of a mummy robot reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to my little girl three times in a row without blinking)
• D. Lynas on arts as creative recycling (a theme very close to my heart) and extraordinary projects, like the walking house
• a video of L. Donnelly on changing the world using humour, something I resort to when supporting stressed mums at breastfeeding clinics
• a live speech by J. Tillotson on how fashion combined with technology can foster wellbeing (I'd call it aromafashiontherapy)
• a video called So What Does It All Mean, about the progression of  information technology and communications (the Fatboy Slim tune is quite catchy) and
• a video of T. Porter, A Call to Men (I love the man box concept and I'm glad my partner has been around so much to help me raise our little girl).

Then there was a conversation break. I rushed to the toilet to avoid queues and went upstairs to start networking. As this was my second professional networking event in the past two years, I was a bit nervous but having had a chat with a few friendly women before the first session started, it was less nerve racking. I did stick to my usual strategy... find somebody on their own and engage them in a conversation. I didn't have a particular agenda, I just wanted to sound people out on homeworking and throughout the day I got a few opinions on it, mostly positive and, surprisingly (from a consultant), one firmly and vehemently against. Yes, I know, not all jobs can be done from home but writing and proofing can be done from home and I hope that UK businesses will realise this (I'm mostly exporting my services abroad at the moment). Tune in for the next two sessions... I promise I won't mention homeworking unless it's relevant!

Social media for dummies (including my old self)

Simone Castello on Facebook

Simone Castello on Twitter

Simone Castello on LinkedIn

Social media is the buzzword doing the rounds in several media forums, alongside the likes of SEO copywriting. But what does the term social media actually stand for? Wikipedia defines it as “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues.”

This is a good way of putting it, but why are media pros mesmerised by it? Again Wikipedia’s entry is spot on: “One of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building ‘social authority’. Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as an ‘expert’ in their given field or area, thereby becoming an ‘influencer’ in that field or area.”

This explains why PR and marketing professionals are getting hot under the collar about it. But what are the tools and channels for building social authority? Wikipedia offers several examples – they are so widespread that even a technophobe with a dial-up internet access might, at some point, have been involved with at least one of them. Among the communication tools, we have blogging, microblogging (ie Twitter), social networking (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc), event groups (Meetup.com) and online fundraising (justgiving comes to my mind for the UK). Moving on, there are collaboration projects and authority building sites such as Wikis - Wikileaks is topical right now in the political arena. Then there is social bookmarking and social news, which include StumbleUpon, delicious, digg... And more categories involving photography, art, video, broadcasting, music and even product and business reviews. And let’s not forget the brand monitoring brigade with their Statsit... The more I read about social media, the more I realise that it’s like quicksand gobbling us all up. 

I have certainly come a long way from my virtual girl blog posted in March. Since then I have been thrown into the deep end of social media through SEO copywriting, my involvement with PR and marketing forums (where social media marketing strategies are discussed on a daily basis) and through my blogs, which carry affiliate marketing links. And let's not forget my personal interests and passions, all lavishly catered for by a plethora of websites. It's really sink or swim, so excuse me while I grab my virtual board and learn to surf this big tidal wave called social media...