New blog posts and improvements

Author: calcode

_includes/structured_data_json_ld.html

@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 <script type="application/ld+json">
-{ "@context" : "http://schema.org",
-"@type" : "Person",
-"name" : "Calum Shepherd",
-"image" : "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/598773389361291264/mrAekpWD.jpg",
-"jobTitle": "Product Manager",
-"sameAs" :
-"https://twitter.com/calumshepherd",
-"https://uk.linkedin.com/in/calumshepherd",
-"https://bsky.app/profile/calumshepherd.bsky.social"
-}
-</script>
+    {
+      "@context": "http://schema.org",
+      "@type": "Person",
+      "name": "Calum Shepherd",
+      "image": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1484132250434289667/8DtfxgL7_400x400.jpg",
+      "jobTitle": "Senior Product Manager",
+      "sameAs": [
+        "https://x.com/calumshepherd",
+        "https://uk.linkedin.com/in/calumshepherd",
+        "https://bsky.app/profile/calumshepherd.bsky.social"
+      ]
+    }
+    </script>

_layouts/default.html

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ <h3 class="masthead-title">
       <div class="footer">
         <p>
         You can also find me on...
-        <a href="https://twitter.com/calumshepherd">Twitter</a> |
+        <a href="https://x.com/calumshepherd">X</a> |
         <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/calumshepherd.bsky.social">Bluesky</a> |
         <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/calumshepherd/">LinkedIn</a> |
         <a href="https://github.com/calcode">Github</a>

_posts/2012-01-03-local-seo-for-stores.md

@@ -1,48 +1,48 @@
 ---
 layout: post
-title: An approach to local SEO for stores
+title: Local SEO for Stores
 permalink: local-seo-for-stores/
 ---
-(This post was previously posted in December 2011 as part of a SEO Advent Calendar series. It has since been amended and updated and reposted here for greater reach. To view the original post, please visit the [LBi blog](http://blog.bigmouthmedia.com/2011/12/06/no-6-%E2%80%93-seo-advent-calendar/).
+(This post was originally published in December 2011 as part of an SEO Advent Calendar series. It has since been updated and reposted here for greater reach. To view the original post, visit the [LBi blog](http://blog.bigmouthmedia.com/2011/12/06/no-6-%E2%80%93-seo-advent-calendar/).
 
-‘Location, Location, Location’ was once a popular show on Channel 4,  now stolen for describing the the importance of local SEO for physical store locations.
+‘Location, Location, Location’ was once a popular show on Channel 4, and now it’s the perfect description for the importance of local SEO for physical store locations.
 
-The online visibility of local stores is quite commonly extremely low on many digital marketing managers radars. In turn, it should in fact be key for many online /offline hybrid retailers whom operate brick and motor stores. Retail stores tend to lack the range of products their online counterparts do, with the web acting as a best of breed for everything within the retailer’s portfolio.
-
-Approach local SEO for stores by thinking about location initially  then the the services or products that location actually offers. Loyal customers may just turn up at your store if the need for is time sensitive, or if they just prefer shopping in person. If information on the store is not available online, your customer may either struggle to find it, visit a closed store or even go elsewhere.
+Local stores often struggle with low online visibility, which can be overlooked by digital marketing managers. This is especially important for online/offline hybrid retailers who operate brick-and-mortar stores. Retail stores typically offer a smaller range of products compared to their online counterparts, which means the web serves as a "best of breed" solution for the retailer’s entire portfolio.
+
+When approaching local SEO for stores, it’s crucial to think about the location first, followed by the services or products that the location offers. Loyal customers may visit your store if they have time-sensitive needs or simply prefer shopping in person. However, if information about your store is not available online, customers may struggle to find it, show up when it's closed, or even go elsewhere.
 
 ##A. Onsite promotion
-Shopping at the last minute is not an alien concept for many at Christmas. In the run up to Christmas, many people will be trawling the internet for details on local stores in a number of scenarios;
+Shopping last-minute is a common occurrence, especially during the Christmas season. People often search for details about local stores online in several situations:
 
 - The standard delivery window for mail order has expired
 - They discover that only expensive ‘next day delivery’ options are available.
 - Risk of weather related delivery delays.
 
-We can now begin to identify the journey from online to offline customer as being of vital importance as a revenue stream. Thus, make store locations and how to find them visible on site.
+Identifying the customer journey from online to offline is essential for generating revenue. Ensure that your store locations and how to find them are easily visible on your site.
 
 - Promote from the homepage
 - Provide within your standard navigation, be it a footer or sub-navigation
 
-##B. Individual Store Pages
-
-- Guidelines should be in place to ensure all individual store pages provide the most up to date information, so that as changes take place these can be reflected on site.
-- Where stores are individually operated or franchised with separate social profiles, think about what social feeds or real time updates you can pull into these pages.
-- Customer reviews of that location will be common online, something you wish to include?
-- Use easy to remember URL’s.
-- Want to take it up a notch? Promote the store landing page from within each location - it may well help create a loyalty aspect that not many other online retailers can match.
-
-##C. 3rd Party Location Platforms
-Offsite promotion plays the most important part. Location based platforms such as Google+ Local, Here Places (Nokia), Bing Places and Yelp will transform traffic to location pages in many instances.
-
-- Be organised and maintain a list of your locations
-- Claim listings currently out there and close / amend where required
-- Build upon this and add new listings, alongside new information as appropriate
-- Use link tracking and PROVE it works!
+##B. Individual store pages
+Each store should have its own dedicated page with up-to-date information. This allows for quick updates as changes occur.
 
-Identifying, documenting and maintaining profiles and information contained on 3rd party websites ensures customers do not end up at stores that do not exist, or have since moved after the information was made available. These 3rd party profiles can all be closely integrated with any associated store pages on the 1st party site.
+- Make sure all individual store pages provide accurate, current information
+If stores are independently operated or franchised with separate social profiles, consider integrating their social feeds or real-time updates
+- Customer reviews specific to each location are common online—consider including them.
+- Use easy-to-remember URLs for individual store pages
+- To take it further, promote each store's landing page from within the store itself. This can help create customer loyalty that many online retailers can’t match
 
-##TLDR;
+##C. 3rd party location platforms
+Offsite promotion is also crucial. Location-based platforms like Google+ Local, Here Places (Nokia), Bing Places, and Yelp can significantly increase traffic to your location pages.
+
+- Stay organised and maintain a list of all your locations
+- Claim existing listings on third-party platforms and close or amend outdated entries
+- Continuously build new listings and update information as needed
+- Use link tracking to measure the impact and prove that it works
+- Maintaining accurate profiles and information on third-party websites ensures customers won’t end up at stores that have moved or no longer exist. These third-party profiles should be closely integrated with the store pages on your website
 
-Ensure you’re ready for Christmas, update your store pages to truly reflect their offering, promote them on site so they become a viable option for customers AND FINALLY ensure all 3rd party profiles and store details are also up to date. Not everything is this post might be applicable, however throwing some ideas can be the beginnings of a great thing!
+##In summary;
 
+Get ready for Christmas by updating your store pages to accurately reflect their offerings. Promote these pages on your site to make them a viable option for customers. Finally, ensure all your third-party profiles are up-to-date. Not every suggestion in this post may apply, but implementing even a few of these ideas can lead to great results!
+
 Merry Christmas!

_posts/2012-01-11-search-plus-your-world.md

@@ -3,33 +3,32 @@ layout: post
 title: Increase Like button clicks on informational websites
 permalink: increasing-like-button-clicks/
 ---
-A colleague of mine [Ross](http://rosstavendale.com/) highlighted the idea of placing social sharing functionality alongside content on informational sites. A great idea for highlighting specific gems likely to be shared, as button placement currently tends to be commonly top / bottom. Some further discussion and a bit of further research this as being a nice little way of potentially increasing the rate at which people interact with social sharing functionality. Essentially what he described is a route to increasing Like Button clicks on informational sites, in turn expanding your visibility and following on Facebook.
+A colleague of mine [Ross](http://rosstavendale.com/) suggested an interesting idea for increasing social sharing on informational websites. By placing social sharing buttons alongside key content, rather than at the top or bottom of a page, it highlights specific sections of a page that are likely to be shared. This approach could potentially boost the rate at which users interact with social sharing buttons, especially the Facebook Like button, ultimately expanding visibility and followers on Facebook.
 
-> I wanted to find out exactly how this could work, alongside any potential benefits and impact points - this took a little more digging
+> I wanted to explore how this could work and understand its potential benefits—this took a bit more digging
 
-It is quite common for e-commerce websites to achieve additional Like button clicks through making use of Facebook Open Graph mark-up, declaring products as objects and placing buttons alongside to aid in sharing. This works really well for people thinking about making a purchase, or people about to make a purchase and sharing it to friends and families in advance. [ASOS](http://www.asos.com) is a great example of this.
+While it’s common for e-commerce websites to boost Like button clicks using Facebook Open Graph mark-up (e.g., declaring products as objects and placing share buttons alongside), this method is tailored to single-product pages. A great example of this is [ASOS](http://www.asos.com) where products are shared easily through social media.
 
-This e-commerce method works because your single page is a single object, a product. However, how does this work when you are looking to share a specific area of a page on an informational site, without impacting messaging when sharing the page as a whole? This is the aspect that interested me, as I wanted to know how they were pulling it off and if there were any search implications.
+However, the question arose: How does this work on informational sites, where you're not sharing a product but rather specific sections of a page without compromising the message of the page as a whole? This was the aspect that intrigued me, and I wanted to understand how sites were pulling this off—and if there were any potential SEO implications.
 
-Well, let’s take a look at the example Ross initially provided in the form of [Britain Magazine](http://www.britain-magazine.com/).
+Let’s explore an example Ross shared with me: [Britain Magazine](http://www.britain-magazine.com/).
 
-<img src="http://uploads.calumshep.com/british-quote-button.png"/>
-
-Britain Magazine increases Facebook Like button clicks through adding the ability to share quotes on a page out to Facebook. However, the challenge is that you can only make use of one set of Open Graph mark-up per page, meaning that your entire page would have to become about one single quote, even though it will be providing information above and beyond that.
+Britain Magazine boosts Facebook Like button clicks by adding the ability to share individual quotes on a page. The challenge, however, is that only one set of Open Graph mark-up can be applied to a page. This means that the entire page would need to be focused on a single quote, despite containing other valuable content.
+
 
 ##How do they achieve this?
-Simple! They use one Like button for the homepage, then on the same page link through to unique URL’s for each quote, with unique, relevant Open Graph mark-up.
-
-This means that every quote has its own unique URL, so you aren’t actually sharing THAT quote, your sharing the same quote but on a different URL (Something the typical user will never realise). You can see the true URL you are sharing within the iFrame.
+It’s quite simple! They use one Like button for the homepage and then link to unique URLs for each quote. These URLs feature their own relevant Open Graph mark-up.
+
+This method ensures that every quote has its own unique URL. The visitor is not technically sharing the quote itself, but the unique URL for that quote—something the typical user won't notice. The actual URL being shared can be seen within the iFrame.
 
 ##The user journey
-- Visitor lands on [http://www.britain-magazine.com](http://www.britain-magazine.com/)
-- Visitor clicks the like button next to the quote
-- Visitor shares [http://www.britain-magazine.com/special-post/quotes/alfred-tennyson/](http://www.britain-magazine.com/special-post/quotes/alfred-tennyson/), a unique URL which only provides a single quote and no other content
+- A visitor lands on [http://www.britain-magazine.com](http://www.britain-magazine.com/)
+- The visitor clicks the like button next to a quote
+- The visitor shares a unique URL [http://www.britain-magazine.com/special-post/quotes/alfred-tennyson/](http://www.britain-magazine.com/special-post/quotes/alfred-tennyson/), which only provides a single quote and no other content
 
-*A great idea with wider implications*
-- Google will crawl these URLs, thus for every quote a unique URL may be indexed
-- When shared, visitors will arrive on a page with a quote and navigation, not the original section of the homepage where the quote was shared from
-- A likely increase in like button clicks for your site's content as a whole
+## A great idea with wider implications*
+- SEO Benefits: Google will crawl these unique URLs, meaning each quote could be indexed as a separate page.
+- Improved User Experience: When shared, users land on a page with just the quote and navigation, rather than the original section of the homepage.
+- Increased Engagement: This method likely increases Like button clicks across the site, helping boost overall engagement with your content.
 
-Essentially, it provides a good route to increased like button clicks, visibility and brand interaction. Alongside, it potentially provides minimal search value and some indexing issues unless spider controls are used e.g. noindex. All in all, a great idea!
+Essentially, this strategy provides an effective way to increase Like button clicks, improve visibility, and enhance brand interaction. While it may offer minimal SEO value and potential indexing issues (unless spider controls like noindex are used), it’s still a clever and creative way to encourage social sharing and engagement.