One of the similarities found between the two pieces is the general consensus that online writing is not a way of broadcasting information, which is a commonly held misconception because there are plenty of people who go out to try to "cast a very wide net to reel in a handful of fishes". Instead, both writers agree that you should instead go out and try to reach a targeted audience, write using vocabulary that can connect with them in ways so that they can get a sense of "this is what it feels like to be in this person's shoes" or "this is what they are trying to sell me".
Since Clark's piece focuses mainly on how one should write in order to be successful within search engines, his piece deals a lot with finding the right key words to employ within your article and learning how to use them frequently while still writing compelling content, as well as using various tools, like linking out with media sites and thinking of great titles, in order to generate internet traffic to your site.
After reading these pieces, I began to realize why certain blogs and websites have become so successful. Inversely, it has shown me why there are certain people that are still struggling to find their voice online. One blog that has been very successful and utilizes key aspects from the readings is one entitled, "Baghdad Burning". This blog is written by a young girl named Riverbend who decided to start a blog that chronicles her everyday life in post-war Iraq. It is a piece that has a targeted audience in mind; people who are interested in knowing what is going on in Iraq. The blog employs a great, and very poetic, title that tells the reader exactly what the blog will be about. Lastly, the blog is written in a way that allows the reader to feel as if they are connecting with Riverbend and get a sense of "this is what it's like to be in this person's shoes".
Another very successful blog that employs many of the ideas found in Clark's piece is the popular tech blog Engadget, which showcases and reviews new gadgets and technology that comes out every week. This blog clearly uses frequently placed keywords, links outs to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as utilizing the applications market on both iOS and Android, in order to generate internet traffic. In order to see how successful the tech blog was, I did a little experiment where I Googled the name of a well know gadget like "iPhone" and paired it with "review", which they use as a frequently placed keyword. After doing this five times with different names of well known gadgets (Droid, Nexus, Vita, Kinect) the tech blog always came up within the top three search results. So, they are clearly writing compelling content that functions well with Google's spiders while it is written for a targeted audience.
Finding a badly written blog was surprisingly harder than i thought it would be because most of the blogs I found had a dedicated purpose with good use of key words, even though they were obviously amateurish. However, after scouring the internet I came across Kim Kardashian's blog, which does give the reader a sense of who she is, but is mainly made up of pictures of herself and used to market her products. Her writing is not compelling in any way and even feels forced and artificial at some times. She also does not have great titles for her posts and the only reasonable key word she employs is her name.
And finally, another bad blog that I was able to find is actually quite funny and could maybe be considered a good blog if it was read aloud by Morgan Freeman. The blog is entitled "The Dullest Blog in the World" and it really is dull. This blog does not use any well thought out titles or keywords. Even though it is mainly a listing of the mundane things Dave Walker does in his life, it still does not let the reader know what it is like to be in his shoes. For example, one of the posts taken from his blog is entitled "Sitting Down" and the content reads as follows: "I was standing up. It occurred to me that a more comfortable posture would be preferable. I located a chair and sat down." Need I say more?
Sources:
http://scribeseo.com/seo-copywriting/
http://www.deannazandt.com/presentations/claremont-mckenna-college-how-you-will-change-the-world-with-social-networking/
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.engadget.com/
http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com/
http://www.dullestblog.com/
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