Ludicrous journalism prizes...

Could this be the most ludicrous annual journalism prize awarded? Yes, it's the award for the best writing about, er, ceramic tiles. Listed below is the blurb for the 2012 award - keep an eye on the link below for the 2013 details which will be uploaded soon.

If you write about bathroom furnishings, and there can't be all that many of you, then this award could be the one for you.  Just for info in 2010 the prize was awarded to Anthony Stock for his feature Slim line tonic, or the thin edge of the wedge? published in (ahem wait for it...) Tile Today. Too much excitement for one day...

Ceramic Tiles of Italy Journalism Award 2012

Competition Rules

Ceramics of Italy are pleased to announce the sixteenth competition for the Journalism Award. This award will recognize the best published article/report on Italian Ceramic Industry  and / or Cersaie 2011, the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings (Bologna, Italy: 20 - 24 September).

1) The competition is open to all journalists outside of Italy. Journalists may submit up to four articles. Only single author articles will be eligible.

2) To be eligible for the competition, articles must have been published by April 30, 2012 in magazines outside of Italy. All applicants must submit at least three copies of the magazines containing the article, a short description of the features of the magazine, as well as background biographical information by May 15, 2012 to:

http://www.journalism.co.uk/shorturl/GGHWB/

How blogging can help your SEO

Good news for disheartened journalists - your training and skills may soon be in high demand again on the web because quality content is becoming increasingly important in SEO.

For several years now, journalists have felt undervalued as it seemed like any old content, created by anybody with a keyboard, would be good enough to fill up the pages. It has seemed as if nobody really cared about the quality of the writing. Instead, it's been all about quantity. Now it seems things are radically changing.

I've just had a meeting with an SEO expert - Jim Drew at Business Revolution, in Norwich www.bizrev.co.uk I am editing the website content for my client, who runs a hockey coaching business, and he is designing and hosting their website.

I asked the inevitable: "So what can we do to make this website appear higher in the Google rankings?"
His reply was: "Start with a list of the terms people might use to search for you  - and make sure you include those in your content. Make sure your writing is good quality."

What? Did he say - "Make sure your writing is good quality". So the quality of the writing and the content actually matters at last.

As a journalist, feeling a little out of sorts at the overwhelming amount of free but poor quality content that's now on offer on the web, this was proverbial music to my ears.

"Make sure it is well-composed and not just a load of search terms. Make sure you are giving people quality content. The best advice is definitely to add good content. Every time you blog or add content, this is updating the site and Google will re-index everything," he added.

What a relief. After a few years of rubbish-content and an anybody-can-write ethos prevailing on the web - things have finally come full circle. Now SEO experts are talking about 'inbound marketing' - or offering such great content that people come and find your business rather than you searching them out.

Maybe journalism, in its new form of 'content' may survive albeit in another form as it becomes the latest weapon in the SEO battle.

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