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The BBC has announced it is to lengthen the headlines in its website news stories so content is found more easily on search engines.

There's already plenty of debate on the BBC website about the pros and cons of allowing journalists to create longer headlines. I won't get into whether it makes editorial sense or not, but I think the development poses a few questions:

The BBC is probably one of the most indexed websites on the internet with content already all over the web, so why do they need to increase 'the practice of search engine optimization' (in their words)?

How does the BBC's competitors, including local newspapers and ITV, feel about the BBC using its massive resources to perfect SEO and reach audiences which they struggle to on a consistent basis?

What do you think?

I read with interest this article on the BBC News Website about Middlesbrough's England Under-21 defender Andrew Taylor who has decided to venture away from the grass and into new media with an innovative new website which aims to help his fellow professionals find trustworthy services.

There is a running joke that professional footballers are brainless people, paid handsomely just to kick a ball around, but Taylor has shown he has a business brain and an eye for new media niches.

The website he has setup, out of his own wages - Platinum Players - aims to stop professional footballers being ripped off every time they decide to splash out on luxury cars, hotels and jewelery.

Although there's not much to see on the website's homepage, the plan is to get his peers to sign in securely to the site and then browse around for services.

Taylor will generate his cash through advertisement, and that's where he could be in line for a big windfall. Which big brand wouldn't want direct access to a professional footballer and his thousands of pounds in weekly wages? Taylor could charge a premium for the best and biggest brands who, quite rightly, should be falling over themselves to sign up.

Let's see which footballers Mercedes-Benz or Ferrari could be a targeting on the website:

Robinho, Manchester City, weekly wage estimated at £160,000 per week

Frank Lampard, Chelsea, weekly wage estimated at £140,000 per week

Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, weekly wage estimated at £120,000 per week

And that's just a few of the really big earners. Even professionals in the lower leagues of English football will be paid around £1,000 per week, so the website is an interesting concept. It shows that footballers are keen users of the internet (why wouldn't they with so much spare time on their hands?) and, perhaps, we need to give them more credit than just being drones who kick a ball around a field.

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Our homage to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson (and the Jackson 5) applied to Pay Per Click advertising...but after spending a day with PPC experts Home James in Leeds, Sona Web has learnt that PPC isn't as easy as 1,2,3 - and don't let anyone tell you it is.

We also learnt you should never be fooled by any company that cold calls you and tells you they can 'get you on the first page of Google', because unless they use an out-dated model of throwing lots of your hard-earned money at specific keywords, the chances are you're not going to be appearing on that elusive first page for very long at all. And most of your money is going to end up in the rogue companies' hands.

The real PPC experts take days just to set-up an account. It involves intensive research, analysis and bucket loads of skill. A set-up of an account shouldn't take five minutes before a lunch break. It needs a PPC expert to go through keywords over and over, eventually filtering out the negative keywords (which can still be positive for your campaign) until you have a list of cast-iron certainties that will get search engine traffic coming your way.

We've been taught by the best and with our newly-acquired PPC expertise, Sona Web will shortly be offering Pay Per Click account management to clients in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and beyond.

To enquire about our PPC services or to register an interest early for a very special deal contact us today