Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
The Top 4 Current Tennis Players
Professional tennis has been blessed as of late with the amount of talent that has been displayed. The Men’s side has 3 players who have consistently shown over the past decade that they are all-time players, and the women’s side has been blessed with one major player who dominates many and is widely known as the GOAT. This blog post will demonstrate who I believe the top 4 players currently are in the game, in no particular order.
- Roger Federer
When people think of professional tennis, most of them think of Roger Federer. Many of those who don’t follow tennis still know who Roger Federer is or have at least heard the name. Federer is from Switzerland and has been playing professional tennis since 1998, when he was 16. Since then he has won 20 grand slams (The most all time) which are made up of 5 US Open titles, 8 Wimbledon titles, 6 Australian Open Titles, and One French Open title. Wimbledon is played on grass, which Federer’s game play style fits well with. He is one of only 8 men to have achieved a career grand slam (winning all 4 major tournaments). Visit Federer’s website to learn more. Federer is 38 and currently ranked #4 in the world.
2. Rafael Nadal
If anyone can rival Federer’s stardom, it’s Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard first entered the pros at the ripe age of 16 in 2001 and has won 19 grand slams since. He is known as the King of Clay, with 12 of his titles coming at the French Open which is played on clay. His other titles consist of 2 Wimbledon titles, 4 US Open titles, and 1 Australian Open title. Nadal has a head to head record of 24-16 against Federer. He is currently 33 years old and is ranked #2 in the world.
3. Serena Williams
Serena Williams is widely known as the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, rivaled only by Steffi Graff, who retired in 1999. Williams turned pro in 1995 and has accumulated over $92 million in prize money. She has 23 grand slam titles, the most by any man or woman. She has won the most at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, winning 7 titles at each. She also has 6 US Open titles and 3 French Open titles. She is easily the most powerful woman player ever, winning many matches by simply overpowering her opponents with her serve and forehand. She is currently 38 and ranked #9 in the world.
4. Novak Djokovic
Born in Serbia, Novak Djokovic turned pro in 2003 and never looked back. The 32 year old has won 17 grand slams and has a 911-187 record in his career. His resume includes 5 Wimbledon titles, 8 Australian Open titles, 3 US Open titles, and 1 French Open title. If Federer owns grass and Nadal owns clay, then Djokovic owns the hard court. He is known for is ability to return even the best of serves, and is widely known as the best returner ever. He is currently ranked #1 in the world.
SEO and Visual Search
A digital marketing trend that I find incredibly interesting and would like to learn more about is visual search. Visual search allows users to search online for products by simple scanning them with their phone camera. For example, if you’re visiting a friends house, and you really like a tapestry that they have, visual search allows you to scan the object with your phone camera and get results on where to get that tapestry. Apps that currently offer visual search include Google Lens, Pinterest, and Bing also has a visual search option. Google Lens has been used for than 1 billion times already, and there are over 600 million visual searches done on Pinterest each month! According to Businesswire, over 36% of Americans have already used Visual Search, and the technology works really well. I personally have never used visual search, but with how incredible the technology is, I will soon be trying it out.
4 Strategies to Enable Visual SEO
- Use Alt text
Alt text is a description of the image which appears when the image cannot, for some reason, be displayed. Even if the image can be displayed, having alt text helps push your site to the top of the results.
2. Be Authoratative
Google prefers websites that are authoritative, which means that your site has the expertise to help provide answers/results that users are looking for. Google has said that the authority of a website plays a large role in the ranking of the results.
3. Keep it Fresh
Google has also stated that sites which are frequently updated with new content are more likely to be ranked higher on the results page. So updating your site and ensuring all of it’s information is still accurate is very important.
4. Have the Picture at the Top of the Page
Google wants it’s users to have a positive customer experience. Thus, they prefer sites that are not going to waste the searchers time. By having the image at the top of the page, Google knows that the user will be able to use the site quicker than perhaps a site with the image way down at the bottom.
1 Strategy to Enable Organic “Normal” SEO
- Keyword Optimization
The textbook states that “Keywords are the very foundation of search” and this is 100% true. Keywords are the first thing that search engines look for when deciding what results to show. It’s important to include keywords that are likely to be used by your target audience. It is also important to keep your competitors in mind and to try to differentiate your keywords from theirs. Misspellings, synonyms, and words that are commonly used with your keywords are all things to focus on when implementing SEO.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Andy's Blog 