Craft Focus - Oct/Nov (Issue 63)

business advice craft focus 41 A word of caution is not to engage in keyword stuffing, which is the act of filling your content with so many keywords that it becomes difficult to read. Not only will this irritate your blog followers, it will also get you penalised by Google. 3. Optimise your images Whenever you upload a photo to your blog, be sure to include keywords in the file name and fill out the alternate text field with a brief, keyword rich description of the photo. 4. Reference others with links When you mention another blogger or article in your blog post, include a link to the information you’re referencing. Not only is it good blogging etiquette, but you may also get lucky and receive a link back. Quality links are a valuable commodity for any site looking to rank higher in search engine results pages. 5. Give readers the opportunity to subscribe to your blog Include prominently placed RSS or Feed Subscription buttons and offer viewers the ability to subscribe to your posts via email when possible. This allows your blog followers to have instant notification of your latest posts without having to periodically check your site for new content. 6. Use social media to broaden the reach of your blog posts As a small business, you may be utilising Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or other social media sites to create connections with potential and current customers. Why not promote your blog content on these sites for even more web exposure? Free tools like Hootsuite make it easy to post links to your latest blog post on all of your social media sites with just a couple of clicks. You can even schedule your posts ahead of time! By following these simple SEO tips, you’ll higher rankings in SERPS (Search Engine Results Page), increased web traffic, and higher customer conversion rates. Good luck! Michael O’Connor Grey Sergeant michael.oconnor@greysergeant.com