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michaelandy101-blog · 3 years

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eight Picture Search engine optimization Finest Practices to Make Your Content material Extra Discoverable

New Post has been published on http://tiptopreview.com/8-image-seo-best-practices-to-make-your-content-more-discoverable/

eight Picture Search engine optimization Finest Practices to Make Your Content material Extra Discoverable

To think about the significance of visible search in 2021, let’s begin with an instance.

The opposite day, I Googled “how to conduct a vlookup in Excel”. I skimmed a couple of articles however nonetheless felt dissatisfied — I did not wish to examine vlookups, I wished to see it.

Enter: The facility of photos.

As soon as I clicked on “Images”, I discovered what I wanted shortly:

I do know I am not alone. In reality, these days, half of all Google searches end on the search results web page, with out the person clicking by means of to any outcomes.

In 2021 and past, it’s vital entrepreneurs start being attentive to the significance of visible photos as a strong alternative to achieve new audiences on the SERPs.

Plus, as HubSpot’s Advertising and marketing Supervisor Kristen Baker informed me, “After running an image experiment on the HubSpot Blog, I discovered that ranking in Google’s image packs increases impressions and clicks to our content.”

However … simpler mentioned than carried out, proper?

Right here, let’s discover what picture Search engine optimization is, and the most effective practices you may wish to comply with to make your webpages extra discoverable in picture search outcomes.

What’s picture Search engine optimization?

Picture Search engine optimization refers back to the apply of optimizing your photos for search engines by means of considerate alt textual content, applicable captions, good file dimensions, and extra. Picture Search engine optimization could make your content material simpler to interpret by search engine crawlers, which can provide it an Search engine optimization increase on each search outcomes pages and picture outcomes pages and make your website extra discoverable.

Picture Search engine optimization Finest Practices

1. Use related, correct alt textual content for person accessibility and Search engine optimization.

As a fast refresher: Alt textual content is written copy that describes a picture. For example, in case you click on on Pipcorn’s popcorn product and examine the web page, you may see the alt textual content describes the product picture precisely as “Popcorn Family Pack Popcorn Pipsnacks LLC”:

Alt-text performs two essential roles in Search engine optimization.

First, alt textual content — often known as alt tags, or alt descriptions — helps search engine crawlers index your web site extra successfully, which has a optimistic impact on search outcomes.

In reality, Google states on its Developers page, “You can aid in the discovery process by making sure that your images and your site are optimized for Google Images … [and] increase the likelihood that your content will appear in Google Images search results.”

Second, alt textual content improves the person expertise. Alt textual content can describe a picture to a visually impaired reader, and likewise helps if a reader cannot load or see the picture accurately on their gadget.

To get a full run-down of the way to write high-quality alt textual content, check out Picture Alt Textual content: What It Is, The best way to Write It, and Why It Issues to Search engine optimization.

2. Think about using captions to explain a picture.

Captions aren’t sometimes obligatory if the context of the web page may also help readers perceive what the picture is depicting — for example, on this weblog submit I have not used any captions as a result of I’ve used textual content to introduce every picture I’ve proven.

Nonetheless, you probably have a visual-heavy web site, think about using captions to assist readers perceive a picture in context. For example, on Tom Hull’s photography portfolio, he captions his photos so viewers can contextualize the place, or what, the picture represents:

Use common sense in relation to including captions, however in case you really feel it may assist readers (and bots) higher discern a picture, then it could be a worthwhile addition to a web page.

three. Compress photos for quicker load time.

Compressing photos is an important element of any good web site optimization technique.

Why?

As a result of, merely put, it helps your internet pages load quicker, which gives a greater person expertise and likewise helps increase your web site’s search engine rankings.

To compress your photos successfully, strive a device like Compress JPEG or Squoosh.

Usually, lower than 100 KB is right when it comes to good file measurement.

Nonetheless, it is vital to notice — Google does not have a look at every particular person picture measurement. As an alternative, it seems at whole web page measurement.

So, you probably have a small picture the place high quality variations are much less substantial, then you definitely would possibly strive compressing that picture to 30-50 KB … which provides you further room to maintain one other picture 30 KB greater, significantly if that picture loses high quality after compression.

For those who’re nonetheless fearful about picture high quality after compression, check out The best way to Guarantee Your Photos are Excessive Decision.

four. Submit unique photos — not simply inventory photographs.

In the end, Google (and readers) prioritize unique content material — which suggests, in case you’re hoping your photos will rank on picture outcomes pages, it is vital you employ unique, distinctive photos.

That is significantly vital in case you work for an ecommerce web site and also you’re posting visuals of your product. Many patrons use photos to buy shopper items. In reality, 50% of online shoppers say images helped them determine what to purchase.

In case your picture does not precisely display your product, it would get buried underneath higher, higher-quality photos from rivals.

Think about using merchandise like Canva to design in-house infographics, graphs, or animated photos to assist your model stand out on search outcomes pages and make your photos extra shareable.

5. Identify your file photos earlier than importing them.

Your file title can impression how straightforward it’s for search engine crawlers to interpret your picture, so it is useful to rename your file earlier than importing it onto your webpage.

Slightly than holding the title a generic “IMG_0883”, strive utilizing related key phrases to explain what’s within the picture, just like your alt textual content. This could additionally assist guarantee your picture seems on the picture search outcomes web page, which can enhance site visitors to your website.

6. Use responsive photos.

Responsive photos are essential for guaranteeing your readers can see your photos on any sort of gadget. These days, it is vital your pages are optimized for cellular to impression search engine rankings, in addition to person expertise.

In case your photos aren’t responsive, the web page will not seem as clear on cellular because it does on desktop — which negatively impacts Search engine optimization, in addition to your reader’s notion of your model.

Happily, some web site internet hosting providers, together with HubSpot, mechanically guarantee your photos are responsive.

Nonetheless, if want be, you may make your photos responsive through the use of fast code. For example, you possibly can add this code to your HTML:

Or this code to your CSS:

.responsive

7. Leverage photos as a backlinking alternative.

Creating high-quality, distinctive, unique photos is not simply nice to your personal web site — it is also a unbelievable alternative to earn backlinks when different web sites use your picture for their very own pages.

For example, take into account the next graph created by Broadband Search:

The picture at present ranks within the first spot on the picture search outcomes web page for the key phrases, “how many people use mobile to search”.

Moreover, based on Ahrefs, this weblog submit has over 3,000 backlinks. I am prepared to guess that these backlinks are, partially, attributable to different firms wanting to make use of Broadband Search’s distinctive graphs for their very own content material.

For those who create high-quality photos, different firms might wish to showcase these photos on their very own websites — with hyperlinks again to your enterprise. This implies, finally, photos can have a direct impression on the quantity of site visitors, leads, and prospects you get for your enterprise by means of your marketing efforts.

eight. Add photos to an current sitemap.

Google suggests adding images to an existing sitemap — or making a separate sitemap only for photos — to assist search engines uncover your photos. Specifically, that is useful for photos Google cannot discover by means of crawling, equivalent to these accessed through JavaScript types.

Here is a sample sitemap, with two photos included:

Happily, in case you do not wish to add photos to a sitemap manually, you are in luck — there are instruments, equivalent to Angeldigital.Marketing (one of many solely free ones out there!), that may mechanically generate a picture sitemap when you enter a URL.

Hopefully, you should use these greatest practices to stage up and earn new site visitors by means of search picture outcomes pages. Keep in mind, an image is price a thousand phrases … so simply think about the worth of an Search engine optimization-optimized image.

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riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

Image SEO: Optimizing images for search engines

Michiel Heijmans

Michiel is a partner at Yoast and our COO. Internet veteran. His main goal with most of his articles is to kick-start your site optimization. So much to do!

Whether you’re a blogger or write articles for an online magazine or newspaper, chances are you’ll find yourself asking whether your article needs an image or not. The answer is always “Yes”. Images bring an article to life and also contribute to your website’s SEO Company. This post explains how to fully optimize an image for SEO and provides some pointers on using images for the best user experience.

Always use images

Images, when used correctly, will help readers better understand your article. The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” probably doesn’t apply to Google, but it’s certainly true when you need to spice up 1,000 dull words, illustrate what you mean in a chart or data flow diagram, or just make your social media posts more enticing.

It’s a simple recommendation: add images to every article you write to make them more appealing. What’s more, since visual search is getting increasingly important — as seen in Google’s vision for the future of search — it could turn out to provide you with a nice bit of traffic. And if you have visual content it makes sense to put image SEO Company a bit higher on your to-do list.

A while ago, Google Images got a brand-new interface with new filters, metadata, and even attribution. These cool new filters show that Google increasingly knows what’s in an image and how that image fits into the larger context.

Google’s new interface for Image Search was released at the end of September 2018

Finding the right image

It’s always better to use original images – photos you have taken yourself – than stock photos. Your team page needs pictures of your actual team, not this dude on the right or one of his stock photo friends. Off topic: also, this dude really needs a haircut.

Your article needs an image relevant to its subject. If you’re adding a random photo just to get a green bullet in our SEO Company plugin’s content analysis, then you’re doing it wrong. The image should reflect the topic of the post or have illustrative purposes within the article. Also, try to place the image near the relevant text. If you have a main image or an image that you’re trying to rank, try to keep that near the top of the page, if that’s possible without feeling forced.

There is a simple image SEO Company reason for all of this: an image with related text ranks better for the keyword it is optimized for. But we’ll discuss image SEO Company later on in this article.

Alternatives

If you don’t have any original images that you can use, there are other ways to find unique images and still avoid stock photos. Flickr.com is a nice image source for instance, as you can use Creative Commons images. Just remember to attribute the original photographer. I also like the images provided by sites like Unsplash. We have a blog post that gives you an awesome overview of where to get great images. Steer clear of the obvious stock photos, and if you are using stock photos, pick the ones that look (ok, just a bit) more genuine. But whatever you use, you’ll probably find that images with people in them always look like stock photos. Unless you took the photos yourself, which (in my opinion) is always the best idea.

Obvious alternatives for photos could be graphs or illustrations, which is what we at Yoast use. If you’re interested, our resident illustrator Erwin wrote a fun article about the making of illustrations on our developers blog. Also, an honorable mention should go to animated GIFs, as they are incredibly popular these days.

But even though animated GIFs are popular, don’t go overboard. It’ll make your post harder to read, as the movement of the image distracts your readers’ attention. They can also slow down your page.

Preparing images for use in your article

Once you have found the right image – whether it’s a photo, illustration, or chart – the next step is to optimize it for use on your website. So before you add your image, there are a number of things you need to think about:

Choose the right file name

Image SEO Company starts with the file name. You want Google to know what the image is about without even looking at it, so use your focus keyphrase in the image file name. It’s simple: if you’re writing an article on the Notre Dame and you use an image showing a sunrise in Paris over Notre Dame Cathedral, the file name shouldn’t be DSC4536.jpg. A proper file name would be notre-dame-paris-sunrise.jpg, making sure the main subject of the photo (and your article) is at the beginning of the file name.

Choose the right format

For images, the right format doesn’t exist; it depends on the kind of image and how you want to use it. In short, we recommend to:

choose JPEG for larger photos or illustrations: it will give you good results in terms of colors and clarity with a relatively small file size;

use PNG if you want to preserve background transparency in your image;

or, use WebP instead of JPEG and PNG. It will produce high-quality results with smaller file sizes. You can use tools like Squoosh to convert your image into WebP.

use SVG for logos and icons. With the help of CSS or JavaScript, you can manage images in SVG format, for instance, resize them without loss of quality.

If you know a large part of your audience uses specific browsers or devices, make sure to check whether your preferred format is supported by those browsers on CanIuse.com.

When you’ve chosen the right name and format, it’s time to resize and optimize your image!

Scale for image SEO

Loading times are important for UX and SEO Company. The faster the site, the easier it is for users and search engines to visit (and index) a page. Images can have a big impact on loading times, especially when you upload a huge image to display it really small – for example, a 2500×1500 pixels image displayed at 250×150 pixels size – as the entire image still has to be loaded. So resize the image to how you want it displayed. WordPress helps by automatically providing the image in multiple sizes after uploading it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the file size is optimized as well, that’s just the image display size. So think about the size in which you upload your images!

Use responsive images

This one is essential for SEO Company as well, and if you’re using WordPress it’s done for you since it was added by default from version 4.4. Images should have the srcset attribute, which makes it possible to serve a different image per screen width — this is especially useful for mobile devices.

Reduce file size

The next step in image SEO Company should be to make sure that your scaled image is compressed so it’s served in the smallest file size possible.

Of course, you could just export the image and experiment with quality percentages, but I prefer using 100% quality images, especially given the popularity of retina and similar screens these days.

Tools like JPEGmini can drastically reduce image file sizes without artifacts

You can still reduce the file size of these images by removing the EXIF data, for example. We recommend using tools like ImageOptim or websites like JPEGmini, jpeg.io or Kraken.io.

When you’ve optimized your images, you can test your page with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, WebPageTest.org or Pingdom.

Adding the image to your article

While Google is getting better at recognizing what’s in an image, you shouldn’t totally rely on their abilities yet. It all comes down to you providing the context for that image — so fill in as much as you can! We’ll discuss how below.

Your image is ready to use, but don’t just throw it into your article anywhere. As mentioned earlier, adding it close to related textual content helps a lot. It makes sure the text is as relevant to the image as the image is to the text, something users and Google prefer.

Captions

The image caption is the text that accompanies the image on the page — if you look at the images in this article, it’s the text in the gray box below each one. Why are captions important for image SEO Company? Because people use them when scanning an article. People tend to scan headings, images and captions as they scan a web page. Back in 1997, Nielsen wrote:

“Elements that enhance scanning include headings, large type, bold text, highlighted text, bulleted lists, graphics, captions, topic sentences, and tables of contents.”

In 2012, KissMetrics went even further, stating that:

“Captions under images are read on average 300% more than the body copy itself, so not using them, or not using them correctly, means missing out on an opportunity to engage a huge number of potential readers.”

Do you need to add captions to every image? No, because sometimes images serve other purposes. Decide whether you want to use yours for SEO Company as well or not. Bearing in mind the need to avoid over-optimization, I’d say you should only add captions where it would make sense to the visitor for one to be there. Think about the visitor first, and don’t add a caption just for image SEO Company.

alt text and title text

The alt text (or alt tag) is added to an image so there will be descriptive text in place if the image can’t be displayed to the visitor for any reason. I can’t put it any better than Wikipedia:

“In situations where the image is not available to the reader, perhaps because they have turned off images in their web browser or are using a screen reader due to a visual impairment, the alternative text ensures that no information or functionality is lost.”

Be sure to add alt text to every image you use, and make sure the alt text includes the SEO Company keyphrase for that page (if appropriate). Most importantly, describe what’s in the image so both search engines and people can make sense of it. The more relevant information surrounding an image has, the more search engines deem this image important.

When hovering over an image, some browsers show the title text as a ‘tooltip’. Chrome shows the title text as was intended. Title text for images is similar and a lot of people who use titles simply copy the alt text, but more and more people leave them out altogether. Why is that? Here’s Mozilla’s take:

“title has a number of accessibility problems, mainly based around the fact that screen reader support is very unpredictable and most browsers won’t show it unless you are hovering with a mouse (so e.g. no access to keyboard users).”

It is better to include such supporting information in the main article text, rather than attached to the image.

Read more: Read more about alt tag and title tag optimization »

Add image structured data

Adding structured data to your pages can help search engines display your images as rich results. While Google says structured data doesn’t help you rank better, it does help to achieve a more fleshed out listing in Image Search. There’s more, though. For instance, if you have recipes on your site and you add structured data to your images Google can also add a badge to your images showing that this image belongs to a recipe. Google Images supports structured data for the following types:

Product

Video

Recipe

Google has a number of guidelines you need to follow if you want your images to appear rich in image search. The main takeaway is that the image attribute is mandatory and that your images should be crawlable and indexable. You can find them all Google’s Structured Data General Guidelines. Try out Structured data training if you want to learn how to add structured data to your pages!

OpenGraph and Twitter Cards

Earlier on, I mentioned using images for social sharing. If you add the following image tag to the <head> section in your page HTML like this:

That will make sure the image is included in your share on Facebook (and OpenGraph is also used for Pinterest, for instance).

Our Yoast SEO plugin has a Social section where you can set and – in the Premium version – even preview your Facebook and Twitter posts. Make sure to use a high-quality image, like the original image you used in the post, as the social platforms use higher quality/larger images more often than not. If you have set this up correctly, and it’s not showing the right image, try to flush Facebook’s cache in the URL Debugger. Twitter Cards do the same for Twitter and are also generated by our plugin.

Alignment

This is one of my pet peeves: Images should never break the left reading line. I’m sure there are studies backing this up, but for me it’s personal. I just really don’t like it when text starts to the right of an image, only to jump to the left the next image down:

Maintain the left reading line; don’t align images to the left

If you use an image at the same width as your text column, that’s fine and it will even help emphasize the image more.

I’ll be honest: this has absolutely nothing to do with image SEO Company, but I saw the chance to express my opinion and used it! I think it’s bad for user experience. So, just to please me: don’t do this. Thanks, I really appreciate it.

XML image sitemaps

If you are a web developer, you might wonder about XML image sitemaps. I’d prefer to describe this as images in XML sitemaps. Google is clear about this:

Additionally, you can use Google image extensions for sitemaps to give Google more information about the images available on your pages. Image sitemap information helps Google discover images that we might not otherwise find (such as images your site reaches with JavaScript code), and allows you to indicate images on your site that you want Google to crawl and index.

Every now and then, people ask us about XML image sitemaps. We don’t generate these in our plugin, but follow Google’s advice and include them in the page or post sitemaps. Just scroll down in our post sitemap and you’ll see we have added images to all our latest posts (there is a column just for that). Adding images to your XML sitemaps helps Google index your images, so be sure to do so for better image SEO Company.

Image SEO: summary

Image SEO Company is the sum of a number of elements. With Google getting better at recognizing elements in images every day, it makes sense to make sure the image and all its elements contribute to a good user experience as well as SEO Company. It would be foolish to try to kid Google.

Keep these things in mind when adding an image to an article:

Use a relevant image that matches your text

Pick a good file name for your image

Make sure image dimensions match the image size as displayed

Use srcset if possible

Reduce file size for faster loading

Add a caption, if appropriate, for easier scanning of the page

Use image alt text. No need for a title text

Add structured data to your images

Add OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags for the image

Don’t break the left reading line with an image – align images right or center

Use images in your XML sitemaps

Provide all the context you can!

Besides contributing to SEO Company and user experience, images can also play an important role in conversion. So don’t underestimate the importance of image SEO Company on your site!

Keep reading: WordPress SEO: The definitive guide to higher rankings for WordPress sites »

SEO Company by DBL07.co

source http://www.scpie.org/image-seo-optimizing-images-for-search-engines/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/626412001924644864

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scpie · 4 years

Text

Image SEO: Optimizing images for search engines

Michiel Heijmans

Michiel is a partner at Yoast and our COO. Internet veteran. His main goal with most of his articles is to kick-start your site optimization. So much to do!

Always use images

Google’s new interface for Image Search was released at the end of September 2018

Finding the right image

Alternatives

Preparing images for use in your article

Choose the right file name

Choose the right format

For images, the right format doesn’t exist; it depends on the kind of image and how you want to use it. In short, we recommend to:

choose JPEG for larger photos or illustrations: it will give you good results in terms of colors and clarity with a relatively small file size;

use PNG if you want to preserve background transparency in your image;

or, use WebP instead of JPEG and PNG. It will produce high-quality results with smaller file sizes. You can use tools like Squoosh to convert your image into WebP.

use SVG for logos and icons. With the help of CSS or JavaScript, you can manage images in SVG format, for instance, resize them without loss of quality.

If you know a large part of your audience uses specific browsers or devices, make sure to check whether your preferred format is supported by those browsers on CanIuse.com.

When you’ve chosen the right name and format, it’s time to resize and optimize your image!

Scale for image SEO

Use responsive images

Reduce file size

The next step in image SEO Company should be to make sure that your scaled image is compressed so it’s served in the smallest file size possible.

Of course, you could just export the image and experiment with quality percentages, but I prefer using 100% quality images, especially given the popularity of retina and similar screens these days.

Tools like JPEGmini can drastically reduce image file sizes without artifacts

You can still reduce the file size of these images by removing the EXIF data, for example. We recommend using tools like ImageOptim or websites like JPEGmini, jpeg.io or Kraken.io.

When you’ve optimized your images, you can test your page with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, WebPageTest.org or Pingdom.

Adding the image to your article

Captions

“Elements that enhance scanning include headings, large type, bold text, highlighted text, bulleted lists, graphics, captions, topic sentences, and tables of contents.”

In 2012, KissMetrics went even further, stating that:

alt text and title text

The alt text (or alt tag) is added to an image so there will be descriptive text in place if the image can’t be displayed to the visitor for any reason. I can’t put it any better than Wikipedia:

It is better to include such supporting information in the main article text, rather than attached to the image.

Read more: Read more about alt tag and title tag optimization »

Add image structured data

Product

Video

Recipe

OpenGraph and Twitter Cards

Earlier on, I mentioned using images for social sharing. If you add the following image tag to the <head> section in your page HTML like this:

That will make sure the image is included in your share on Facebook (and OpenGraph is also used for Pinterest, for instance).

Alignment

Maintain the left reading line; don’t align images to the left

If you use an image at the same width as your text column, that’s fine and it will even help emphasize the image more.

XML image sitemaps

If you are a web developer, you might wonder about XML image sitemaps. I’d prefer to describe this as images in XML sitemaps. Google is clear about this:

Image SEO: summary

Keep these things in mind when adding an image to an article:

Use a relevant image that matches your text

Pick a good file name for your image

Make sure image dimensions match the image size as displayed

Use srcset if possible

Reduce file size for faster loading

Add a caption, if appropriate, for easier scanning of the page

Use image alt text. No need for a title text

Add structured data to your images

Add OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags for the image

Don’t break the left reading line with an image – align images right or center

Use images in your XML sitemaps

Provide all the context you can!

Besides contributing to SEO Company and user experience, images can also play an important role in conversion. So don’t underestimate the importance of image SEO Company on your site!

Keep reading: WordPress SEO: The definitive guide to higher rankings for WordPress sites »

SEO Company by DBL07.co

source http://www.scpie.org/image-seo-optimizing-images-for-search-engines/

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Image SEO: Optimizing images for search engines

Michiel Heijmans

Michiel is a partner at Yoast and our COO. Internet veteran. His main goal with most of his articles is to kick-start your site optimization. So much to do!

Always use images

Google’s new interface for Image Search was released at the end of September 2018

Finding the right image

Alternatives

Preparing images for use in your article

Choose the right file name

Choose the right format

For images, the right format doesn’t exist; it depends on the kind of image and how you want to use it. In short, we recommend to:

choose JPEG for larger photos or illustrations: it will give you good results in terms of colors and clarity with a relatively small file size;

use PNG if you want to preserve background transparency in your image;

or, use WebP instead of JPEG and PNG. It will produce high-quality results with smaller file sizes. You can use tools like Squoosh to convert your image into WebP.

use SVG for logos and icons. With the help of CSS or JavaScript, you can manage images in SVG format, for instance, resize them without loss of quality.

If you know a large part of your audience uses specific browsers or devices, make sure to check whether your preferred format is supported by those browsers on CanIuse.com.

When you’ve chosen the right name and format, it’s time to resize and optimize your image!

Scale for image SEO

Use responsive images

Reduce file size

The next step in image SEO Company should be to make sure that your scaled image is compressed so it’s served in the smallest file size possible.

Of course, you could just export the image and experiment with quality percentages, but I prefer using 100% quality images, especially given the popularity of retina and similar screens these days.

Tools like JPEGmini can drastically reduce image file sizes without artifacts

You can still reduce the file size of these images by removing the EXIF data, for example. We recommend using tools like ImageOptim or websites like JPEGmini, jpeg.io or Kraken.io.

When you’ve optimized your images, you can test your page with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, WebPageTest.org or Pingdom.

Adding the image to your article

Captions

“Elements that enhance scanning include headings, large type, bold text, highlighted text, bulleted lists, graphics, captions, topic sentences, and tables of contents.”

In 2012, KissMetrics went even further, stating that:

alt text and title text

The alt text (or alt tag) is added to an image so there will be descriptive text in place if the image can’t be displayed to the visitor for any reason. I can’t put it any better than Wikipedia:

It is better to include such supporting information in the main article text, rather than attached to the image.

Read more: Read more about alt tag and title tag optimization »

Add image structured data

Product

Video

Recipe

OpenGraph and Twitter Cards

Earlier on, I mentioned using images for social sharing. If you add the following image tag to the <head> section in your page HTML like this:

That will make sure the image is included in your share on Facebook (and OpenGraph is also used for Pinterest, for instance).

Alignment

Maintain the left reading line; don’t align images to the left

If you use an image at the same width as your text column, that’s fine and it will even help emphasize the image more.

XML image sitemaps

If you are a web developer, you might wonder about XML image sitemaps. I’d prefer to describe this as images in XML sitemaps. Google is clear about this:

Image SEO: summary

Keep these things in mind when adding an image to an article:

Use a relevant image that matches your text

Pick a good file name for your image

Make sure image dimensions match the image size as displayed

Use srcset if possible

Reduce file size for faster loading

Add a caption, if appropriate, for easier scanning of the page

Use image alt text. No need for a title text

Add structured data to your images

Add OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags for the image

Don’t break the left reading line with an image – align images right or center

Use images in your XML sitemaps

Provide all the context you can!

Besides contributing to SEO Company and user experience, images can also play an important role in conversion. So don’t underestimate the importance of image SEO Company on your site!

Keep reading: WordPress SEO: The definitive guide to higher rankings for WordPress sites »

SEO Company by DBL07.co

source http://www.scpie.org/image-seo-optimizing-images-for-search-engines/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/08/image-seo-optimizing-images-for-search.html

0 notes

choclette8 · 4 years

Text

Individual cakes are always popular. Something to do with their cuteness and that the cake is just for you. There’s no need to share. They’re a good introduction to baking for kids and great for bake sales too.

#CookBlogShare

#CookBlogShare is a weekly linky party where the food love is liberally shared. We have a look, possibly a taster and comment on each other’s posts. If you have a recipe to share, this is the place to do it.

Yes, it’s me doing a round-up once again. I still miss those #WeShouldCocoa days. Thanks to everyone who shared recipes in last week’s linky. There’s plenty there to get my teeth into. But this week I’m highlighting individual cakes.

Recently on Tin and Thyme

With so many of us at home now, baking has never been so popular. I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it really hard to get hold of flour, yeast and eggs. With this in mind I recently posted thirty egg-free cake recipes that you might find useful.

There are other ingredients that are hard to get hold of at the moment too and lots of us are relying on store cupboard staples. My easy one pot ramen is not only tasty, but it’s really quick to make. Fifteen minutes from start to finish is pretty impressive for a delicious and nutritious home cooked meal.

Spring is a wonderful time. Thank goodness for the lovey sunshine we’ve been experiencing over these past few weeks. It does make staying at home a lot easier. As dandelions carpet the grass and fields, my recipe for dandelion honey has become very popular. It tastes just like honey, only it’s much cheaper. It’s a useful alternative for vegans too.

Finally, this time of year can’t go without a mention of one of my favourite spring crops, rhubarb. We recently harvested the first sticks from our new allotment. And really, there was only one thing to make with them – rhubarb crumble.

Easy To Make Individual Cakes

I’ve highlighted four individual cakes here which are perfect for all of the reasons mentioned at the top. All of them are super easy to make and ideal for both young and old.

Orange & Raspberry Friands

So lets start off with some fancy friands from Gluten Free Alchemist. These orange & raspberry friands may seem a bit posh, but they’re incredibly easy to make and taste delicious. They’re also great for using up any leftover egg whites.

Kate says they may “look like posh cupcakes cupcakes. Indeed, I have seen them described as such on other websites… But trust me. These are not cupcakes. Their texture and flavour is altogether different“. As they’re mostly made with ground almonds, it’s easy to make them gluten-free.

Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes are a classic and every baker will have their favourite recipe. As Cat from Curly’s Kitchen says though, you don’t always want as many as twelve. “For those times when you don’t want to bake a full batch of twelve cupcakes, these small batch vanilla cupcakes are perfect”.

Isn’t the swirly buttercream icing lovely?

Vanilla Butterfly Fairy Cakes

I said vanilla cakes were popular and here, just to prove the point, are some vanilla butterfly fairy cakes from Feast Glorious Feast. Chloe said butterfly cakes were the bake she most liked to make when she was a kid. “There was always something special about getting to cut the tops off little buns, add buttercream then create and stick the wings back on“.

Fairy cakes always make me feel nostalgic for days long gone. Days when the sun was always shining or there was enough snow around to make a proper snowman.

White Chocolate & Strawberry Flapjacks

OK, strictly speaking a flapjack isn’t a cake. But these white chocolate & strawberry flapjacks fit the bill in all other respects. They even have icing. As Kat from The Baking Explorer says, “the great things about flapjacks is that you don’t need flour or eggs to make them“. Now what was I just saying about hard to buy ingredients?

The flapjacks are made with dried strawberries and topped with a layer of white chocolate. That’s fancy enough for anyone I reckon.

Bread and Soup

If after all this sweet stuff, you’re craving something savoury. How about homemade bread and soup for lunch? I’m massively tempted by the two recipes from Jo’s Kitchen Larder this week. Wild garlic soup and easy wholemeal bread. Both are vegan and the bread is a no knead one.

Easy To Make Individual Cakes

I hope you enjoy this week’s #CookBlogShare and that you feel inspired by one of these recipes for individual cakes. They’ve certainly made me want to head to the kitchen and indulge in some baking.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

Four Individual Cakes. PIN IT.

#CookBlogShare 2020 Week 16

How to join in

You can link up any foodie posts you have. Both old and new posts are welcome as long as they have not been linked to #CookBlogShare before.

Link up a recipe or foodie post by clicking the blue ‘add your link’ button below and following the instructions. You can link up to 4 posts, either old or new.

Add a link from your post back to this post. This helps everyone else find it and link up too.

Add the #CookBlogShare badge to your post (code below – for WordPress copy and paste the code below into the text view of your post).

Comment on some of the other recipes linked up here (at least 2 for each link you add but the more you can the better) and generally share the love with a bit of social media action.

Comment on either this post or one of the posts labelled HOST in the linky.

Have fun and get ready to Cook Blog Share.

What you can expect

I will endeavour to visit every post that’s linked up this week and pin the recipes to the Pinterest #CookBlogshare board. I’ll try to comment on all of them too. You might even get some yums, flips or mixes.

If you tag me on Twitter at @choclette8 using the #CookBlogShare hashtag I’ll do my best to retweet.

I’m really looking forward to seeing all the recipes you share this week. Have fun and thank you for joining in with #CookBlogShare.

Share the love

By joining in you are giving the #CookBlogShare hosts permission to use your pictures in a round up and on social media, if your recipe is selected to be featured.

Please use #cookblogshare when sharing your recipes on Instagram. We could all do with some help there. Once you’ve posted, quickly hop over to the #CookBlogShare feed. Like as many as you can and comment on any that particularly catch your eye.

Do post your recipes on the Cook Blog Share Facebook Page if you’d like to.

Your host next week will be Jacqui at Recipes Made Easy.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Individual Cakes + #CookBlogShare 2020 Week 16 Individual cakes are always popular. Something to do with their cuteness and that the cake is just for you.

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sassybrit · 6 years

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What’s on your desk, Wednesday? Weekly Spotlight Feature!

From the desk of : : Kelli A. Wilkins

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My Writing Routine :

Kelli A. Wilkins www.KelliWilkins.com

Greetings! My computer desk is in my guest room. We don’t have many guests, so I’m free to use the whole room as a makeshift office. The window closest to the desk overlooks the street, the neighbour’s house, and trees. Sometimes one of my cats will leap on the desk and walk across the keyboard to jump into the window. (He’s a birdwatcher.)

An antique dresser sits next to the desk and I have a bed behind me. It’s not for naps – it’s usually cluttered with papers, folders, notebooks, and my CD player. When I’m working, I always have music playing in the background. It’s one of my writing rituals.

People often ask me if music plays a part in my writing – yes, definitely. I even used music as an important plot element in my contemporary romance Trust with Hearts. (The hero is a country music singer.) I listen to everything from A to Z – all genres, all styles. Depeche Mode one minute, Elvis the next, then Dwight Yoakam, or disco…

The type of writing project I’m working on influences what music I listen to. For example, if I’m doing marketing (blogs, promos, review requests) I’ll listen to anything as background. (Right now Don Henley is on.) If I’m typing up a new book, I’ll listen to something loud and fast (the faster the music, the faster I can type). If I’m editing or proofreading and really have to focus and concentrate, I’ll put on something instrumental or New Age (like Loreena McKennitt or Enya).

Many people are surprised at how and when I write. Although I have my computer desk, I don’t actually use it to write. Believe it or not, I write everything out in longhand on paper using a real pen. It’s another of my writing rituals.

Before I start writing, I make a rough outline of the scenes in the book. This way I have a map of where the book (or short story) is going. Of course, the outline changes as I actually write, and I end up adding or deleting scenes, or completely rearranging things, but that’s okay.

I can (and do) write anywhere at any time. When the weather is nice I sit in my backyard and write. During the winter I’ll sit in the living room and write in a comfy chair. (With soft music playing in the background, of course. Silence is too oppressive.) For me, writing longhand lets me get deeper into the story and connect with the characters.

When I have the rough draft of the book (or short story) written, I take it to the desk and type it up. As I type, I make edits and revise each chapter, then I print it out. By the time I’m looking at a printed version, the book is already a second draft. From there, I take those printed pages anywhere and edit/revise again. (Usually that happens outside.) After that, I go back to the desk and type my changes, give it a final proofread, and I’m done.

Most days, I write for two hours at a time, then take a break and come back later for another hour or so. Of course, when I’m deep into the story I never realize how much time has passed. And I don’t aim to complete a certain word count or page count each day. Instead, I decide to write the next two or three scenes and see where I end up.

After I finish a book, I spend time doing guest blogs, interviews, and marketing, then it’s on to the next thing. Sometimes I try to do too much and my brain goes on strike and refuses to write, edit, or read another word. When that happens, I take some time off. I’ll read books I didn’t write, watch way too much TV, or do nothing. Within a week, my muse is refreshed and I’m back to writing.

But all work and no play can get dull, so I go on holiday with my husband every year. During that time I do no writing and I don’t even check my email. (When I’m away, I’m away!) However, I do keep a notebook handy for story ideas that pop up based on the places we travel.

My writing routine is a bit unusual compared to other authors, but it works for me. To date, I’ve written 19 romance novels (in all genres: historical, gay, contemporary, and paranormal), and published more than 100 short stories. I never know where my writing will take me, but I enjoy the journey!

I hope you’ll check out some of my books and tell me what you think. I enjoy getting feedback from readers and welcome questions and comments. You can contact me via the email address on the News page of my site, or visit me on social media.

Happy Reading!

Kelli A. Wilkins

About the Book : :

Kelli’s historical/fantasy novella, A Most Unusual Princess is the first book in the “Royal Desires” series. The other two books are A Most Intriguing Temptation and A Most Unfortunate Prince. Although the stories are connected, each stands alone as an individual read.

A Most Unusual Princess

Princess Elara needs to find a royal husband, but claims that no man can satisfy her. Her father hires Dalton, a special guard, to watch over her while she’s courting suitors. Dalton finds her unusual behaviors charming—and enthralling.

Dalton’s aloof manner intrigues Elara, and despite their differences, they share tender moments and intimate nighttime encounters. Elara is heartbroken when her father chooses a “proper” husband for her—until she meets the mystery man.

Bonus! This e-book includes a sneak peek at the second book in the “Royal Desires” series: A Most Intriguing Temptation.

Order your copy here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Most-Unusual-Princess-Historical-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B01CBX43D8

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1135216413

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1017485724;jsessionid=6540685BC6B5D5C5C6B56564F6EAD5B0.prodny_store02-atgap10?ean=2940153348230#productInfoTabs

Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/317882471/A-Most-Unusual-Princess-Royal-Desires-Series-1

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/a-most-unusual-princess-historical-fantasy-romance

Page Foundry: http://www.inktera.com/store/title/0a506ade-183c-49be-b36d-2fe4c1b9e92d

About the Author : :

Kelli A. Wilkins is an award-winning author who has published more than 100 short stories, 19 romance novels, and 5 non-fiction books. Her romances span many genres and heat levels.

Her paranormal-comedy, Beauty & the Bigfoot, was published in September 2017.

Kelli released Trust with Hearts, a contemporary romance, in July 2017. Her third gay romance, Four Days with Jack, was released in June 2017. Kelli’s trilogy of erotic romance novellas, Midsummer Night’s Delights, Midwinter Night’s Delights, and Ultimate Night’s Delights was published in spring 2017.

Loving a Wild Stranger was published in January 2017. This historical/pioneer romance is set in the wilds of the Michigan Territory and blends tender romance with adventure.

Kelli’s third Medallion Press romance, Lies, Love & Redemption was released in September 2016. This spicy historical western is set on the Nebraska prairie in 1877.

Her writing book, You Can Write—Really! A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Fiction is a fun and informative guide filled with writing exercises and helpful tips all authors can use.

Kelli posts on her Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKelliWilkins and Twitter: www.Twitter.com/KWilkinsauthor.

She also writes a weekly blog: http://kelliwilkinsauthor.blogspot.com/.

Visit her website, www.KelliWilkins.com to learn more about all of her writings, read book excerpts, reviews, and more. Readers can sign up for her newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/HVQqb.

Here are a few links to find Kelli & her writings on the web

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/kelliwilkins

Website: http://www.KelliWilkins.com

Blog: http://kelliwilkinsauthor.blogspot.com/

Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/HVQqb

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKelliWilkins

Facebook Contemporary Romances: https://www.facebook.com/Contemporary-Romances-by-Kelli-A-Wilkins-1965702023664339/

Facebook Gay Romances: https://www.facebook.com/GayRomancesbyKelliAWilkins/

Facebook Historical Romances: https://www.facebook.com/Historical-Romances-by-Kelli-A-Wilkins-1703805359922371/

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/KWilkinsauthor

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/KWilkinsAuthor/

Medallion Press Author Page: http://medallionpress.com/author/kelli-wilkins/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1123678.Kelli_A_Wilkins

Authors Den: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=61801

Join in!

Want to take part in this weekly author spotlight?

Just fill in this quick form here and send me your details! Open to anyone with a desk, a writing routine, and a book, product or website to promote. That means book bloggers, authors, freelance writers… you get the gist!

I regularly tweet past guest posts…

Check out my NEW Patreon Site : : https://www.patreon.com/SassyBrit

What’s on your desk, Wednesday? #AuthorSpotlight Kelli A. Wilkins @KWilkinsauthor What’s on your desk, Wednesday? Weekly Spotlight Feature! From the desk of : : Kelli A. Wilkins…

#Featured

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yourhelpfulaffiliate · 4 years

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I Asked 1000’s of Bloggers - What Do You Wish You Had Done When You Started Blogging on Wordpress?

This article will breakdown the most common responses to the question “What do you wish you had done when you started blogging on Wordpress?”

Start Now

To get started you can sign up for Wordpress through my affiliate link here.

A Small Ask From The Author

Here at Your Helpful Affiliate I work hard to research, compile, analyze and present you with the best information available and I want this blog to be as interactive as possible, so if you like it let me know by hitting the like button at the bottom of this blog post. If you have a favorite part let me know by commenting about it in the comment section and if you have any questions let me know in the comments section as well. You can go ahead and share it on social media or with your friends if you feel so inclined. The most important of all if you like any of the content on this website follow the blog as I will be posting more content like it very soon. These actions won’t cost you anything but a moment of you time, thank you and enjoy!

I Asked 1000’s of Bloggers - What Do You Wish You Had Done When You Started Blogging on Wordpress?

How Did I Do It?

So how can the average guy get in contact with 1000’s of bloggers? For this I used Facebook groups. Posting questions on targeted Facebook groups is a great way to get useful information from real people. I posted the following message on these Facebook groups. 👋 hello! I’m new to Wordpress blogging, so I thought I’d jump in with a question. What do you wish you had done when you first started blogging on Wordpress? Can’t wait to see your responses!

Top Responses

Started SoonerPicked a niche (You like, know about and would have fun writing about)Protected The Blog (security)More Seo and Keyword Research Wrote what people are searching for!Focused less on design and more on content.Shared Your PostsOptimized ImagesBeen realistic Got More Traffic Start earning money with affiliate marketing Start earning money with AdWords Had close friends review posts for errorsPosted consistentlySpent more time researching the competition Done keyword research before buying a domain Built an email listConnected with other bloggersStarted Helping PeopleCreated an audience Had a realistic timeline for results Giving up too earlyFocused on one specific niche

Starting Your Blog

Putting off starting you blog only distances you from your goal of starting a blog! You won't get betting at blogging by research along. It takes action and that action is actually writing blog posts. I person told me they wished they had started their blog years before. Starting your Wordpress blog is easy and there is a free option. You can sign up through my affiliate link here. This link pays commission for referring paying customers at no extra cost to you.

Start Now

To get started you can sign up for Wordpress through my affiliate link here.

Picking A Niche

If you are in this blog game for the long haul, I suggest you pick a niche you are passionate about. Don't worry about if the niche is super popular. Writing a successful blog requires writing A LOT about the niche you choose. Do you want to spend all that time writing about something you don't care about?

Security

Wordpress itself is quite secure. Where most of the problems start is with weak usernames and passwords, themes, plugins, hosting server hacks and access you give to someone else. User Name and Password The most common hacker attack on Wordpress blogs is called a Brute Force attack. This is where a computer program tries usernames and passwords over and over until it figures them out. Having a hard to guess user name and password well help defend you from this type of attack. Wordpress now offers a simple way to generate strong password. You can set this up by going into your profile account settings and selecting security. Password will be the first tab. Just click on the generate strong password button and then the save password button. Updates Making sure everything is up to date on your Wordpress blog goes a long way to protecting it, as most patches are to fix security problems. Check for updates often. Backups Backing up your website is always a good idea especially before updating your theme or plugins. If something goes wrong all would not be lost. Comments You can go into your comments setting so that you have to manually approve comments to reduce spam Plugins There are security plugins for Wordpress. Adding these can be a trade for of website loading speed for security. From what I have heard Ithemes security is a good plugin. I have yet to test it. Many people told me they with they had used Yoast SEO earlier, which is also a plugin. SSL SSL or Secure Sockets Layers changes a website from http to https. This is a standard security for your website. You should get your SSL certificate because it increase trust and security on your site. Hosting Going with a lowing cost hosting plan can open you up to security problems. Higher cost plans offer more to protect you website. There are so many places to get hosting. You will want to do some research to find what is best for you. Virtual Assistants I heard from more than one person that their blog was hacked because they came admin authority to a stranger. If you are going to have someone take control of you website, your investment, make sure they are trustworthy. There are low cost virtual assistants on places like Fiverr that, from what I heard, hack and hold your website hostage. Stop this before it happens.

Keyword and Seo Research

(write what people are looking for)

In the past gaming keywords could get you to rank, but these days it just doesn't work the same. Focusing more on answering questions and sharing your experience about your niche on your blog with passion will work much better that trying to find the right words. Google does a lot of user testing when they suggest search results. If you want to rise in these results you need to care about what google cares about. What does google care about? People finding the answer to their question. So write question answering posts. Lots of them. If you still feel the need to do keyword research or just want some inspiration on what to write about, here is what you should do. Type your niche into the google search bar, hit space bar and type a after it. This will bring up the top asked queries that start with the letter a. You can go through the whole alphabet like this to get real world data for free about what people what to know. Somethings I do think are important as for as keywords are your blogs SEO title and description

Site Design vs Content

As I said above, I think great content should be your main focus. A few of the people I talked to regretted spending so much time obsessing over how good their website looked. I think picking a simple theme and writing the best blogs you can is much better than having a great looking website with subpar content.

Shared Posts

Creating social media accounts to share you blog posts is a good idea. The earlier you create your accounts the faster they will grow. Also asking for others to like or share within your blog posts is not going to hurt.

Optimized Images

Large images slow down your websites loading speed. If you reduce the file size before uploading it to your website it will reduce the drag. Also adding proper captions and alt text to your images helps rank them in search results.

Be Realistic

This can mean different things for different people. I think the key is to focus on small achievements instead of your grand endgame. Knowing where you what to go is good, but focusing on means you could be missing the small stuff. Take it one day at a time. Don't beat yourself up. Have fun and be helpful.

Got More Traffic

If you don't know yet traffic is kind of a slang term for visitors to your website. There are a few ways to get traffic, some free and some paid. Free traffic often is derived from your site ranking for a search result on a search engine like google. This type of traffic is very focused because they ar literally searching for what you wrote about. You can also get free traffic from social media by linking to your website. Paid traffic is pretty much just ads you buy to get more visitors. Don't spend more than you can afford to lose. I use a mix of these to to get people to check out my blog. I try to focus more on free traffic because if people are willing finding and enjoying my content I know it is good.

Started Earning Money With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one way people make money blogging. Bloggers earn commissions by referring paying customers to a sales page through their affiliate link. There are many affiliate programs and affiliate networks out there. On this blog I write about a few of them. By adding affiliate links to my blog I create the possibility of generating income from them and so can you! You should read up on your countries laws about sharing affiliate links before you start sharing them.

Started Earning Money With AdWords

On some Wordpress plans AdWords is unlocked and can be activated. Once active you can add ads to your website and earn money from them.

Had Close Friends Review Posts For Errors

I think this is a great idea, even if you can only find one person to proof read you blog post. A second pair of eyes often finds things you would miss.

Posted Consistently

Everybody likes new stuff, even Google. Posting often is one of the best things you can do to grow your blog. Post at least once a week is the lowest amount I recommend, anything more is awesome.

Spent More Time Researching Competition

Knowing what others are doing right in your niche won't hurt you, but do not out right copy others work. You need to find your own voice, image and content.

Done Keyword Research Before Buying A Domain

Picking a domain should not be rushed. In fact you can start a Wordpress blog and they give you a filler url. You can use this until you find a domain that suits your blog. After writing a few blog posts you may get a better idea of what you should name your website. Doing keyword research on your niche before buying your domain is not bad but you may get hung up trying to find the perfect one. Try and remember it is all about the content and user experience. So do not procrastinate at this step because this is just the beginning and you need to get to work. When you do pick a domain make sure to get a .com.

Built An Email List

Email lists have become the must have tool for marketers and bloggers alike. Being able to get in touch with your follower is very powerful. Just think, you could have a group of people you can tell every time you post a new blog. Asking people to follow your blog on Wordpress is another way to create a list. Your social media followers can be used as a list as well.

Connected With Other Bloggers

Could there be a better way to learn about what works and what does not than connecting with other bloggers. I have started my personal out reach to other bloggers for this article. One of them were kind enough to let me share some of their content with you. Joy Healey let me share her blog posts about Wordpress security. Part1 - https://joyhealey.com/managed-wordpress-hosting-to-fix-wp-security-problems/ Part 2 - https://joyhealey.com/protect-your-blog-from-hackers/

Started Helping People

When most people think they want to get it blogging they have one thing on their minds, making money. If you can hold on to that goal with out it blinding you from what you need to do to achieve it, you will do well. What do you need to do? Help People! Answer questions you know they will ask. Be thorough, clear and in good spirits.

Created An Audience

An audience is much like an email list. It the people love what you have written and want to know what you are going to write next. Speak to them. Encourage them. Let them grow with you and your blog. There is nothing better than a good support network.

Had A Realistic Timeline For Results

Blog timelines can be hard to understand. It can take a long time for google to rank blogs you write. I think the best way to combat this is to write as much great blogs as fast as I can. By the time one thing ranks the rest will soon follow. This also keeps me focused on the blog I need to write instead of how the blogs I wrote are doing. Do not expect to quit your job in two weeks from blogging.

Giving Up Too Early

Blogging is a long term game. You are going to work many hours on your blog. Do not waste that time and hard work by quitting too early. In fact do not quit at all. Stick it out, you will be glad you did.

Focused On One Specific Niche

Niches range in size and scope. Having a laser focused blog will do you wonders. If you write about everything under the sun search engines and people won't take you seriously. Find your passion. Answer common questions people in that niche have. Many have failed to niche down their blog and suffered from it. Do not make this mistake. Stay focused and be helpful and your blog should be great.

Conclusion

Starting a Wordpress blog can be scary and there are lots of ways to get tripped up. I hope that by going over some of the most common mistakes I have helped prevent you from making them. Now to sum up most of what I learned writing this blog. You need to get started. You need to protect your blog. You need to find a niche you can passionately write about for a long time. You need to write blog posts often. You need to answer questions people have involving your niche. You need to focus on small achievable goals. You need to monetize your blog with either affiliate links or AdWords if you want to make money. You need to hang in there and not quit. You've got this!

Start Now

To get started you can sign up for Wordpress through my affiliate link here. https://youtu.be/RqiIl746atc Read the full article

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cesnydermarketing · 5 years

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Google Site Verification

New Post has been published on https://cesnydermarketing.com/2019/google-site-verification/

Google Site Verification

Google Site Verification – Charles Snyder Raw #143. So I’m a little behind schedule with this article and video, but I’ve had a pretty good and very productive week. Since Monday, I was feeling quite a bit overwhelmed, but the last two days, things really turned around. Also, I had an engaging conversation with Robert and then I had an idea.

Not Verified Yet?

I think it was Tuesday or maybe Wednesday, I posted a poll for fellow marketers and agency owners. So my idea was to basically find out what people really desired when it comes to Digital Marketing. Since the first hour it was posted, people began voting and I dug deeper. But Thursday is when Robert responded and we chatted back and forth.

My conversation with Robert was pretty straight-forward. I asked him what his pain-point was and he told me; getting the Google Website Verification code working on his website. So I also knew that getting the code working could be a practice in frustration, I invited him to hop onto a video call with me. But the irony was that it has been a while since I played with the verification, so I needed a few minutes to remember.

Anyway, once I had my bearings again, I walked Robert through the process of installing the verification meta tag. First I had him install a simple plugin for WordPress called the Google Site Verification plugin. Secondly, I had Robert go to Google and copy the tag directly from their page. Lastly, I had him paste the meta tag into the plugin and click on the save button.

And then the moment we were waiting for…

Robert went back and selected the proper form of verification from the Google page and then he clicked on the ‘Verify’ button. Boom, it worked just like that! Which, after I finally remembered, ended up being fairly painless for Robert and I made a quick video out of the session.

youtube

Google Site Verification – Charles Snyder Raw #143

Google Site Verification got you stuck? We’ll save you time, money and headaches trying to figure it out on your own!

#c. e. snyder marketing llc #charles e. snyder iii #google site verification #seo #wordpress #Charles Snyder Raw

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sempiternalsandpitturtle · 4 years

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A content marketer’s guide to video distribution

Okay, seriously, get on the video train. Do it. Write a script, shoot some interviews and put it online.

Where online? Oh, isn’t that the question.

For all the fuss we’ve made about video – and we’re serious, by the way. Make one. Your inner Ava Duvernay doesn’t mean diddly if people don’t show up to the box office. Making videos is important, but where, when and how you distribute those videos matters, too.

More than half (59 percent) of senior executives prefer videos over lots of text. But you can probably bet those C-suite types aren’t Googling “videos on best EHR solution” (or whatever your business offers). They want the content to come to them.

And you, my darling marketer? You have the power to hand-deliver right to their desk.

The video platforms you need to utilise

When video is part of your marketing strategy, the first thing you need to do is decide where these files will live. The channels you use will define elements like duration, resolution, orientation (i.e., portrait versus landscape) and more.

So with that in mind, here’s a list of the major players:

The hosting platforms: YouTube, Vimeo

You already know about YouTube. With more than one billion users and a reach greater than any cable network, this site is the OG of video distribution. It’s owned by Google, so you know that YouTube understands your marketing goals. It’s also very user friendly, as it’s super easy to upload and embed video content.

If YouTube isn’t your jam, consider Vimeo. It calls itself “the high-quality home for video hosting and watching”, and users agree thanks to its sleek design and lack of memes.

Beyond that, however, Vimeo is more supportive of content creation than YouTube. It’s got a nice supply of stock footage and great audience engagement tools to use during live streaming. It’s not a household name like YouTube, but you might find you’re able to do more with it.

That said, neither of these are really the best place for B2B video discovery. Remember, decision-makers don’t seek out video, so they’re not going to these websites when searching for your content. If you’re gonna use YouTube or Vimeo, you’ve got to embed your video somewhere else.

I suggest an optimised spot on your website — whether a blog post or a landing page — that will allow you to target related keywords. Google will have a much easier time crawling through your content, and your site will be 53 percent more likely to show up on the first page of results.

“Should I have a separate landing page for every video?”

Well, that depends. On the one hand, it’s great for SEO. You can target keywords based on a single video’s content (rather than trying to mention every single one), making it easier for search engines to understand everything that’s on the page.

On the other, it adds a lot of infrastructure to your website. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something to be aware of. Also, if you do decide to post each video on a unique page, make sure navigation is really easy. No one’s going to dive deep into your website looking for content that lasts 90 seconds max.

The social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat

Posting videos on social media gives your profiles a dynamic edge, interspersing moving content with static pictures and text. Plus, the sharing aspect can increase your reach by leaps and bounds.

Social media is now a top advertising platform, so of course these companies are going to do what they can to help you promote your videos. Sometimes this means paid ads (and you can get pretty targeted with tools on Facebook and Instagram); other times it means posting organically at the right moment.

Also, don’t forget about influencers, who work well for both paid and organic strategies. Influencers are great for increasing brand awareness and recognition, connecting you to a large audience of new, potential customers.

The streaming platforms: Twitch, webinars

Livestreaming is a great way for B2B companies to interact with their audience. Showcase your experience at an industry convention, show a little behind-the-scenes action or host a short Q&A with various employees. Most livestreaming platforms let viewers comment in real time, which gets them more engaged with your business.

Twitch is arguably the most well-known streaming platform. To be fair, it hosts a lot of gaming content, but businesses of all types are finding it very helpful for their video marketing strategies.

Webinars are related to livestreams in that they’re filmed in real time and allow for viewer interaction. However, they’re a bit more useful in terms of marketing. Most webinars can be hosted or embedded on your website, making it easier for viewers to navigate through your content (and hopefully to your sales page). Additionally, you can make users register for your webinar and capture helpful data like email addresses. You can then filter this information and design additional marketing materials based on the different interests of your viewers.

The sharing platforms: Email, guest posts

These distribution methods are often overlooked, but they’re quite powerful! With email, you can send a preview of your video to everyone on your newsletter mailing list. Include screenshots and / or gifs so viewers get a taste of what they’re in for. Having imagery makes your newsletters that much more appealing, anyway.

As for guest posts, well, what blog isn’t enhanced with a little video? If you have the opportunity to write for an influencer’s website or industry publication, embed a video within the copy to boost engagement.

SEO and video: Yes, they do work together

Google can’t crawl a video (remember how bad those YouTube automatic captions were?), but it can review the details around one. Search engines treat your video’s title and description like an image’s metadata and caption. This means that, yes, optimisation is an important part of your video distribution strategy.

But how do you make your videos support your SEO strategy? Just include the following:

Keywords: I already noted that you should use them wisely on your landing page, but don’t forget about the video itself. Include keywords in your video’s title and description for better SEO. Remember, Google will place relevant videos toward the top of the search results page if they reflect the user’s query.

Look at those videos. I’ll forgive you if you spend the next 20 minutes watching kittens on YouTube.

Calls-to-action: You don’t want to leave viewers with nothing to do after they finish your video. At the very least, you want them to come back to your website. Include a call-to-action at the end of the video itself (by displaying your company contact information, for example) so your audience has reason to stay engaged with your brand.

Video seeding: Building backlinks organically is neither fast nor easy, but video seeding helps the process greatly. This concept involves reaching out to specific websites or blogs with target audiences interested in your products or services. If everything works as planned, other reputable sites will see your content and want to post it on their pages.

When to post your videos

Time isn’t the biggest factor when it comes to increasing views, but it certainly holds a bit of influence. Keep these easy tips in mind:

If you’re using YouTube or Vimeo to host your videos, or you’re posting this content on your website, you can use a posting schedule similar to that of your blog.

Going the social media route? Post your videos during times that see high engagement.

As for webinars? These are usually held during business hours. They’re designed for professionals, and even the best of us don’t like staying after hours.

The proper way to add video to your marketing strategy

So what am I saying with all of these words? Don’t take video lightly; it’s a very useful tool, but great production means nothing if you have no distribution strategy. Choose your platforms wisely and script and orient your video accordingly. Post at the right times and in the right places. Do things right, and you’ll be the Steven Spielberg (or Akira Kurosawa or Spike Lee or Kathryn Bigelow or … ) of your industry.

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letstalkends · 5 years

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An Attorney Shares 4 Things To Know Before Attempting To Start A Nonprofit

Check this out on https://endsmedia.stream/an-attorney-shares-4-things-to-know-before-attempting-to-start-a-nonprofit/

An Attorney Shares 4 Things To Know Before Attempting To Start A Nonprofit

Source: Hero Images / Getty

Looking to give back to your community by launching a not-for-profit organization? It sounds like an admirable thing, and it certainly is, but it can also be difficult. According to some experts, it’s estimated that less than half of nonprofit startups make it past five years, and those that do reach past the five-year mark, it’s not uncommon for them to end up struggling to make ends meet.

Desiree L. Talley, Esq, a private attorney at the Talley Law Group in NYC, believes that the key to creating a thriving startup is to be determined, and also, to not be naive about the fact that you might not be looking to rake in the dough, but you need money and a business mentality to really make it. We asked her to share some insight on things people interested in getting into the nonprofit space should know before diving in headfirst. Here’s what she had to say, in her own words.

Entrepreneurship is on the rise. While many new business owners are creating for-profit companies, some are breaking free from corporate restraints by entering the nonprofit organization space. Although nonprofit organizations are known as non-business entities, there is still a business aspect to creating these social cause organizations.

When starting your own nonprofit, there are several things that aspiring organizers should know:

1. Research and understand your market. Ask yourself what problem it is you are trying to solve and if there is truly a need for your nonprofit organization.

2. Understand that you still need a business plan. A business plan is still necessary, even with a nonprofit, because organizers may be asked to see copies of the business plan by potential investors, donors and board members.

3. Determine your sources of income and establish different pitches for each source. The most common sources of income for nonprofit organizations are: (i) private contributions, (ii) government grants, (iii) fees for services and goods from the private sector, and (iv) fees for services and goods from the government.

4. Incorporate the nonprofit for tax exempt status. There are approximately 29 types of nonprofit organizations that can file for tax exemption status. Review the IRS website to determine which category your nonprofit organization falls under.

After completing the initial steps to set up your nonprofit organization, organizers must then start the application process immediately. It can take the IRS anywhere from three to 12 months to improve the organization tax exempt status.

According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, from 2005 to 2015, there was a surge of registered nonprofit organizations, rising more than 10 percent from 1.41 million to 1.56 million. Since then, more people are attempting to make a difference by starting their own. There are certainly hurdles to overcome, which comes with the creation of just about anything. But whether you’re looking to start a private foundation, a human service nonprofit org, an arts organization, education, mental health, civil right or any of the many other categories of nonprofits, with proper planning and research, it can certainly be done — and be a success.

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gramilano · 6 years

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Q&A

When and why did you start singing? When I was a kid… I come from a musical family, and so music has always been a part of who I am. But I got serious about singing in high school when people told me girls would think I was cute. So my love for singing began there, really.

Which singer inspired you most when you were young and which singer do you most admire? Oh gosh there’s so many people! It depends on which style of music. I grew up in a gospel tradition so there are many artists I respect and admire and who inspire me. As an opera singer, probably Pavarotti was the guy that inspired me the most early on and later on I became a big fan of so many of the great singers of the past, too many to name, but Wunderlich, Caruso, Domingo, Carreras, Alfredo Kraus are some of the names that inspired me, but Mel Tormé is a guy that inspired me, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., so many different people.

What’s your favourite role? Le Comte Ory by Rossini. It’s the best one and I don’t know why more people don’t do it.

Le comte Ory with Cecilia Bartoli and Lawrence Brownlee, photo by Werner Kmetitsch, Zurich Opera

What role have you never played but would have liked to? It depends on if it’s for my voice or not, ha! There are roles that are not specifically for my voice but my dream role that is not right for my voice is Rodolfo in La bohème. But in my repertoire – which is changing a little bit – the role that I have not yet performed is Rodrigo in Rossini’s Otello.

What’s your favourite opera to watch? Bohème.

Who is your favourite composer? Rossini.

Who is your favourite writer? Well… my favorite book is a book called The Power of One by a guy named Bryce Courtenay.

Who is your favourite theatre or film director? Not Woody Allen!

Who is your favourite actor? I love Viola Davis, I think she’s incredible. But I also like people that are versatile. A lot of people might throw up an eyebrow for this, but I think one of the most versatile actors I know is Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s a fine actor and I don’t think a lot of people realize he has a tremendous palate, he’s so versatile. He’s not like – Denzel Washington who is the same like all the time. The same thing is true with Tom Cruise, same, Tom Hanks, same. They’re all the same all the time. And I really like guys who have range – Morgan Freeman. I like people who have a departure, and you feel like you don’t recognize them sometimes from before. Even Matthew McConaughey, I think he’s more versatile than some of these other guys. Kenneth Branagh, Peter Dinklage too.

Who is your favourite dancer? Joel Masacote.

What is your favourite book? The Power of One.

What is your favourite film? Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth.

Which is your favourite city? New York.

What do you like most about yourself? My sense of humor.

What do you dislike about yourself? My sense of humor – just kidding. Sometimes I don’t sit still enough.

What was your proudest moment? The birth of my kids.

Lawrence Brownlee and family

When and where were you happiest? Probably the birth of my kids.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? My kids.

What is your greatest fear? Losing a loved one.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Everything I want to change I feel like I can’t change, ha! That I would be more diligent, in some things.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Other than my kids, being the first male on either side of my family to go to and finish college.

What is your most treasured possession? Kids are not possessions, right? Something that my grandfather left me, it’s an antique rifle, even though I don’t shoot, but it was my grandfather’s that he prided in.

Lawrence Brownlee and Renée Fleming in Rossini’s Armida, photo by Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera 2010

What is your greatest extravagance? Me. Ha! I travel, I love to travel, so I spend a lot of money on travel. Travel outside of work.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? That’s a hard question. Patience, I think.

On what occasion do you lie? I try not to lie, but maybe I don’t give the whole truth when complimenting people at times.

If you hadn’t been a singer what would you have liked to be? Either a sports reporter or in public relations.

What is your most marked characteristic? I think that I’m easygoing.

What quality do you most value in a friend? Devotion, honesty.

What quality do you most value in a colleague? Commitment, being committed to what it is they’re doing, being serious.

Backstage with Joyce DiDonato

Backstage with Cecilia Bartoli – Le comte Ory

Which historical figure do you most admire? Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman.

Which living person do you most admire? Barrack Obama.

What do you most dislike? Ego.

What talent would you most like to have? Tying cherry stems with my tongue.

What’s your idea of perfect happiness? Being content in whichever situation you’re in and trying to see the good in any situation.

How would you like to die? Happy.

What is your motto? If you want it you can achieve it, work hard for it and you will attain it.

Lawrence Brownlee answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… singers’ edition! Q&A When and why did you start singing? When I was a kid… I come from a musical family, and so music has always been a part of who I am.

#Cecilia Bartoli #Colin Firth #Joyce DiDonato #Lawrence Brownlee #Leonardo DiCaprio #Metropolitan Opera #Renée Fleming #Woody Allen #Zurich Opera

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makeitwithmike · 7 years

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5 Powerful Writing Books For Mastering The Art of Web Copywriting

By Jini Maxin

Words sell your wares online… it’s true! Even if you load your website with images and rely on a high-res Instagram account, you still need well-written captions and concise CTAs.

Create a website minus any copy and see what happens. I bet Google spiders won’t crawl your pages. Your website won’t rank well in SERPs. And traffic won’t come your way.

Here’s why: because Google recognizes words and not images. Words are the true currency of the web.

But of course you need to string pearls and not potatoes together to create compelling content for your online wares. Whether it be it your product descriptions, website text, marketing eblasts, blog posts or newsletters, believe me when I say that every word you use has a definite role to play when it comes to your conversion rate.

If your words don’t mean a thing to users, it would defeat the very purpose of coming up with a good product or service in the first place, right?

But given that there are over 1,000,000,000 websites in the world competing for attention, it’s intimidating even trying to write well, let alone actually doing it. Here are five powerful books that will help you get on the right track.

1. ‘Web Copy That Sells’ by Maria Veloso

Do you think web copywriting and print copywriting are the same thing?

If, yes, then you are wrong my friend.

And you don’t have to just take my word for it. Read Web Copy That Sells by Mario Veloso and all your doubts will be allayed.

For me, this book was an eye-opener. As a fan of fictional books, I would go to great lengths to make sure my business blog posts sounded like one of the authors I was currently stuck on… be it J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Kathy Reichs or Cecelia Ahern.

But then, Mario Veloso’s book came to my attention and I thought, what am I doing?! Sense, finally, struck.

Principles of print shouldn’t be applied to the web; the book made this point loud and clear. Your web copy is intended for one purpose: to make sales, not to win some Man Booker or Pulitzer Prize. You’ve still got to craft the copy but it should be fairly concise and to-the-point.

Bottom line: Cut the clutter. Inject some emotion.

That said, don’t stop reading fictional stuff. Do not, I repeat, do not stop reading fictional stuff. Because it gets your emotional juices flowing. And sometimes, you can derive some amazing concepts out of it. Check out my previous post here, which was heavily influenced by the Harry Potter series.

Key takeaways:

Write advertorial copy – no direct selling messages, please.

Use plain and simple words that will appeal to your target audience.

Keep the content scannable for people who read on smartphones or tablets.

Focus on bite-sized chunks and avoid corporate speak.

Use text boxes while introducing stories, testimonials and case studies.

Employ the cliffhanger principle to make people click to another page.

This is the ultimate book in web copywriting, in my opinion. It really gets you thinking about how to write perfect web copy and the psychology behind it. It teaches you how to mathematically calculate the selling ability of your website and trains you to write copy that gets readers salivating for your product or service.

2. ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser

If you are planning to read only one book on writing this year, then this should be the book. I simply cannot stress enough how much this classic text on writing can help you improve your writing style. It’s practically a bible for those who love words.

When I came across it, I was super desperate to make my technical copy sound… well… super technical.

On Writing Well helped me figure out how and since then, honestly speaking, my writing has changed for the better.

It helps you focus enough on using short words, shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs. It teaches you that just because you’re writing technical copy, there’s no need to overstuff it with technical jargon that makes no sense to the general population (i.e., non-technical folks).

This is important because the majority of online readers include non-technical folks as well, and it’s equally important for them to figure what all the fuss is all about, especially if you are looking for more ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ for your post on social media.

Furthermore, the writing principles included in this book are generic in nature and thus can be applied to all domains of writing.

Key takeaways:

If any technical expert says your piece is ‘dumb’, that’s their problem, not yours. Strengthen your piece with your own experience and be sincere. Your best credential is yourself.

Think small. Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off and be content to cover it and stop.

Express your opinions. Use ‘I’ wherever you can.

Find more about this book: The 30th Anniversary Edition On Writing Well by William Zinsser

3. ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King

The lover of night and the macabre, Stephen King, has no fewer than 66 non-fiction books to his name. On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft is his one non-fiction offering and it’s insanely popular. Writers everywhere use it as a resource to read, think and act upon.

It’s part memoir, part craft of writing. It details King’s early years in the company of a single mother who encouraged him to write his own original stuff; his constant tug-of-war with his insecurities; his experience working in a laundry while writing his popular novel Carrie; and writing 2,000 words every damn day.

There’s a complete chapter on King’s writing ‘toolbox’ as well. However, the most important takeaway is his attitude to writing; which can be explained thus: “you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

Simply put, writing is hard work. Be prepared to put in the hours.

Key takeaway:

“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little ashamed of your short ones.”

4. ‘Syntax and Sin’ by Constance Hale

“One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.” That’s the opening line of Syntax and Sin and it had me hooked from the get-go – that’s why I used it in the start of this post.

The author, Constance Hale, aptly describes empty words as ‘potatoes’ and rich words as ‘pearls’. In her opinion, only a few words are fit to be strung into a sentence and it’s the job of the writer to identify them and pull them together – word by word.

The book partly deals with grammar rules, and partly with tips on how to produce ‘sinfully’ good prose. And, if you suffer from the misconceived notion that grammar books are dry and stuffy, rest assured that Syntax and Sin is nothing of the sort.

It’s one of the hippest grammar books I’ve ever read. The writing is out of this world, and the grammar lessons are extraordinary. It makes you want to write. It’s so inspirational.

Some of the examples of how to write the ‘perfect lead’ literally give you awestruck moments thanks to Hale’s straightforward approach and matter-of-fact tone.

If you are hoping to make the lead sentence of your blog posts stop the reader dead in their tracks, read this book.

Key takeaway:

“One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.”

5. ‘Penguin Guide To Punctuation’ by R.L. Trask

Do you know exactly when to use the capital letter ‘P’ for President and small letter ‘p’ for president? Do you know about the four types of commas? Or do you worry that your web copy is riddled with tiny errors that could cost you credibility?

If so, then you need to go order the Penguin Guide to Punctuation. The book literally proves that big things come in small packages. All 156 pages in length, it sheds light on the proper usage of colons, semi-colons, apostrophes, quotation marks, italics, boldface and much more in an easily digestible way.

This book is actually the only reference tool you need for grammar and punctuation.

Key takeaways:

Differences in American usage and British usage are very precise, and very important.

As a general rule, never use an apostrophe in writing plural forms. It is absolutely wrong to write pizza’s, video’s, fine wine’s, cream tea’s, and mountain bike’s.

Conclusion

Whether it’s one of them or all of them, the books above are of indispensable value to aspiring or indeed seasoned copywriters. Two other books, On Writing Life by Annie Dilliard and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, are also great resources and well worth a read, especially the latter one.

Now, it’s your turn. Tell me, which writing books have inspired you to come up with better web copy, and other marketing communications?

I would love to hear what has helped you shoot up your dull sales.

Guest Author: Jini Maxin is a senior writer at OpenXcell – a top Mobile App Development Company. She has a masters degree in journalism and mass communications and is a frequent contributor to several top online publications and websites. Her favorite pastimes include reading books (both fiction and nonfiction) and being introspective. Get in touch with her on Linkedin and Twitter.

The post 5 Powerful Writing Books For Mastering The Art of Web Copywriting appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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