Website Marketing - Surefire Design

With image search, just as with web search, Google’s goal is to provide the best and most relevant search results to users. The filename is important in giving Google clues about the subject matter of the image.

Try to make your filename a good description for the image.
For example, swimming-with-the-dolphins-in-christchurch.jpg is a lot more informative than IMG00023.JPG.

Descriptive filenames can also be useful to users: If Google is unable to find suitable text in the page on which they found the image, they will use the filename as the image’s snippet in their search results.

In addition to this alternative text (alt tags) can be attached to each image.
It provides Google with useful information about the subject matter of the image. They use this information to help determine the best image to return for a user’s query.

So what is the task this week?

1 Check one page per day on your website, or 5 minutes per day.

2 For each image on the page in the editor, right click on the image and select Image Properties, complete the Alternative Text field and click OK. Here is a good example of size and content for alt text - “Christchurch activities - swimming with the dolphins”.

This is just in case, as I’m amazed at how many people are simply not aware of Google Images for searching.

If you are one of those people browse to http://images.google.com/ right now!

Google images organises the images on the internet just like it does websites, and you can search in the normal way with keywords and phrases.
Read this weeks DO#3 on image alt tags on your website. This is why!

Searching by images can be a very efficient way to find companies by visually scanning for a logo you know, or for finding a product online by simply glancing down the page. Here are a few advanced tricks -

For extra large images like wallpapers add &imgsz=huge.

Want to search for just peoples’ faces? Add &imgtype=face

To restrict your Google image search for only free public domain images add this parameter to your image search results url – &as_rights=(cc_publicdomain|cc_attribute).-(cc_noncommercial|cc_nonderived)

You may remember this one from 6 months ago!
We are repeating it because your Meta Title is SO important to Google we want you to check or finish the work you did last time. Also check any new pages you have created recently.

Meta Titles are the most important elements on your website when it comes to the search engines and Google. Your task for the next three weeks is easy-

1 Bookmark in your calendar to check one Meta Title a day.

2 Open the admin and click on Manage Pages.

3 For each page click on edit, then the SEO button on the editor toolbar.

4 The Title MUST be unique to each page and should have good keywords relevant to the page content. The maximum length for a title is 6-10 words, no more than 70 characters (there is a count down next to the Meta Title field). For example “Christchurch Attractions & Activities - Golf, Dining, Wines, Dolphins”.

Somehow I don’t think the humble business card is in danger of extinction just yet! But for the more adventurous these might alternatives -

1 For the insanely busy there is a company called CloudContacts. Send them your paper business cards you have collected at a conference, and CloudContacts will actually type up all the information on them. Then all you have to do is export the data to Microsoft Outlook, Facebook or another digital address book, and you’re set.

2 There is an application on the iPhone where you physically bump two phones together (they don’t actually have to touch) and your contact details are magically passed through the air. Really it’s true!

3 Remember the electonic pets called Tamagotchi? It’s back. You can wirelessly exchange contact information and social networks with another Poken user by “high-fouring,” or touching the paw-like RFID connectors together. To download your new contacts, you insert the Poken in your computer’s USB port . You heard it here.

An FAQ page is a web page used to answer frequently asked questions your clients want to know when choosing your products / services.
It can help remove barriers as well as cut down on repetitive queries by offering visitors information before they ask a question.

The additional benefit of an FAQ is that it’s an easy way to add new and relevant content. And Google loves that! So for the next three weeks -

1 Create a new FAQ page in your admin.

2 Each day think of a question you get asked often by your customers. Write the question in bold on the FAQ page and below it write a brief explanation. In three weeks you will have 15 short paragraphs of content!