5 Ways You Can Improve Your Website SEO

April 17, 2017 · 5 Comments

I’m really happy to share this and future SEO posts with you! I went to social media to get a feel of what you want to hear from me, and apparently website SEO or self-promoting is on your brain!

Today we’re starting with SEO strategies for your website. I’ve learned a lot about these things through personal experience and also skills I’ve learned from work. So here’s a summary of stuff that will help writers and bloggers get more traffic.

Get Down to the Details

The basic goal of SEO is to be as accessible as possible for future viewers and consumers. There are a lot of simple, behind-the-scene ways to help yourself look good and be super easy to find. Here’s some things to start with:

Keywords—Consolidate your topic idea into a noun, then incorporate it intelligently in the title, meta, alt tag, and body text.
Alt tags—This is a basic description of a photo you’re using on your site which makes it easier for readers to find your work. When you edit a photo, add in a simple sentence describing the photo and try to incorporate the title of your website and a relevant keyword.
Meta description—This is the description you see under the title of a search engine item. Give a succinct summary of the post and put in the keyword if possible. This should be about 130–156 characters.
Feature image—Establish a feature image so when people pin or share elsewhere, your best pic shows up. WordPress has a section on its column where you can upload your feature image.
H1—In basic coding, you can establish a certain style for your headings by selecting the heading and choosing the h1 option. Regular text is usually under the “paragraph” option. This makes everything look streamlined but Google also looks at your h1 text for important info that could improve your SEO.

Most of these are pretty easy to fix, thanks to WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO. I’ve shared a preview of what it looks like at the end of your post. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

I’m not sure how other blog or web host sites help users with their SEO, but look into plugins and other setting features to make this easier for you to access and change. Definitely comment below if you have questions!

Whether you have 10 posts or over 100, it’s worth your time to streamline all your posts and make sure they are optimized. I started using these tips halfway through my blogging experience and I’m still working on it.

I have an Excel sheet that helps me keep track of which posts still need better SEO. I’ve even created a blank one for you to use to help the task seem less overwhelming. You can click here to download it. Once they’re updated, you can share them as #tbt posts and make them do more work for you!

Draw Readers in with Great Images

How do you establish your brand? If you at least stick to a few design rules, it makes each page look good, and establishes your web presence on every platform you use to market yourself.

You’ll notice that my images use the same font pairings and font colors. That’s about the only consistent thing I do. I use a free stock photo, put the title on there, make a word or phrase stick out, then make sure the URL is somewhere on the image.

Depending on your vision and what you’re marketing, pick some rules and start sticking to them! I use Canva to make this process ten times easier for myself. Canva is particularly useful if you want to streamline all of your headers and images across all your social media platforms. You’re welcome.

Make it Extremely Easy for People to Interact, Follow, or Contact

Good content will only take you so far. You have to make it super easy for people to find it, read it, comment, and share it. Make it easy and fun for people to fall in love with your work and your persona! To help you with this, here’s a quick list:

Check all your links so people can access your other social media platforms.
Put invitations to subscribe or follow you towards the top of your page.
Provide multiple opportunities to subscribe or follow. You can find plugins that create a pop-up invitation, or easy quotes from your post that can easily be tweeted like Click to Tweet.
Ensure your comment section makes it easy for people to submit a comment. The more hoops they have to jump through, the less likely they will comment.
Answer comments within a day—don’t expect any comments without being the other half of what could be a meaningful conversation!

I’ve learned a lot about sprucing up my website through Bridgid Gallagher. She taught me about the plugins especially. Definitely reach out to her through her Build a Better Blog challenge if you’re serious about self-promotion.

Share Your Post—Everywhere

There are so many appropriate places to share your posts. Here’s just a short list:

Pinterest—Pin your articles to all relevant boards and group boards
Click me to read more via the original source!
Facebook—Share your work on your personal account, your professional page, and other relevant communities (with permission).
Instagram—Be sure to use your Pinterest-ready photo so viewers can tell this is about a blog post, not just a pretty picture.
Engagement groups—These are community-based groups that basically share a link to their content and the other group members go and comment on the post.
Twitter—Tweet about your post and pin your most recent post to the top of your feed for easier access.
Google+—Post to your personal account but also find related communities to share your content.
Email—Take advantage of recap posts where you talk about the things you’ve accomplished in the past month, and you can mention all of your relevant posts.

I have a lot to say about tactics for sharing your posts, so check out a future post that will go into more detail about this!

Do the Work & Wait for Success

The hardest part about self-promotion is that it takes time. Your favorite writer or blogger has likely been in the business for years if not decades. A lot of them also treat their website as a full-time job, so they’re naturally reaping the rewards sooner than the hobby blogger.

Wit & Travesty has only been around for a couple of years, but it took a lot of community-building and networking to get where we are right now.

To truly see success, just remember what you define as “marketing success.” Do you just want a lot of shares, comments, or subscribers—or do you want to actually be paid for your work?

You’ll feel a lot more satisfied with your online presence if you set reasonable expectations for success.

The hardest part about self-promotion is that it takes time.

Click To Tweet

Well, that’s it for part one of this SEO series. If you missed it, you can download our SEO Checklist to help you catch up on optimizing your present and previous posts. Check out the other posts in the coming weeks. Until then, what questions do you have about SEO and self-promotion? What are you doing now that works for you? Share with us below or via social media!

Check out the other posts in this series:

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See My Guest Post on SEO for Kate M Colby

August 6, 2015 · 2 Comments

If you don’t already follow Kate M Colby, you should. Click on the image above to see a guest post I’ve written for her website about Search Engine Optimization. It’s bound to be a good time!

5 Ways to Promote Your Website With Pinterest

April 13, 2015 · Leave a Comment

The more I learn about all the ways I can or should be promoting my website, the more I feel overwhelmed. I currently work for an SEO company, and now I can see why other business pay us to do all this work for them.

Here, I will show you some simple and fun ways to use Pinterest each day to promote your website, whether you’re addicted or just getting started.

1. Understand Pinterest

It can be hard to use Pinterest if you haven’t even used it before. Basically, Pinterest is a glorified version of bookmarks. If you use bookmarks to remember important websites, then you understand in part how Pinterest functions. Users search for images very much like Google images. They can save them to their account by pinning them.

They can hold them all in one place, or they can create Boards to categorize the images by topic. For example, I have a board for funny images and I have another one for recipes. Each image that they find usually links to another website. It’s understood that if they click on the image, it will take them directly to the image’s source.

Pinterest earns the stigma of catering primarily to women. Truth be told that just about anyone can find something interesting on Pinterest. For example, Travis uses Pinterest to enjoy Star Wars fanart. Ultimately, no matter your audience that you’re attracting to your website, you will find them on Pinterest.

Pinterest becomes helpful to you when you pin something to your account, and other users “repin” it. That means, they’ve saved your image/blog post to their own account. Any of their followers can see that pin, and they can either visit your website, or also repin it. It’s a great way for people to pass along your content to others that they know.

2. Create “Pinable” Content

So in order to harness the power of Pinterest, you have to know what makes shareable or “pinable” content. Sift through the blog posts you already have. What would people find interesting enough to tell their friends about? They probably won’t share any sort of update posts, but if you offer tips about your craft, this is a great start.

Pinterest is image-heavy. So find some images that will pique their interest. Use your own photos or use quality stock photos. Unsplash is a great source for free, quality stock photos. There are other sources of images out there.

The image will only take you so far. Many bloggers put the title of the post directly on top of the image. Try to do this as often as possible. Often, Pinterest users will pin something for later. As in, if they’re looking for a recipe, they might pin it and then wait until they want to try the recipe to look at the website for instructions. If you pin a great image, they might just like the picture and not bother checking out the website.

If you put the title on the image, they will know that there’s more to learn and they will likely check out the website to further read the content. It also helps to put your main URL on the image as well; if users save the photo on their desktop and don’t pin the image, they will still know where the content came from.

To help you design your image, you can try Canva or Picmonkey. They can help make the process easy, while creating some design-forward results.

Pinterest also has a description box that appears under the image. You can use this box to write a quick summary of what readers will find if they click the image.

3. Spruce Up Your Profile

Here are some things you should do or know whether or not you already use Pinterest. Unlike other social media platforms, you don’t need a professional, separate account. You can keep personal stuff mixed with “business” stuff. That way, people can get to know you as a person, and you don’t appear like you’re only using Pinterest to sell something.

For example, I only have three boards that have to do with my writing: one with tips that I find from other writers, a group board shared by writers (more on that), and one for our writing group. The rest have to do with anything else but writing.

Also, don’t let your pins get out of control. A board with over 1,000 pins is really hard to navigate. Weed out pins that you have pinned more than once, or the pins that you will probably never use. It just shows that you update your content , and it helps users find things that they actually want to pin. It’s frustrating to scroll through an eternity of the same pins. Just a personal opinion, though.

Don’t forget to put your main URL on your profile page!

4. Make a Board for Your Craft/Website

When you create a board, Pinterest will ask you to select a category. This makes it easier for users to find your content. Pinterest will also let you pick an image to highlight on your board. In this board, you can pin all of your blog content, as well as the content you find useful from other users.

To pin your own content, simply go to the actual URL. If your website has all the social media buttons after each post, then this part is easy. Click on the Pinterest icon (the fancy P), and select the image you want users to see. It should be the image with the title and URL on it. You can edit the description below, pick the board it should fall under, and then you’re good to go! You can also find plugins that allow users to pin your content by hovering over the image and clicking a “Pin It” button.

Your followers will automatically see the pins in their home feed—if they follow someone, they will see what they pin. It’s like using email to contact your followers.

5. Utilize Group Boards

Group boards are awesome. You can join one or create one yourself. You use them in the same way you use other boards, except you tend to garnish more followers. For example, I contribute to the Writer’s Sandbox, a group board with over 450 contributors and over 2,400 followers.

This is a shameless plug for your stuff, but it’s a great way to be a part of your community. See what others are pinning. What aspects of your craft do they want to better understand? If you’re ever wondering what you can write about on your blog, here’s a great place to get ideas.

You can also utilize good karma to garnish more followers and visitors. If you follow another blogger, chances are they will follow you back. It’s win-win. It takes time to build up, but it creates lasting followers to your account on Pinterest as well as your main website, which is the whole point.

My Pinterest Experiment

So I’ve been changing my Pinterest game. I’ve tested these tips myself. Last month, I updated the SEO aspects of all of my posts so that they would be easier to find on Google. I also added Pinterest-friendly images to my shareable content. I then pinned them to my own board as well as the group board. here’s what happened:

I got 4 repins and 2 likes on the posts I added to my author board. That’s better than zero, right?
Then, I got 86 repins and 6 likes for the posts I added to the group board. Now we’re talking!

What does this translate to? It means that there are more opportunities for like-minded bloggers to visit your website and learn about you. The 86 repins means that 86 people liked the content enough that they want to look at it later or share it with their followers. If you’re wondering how many page views it translated to, check out this screenshot from my WordPress dashboard:

The two main spikes early on in the stats represent the page views I got for posting new content. The stats towards the end are Pinterest users reading the content I had already posted throughout the year. All it needed was a Pinterest-friendly photo to garnish some attention.

Know that these kinds of results are based on the time you spend daily or weekly using social media. You won’t get awesome results overnight. I’ve used Pinterest since 2013, and our website has been live since July 2014. Under 80 views a day is baby stuff for many bloggers I’m sure. But this shows that mastery of social media can direct people to your website.

Do you have questions about Pinterest? Has it helped you gain more online attention? Tell us in the comments below!

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