This article has been developed to help artists understand what Search Engine Optimization is and how they can begin to incorporate some of the conventional methods necessary to obtain rank on search results.
So you have a great website but nobody seems to find you on when they search the web. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is absolutely necessary these days to be found in an online search from sites such as Google or Yahoo. There are many, many methods to increase the chances of obtaining a higher page rank on search results. Because the topic is so large, this article will only skim the surface of the subject. However, by making these simple changes to your site, you will significantly help your chances at being found in an online search.
IMPORTANT! The basis of this article will incorporate keywords into every tip this article offer, so please make sure that you have a strong understanding of the importance of keywords.
Keywords – Before you do anything to begin changing to conform to a SEO friendly website, consider what keywords you are going to want to be found by. A keyword is a word or combination of words someone will search for looking for something. For example, if someone searched the web for Italian recipes, the keywords would be “Italian recipes”. You can include many keywords on your sites, but you may only want to focus on a select few to be able to concentrate your site with these. Here are some examples: “Jane Smith”, “Jane Smith Artist”, “Jane Smith Watercolor artists”, “California Landscapes artist”,” Jane Smith Sacramento artist”, …ect. Be wary of keywords or combinations of keywords that are already being used on many other websites or artists. For instance, your site may not rank high in the results if you taken keywords such as “painter of light”, “camouflage artist”, or “martini art”. Finding creative ways to compete to with existing sites can be challenging. Aside from embedding these keyword all throughout your site, you will want to make sure you also include them similar to the following example: (NOTE - the following code should be found in between the head tags.)
<head>Domain – When registering for a domain, for artists especially, it is very helpful that you include your name or target keywords in the actual name. For instance, for an artist named Jane Smith, www.janesmith.com or www.janesmithwatercolorartist.com might be the ideal domain name to register to help boost your search result rank.<meta name="keywords" content=" Jane Smith, Jane Smith Artist, Jane Smith Watercolor artists, California Landscapes artist, Jane Smith Sacramento artist ">
</head>
Content – It is key that you include as many of your chosen keywords in the content or body of each of your web pages. This will help out significantly in your search engine optimization strategy.
Title – In the html that makes up each page of your website, the will be a <title> tag to title each page at the top of your browser. Make sure that you or your web designer has appropriately titled each page of your website including the keywords you’ve selected. Here’s a sufficient example:
<title> Jane Smith - Artist</title>H1- This html tag stands for heading 1, so this may be a great place to include your visible title on your webpage. Make sure the keywords are included. Example:
Alt & Title Attributes- The attributes serve many benefits, but for the purpose of gaining a higher rank position we’ll only focus on the ones for best SEO practices.<h1> Watercolor Artist Jane Smith </h1>.
Description – Make sure you include a description of your website, as shown below. Use as many keywords as you feel necessary.<a href=”http://www.JaneSmithArtist.com/bio.html” title=”Bio – Jane Smith Artist”>Biography</a>
<img src=”http://www.JaneSmithArtist.com/artwork/SunsetBeach.jpg” alt=”Sunset Beach – Jane Smith Artist” height=”120” width=”200” >
* The alt attributes with images is required.
Content – It is key that you include as many of your chosen keywords in the content or body of each of your web pages. This will help out significantly in your search engine optimization strategy.<meta name="description" content="Welcome to the Website of Artists Jane Smith – Watercolor Artist" />
Link building – Having links on other websites that direct the visitors to yours will not only help your SEO efforts, it can bring referrals to your site. Having links to other pages can also help your SEO plan. Just be aware that sites with higher page rankings will have a bigger impact on your linking building strategy.
Site Maps – Site maps can also have a beneficial impact on your SEO strategy. If you are unable to create one, there are some free resources online that will build one for you.
So, now that you know about some of these methods of SEO, I hope you implement some of these and achieve a higher page rank. Good Luck!
NOTE: These tips are merely suggestions from the author to help achieve a higher page rank on search results and do not guarantee results.
