Requirements of Image SEO for Better Search Engine Results

Image SEO is a method of optimizing the images that are hosted on a website. This is done to make the images more noteworthy to search engines. It follows the rule of “quid pro quo”, which means that by impressing search engines you impress your customers and hence attract more visitors to the site. There are certain things that should be taken care of while optimizing images. The url structure, anchor text and descriptive tagging are prerequisites to be considered for better Image optimization. There are also other things of importance that need to be noted and followed for better results.

Looking for the Right Images

The right kind of an image can create another dimension to a webpage or an article. Good images prod people to share the page and create back-links. Images can really help sell a page. Relying on Google images, Flickr, stock.xchng and iStockPhoto can be great for searching exclusive images for your web page. But the general thumb rule is that ‘if the image isn’t Creative Common licensed or you didn’t buy or create it, don’t post it.’

Using Relevant Keywords

Using keywords for image file name is important for determining search engine relevancy. Writing an image url that is relevant to the page content and photo used is much required. Moreover, images should be placed in one folder of the website ‘mydomain.com/images’ rather than placing them in random folders throughout the website. Also using common file extensions such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP are recommended.

Descriptive Anchor text

Image SEO depends on anchor text. Anchor text can determine how images are ranked based on keywords. Descriptive anchor text helps to describe the image. Simply using a generic term like ‘image’ or ‘photo’ does not make much sense to search engines.

Create Suitable alt text

An alt text is a way by which search engines can understand what an image is all about. The search engines cannot determine the text content of an image until and unless it is properly defined. For this reason, keyword use in image urls becomes important. Captions around the image, alt text, file names and other surrounding text further help search engines find the image searched for.

Avoid Keyword stuffing

While writing down the ‘image alt text’ be sure that you do not stuff keywords. File names, captions and alt-text should be short and not a long keyword list. Image SEO is about optimizing images, enhancing user experience and achieving search engine rankings.

Content Should Match Image

The content used for anchor tags, image url and alt tags should match the image and all other things that you have optimized for the website. Aligning these things make the image more relevant and of higher grade. It also enables search engines confirm that you are not spamming.

On observing these rules, Image SEO becomes a success from the perspective of search engine operation.

Tags: design accessibility, Image optimization, SEO design
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If you have great marketing skills but you don’t have products or services to sell, you can use affiliate marketing to make money. Marketing for other businesses or people on the basis of percentage of commission is what Affiliate marketing is all about. On joining an affiliate program, users are given an affiliate link. This link is encoded with an affiliate ID. So, commissions are earned when someone uses this special link to buy a product from the owner’s site.

An important thing about affiliate marketing is there is no need of having or creating one’s own product. The users can enjoy the benefits of a nice paycheck, and are not bothered with customers support, complaints or refunds. The only expertise required is good internet marketing skills.

It is also important to decide whether you would be really interested in promoting an affiliate program. So, it is important to discover whether or not a product suits you really well. This way the standard of the program can be ascertained. It is important to do some initial research and track down customers and members to provide testimonials about the program’s credibility. There are also other aspects that need to be looked after. These can be listed as under :-

1. A growing target market needs to found. Then it should be ascertained whether the program really caters to the target market. This shall ensure whether the program serves your referrals. Do your research and participate in forums and discussions and look for possible solutions.
2. To choose for a program with a compensation plan that generates a residual income and a payout of 30 % can be great. Don’t waste time on programs that is not rewarding.
3. It is also important to find out whether the program that you are opting for has an automated system whereby you can check your referral statistics and compensation anytime.
4. Does the program make available strong incentives to customers on additional purchases or are there renewal options for members.

There are also other things that when considered and adhered to can help to increase commissions.

The user can create a free ebook which would contain the advertisement and link of your respective website. The subject of the book should be attractive for your target customers. Then join large number of affiliates programs and create an affiliate program directory. Write down your affiliate program ads. Also make use of personal endorsement ads. It can be important to advertise the product that you are promoting into your signature file and create a free newsletter for the product. Participate in web discussion boards. Make use of blogs so as to provide useful information and recommendations about the product. Use bonuses to increase sale of the product. Consider starting a private website.

Tags: affiliate marketing
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Facebook has become the most popular social networking medium with more than 500 million users. Apart from networking features, Facebook offers lots of other features like groups, fan page and applications for promoting individual or business profile. So, this becomes an ideal platform to promote your business. I have penned down the various ways to leverage the Facebook platform for your business.

Social profile

You can build a professional profile and connect with business friends and prospective customers. The wall of Facebook allows you to express your views and share links, photos and videos with other users. The privacy settings allow you to manage what you would like users to view and what not.

The profile can further be extended using additional tabs for services and products. A welcome page can be created with professional content and layout to attract the customers.

Social groups

Facebook features a section called groups where you can either create your own group or join the groups of interest. You can create a business based group where you can provide information, updates and promotions about your business and products or services. You can also join other groups which may be complement your business and bring in more customers and associates.

Fan pages

Facebook fan page is the most important feature for business promotion. Its an advertising platform through which you can create a fan base and advertise your business.

The fan pages are available to the public and searchable by search engines. Owing to Facebook’s popularity, the fan pages get indexed quickly and provide you a way to get organic traffic to your website.

You can create a fan base and send updates to them. The updates get published in the users’ feeds also provided the user has not blocked the access to the feeds. This adds a viral effect to your fan page.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads is a PPC (pay per click) advertising platform. You can use this medium to advertise your products and services to targeted set of customers. The best part of Facebook ads is the large number of targeting options. You can select the connections, location and other demographic options to reach the desired set of users, thus improving your ROI.

Facebook Apps

Facebook is extended by a huge number of applications. You can use any available application on your profile page or you can create an application suited to your business. Using applications, you can publish your latest blog posts on your profile. You can connect your Linkedin and Twitter posts into your profile. You can use slideshare for displaying your presentation slides, group chat apps for online chat, ecommerce store for selling products and many others.

Integrating with Facebook

Once you have a professional profile on Facebook, you can cross promote it on your website. You can use the like button for your fan page. You can display your feeds on the website.

You can also use Facebook Connect for users to login using their Facebook credentials. If you have a whitepaper or a document on the website which can be downloaded by registration only, then you can use Facebook Connect.

Facebook has become the most dependable social networking and business promotion website. With such a huge user base and plethora of features, you can pretty much run your website on Facebook with a sound marketing strategy. If you are looking for a sound social media marketing strategy for your business, do contact us.

Tags: facebook, social media marketing
Posted in SEO, Social Media Marketing | 15 Comments »