This live presentation will be held at Quadrant House Levett Square Richmond TW9 4FF on 27th October 2022 in association with Makers United
This page contains all relevant links and helpful tips that accompany the presentation:
About this event
HELP THE INTERNET FIND YOUR BUSINESS
Essential Search Engine Optimisation (S.E.O.) tips for makers and creatives to boost your online visibility and be found by the people looking for you. Whether you have an Etsy store, Facebook page, Shopify site or your own website, there are plenty of techniques you can employ for free that can really make a difference to the amount of traffic that comes your way.
MINIMUM INPUT FOR MAXIMUM OUTPUT
Philip Porter is a Creative Web Developer, writer and marketer that has been helping startups build and grow their online empires for nearly two years. With a technical background in programming and creating websites with WordPress combined with a creative streak for language Shop Startup boosts small businesses with help, advice and professional web services maximising their potential.
Intro
The secret sauce to getting found online could be boiled down to a factor of coverage and content. The bottom line is help your reader or customer or both find what they want. Solve their problem or make their life better in some way and effectively communicate this fact and you will be rewarded.
SEO is all about increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website and exposure to your brand, through organic search engine results.
SEO is not cheap averaging between £500-£2000 per month. You can achieve a considerable increase in your traffic by following a few tips and maintaining a consistent presence online yourself.
Search engines crawl or index content on the internet then order and rank it .
Google ranking factors
- Backlinks
- Relevance
- Freshness
- Secure (https)
- Mobile friendliness
- Page speed
But why?
Some SEO Stats
92.96% of global traffic comes from Google search, Google Images, and Google Maps. (Sparktoro)
SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media. (BrightEdge)
There are an estimated 3.5 billion searches on Google each day. (Internet Live Stats)
39% of purchasers are influenced by a relevant search. (Think
Google webmaster guidelines
Things to avoid:
- Automatically generated content
- Participating in link schemes
- Creating pages with little or no original content (i.e. copied from somewhere else)
Customer Personas
In my experience understanding your target audience is key and will guide your choices in how and what you do to appeal to them. At the most basic level, developing personas allows you to create content and messaging that appeals to your target audience.
Try creating some buyer personas https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research
The strongest buyer personas are based on market research and insights you gather from your actual customer base through surveys, interviews and analysis of website data.
Buyer persona generator https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona
1. Optimise
Internet doesn’t like lots of data being pushed down its pipes.
You can imagine that the size of an image, 2Mb for example is the same as a bucket full of water and an optimised image, 200Kb is like a small jug of water. Much quicker to pour down a drain.
Keep your website loading fast by pre-optimising your images before uploading them.
This goes for other third party services too. Facebook and Shopify and others optimise the images automatically when you upload them, but only to a certain extent. You can help speed everything up by reducing the amount of data you upload.
Try Sqoosh a free online image compressor, you won’t see any difference in image quality. https://squoosh.app/
The optimum size for an image is the size it is shown on the screen. Many websites create many different sized version of the image you uploaded to use at different screen sizes.
For large images a maximum width of 2000px is recommended. Not the 5000px or 6000px that the latest phones normally produce.
Squarespace say 2500px is ideal for most cases on their platform.
Width of 1920px by a height of 1080px is the most popular resolution of desktop screen.
Image sizes greatly influence the user experience, Search Engine Optimization, and overall website performance.
Caching – Speed up your website
Caching is the process of storing data temporarily for retrieval later. This means networks are less burdened and pages load faster in the browser.
If you are running a WordPress website or other open source or self hosted website the use of a caching plugin will improve the website loading time and help with search engine results (a factor in the Google search algorithm).
If you are using a service like Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, etc. Pages will be automatically cached but you can still optimise your page cache with advanced settings they provide, but usually not necessary.
Accessibility
Another factor in your website’s pages appearing in search results is accessibility. Providing some extra information within elements on your website will help with visually or hearing impared users that interact with a screen reader.
Add “alt” tags to your images. Within each image uploaded to your website there will be a field that says “alt” or “alternative text”. Add a description of the image.
Paying attention to colour contrast and font size can also play a part and Google will penalise you for not being accessible.
For example, blue text on a green background is hard to read. Small buttons or clickable areas on mobile/small screens are penalised.
2. Metadata
Meta data is extra information provided in the code of your webpage.
This information highlights what your webpage content is and helps the user and the search engine bots discover your page.
https://technicalseo.com/tools/google-serp-simulator/
Most common metadata to include
Meta Title
Meta Description 140-300 words in length.
Keyword/keyphrase
Meta keywords are generally not visible to someone viewing a web page, but they are used by search engines to help rank relevancy of pages in search results.
25.02% of top-ranking pages don’t have a meta description. (Ahrefs)
Understanding your target audience and also doing some competitor research will reveal keywords that resonate with them and relate to your product. The more relevant your product to the search the user has made the more likely your product will show up in their search results.
Etsy SEO
Add descriptive title and description to pages
Etsy uses product tags for keywords
https://www.etsy.com/blog/seller-how-to-optimizing-your-etsy-shop-for-search-engines
WIX SEO
Add SEO title tags and meta description into each page using SEO settings in editor
Use WIX SEO Wiz in premium version
https://support.wix.com/en/article/adding-seo-title-tags-and-meta-descriptions-meta-tags
Shopify SEO
Pay attention to site structure. Organise the content into categories and sub categories for relevant products.
Add descriptive title and description to pages
Squarespace SEO
Add descriptive title to pages, edit how title appears to public.
Add a unique SEO description to pages using SEOP tab in page settings
https://www.squarespace.com/marketing/seo
Facebook Page SEO
Claim Vanity URL
Add descriptive title and description to products and pages
https://emplifi.io/resources/blog/facebook-page-seo-optimization
https://neilpatel.com/blog/facebook-marketplace/
Write for humans first
Get titles right – Add product information to titles to improve how the product is viewed on search engines.
For a phone you could Include:
Model, storage capacity, colour, condition, what accessories it comes with, etc
Search engine bots are blind they don’t see your product images, (yet),
The order matters
Google considers the words at the beginning of the product title as the most important when determining which ads are the most relevant to the search query.
Here are some recommended title structures that can be used as templates:
Brand + Product Type + Color + Material
Brand + Size (length, width, height) + Product Type + Color
Material + Product Type + Color + Brand
Style + Color + Product Type + Brand
Product Type + Size + Color + Feature + Brand
Other types of metadata
Schema or structured data markup
Method of adding schema,org data to page elements to have them appear with rich text information on search results, for example, FAQs list, reviews with a score, blog posts with date and tags, videos.
Featured snippet cheatsheet
Google markup helper
https://www.google.com/webmasters/markup-helper
Etsy Schema Markup
https://www.etsy.com/codeascraft/an-introduction-to-structured-data-at-etsy
WIX Schema Markup
https://support.wix.com/en/article/adding-structured-data-markup-to-your-sites-pages-2546962
Shopify Schema Markup
https://webinopoly.com/blogs/news/how-to-add-google-product-schema-to-shopify-product-page
Squarespace Schema Markup
https://forum.squarespace.com/topic/82675-where-do-i-add-structured-data-markup-for-my-pages/
Facebook Schema Markup
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1175004275966513?id=725943027795860
3. Google my Business
Google myBusiness and Microsoft’s equivalent Bing places can be a very good tool to gain visibility on search results.
Why
Local business search results. Appear in searches near me,
30% of all mobile searches are related to location. (Think With Google)
76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day. (Think With Google)
Where to buy” + “near me” mobile queries have grown by over 200% from 2017-2019. (Think With Google)
“A Google Business Profile helps ensure that people find your business when looking for products and services like yours in their local area. A Google Business Profile also improves your local SEO.” –Hootesuite blog 2022
Create new Google my Business account – https://business.google.com/create
Create a Bing places account – https://www.bingplaces.com/
How to use a service area on Google my Business for service area and hybrid businesses.
https://support.google.com/business/answer/9157481
Improve your ranking
- Enter complete data. Local results favour the most relevant results for each search
- Verify your locations
- Keep your hours accurate
- Add your business description and category.
- Always respond to customer reviews.
- Add your products and services.
- Upload photos of your business.
- Use the posting feature.
Bonus
Claim your Google knowledge panel
If you don’t have one, create a Google Account. Go to Google Search. Search for yourself or the entity that you represent and find its knowledge panel. At the bottom, click Claim this knowledge panel.
https://blog.reputationx.com/different-knowledge-panels
4. Create Relevant Content
The content on your website pages, blog posts and products all play an important part in whether a potential customer finds and engages with your website.
You should create content that you find interesting, that is relevant to your product or service and is informed by the target audience’s wants and needs.
Example Content Ideas
Piece of Artwork or jewellery
Film the creation process, live stream the process. Write a blog post about the process, what inspired you to create it. Write a piece on the materials you used and which are best for techniques you used in the process, link to manufacturers or affiliate link of product.
Fashion/clothing
Highlight where the designs come from, write a piece about the designer. Follow the material journey and document in a series of posts how the garments are made from beginning to end.
Any method you choose will add more information about you and your products or services to the internet and in turn help search engines determine who to show that content to.
Content strategy ideas for creatives
- Publish a 10X guest post. (quality content 10 times better than the leading post on the subject)
- Do a tweetstorm. (Thread of tweets)
- Create a newsletter that excites subscribers.
- Host a webinar series.
- Create checklists, templates, or tools.
- Give away the kitchen sink.
- Publish original research.
- Grow with user-generated content.
Titles are powerful
Your title should describe what is on the page while including the target keyword, and also triggering an emotion or thought from the reader.
“There are 3 basics of a good headline: numbers, simplicity and trigger words.”
Using words like HOW, WHAT, WHY, and WHERE help readers get an idea of what to expect on the page in terms of answering their questions.
Other common trigger words that catch the eyes of a reader include adjectives like BEST, REVIEW, ULTIMATE,
Check your headline score
https://headlines.coschedule.com/headlines
Headline writing
Writing a blog on a regular basis is a great way to increase traffic to your website.
Writing targeted content is a great way to get your target audience to your website. Pay attention to categories and tags (these should represent your product/service/ethos)
Posting regularly is a great way to keep your content fresh and prompts search engine bots to recrawl your website.
5. Connect the Internet Together
Linking to other websites is a very helpful thing to do for your customers, if that link takes them to relevant content. Don’t be afraid to link to a website that has good quality content that will enrich your customers’ experience. It makes your website more valuable.
Getting websites to link back to you will bring authority to your website, this is a factor in how search engines decide what results to show the user. You can reach out to influencers or industry leaders and link to their content or contact your suppliers and manufacturers and link to their pages and manuals and ask to be an authorised seller.
66.31% of pages have no backlinks. (Ahrefs)
Note on branding
Important to remember to keep your branding the same across all your channels and platforms you choose to advertise on. Have a logo, colour scheme and brand message that you can plaster everywhere your product or service is mentioned. Customers will be able to easily recognise you.
List on Directories and engage on forums
Another great tip to increase your brand awareness and visibility is to create accounts on directory websites. These could include non-traditional directories like art sites, image sites like Pinterest or Instagram
Yelp appears in the top five search results for 92% of Google web queries that include a city and business category. (FreshChalk)
Sell on Multiple Channels
Increase brand awareness and visibility
•Get more traffic and sales to your store
•Build loyalty and trust with your brand
•Take advantage of comparison shopping
•Acquire new customers
•Reach new markets
Guest blogging
https://ahrefs.com/blog/guest-blogging/
Extras
Google ranking factors – Ahrefs blog
https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-ranking-factors/
WordPress Integrations
Display products from esty on wordpress
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-add-your-etsy-store-in-wordpress/
List woocommerce products on etsy – sync
Sell shopify products on wordpress site
WordPress Ebay integration – sync
Tips for Etsy
Shop improvement and SEO on Etsy
Tips for WIX
WIX SEO
Tips for Shopify
Yoast SEO addon
https://apps.shopify.com/yoast-seo
Master the search engine
Get verified by Google by searching for yourself and update the knowledge panel that appears in the search engine.
Create a Google search console account and add your website. https://search.google.com/search-console/about
Create a Bing webmaster tools account and add your website https://www.bing.com/webmasters/about
Leave Feedback
We would love to hear what you think. If you find any issues or have any suggestions of what would make the experience better for you, let us know.