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Optimizing website images for SEOSmall- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often tempted to relegate their search engine optimization (SEO) analyses to the free reports offered by online platforms like WordPress and Google Analytics. Unfortunately, those reports rarely provide the details you need to improve your SEO. One of the things they tend to glaze over is image optimization. Do […]

The post Optimizing website images for SEO appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Optimizing website images for SEO

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often tempted to relegate their search engine optimization (SEO) analyses to the free reports offered by online platforms like WordPress and Google Analytics. Unfortunately, those reports rarely provide the details you need to improve your SEO. One of the things they tend to glaze over is image optimization.

Do images really affect SEO?

One of the reasons images tend to be overlooked when auditing SEO is because it’s easy to forget just how many images your website has. Maybe you only had a few photos on your homepage when you first built your site. Over time, however, you probably added more visual elements to blog posts, landing pages, and About Us page — drastically increasing the impact of your images on your SEO.

Image resolution and load speed

The first thing to check is how your images affect your site’s load speed. If you’re using ultra high-resolution photos, those accessing your site on mobile devices or using satellite data connections will have trouble loading your site. Site load times affect your site’s ranking on Google, so make sure to pair your images down to a more reasonable resolution and save them as web-friendly file types.

  • Choose the JPEG format for illustrations or large photos since it provides clarity and good colors in a smaller file size.
  • Select the PNG format if you want to preserve background transparency.
  • Use the SVG format for icons and logos. Combine this with Javascript or CSS to resize SVG images without losing quality.

Keywords and image title

The days of keyword-stuffing are long gone, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with uploading images with filenames like “DSC2558.jpg”. When adding images to your website, make sure their names are relevant to their content, such as “gym-trainer-helping-lift.jpg” or “call-center-customer-service.jpg”. This makes it easier for search engines to derive information from the images on a page.

Alt text and title text

Even though Google is getting better at recognizing image content without any help from text identifiers, describing your images in your website’s back end is still important for SEO. Every image on your site should have enough text-based information without disrupting the user experience.

To see how this works in WordPress, open your site dashboard and click on Media. This will display all the uploaded images, videos, and audio. Click on any photo to access the text editing tools. Whatever you include in the Caption field will be shown below the image, so check that it corresponds with your content. If not, skip it. In this case, user experience takes priority over SEO.

The Alternative Text and Description fields will be visible to visitors only if the image doesn’t load or if they select it manually. They may not seem that important, but these should be considered nonnegotiable for SEO purposes.

Check that your site’s images are properly optimized before requesting another SEO report. If your score changes, audit your image optimizations regularly. If you’re still seeing red, there are a number of web- and cloud-based platforms that can help improve your content. Give us a call today to find out more!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Here’s how you can wow website visitorsMuch like how we’re turned off by professionals who look disheveled, we leave websites that look ugly and messy. Follow our tips to get your website cleaned up nicely and make it ready to convert customers. Make a statement with professional photographs Before site visitors read what’s on your website, they assess it by checking […]

The post Here’s how you can wow website visitors appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Here’s how you can wow website visitors

Much like how we’re turned off by professionals who look disheveled, we leave websites that look ugly and messy. Follow our tips to get your website cleaned up nicely and make it ready to convert customers.

Make a statement with professional photographs

Before site visitors read what’s on your website, they assess it by checking out your images. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words, but are those words truly what you want to convey to your audience?

Blurry, outdated, or irrelevant pictures tell your site visitors that you don’t care about their browsing experience. In-house photos are the best option, but stock images shouldn’t cause any problems as long as they are optimized for mobile viewing and relevant to your content.

Help visitors find what they want with search tools

If your set of offerings is not expansive, a simple navigation menu ought to help visitors find what they need. However, the deeper your catalog gets, the more you’ll need additional tools. One way is to affix a search bar in your header so that people can use keywords to scour your site. Another way is to engage visitors via chat. You can preprogram a chatbot to ask questions that narrow down a visitor’s intention, or you can have a live agent address a visitor’s concerns in real time.

The more helpful your website is, the more it will foster trust in your brand and make visitors more likely to do business with you.

Extra tip:
Reduce the number of clicks a visitor has to make to achieve their objectives. For instance, eschew using the “Read more” link on product descriptions on product details pages. Visitors dive into a product page because they’re interested in fully learning more about the product, and the “Read more” link just hinders them from doing so.

Present your case clearly with good copywriting

The last thing you want to do is to confuse and frustrate your customers, so it’s important to keep all of your product or service descriptions as straightforward and simple as possible. If what you’re selling has detailed information, such as dimensions or technical requirements, make sure that they’re easy to read and are typed out.

Don’t use screenshots of information tables because web visitors compare offerings by collating information from different sellers. If your information is displayed in the form of an image, you’ll force users to type the info themselves. You’ll immediately lose the ones who don’t want that sort of hassle.

Let visitors get to know your company better in the About Us page

Your brand needs a story behind it that customers can relate to. Every company website should have an About Us page that describes your team, your company culture, and what sets you apart from the competition. Whatever your story is, make sure it’s accessible from any page on your site.

Hire a professional web designer

If your budget is tight, there are DIY site builders specifically geared toward small businesses. Or for a relatively low monthly fee, you can hire a managed website provider. A website provider will take care of:

  • Form – They’ll make your site look impressive on any screen size.
  • Function – The provider will ensure that your site is easy to use and works as expected, whether you’re using a keypad and mouse or just your finger or stylus.
  • Fixes – If something in your site is broken or you want to make changes to it (such as integrating an appointment scheduling app), they will handle it for you.

With more revenue originating online, small- and medium-sized business owners can’t afford to overlook the importance of creating a fully functional website. For more information on building a modern website, call us today!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Here’s how you can wow website visitors appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

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