Chances are if you have done any research on how to bring traffic to your website there is probably no doubt you have come across the term SEO (search engine optimization).  Do you have to really worry about it?  That seems to be the ongoing debate.  Personally I think SEO is extremely important even though I admit it can be really confusing and overwhelming on where to start first.  However, I am going to share 5 found easy-peasy DIY SEO hacks that will help get your creative business found online.  I am going to put this disclaimer out there-I am not going to promise you will be on the first page of Google or increase your traffic by 1000%.  These DIY SEO tips will help get your site optimized and found by your target audience and search engines.   Now let’s get started!

1.    Add Alt tags/Image tags to your images-  So what are alt tags or alternate tags?  Well, Google unfortunately can’t decipher what that image or video is on your site. Using relevant keywords and text in the alt tag attribute can help both potential visitors and search engines better interpret the subject of an image.   So instead of naming your image “jpeg1” or “image 1” make sure you use descriptive keywords.

2.    Add your location– if you have a local business say for example you are a photographer or floral designer you want to be found for your location, right?  Now is the time to add it to the footer, About Us and Contact Us pages or sections of your website.  Also consider listing your business on Yelp and Google.  If your business has multiple locations, create a listing for each one.  Make sure you take advantage of these listings-create a listing with rich content — photos, videos and links to your website. Most people that have a local business don’t know that Google has a page dedicated to it.   Visit Google My Business to find your business and most of all verify the information.  

3.    Think like your customers- chances are they wouldn’t search for your company or service by brand name.  So how would they search you?  That is the very first step in developing your keyword and key phrase strategy (more on that from a future post).  Start a list of search terms that you want your business to be known for.  Does your site pop up when you put them into Google?  If so that page are they found on? 

4.    Look for URLs that are returning a 404 on your site- Google Search Console is a free webmaster tool that gives you the ability to check the 404 pages on your site and see whether they are being linked to (and from where).  It is a quick and easy fix to make sure there aren’t any broken links.

5.    Set up Google Alerts- When you come across a mention about your brand or company whether it is via social media or even the web, reach out to the person or blogger in question to thank them for mentioning your company and to ask them to please consider linking to your site or blog in a future post.