10 SEO Practices Everyone Should Follow

 Search Engine Optimization, better known as SEO, can be a marketer’s best friend. (Who knew three little letters could have such a big impact?). Whether or not you’re a marketing wiz, you should brush up on a few key SEO practices. Entrepreneurs, bloggers, and anyone with a web presence can benefit from making sure their website is in tip-top SEO shape. These 10 SEO practices will help you cover all of your bases — so you can sit back, relax, and let that search engine traffic roll in.

1. Understand it

The first step to SEO success is understanding exactly what it means and what its capabilities are. As previously mentioned, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO helps optimize web pages so they can reach a higher position in the results of a search engine — most importantly, to rank higher on Google. Improving your ranking increases your odds of someone clicking on your webpage in a search result. Because SEO is not a paid effort like an ad, this traffic is organic.

2. Utilize Keywords

This step is the second most important, and lays the groundwork for almost all of your SEO efforts. In order to rank higher in search, you have to align your web page’s content with Google’s (or another search engine’s) algorithm. One of the primary ways of doing this is by choosing the right keywords. A keyword refers to the words used on your website that you want to rank for. For example, if you own a bakery in Boston, you would want to rank highly for “Boston bakery.” You can choose secondary keywords to focus on like “best bakery in Boston.” You must choose keywords carefully. You want to choose ones that match your businesses’ goals, but that also aren’t overused by other websites. Essentially, many people are competing to rank highly with the same keywords.

There may be hundreds of other websites hoping to rank first on Google for your chosen keyword. If that is the case, you may be able to stand out by picking a less common keyword. Something more niche, such as “gluten-free Boston bakery” may do the trick. You can add keywords to many different places on your site to get the best results. Not sure where to start? 

3. Title Images

You know how you can search for images on any search engine? When someone uploads a photo to their website, they name it with the keywords that they want to rank for. So if you want photos of your business, product, or blog to show up on image search results, you have to properly name them. You’ll have better luck getting users to click through to your website if your photo is properly named. In other words, this is not a time to play games. If you’re posting a photo with a title “vegetarian sandwich recipe” make sure the photo actually reflects that title. Not taking advantage of image search results is a waste, and is a step many people forget to take.

4. Blog About It

Have you noticed that every company under the sun has a blog now? In the past, only actual blogs or publications shared articles and content online, but now everyone does it because blog posts are the perfect place to drop desired keywords. Not to mention, search engines rank quality content higher than an average web page. It’s important that your desired keyword shows up in the first 100 words of a blog post. That way, the search engine can confirm that your content matches the title of your post. Which brings us to our next point…

5. Give it a Name

When it comes to blog posts, it’s important that you use your keyword in the title of the post. Ideally, the keyword should be as close as possible to the beginning of the title. If your keyword is “spring dresses,” the blog title should be “spring dresses under $100” not “the cutest spring dresses.”

6. Link it Up

Linking to other web pages can be extremely beneficial for SEO purposes. There are two types of links that you should utilize: external links and internal links. External links are those that send users to another website with a page on a similar topic. While it seems counterintuitive to lead users away from your website, search engines see you doing so as creating a valuable resource to readers. You can also include internal links in your content; this encourages search engines to find and review other pages on your website. Plus, they help the search engine determine the relevancy of your pages. If possible, you should link to at least two internal links on each blog post.

7. Get Linked

Now it’s time for a little old-fashioned PR. If your website has a link on someone else’s website, you’re looking at a marketing double whammy. Not only will you get a great PR opportunity and see organic referrals come through, but you’ll also raise your status in the eyes of search engines. When your website link shows up on another website, this is earning a “backlink.” Google keeps track of the quantity and quality of your backlinks. These links represent authority — if another website feels the need to mention you, Google takes that as a sign of your expertise and is more likely to recommend your content to users.

8. Make it Meta

No, we’re not getting philosophical here. Meta-title and meta-description tags are two pieces of code that determine how you rank in search. A meta-title (which can differ from a blog post or page’s actual title) is the title that will show up in search listings; the meta-description is that small blurb beneath the title on a search result. This description allows both the search engine and a user to understand what your webpage is about.

9. Simplify URLs

How you name your URLs is super important in the SEO world. Basically, search engines don’t like to read long URLs with complex structures. It’s best to always keep URLs short, and make sure they contain little more than the main keyword for which you want to rank.

10. Stay Updated

Like all areas of life, time brings change — and one of those changes can easily be to a search engine’s algorithm. Just as you think you’ve mastered SEO, Google or any other search engine can pull the rug out from under you by changing their algorithm — meaning that what once helped you rank highly may not any more. Keep an eye on your search traffic and make tweaks where needed. Stay updated on the latest SEO strategies and algorithm updates. Keeping abreast of current SEO trends is one of the best ways to make sure you’re using SEO to its fullest potential.

Why is a Brand Moodboard Important?

 What brand moodboards are actually used for and why you should have one for your business!

Creating a moodboard is always the first step in the project. This is becoming a standard design practice, but moodboards aren’t just useful for designers like me – they’re also helpful for:

Business Owners

I’ll explain in a moment how the businesses I work with can use the moodboards we create during our project, but it’s not just for my benefit!

Bloggers

Having a moodboard for your blog can help you get clear about your design and content/photography theming – very useful!

Photographers

Many photographers use moodboards as a guide for their own style and for theming photoshoots.

Artists & Creatives

Again, moodboards can be used as a style guide for a number of projects!

Wedding/Event Planners

For theming events and getting an idea of a style & atmosphere, moodboards are super useful!

WHAT IS A ‘BRAND MOODBOARD’?

A moodboard is a collection of images (photos, graphics, textures) that together display a distinctive, cohesive theme. It is a visual tool for designers & business owners to put across their ideas for a brand’s personality.

And what do I mean by a theme? Here are some elements that might make up the theme of a moodboard by having common threads throughout the images:

1. Colour palettes
2. Font choice
3. Textures & patterns
4. Photography style
5. Feeling/emotion

WHAT DO YOU USE IT FOR?

Moodboards in branding projects because it gives me a clear sense of what overall theme their brand’s personality is going for, and I use it as a guide when creating logos and branded collateral such as business cards, to keep me on track and ensure everything is consistent.

This is a key word here – consistency.

A moodboard is essentially a guiding light for all visual elements of your brand.

If what you are creating matches with the style of the moodboard, then you are on-brand. If it doesn’t, then you need to re-evaluate whether it is right for your brand.

This is useful and having a moodboard helps everyone stay consistent in everything they create. 

Business owners/bloggers/creatives/events planners etc. can also use moodboards to show third parties (ie. designers, suppliers) so that everyone is on the right track, working towards the same goal – the same moodboard.

HOW DO YOU CREATE ONE?

Below is how the process works :

Fill in a brand questionnaire

Questionnaire gets the thinking deeply about  brand & business, providing them a focus of the visual side of things. It also helps get a deeper idea of their ‘brand personality’. 

Set up a shared Pinterest board to collect imagery

Pinterest is a great bookmarking tool that can use to ‘pin’ (aka. save) things from around the web and on Pinterest that they feel portrays their brand.

Curate the images into an overarching ‘theme’ (+ add more if needed)

Using Pinterest board and questionnaire,  refine the images into a definite theme and add more of my own selection if it needs elaborating.

Arrange the images in a moodboard collage template

I’ll take these ‘themed’ images and arrange them into a collage that puts across the concept as clearly as possible.

Select a colour palette from the images & add to the moodboard

From the images in the moodboard,  take key colours and create a palette of complimentary colours to use for the rest of the project.

But this isn’t the only way to create a moodboard! In my process, we usually only work digitally, using imagery my clients find around Pinterest and the web and arranging them in a virtual moodboard; this is to keep things simple and quick for the client. 

You could also collect physical things from the world around you and take photos of brands & things that you want to add to your moodboard. Or you could create a tangible moodboard in a large sketchbook or on canvas; this would allow you to add physical textures & materials to the mix. Interior designers & artists often do this!

As for actually creating the moodboard?

While it is relatively easy to create collage templates in Photoshop or InDesign, I’ve found Canva is the the simplest way. Canva is a free online tool that you can use for all kinds of graphics and templates, but it makes moodboards particularl simple!

STEP ONE – CREATE A DESIGN

Go into Canva and select a design shape and size (I usually go for a ‘Pinterest’ template as I want to be able to share my moodboards on Pinterest once they’re created). 

You’ll then be given a blank slate to start your design!

STEP 2 – ADD A COLLAGE ‘GRID’

Use the sidebar on the left-hand side to select ‘Elements’ and then go into the ‘Grids’ section. Then you can choose a collage layout to suit you and just click on it to add it to your design!

STEP 3 – UPLOAD YOUR MOODBOARD IMAGES

In the left sidebar click the ‘uploads’ button and start uploading the images you want to add to your collage. Once they’ve uploaded, can simply click and drag them into the box you want them to appear in (play around with the placement until you’re happy!).

STEP 4 – FINISH AND DOWNLOAD

You can always add other elements like coloured circles or blocks to show the colour palette you’ve chosen, and then once you’re done, simply click the ‘Download’ button in the top bar on the right, and download it as a png!

Does your brand have its own moodboard?