Search engine optimization is a major business these days. But you don’t have to hire an expensive SEO consultant to get good results. You only need to know the basics of search engine optimization to start. The top concept to remember is that the search engines love text-relevant text. Text is how they determine what each page of your site is about (and how they know to list your site in their search results). Give the search engines what they are looking for. You don’t have to write pages and pages of text. Even just a sentence or two of relevant text per page is sufficient.
What is relevant text? Well that depends on the page. In this case, since we are talking about art portfolio sites, your page might be displaying your newest piece entitled “Yellow Unicorns and Purple Lions.” If you want people to find your new page when they search the internet for “yellow unicorns and purple lions,” you need to do a little search engine optimization on that page. Add the phrase “yellow unicorns and purple lions” in the title and description text on your gallery page. The more text your page has about yellow unicorns and purple lions, the more relevant your page will appear to search engines for that particular phrase. But don’t go overboard with search engine optimization and keyword-stuff your pages. You can get penalized for trying to ‘trick’ the search engines. Being penalized means your web page will not be listed in the search results; and that is a very bad thing.
Meta tags
Meta tags are an important part of search engine optimization, as they tell the search engines what information to expect from each page on your website. Meta tags are placed between the tags in every HTML page.
The three main meta tags you need to be concerned with are:
Title - The title is what is shown in the title bar of the browser. Keep the title to one short sentence.
Description - The description should give a brief summary of what is located on the page. One or two sentences will suffice.
Keywords - The keywords meta tag is currently less important than the other two meta tags, but some search engines still use them. If your page is about unicorns and fantasy creatures, your keywords would be “unicorns” and “fantasy creatures”.
Here is a sample meta tag setup:
< title >Unicorns and Fantasy Creatures < /title >
< META name="description" content="Welcome to my collection of unicorns and other fantasy creatures." >
< META name="keywords" content="unicorns, fantasy, creatures, fantasy creatures">
To be effective for search engine optimization (and for your visitors), the keywords in your meta tags should reflect the actual content on your page. If your page is about “drawing red dragons”, your meta tags shouldn’t have words like “purple elephants” or “mythical bats and birds” (you get the idea).
Miscellaneous Writing Tips
Writing for the web
People don’t like to read online. Most visitors quickly skim your page looking for only the key information that is presented. Keep your sentences to the point. Use bold text to highlight important points. Don’t add unnecessary text to fill out a page. Visitors skip pages filled with solid blocks of text. Break your text into smaller paragraphs with bold headings that describe the paragraph.
Example:
How I Work
I often get asked how I create my paintings. I use the following process and techniques on almost every picture. First, I start by creating several quick thumbnail sketches, etc…
Check your grammar and spelling! Use MS Word or any other word editing software. If you don’t have spellchecking software, use an online service like http://www.spellcheck.net/. If English is not your first language or your grammar skills are a bit rusty have a friend or family member proofread your site.
Tone - Write in a friendly, conversational tone. Don’t try to sound too professional or corporate… it will sound unnatural. Be yourself and let your personality show. Avoid emoticons and “internet speak” at all costs (l337 5p34k, roflmao, :, thx, lol, etc). This is especially important for a portfolio site.
