I’m really happy to share this and future SEO posts with you! I went to social media to get a feel of what you want to hear from me, and apparently website SEO or self-promoting is on your brain!

Today we’re starting with SEO strategies for your website. I’ve learned a lot about these things through personal experience and also skills I’ve learned from work. So here’s a summary of stuff that will help writers and bloggers get more traffic.

Get Down to the Details

The basic goal of SEO is to be as accessible as possible for future viewers and consumers. There are a lot of simple, behind-the-scene ways to help yourself look good and be super easy to find. Here’s some things to start with:

• Keywords—Consolidate your topic idea into a noun, then incorporate it intelligently in the title, meta, alt tag, and body text.
• Alt tags—This is a basic description of a photo you’re using on your site which makes it easier for readers to find your work. When you edit a photo, add in a simple sentence describing the photo and try to incorporate the title of your website and a relevant keyword.
• Meta description—This is the description you see under the title of a search engine item. Give a succinct summary of the post and put in the keyword if possible. This should be about 130–156 characters.
• Feature image—Establish a feature image so when people pin or share elsewhere, your best pic shows up. WordPress has a section on its column where you can upload your feature image.
• H1—In basic coding, you can establish a certain style for your headings by selecting the heading and choosing the h1 option. Regular text is usually under the “paragraph” option. This makes everything look streamlined but Google also looks at your h1 text for important info that could improve your SEO.

Most of these are pretty easy to fix, thanks to WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO. I’ve shared a preview of what it looks like at the end of your post. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

I’m not sure how other blog or web host sites help users with their SEO, but look into plugins and other setting features to make this easier for you to access and change. Definitely comment below if you have questions!

Whether you have 10 posts or over 100, it’s worth your time to streamline all your posts and make sure they are optimized. I started using these tips halfway through my blogging experience and I’m still working on it.

I have an Excel sheet that helps me keep track of which posts still need better SEO. I’ve even created a blank one for you to use to help the task seem less overwhelming. You can click here to download it. Once they’re updated, you can share them as #tbt posts and make them do more work for you!

Draw Readers in with Great Images

How do you establish your brand? If you at least stick to a few design rules, it makes each page look good, and establishes your web presence on every platform you use to market yourself.

You’ll notice that my images use the same font pairings and font colors. That’s about the only consistent thing I do. I use a free stock photo, put the title on there, make a word or phrase stick out, then make sure the URL is somewhere on the image.

Depending on your vision and what you’re marketing, pick some rules and start sticking to them! I use Canva to make this process ten times easier for myself. Canva is particularly useful if you want to streamline all of your headers and images across all your social media platforms. You’re welcome.

Make it Extremely Easy for People to Interact, Follow, or Contact

Good content will only take you so far. You have to make it super easy for people to find it, read it, comment, and share it. Make it easy and fun for people to fall in love with your work and your persona! To help you with this, here’s a quick list:

• Check all your links so people can access your other social media platforms.
• Put invitations to subscribe or follow you towards the top of your page.
• Provide multiple opportunities to subscribe or follow. You can find plugins that create a pop-up invitation, or easy quotes from your post that can easily be tweeted like Click to Tweet.
• Ensure your comment section makes it easy for people to submit a comment. The more hoops they have to jump through, the less likely they will comment.
• Answer comments within a day—don’t expect any comments without being the other half of what could be a meaningful conversation!

I’ve learned a lot about sprucing up my website through Bridgid Gallagher. She taught me about the plugins especially. Definitely reach out to her through her Build a Better Blog challenge if you’re serious about self-promotion.

Share Your Post—Everywhere

There are so many appropriate places to share your posts. Here’s just a short list:

• Pinterest—Pin your articles to all relevant boards and group boards

  

• Facebook—Share your work on your personal account, your professional page, and other relevant communities (with permission).
• Instagram—Be sure to use your Pinterest-ready photo so viewers can tell this is about a blog post, not just a pretty picture.
• Engagement groups—These are community-based groups that basically share a link to their content and the other group members go and comment on the post.
• Twitter—Tweet about your post and pin your most recent post to the top of your feed for easier access.
• Google+—Post to your personal account but also find related communities to share your content.
• Email—Take advantage of recap posts where you talk about the things you’ve accomplished in the past month, and you can mention all of your relevant posts.

I have a lot to say about tactics for sharing your posts, so check out a future post that will go into more detail about this!

Do the Work & Wait for Success

The hardest part about self-promotion is that it takes time. Your favorite writer or blogger has likely been in the business for years if not decades. A lot of them also treat their website as a full-time job, so they’re naturally reaping the rewards sooner than the hobby blogger.

Wit & Travesty has only been around for a couple of years, but it took a lot of community-building and networking to get where we are right now.

To truly see success, just remember what you define as “marketing success.” Do you just want a lot of shares, comments, or subscribers—or do you want to actually be paid for your work?

You’ll feel a lot more satisfied with your online presence if you set reasonable expectations for success.

Well, that’s it for part one of this SEO series. If you missed it, you can download our SEO Checklist to help you catch up on optimizing your present and previous posts. Check out the other posts in the coming weeks. Until then, what questions do you have about SEO and self-promotion? What are you doing now that works for you? Share with us below or via social media!

Check out the other posts in this series:

• 6 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Platform
• Are You Looking for Your Social Media Community?

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