Do you SEO?

[Mike Anderson]

Drew,
I took a quick look at your site (this page) and there are some things you might want to address. This code:

<img src="gallery_images/05.jpg" id="imgcenter">

Should be replaced with something like this:

<img src="gallery_images/hand-reading-brail-shuttered-sunlight.jpg" alt="My hand reading brail, sunlight is filtering through window shutters">

Use a descriptive filename and useful alt text in the image tag. This will especially help if someone is doing an image search on the subject of your photos.

Also, you might consider conforming to web accessibility guidelines, check your pages with an accessibility checker like this and follow the recommendations.

This is all a lot of work, I know.

[Drew Bedo]

Mike: Thank you for the specific suggestions. I am in the process of making these types of changes in steps . . .it IS a lotta work!

I've just finished a round of changes to my image postings on artsyhome dot com. Added a link to my site on every image postesd there.

[toyotadesigner]

I don't SEO, but I have two blogs @ wordpress.com. With the correct tags I ended up in the top 10 results at google very soon. Then I added some links to the other sites and it worked. No sweat, no payments to unknown 'service companies', no facebook, no twitter or any absurd social media. I don't sell anything in my blogs or web site (except used gear), but many people discover me quickly, see what I have to offer and give me a call.

IMHO you can loose too much time when working on SEO - until google modifies the algorithms again and you have to start over. Waste of time...

[Drew Bedo]

Hi Mike:

Well I can'r find and, don't know where to look for that code. I did go to the compatability checker but most of it is unintelligible to me. I may have to pay someone—or just leave it alone.

Cheers

[Brian C. Miller]

Drew, how are you editing your web page? You are using a program to do it, right? The program should have a place to enter the "alt" text for each image. That's what Mike is pointing out. Also, the names of the pictures should be descriptive, instead of "05.jpg".

[Drew Bedo]

Well no,Brian. When I jumped into this in 2005, there was no easy/cheap way to get a good looking website.I told a web designer what I wanted the site to look like and paid him to put it up. In 2008 I re vamped the site with a different designer (other guy now had a good job)I can now edit the text and image content with HTML. None of the code you posted is visable to me when I log in as an administrator.

As I said, looks like I'll either have it done by someone or drop it.

I can change the image titles and I'll get to that.

I suppose another option would be to re-do the site again.

Thanks everyone for a non-geeky, non-condesending interest and suggestions.

[Mike Anderson]

Drew,
If on this page you can't find this:

<img src="gallery_images/05.jpg" id="imgcenter" />

then the quoted code is probably generated by PHP and it will be hard to change if you don't know PHP. You might try to find a student of web development that knows PHP to make these changes, they're not that difficult if you know PHP.

[ROL]

Drew, I've been following this thread for a while now, and it might be helpful to read this, if you haven't already. The following might be worth considering:

1. Compelling images
2. Descriptions and stories of your process
3. Links to other sites and venues
4. Having a site you can easily update and add tags to without having to go into code (i.e., CMS)

FYI: This is a link to my circa 2005 static HTML based site, and this to my current 2010 flexible CMS site. Updating the old site required a repetitive nightmare of making new pages and links for both text and images (and tags), uploaded from my computer. The CMS site is "cloud" based, for all intents and purposes, and other than uploading images to the host server, nearly everything else from writing entire articles, to changing the look and feel (skin), or adding a single comma, is done from any computing device quickly and easily (if not always intuitively) on the site's back end software.

[Drew Bedo]

My thanks to Mike and Brian.

ROL:
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I have looked at both of your websites and ejjoy them both. I like the overall appearance and legability—and the photography is great.

1. Compelling images
Well—I hope visitors to my site find the images compelling. I am working on that all the time.
2. Descriptions and stories of your process
I as part of my evolving marketing effort, some of my images are now available on
<a href=" http://www.artsyhome.com/search?keyword=Drew Bedo&category=" target="_blank">Artsy Home<a></p>

Each picture there has a description/story with tags and so on. Each description has a link to my Quiet Light site. The goal is to modify the Quiet Light site to approximate (as much as it is possible) the presentation on Artsy Home—without a total reconfiguration.
3. Links to other sites and venues
Quiet Light has a Links page and a few links in the text on the Purchas page. Other links are on the Events page. Are these links effective in SEO?
4. Having a site you can easily update and add tags to without having to go into code (i.e., CMS).
When my site was totally rebuilt in’08, ease of content control was the goal. I understand that total control is easier now. I am not yet ready to make a complete change to another system but will hold that open for the near to mid future.

PHP and CMS are terms I am not familiar with. I have heard the term “cloud” used on TV but commercials today seem so obscure to me now, I don’t understand many of them and “cloud” hasn’t sunk in.

I was trained in computer use in 2007 at a school for the blind on Windows XP. When I got a computer to use it had Windows Vista and that was a challenge toadapt to. I finally found an ad-on (plug-in/app?) that shows the older XP style drop-down menus. I can work with it now. I feel the need to upgrade my desk top unit but Windows-8 seems to be an even bigger change. Moving to an Apple system is even more intimidating. Guess I’m hopeless.

I will make incremental adjustments to my existing site while learning what must be done to re-build it with the current software technology.

Cheers to all

[Mike Anderson]

On meta tags:

http://support.google.com/webmasters...n&answer=79812

Summary:

<meta name="description" content="description of page"> is useful

<meta name="keywords" content="no longer pertinent"> not useful