You have written your latest blog post making sure it is full of quality content, relevant to your audience and their interests, you create a killer graphic in Canva that can be utilised on pinterest as well, and you upload it to your blog post to complete your article - but you may have forgotten one important factor... Google can't read images or worded text on images!

As a blogger, you need to have a good understanding of SEO (search engine optimisation) to increase the visitors to your site in an organic way creating sustainable traffic. Images often are forgotten or the last thing added to the post and optimising these for searches can often be overlooked. Search engines aren't humans so we need to name images correctly so the engines can "see" the images. This is also helpful for users who are visually impaired to work with reader programs that utilise Alt Text.

​Here are our top tips from Blue Bird Internet Marketing Australia, to help boost the SEO on your blog and website images. ​

• Name your filename appropriately ~ Name the image file using keywords about the post (e.g. how-to-boost-seo-on-your-blog-images.png rather than img_9871.png)
• Use alt text on your image ~ Make sure to complete the Alt Text section of your image. This is often forgotten and as mentioned above, helpful for screen readers and imperative for seo. Use keywords about your blog post or image in the alt text section (for example for this blog post and image I would use "how to boost seo on your blog images". (Depending on what type of blog provider you use, it is usually found in the advanced section of the image - if you have trouble finding where to add alt text, just send us a message through our chat button on this page)
• Don't make the alt text too long~ There is a 125 character alt text maximum for screen readers to be mindful about keeping to this.
• Utilise Captions on images ~ Depending on your image type, you may like to add an extra caption to the image (added in the caption section) to give further information about your image in-case it doesn't load on users screens, or to provide extra explanation. This isn't always necessary for all niches but helpful when a description is required to explain a certain image.
• Use the image keywords in your blog post ~ By using the image's keywords and description in your blog post this can also help with further SEO for your article. Often this happens without effort but it is something to keep in mind especially if your image title varies from the blog post title or content.
• Link your image to your post~ After you have published your blog post, copy the blog url link and go back into your article and add the link to your blog image creating a link-back for anyone who comes across your image on the internet through image searches.

Remember SEO on images makes up only a small section of optimising your blog post to be found by search engines. We recommend completing all seo sections on your blog post to increase organic traffic, but also to ensure you are sharing your blog post in other areas (e.g. social media profiles).

Have a great day and if you need any help with blogging, please just send us a message

x
​Judi
Blue Bird Internet Marketing
Affordable Websites, Social Media & Content Photography Australia

Recently a company that I work with received an email from a young new 'influencer' who reached out to the brand with his story by email, and told them how their product had contributed to his improved  health and work and success in the health & fitness industry.  He asked about the possibility of collaborating with the brand to promote the product that he already has been using for over a a year.  On checking his profile on instagram we could see that he was genuine and was building a quality organic audience through this regular posts.  His profile needed some work to make it look a little more professional for approaching brands, but we all agreed that he was the the genuine article and his story reflected everything positive about the brand and its product, and they decided to work with him by supplying him with regular products for his personal use and samples for colleagues in exchange for social media promotion.

Here are our top 7 tips on how you can also work with brands when starting out as an influencer in your field of expertise

1. Engage with and follow the brand and try their products where possible well before you approach them to collaborate.  This may include posting your own content using their brand by tagging them in a post or stories, and responding and commenting on social media posts regularly.  
2. Research the companies products and ethos.  Read through their website (all tabs of their website) to learn as much as you can about the brand and what they stand for.
3. Plan your pitch beforehand.  When creating your pitch - don't concentrate on what they can do for you, but more what can you do for them!  All brands want a return on their investment in you (ROI) so you need to think about -  what content you can create that compliments their branding and if you are a good fit for the company or not.
4. Do your followers suit the brand?  If you are not sure of your niche following - convert your instagram account to a business account to gain insights into your followers.  How old are they, what cities do they come from, are they male or female.  These stats should already be on your media kit that you will send to in your pitch.  Ask us about  affordable stylish media kits here)
5. Invest in a photographer for your post - to make sure it is high quality, good lighting and ensure that when you upload it it is in HD (more on this later).  Often you can collaborate yourself with a local content creator for a reasonable price and it is worth it to make sure your content is quality.  (Ask us about  Instagram content photography  here)
6. Do more than promised when you get the deal.  impress the brand by going above and beyond what they asked for. For example, if they asked you to do one post with a few photos showing a particular product,  you may like to also do a separate bonus instagram story and a follow up post with a different styled photo later on to show that you are serious about being a brand representative. This will always make a good impression.
7. Stay Connected.  After the promotion is over, ensure that you stay engaged with the brand and its community and consider yourself part of a brand ambassador community - this will confirm with the brand that you were a good choice for their campaign and they will be more likely to use you again.
   
8. What to know more about Instagram and creating a professional profile & content CONTACT US HERE
   
   Have a great week 
   x Judi
   ​
   Blue Bird Internet Marketing
   Australia