How to Optimize Images for SEO on Squarespace Websites

I'm typically pretty optimistic when it comes to doing search engine optimization (SEO) for Squarespace, my blogging/content management system (CMS) of choice. Most of what you need is available either out-of-the-box or through a few manual tweaks. Optimizing images for SEO on Squarespace are no exception and come with their own little subtleties. Today we'll explore SEO for images on Squarespace and help drive more traffic to your website.

SEO for Images - The Basics

One of my main duties as an online marketer is to increase website traffic from search engines through the process of SEO. When it comes to images, you can increase traffic through SEO in two ways:

1. Increases traffic via image search engines such as Google Images
2. Boost the ability for the page on which the image resides to rank in the search engines

There are quite a few things you can do to optimizes images for search engines, but the basics include using your page's primary keywords within  the file name and alt attribute of the image. Search engines pay special attention to these properties of the of image. Let's take a look how this works.

Optimizing Squarespace Image Files for SEO

 Optimize Squarespace images in a few easy steps:

1. Always be conscious of the size of your image files. In general, try to keep files in a .png or .jpg format under 200kb. The smaller, the better.
2. Use the primary keyword(s) you intend to you use in your page or blog post within the file name of the image when you upload it to Squarespace. Be sure to use a "-" in between words. For example, if Squarespace Image SEO was your keyword phrase, your image filename might be squarespace-image-seo.jpg. Easy, right?(Separate words with a "-" and use your keywords)
3. Next you'll need to change the alt attribute of your image. Switch to Raw HTML within the editing interface of your blog post or Squarespace web page. (Switch to Raw HTML mode to access your alt attributes)
4. Carefully search through the HTML of the pages to locate your images. I find it's easiest to use Ctrl+F and search the page for alt="" to highlight the image alt attributes within the HTML.(Finding the alt attributes is easy even for HTML novices)
5. Using your keywords, enter a brief description of your image that accurately describes the image for those that may not be able to see it.(Enter your keyword-friendly alt attribute within the quotes of the HTML)

Ultimately it's not too hard to optimize your images for SEO on Squarespace. Once your file is optimized, just be sure that the content on the rest of the page supports your primary keywords as well and you should be all set.

The Big (Optimized) Picture

The last and most often overlooked part of SEO for any website, Squarespace or otherwise, is getting links and attention within social media via Likes and Tweets. Getting someone to talk about you on the web is like an endorsement in Google's eyes. You'll be ranking in no time if you can get build links and attention to a well-optimized page with images.

On that note, if you liked this blog post or any other Squarespace tutorial written here on Big Picture Web, be sure to share it on your preferred social network or write a blog post to explore the topic further. And as always, I'm curious to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

2011 26 Book Challenge #2: The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott

Last week I finished up book #2 in 2011's 26 Book Challenge. The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott is an excellent crash course for those looking to use content marketing and the Internet to connect with your customers and promote your brand. With all that has changed since marketing has gone digital, it's nearly impossible to stay current on all the latest tactics. Explore The New Rules of Marketing and PR with me to set a new baseline for your overall knowledge in the online marketing landscape.

How the Web has Changed Marketing and PR

David Meerman Scott begins The New Rules of Marketing and PR by first illustrating the growing inefficiencies with traditional marketing tactics. Commercials, traditional press releases, etc. used to work because there were only so many types of media. Consumers were limited to only a few types of media. To get in on TV, print and radio, you either purchased advertising in the form of commercials or you got the media to run a story on you. The world of media wasn't that big so people couldn't avoid your messages.

Now that the Internet has become mainstream and everyone has a DVR, consumers have the power to choose which media they consume and what to ignore. The New Rules of Marketing and PR is a mental road map to using new media to connect with your customers rather than just broadcasting at them.

Solving Problems, One Blog Post at a Time

The Internet has allowed companies to communicate directly to their customers by using new media channels such as blogs, social media and websites. And those that do it right have discovered the key: creating content that solves your customers' problems. How can you solve problems? 

• Create a blog to write educational content on your topic of expertise. Show people how to install that hardwood floor. Compare and contrast the best kitchen knives. People are out there looking for this knowledge. Publish your expertise and get found by potential customers.
• Use social media to connect with those in your industry and your customers. Seek out those interested in your area and take an active interest in their social networks. Share their content. Share content with them. Grow your community through sharing information and creating relationships.
• Create audio and video to diversify your content. Don't just do one thing. Try to leverage content across many different types of media to make it convenient for your audience to consume and share it. Make a video. Publish the same content in audio format as a podcast. String it all together in Youtube and iTunes channels connected to your blog.
• Publish news releases for consumers, not just the press. Press releases aren't just for the media anymore. Consumers are using services like Google News to find information they're seeking on press releases in addition to the rest of the web. You'll be more successful if you publish news that solves problems for your customer.
• Create a website that is centered on the needs of your customer. Don't organize it in a way that is appealing to your marketing department. Make it useful to the customer and they will reward you for it.

Getting Up to Speed on New Media

If you or someone you know has fallen behind on the basics of new media, this is the book for you. The New Rules of Marketing and PR is great for new clients, marketing staff, executives... anyone in the market for a high-level book on using new media for marketing purposes.

If you're reading this blog, you probably already have a good sense for these rules. But maybe those around you aren't quite there yet. Read this book and then share it with your colleagues to set a new bar in your organization.

Have you read this book? What did you think of The New Rules of Marketing and PR? What's your biggest success story about using great content to connect with your customers? Share your thoughts about The New Rules in the comments below.

2011 Book Challenge #1 of 26: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

As stated in last week's post about 2011 blog strategy resolutions, my goal is to read 26 books in 2011. This week I got off to a great start and finished up  my first book, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. It was so good that I had to blog about it (which I'm sure I'll be doing more throughout the year as I make progress towards the ultimate goal of 26 or more).

Have you ever noticed that you typically won't order the most expensive item at a fancy restaurant? You may buy an item just a few dollars cheaper, but going all out and buying the highest priced appetizer, main course or dessert is often too much for us to bear. I read about this little human quirk as I wrapped up Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, a thought-provoking look into the world of behavioral economics. Find out about Predictably Irrational, behavioral economics and how restaurant owners use this knowledge against us as they price their menu in today's post.

What is Behavioral Economics?

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Predictably Irrational, ( an Amazon affiliate link) is a collection of (mostly) his experiments and results in the field of behavioral economics, the study of how we as humans tend to consistently buck the norms of traditional economics' rules of supply and demand in irrational ways.

Why does it seem OK to take a pen home from work but you wouldn't take fifty cents from the petty cash box? Why will we help a friend move for pizza and some Diet Cokes but feel awkward if the payment of cash is involved? This is the invisible hand of behavioral economics at work, and Dan Ariely has the answer to these and many more questions about our irrationalities within Predictably Irrational.

It's All Relative

When you don't know how to place a fair value on something, you look for relative indicators of something's worth, according to Ariely. Think back to the restaurant. When eating out, we typically want something that will be excellent without having to pay top dollar. We reject the top-priced menu item and get instead the second or third most expensive item on the list. Restaurant owners often use this knowledge when arranging their menu so that the second-most expensive item on the list is also the one with the highest profit margins. 

Predictably Irrational Marketing

Predictably Irrational is a must-read just for the simple fact that marketers are using this information against you every day. Conversely, if you're a marketer, you've gotta check this stuff out! Take for example Post Rank Analytics' sign-up page (Post Rank is an awesome social media analytics tool that you should check out).

Take a look a the offer below and notice how the Personal account is $15/month whereas the Influencer account is free with a sign-up toPost Rank's PR Connect service. Who in their right mind would want the Personal account when you can get the Influencer account for free, right?
Why get the Personal account when you can be an Influencer for free?

But in reality the Influencer account isn't free because you have to sign up for service and be a part of Post Rank's Connect program. This is a pittance in our minds compared to $15/month so we eagerly enroll in the the program in exchange for our "free" account. The Personal account is a decoy that no doubt boosts enrollments in both Post Rank's Analytics and Connect services through the Influencer account.

Your Thoughts on Predictably Irrational

Have you read Predictably Irrational or any other good reads on behavioral economics? I'd love to include them in my list of 26 books to read for the year. Do you have a favorite study or behavioral quirk? Have you seen an excellent example of marketing via behavioral economics? Share these or other thoughts in comments below.

Your 2011 Blogging Strategy Resolutions

New Year's is always a time of renewal and change. That's what resolutions are all about, right? Although sometimes unpleasant, New Year's resolutions help make us better people in the end. And if personal resolutions make us better people, then surely resolutions for what we read as a part of our 2011 blog research process will make us better bloggers, right? Today we'll take a look at two resolutions you can make to improve your blogging strategy in 2011.

Resolving to Organize What You Read

As of August 2010 there were nearly 150 million blogs on the Internet with nearly 60k more being created each day. How do you possibly keep it all organized? Long gone are the days of simply keeping a folder of bookmarks on your Internet browser.

These days we have Twitter, Digg, and Facebook flooding us with articles to read. It's important to organize your favorite sources of information so you don't forget about them in the constant deluge of content facing us as we begin 2011.

Google Reader helps organize blogs you follow.Organizing the blogs most important to generating ideas for your own blog is simple with tools like Google Reader, but can easily become filled with noise if you don't manage your subscriptions from time to time. Take a few minutes early in 2011 to manage the blogs you follow in your RSS reading system.

Also, don't be afraid to try new ways of keeping blogs you follow organized. For example, I recently brought my RSS feeds over to Feedly, a magazine reader-style system for keeping your RSS feeds organized. I'm not sure I'll use it permanently but it's a novel way of consuming content at the moment.

Feedly creates a cool magazine-style start page.

Resolving to Read More

When was the last time you read a good book about your industry. For that matter, when was the last time you read a good book in general? 

Don't get me wrong, blogs are great. In fact, I happen to think the one you're reading right now is excellent. But blog posts are just bite-sized morsels of knowledge. Sometimes you need more than even the most long-winded of blog posts. Sometimes you need the many meaty courses of information that a book provides in order to truly understand the complexities of a particular topic.

Bloggers/friends Arik Hanson and Patrick Garmoe tend to agree with me. Based on an idea by Julien Smith, we're setting the goal of reading 26 books during 2011 take on some complex topics and stay fresh for our blogs.

Audio books by Audible make reading easy.Join Arik, Patrick and me in resolving to read 26 books in 2011 and improve your source of blogging inspiration and content. Not sure how to make it happen? Personally, I'm going to give audio books by Audible a shot. Each day I spend about an hour in the car. And with each audio book running about 10 hours, the math works out to about a book every other week or, 26 books.

An hour a day or 20 pages a day. It doesn't sound like that much when I put it that way, does it?

Make 2011 a Great Year for Blogging

Even if you don't take either of these suggestions, it's a good idea to do something to shake things up and improve your blog. What types of resolutions have you made for your 2011 blogging strategy? Leave a comment or write a blog response post about what you plant to do differently in 2011. Also, don't be afraid to suggest a great marketing book that you've read or want to read.

Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places Widgets for Squarespace

A few weeks ago, Squarspace founder and president Anthony Casalena announced some planned enhancements to the web's best publishing and blogging platform. Since then they've quietly rolled out their new Locations social widget, giving you the ability to integrate your Foursquare, Gowalla and/or Facebook Places stream into your Squarespace blog or website. Today we'll take a look the new Squarespace Locations widget and how to install it.

Installing the Foursquare/Gowalla/Facebook Places Squarespace Widget

Installing the new Locations widget on your Squarespace couldn't be easier. As with all Squarespace functionality, there's an intuitive setup process followed by a comprehensive set of configuration options. To add a Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places widget on your site, simply follow these five easy steps:

1. Log in to you Squarespace website and enter the Structure Editing modeAccess the Structure mode from the right side of the control panel ribbon.
2. Select Add widget from a new or existing sidebar sectionAdd a new widget to your sidebar.
3. Navigate to the Social Widgets tab and then select the Location widgetThe Location widget is within the Social Widgets tab of the Add Widget interface.
4. Configure your location service by selecting your app and then signing in through Squarespace's APIClick on the icon to sign in via API to your location service.
5. Use the dead-simple Squarespace controls to configure and customize your location widget. Once done, save and enable your new widget. That's it. You're all done.Explore all the configuration options to suit your liking.

Adding Location Based Services to Your Squarespace Website

Intuitive, versatile and awesome. The new Squarespace Location widget passes the test for all new Squarespace functionality. Take a few minutes to install Foursquare, Gowalla and/or Facebook Places on your blog or website and then come back and tell me what you thought about the process in the comments below.