Six Awesome SEO Tips For All You Creative Freelancers Out There!

1. Image Descriptions

Make sure Image Alt texts are descriptive and mention your keywords (what services do you offer?). Make sure URLs on images are descriptive.

For Example; don't say DSC1555, say "dog-hove-custom-portrait-1"

2. Add more Text!

Most creative freelancer sites (photographers, designers, illustrators) I've seen are very light on text and this is A BIG issue. Have informative, descriptive "Services" pages that explain exactly what you do and answer common questions. Make sure your homepage has plenty of text describing what you do too. You should always include your location too as service results are always skewed locally.

Bonus point: make sure your Page Title / Description is descriptive on your Services pages. For example; don't say "Services" say "Pet Photography Services in Brighton, Hove and Sussex".

 

3. Have a Google Business Profile

Have a Google My Business profile with your address / service area linked to it. Google heavily rewards websites, which are linked to up to date and accurate business profiles. 

 

4. Real (not spammy) back links

Get links from any associations you're members of such as networking groups, creative associations, others blogs and so on. If you’re a speaker at industry event, try to get quotes from your talks featured in other people’s articles (which then link back to you). Your competitors might be doing this and is often why they're out ranking you!

 

5. Green lights

If you are using a tool like Yoast, use the lighting system to ‘guide you’. But don’t take it TOO seriously. These are pretty arbitrary and are an internal scoring system. They're good to follow and give you an idea if each page has a keyword attached, but don't chase it at all costs. Put your *users* first. It essentially checks how many times you've mentioned that phrase on the page, page title and url.

 

6. Keyword Research –

If you're ticking a lot of the above, I'd do some keyword research (here’s a good tool you can use for free) to see how competitive the terms you're trying to rank for are - and if anyone is searching them. This doesn’t have to be long, expensive task. Sometimes just having a bit more awareness of what people and looking for and where the gaps will help tailor you content, without having to do much more work!

This post was kindly written by Adam Bastock, a Brighton based eCommerce, SEO and digital marketing super dude. The post was inspired by a discussion on the Content Club Facebook community. If you’re not a member yet… WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!

 

Get in touch with Adam, for more SEO tips and advice.