Quote of the Month

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before. -- James Buckham

Benefits of Properly Named Images

With all the talk about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) little focus has been given to the part that images play. Naming your images with keywords is a very good way to add keyword optimization to your site. Let's look a few examples. Say you are selling purses. You could easily increase your keyword content if your images were named purse_pink01.jpg and purse_blue03.jpg rather than simply numbered pink01.jpg and blue03.jpg. Here's another one, you are selling vitamins your images are currently named vitamins.jpg and juice.jpg. Yes, you may have both vitamins and juice listed as keywords however, since these words are probably hard to break into the top ranking for you might consider being a bit more specific. Why not try using womens_antioxident_vitamins.jpg and kickaboyjoy_juice.jpg? You get the picture I am sure.

Another interesting tidbit is, when naming and adding your alt tag, if the image is not a link it makes absolutely no difference to the robot indexing your webpage. The reason images should carry an alt tag is for the sight impared or someone who simply has turned their images off.

While naming your images is important you need to realize that some servers do not allow spaces in the names. As you see above I have purposefully used an underscore to make for easier identification. This is a good habit to get into. It doesn't matter if you use a dash (-) or an underscore (_) just don't use a space.

Let me share one last thought on this subject. Always include the descriptive ALT tag when naming images that you will be using as links. This is where your keywords can be used fully. Not only is it a good practice to describe your images for SEO purposes but as I mentioned earlier, those that may have their images turned off will be able to read your description of the product/image so they will
know what you intended for them to see.


© Copyright 2006 Ginger Marks

Tip for Success

Write Now (worth repeating)

Writing can be both fun and profitable. Have you considered the impact you could have on your business by taking a few moments in everyday to jot a line or two to a customer or client? What about expanding your client list by offering potential customers an incentive to divulge their contact information? A simple helpful hint guide or newsletter is a wonderful aide to accomplish this. If you have the talent you may even want to write and submit articles. There are many article submission sites that you could use to bolster your image and get your message out to an audience you may not have access to otherwise.

Q & A

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