Understanding SEO; Basic Tips and Tricks

So for my PR-Tactics class we had a brilliant speaker named Haley Burkhead, owner of marketbeautifully.com, who came to speak with us about SEO and I thought I’d share what I learned.

The term SEO is short for search engine optimization which means optimizing your website, or business so that it can be easily found through search engines. This is allows you to maximize the number of visitors you receive.

A few key-points that she mentioned were:

• Site Speed: Site speed is how fast your website loads. She mentioned that it’s important that your site loads quickly. According to her a great tool to monitor this is Google analytics site speed tool. It monitors page-load time, how quickly images load, and how quickly the browser analyzes documents and allows for interaction.
• Keyword Optimization: These are the words you use that make finding your content through search engines easier. She mentioned Google’s keyword planner which helps you find these keywords and even predicts the amount of clicks you may receive using these words.
• Quality: She stressed the importance of quality content and I couldn’t agree more. I definitely believe gaining visitors has a lot to do with what you’re bringing to the table. One thing she said that stuck out was “work on solving problems.” If you offer a solution people will come.
• Permalinks: This is the URL on the site for particular content. For example if you’re a blogger you can click on a post and see a unique URL in the search bar. She say’s you should edit these to be short and searchable.
• Image File Name: The images on your pages should be uploaded with keywords included in the file to make it more searchable. So instead of just uploading images as 001.jpg for example, use keywords.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Make sure your website works just as well on mobile devices as it does on desktop computers. We live in a world where many consumers and potential clients use their cell phones to make a search and if they are to come across your site you want to make sure it’s user friendly regardless of which device they used to get there.

So those are some of the basics she mentioned and I’m sure glad she did. I’m excited to continue to grow my knowledge of SEO and put these tips to good use.

 

How To Study For Finals!

Well if you’re a student like me it’s that time of year again… final exams. Don’t pull your hair out just yet there may still be hope.

I’ll be sharing a few of my personal tips for retaining all that info the night before the exam because lets face it Netflix exists and we all procrastinate sometimes.

Tip #1

WRITE THINGS OUT

You’re more likely to remember the content if you write it down, even if you’re like me and prefer typing (maybe you have bad handwriting) I’d suggest doing both. Write it several times if you have to. The more you write it the more likely you are to remember it.

Tip #2

TRY NOTECARDS

This is one of my favorite test prep activities and thanks to technology you no longer have to write each out on individual notecards (though that may help as well it’s also tedious).

Quizlet.com is the best website for this. Not only can you use the digital notecards but it has an audio button that allows you to hear it and also allows you to test over the material. Another thing I love about Quizlet is it’s easy to find study sets that match your material. I swear Quizlet has gotten me through this semester, I highly suggest it.

Tip #3

  REPETITION  

This is one of the most important things to remember. No matter which technique you choose make sure to repeat the content over and over. You are more likely to retain it if you read over it more than once. When I really have to memorize something I read it at LEAST three times before moving on.

Tip #4

QUIZ YOURSELF/HAVE SOMEONE QUIZ YOU

Another one of the most helpful study tricks for me is to have a partner ask me questions over the material to see how much I’ve actually retained. If you study alone try looking away from your notebook and testing yourself over the material. This is a good way to make sure you’ve actually learned the material and won’t blank out when you get the real test.

Tip #5

GET REST

You’ve probably heard this one a lot but it’s so important. Your brain can not function properly if you’re sleep deprived and you’ll just end up doing worse. If you’re too tired to go on but know you need to study more, try to at least take a power nap, or try waking up earlier to study (I know this can be rough but Starbucks exists so you’ll be fine).

And there you have it you’re ready to crush those finals!

Good luck to all you tired students out there and comment below if you have other great tips that work for you!