You already know that today you use your phone or computer to search for pretty much everything. Google as a search engine giant alone handles over 60,000 searches a second.

Writing a blog? Rebranding? Starting a new website? As a creative professional, you show your work across a variety spaces online. You want others to find your work. You want to be present.

If your business or profile does not come up in searches, then – in the sense of our digitally connected world, you do not (yet) exist— but you SHOULD. You’re investing hundreds of hours of work and energy into your craft. For many of you in the community, your photographs, art, craft is your livelihood just as it is for each of us here at RUMBO.  Why not show up? We’d argue that it’s a responsibility.

When you do find your space in the internet, it helps to know the rules of the game-  one in which Google is king. Understand the rules, and you can change the way you create an online presence that plays well with the likes of Google, and also frees you to be creative and original. Next we share some tips for seo.

Tip #1: Ensure you are using quality hosting

When people think about where to host our web, many times they choose the cheapest service. But remember that your hosting server will be where all your work would live. In the same way that you’d pick a secure location to live, hosting should be in a space that is reliable and high quality. The best hosting services have great customer service, the ability to securely back up your information and enough space for your web to function optimally, and finally an easy-to-use control panel where you can manage all the features of the service. An great example is Siteground.com

Tip #2: Select a website theme that is high quality

To get the best out of web development and optimization for SEO, we have had great experience with WordPress (although other designers such as Squarespace have their benefits, too). Within WordPress, the you’d get the most out of your website by selecting a theme that matches your brand identity. The theme should coordinate with your style and the message that you want to communicate to your audience. As professionals, this first step is key to maintaining your presence and it creates a path to a coherent visual culture.

Tip #3: Get to know every function of your website builder

Once you’ve set up your virtual storefront, it’s best to get to know everything about its features. From the control panel in your hosting to the website builder you will use to lay out your pages. Be fanatically curious about each function and widget and learn the tools. You’ll be thankful for the time this saves in the future.

Tip #4: Create an SEO strategy

By this we don’t just mean that you should optimze for keywords in a blog post (of course you should!) You want to know the basics of how Google search works and how your target audience finds you through Google. Search for a keyword that where you know you should show up. From there you can start to build a strategy around how to position for SEO, experiment with keywords and phrases and bit by bit use this data as information that allows you to to invest more in the strategies that have a higher return.

We hope these four quick tips help as you build your websites and blogs. We’d love to hear about you experiences and questions.

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