| Here is a great traffic-building tip: you can | | | | - For a blind person, the alt tag text is |
| get tons of visitors from Google by using | | | | what they get instead of the photo. And for |
| photos on your site. | | | | people who have images turned off, this |
| | | | alternate text is what that they will see |
| Google has an "Image Search", and when people | | | | instead of the image. |
| look for pictures there, they will see your | | | | |
| photos. Let's say your website is about | | | | 2) How to keep your pages loading fast while |
| roses. If a person searches for a picture of | | | | using images. |
| a rose on Google image search will get a | | | | |
| whole page of pictures of roses. | | | | - Be sure to specify the height and width of |
| | | | the photo. This way the page load is not |
| If the person clicks on a photo that they | | | | slowed down while you are waiting for the |
| like, they will be sent to a page with a | | | | picture to load. |
| small version of your image along with a | | | | |
| snapshot of your web page. A lot of people | | | | If the browser knows the size of your photo, |
| will click through to your web page. | | | | it can leave room for it and continue loading |
| | | | the rest of your page. Otherwise, it has to |
| If you use a really cute or unusual picture, | | | | wait until the photo loads before it knows |
| you can really get a lot of traffic from it. | | | | how much room to leave, which slows down the |
| I discovered this by accident, but I have | | | | loading of the rest of your page. |
| been using it deliberately ever since. | | | | |
| | | | - Check the size of your photo file. It |
| Some ideas for using image search: | | | | should be under 20-30k. This is especially |
| | | | important if you use a lot of images on one |
| 1) Make sure Google knows what the photo is | | | | page. If your file sizes are too large, it |
| about. | | | | can really slow down your page load. |
| | | | |
| - Use your keywords in the file name. Don't | | | | If your image files are too large, use and |
| use some random letters or numbers. Use some | | | | image editor to save them at a lesser |
| words that are related to your post. | | | | quality. A lower quality image will still |
| | | | look good on a web page. |
| - Use keywords in the alt tag of the photo. | | | | |
| Just use a few words. Don't make it | | | | 3) Choose your photos wisely. |
| excessively long. | | | | |
| | | | - Use photos that people will be attracted to |
| - Words found near the photo influence the | | | | and will click on. - Use keywords that are |
| meaning also. Google uses this to figure out | | | | apt to be searched. |
| what the photo is of. So watch what text you | | | | |
| have near your images. | | | | If you follow these tips, your pictures will |
| | | | have a much better chance of being found |
| - Adding a caption to the image will give | | | | first in Google's image search. If you add an |
| Google additional text to figure out the | | | | image to every post you make, this greatly |
| photo's subject. | | | | improves your chances of getting lots of |
| | | | traffic to your website or blog. |