Tag Archives: Tips

SEO Tips

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WordPress Newsletter Article

So you have a terrific online store, and you want it to flourish. One way to increase sales is by driving organic traffic to your site. It’s an effective method for attracting customers without having to spend money on ads. This is why many sites are using SEO to draw customers in, according to Search Engine Journal. Wondering how you can get started? Here are four eCommerce website SEO tips that can help grow your bottom line.

1. Make your site easy to understand and use

First off, make sure your site structure is clear, mobile-optimized, and fairly intuitive. It should be easy for visitors on a variety of devices to understand how to use your site and find what they are looking for. Customers must be able to easily search for and locate the products they want. Using the shopping cart and checking out should be a snap, as well. If visitors find your site accessible and helpful, then search engines will, too — and they’ll boost your search engine ranking, sending more organic traffic your way.

2. Choose relevant keywords

Relevant keywords are essential for your site, particularly if you have an eCommerce blog. You can get started with keyword research using a tool such as WordPress SEO by Yoast, SEMRush, or Google Keyword Planner. First, determine the top two keywords you want to rank on. These should be search terms that your target audience might use when searching for your site. They may be competitive, but you should be able to increase your ranking over time by including them on relevant parts of your site, such as meta descriptions, product pages, blog posts, permalinks, and image names. Consider also including less popular, long-tail keywords that will help customers find you. Once you’ve done this, periodically check the keyword ranking for your site to keep track of how you’re doing.

3. Optimize product images

Images frequently appear in Google search results, presenting you with a golden opportunity to get your products noticed. To do so, optimize your product images and primary category images for SEO. In most cases, especially where product photos are concerned, you’ll want to use a high-quality JPEG image. But make sure that the file size isn’t so large that it’s slow to load. Otherwise, customers may decide to move on and leave the site. If the size of the image file you want to use is too large — say, over 2 MB — you can re-size it with image-editing software.

4. Write great product descriptions

Each product in your store should have a brief, well-written product description that is optimized for SEO. It’s important to include relevant keywords in your product descriptions, but only if they fit naturally. Search engines often penalize sites they think are engaging in keyword stuffing — that is, forcing a particular webpage full of keywords in an attempt to game search engine rankings. Although you can use the manufacturer’s product description, writing your own product description usually produces better results.

With these four eCommerce website SEO tips, you can begin driving more organic traffic to your online store. If you have a WordPress.com Business or eCommerce plan and want to optimize your eCommerce site’s SEO even more, you can explore WordPress.com SEO tools or take a free online course on WordPress.com Business SEO.

IT Career

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Changing Career

Mainly (but not only) for my students in the Edmonton area, attending the ITC program at MCG Career group. You are attending a course that will propel you into a new career, an IT career, and one that you should be excited to be part of. The following tips may help you move forward and enjoy the ride.


1. Don’t just step, but jump out of your comfort zone.

2. Don’t worry too much about the first test, “IT Fundamentals”. Just focus on the content being covered each day and keep moving forward.

3. You are in a class that has various levels of IT competence, but don’t compare yourself to these. The only person you have to compete with is yourself. Attend classes at all costs and concentrate on learning something new each day.

4. One thing, don’t be afraid to ask for help from your instructor / mentor or teammates. Peer learning is always an essential skill builder for today’s technology workforce.

5. Know your 30-second “About Me” by heart and be able to give it at a moment’s notice. This statement requires that you know exactly where you want to be and what it takes to get there. I will post more about this next week.

6. Have a short term career plan ready to discuss during interviews, and consider how potential managers and other company leaders might serve as mentors and role models to get to your goals.

7. Connect and build relationships with co-students from the current class and if possible past classes to. Building a professional network should begin on the first day of class or as soon as possible thereafter.

8. Technical skills are essential to a good IT career but mastery of soft skills like communication and active listening are just as important. The critical soft skills for any IT professional are communication, collaboration, critical observation, problem solving and leadership. Possessing any or all these will set you up ahead of the crowd.

9. Great interviews begin with research, so start with the companies website and document their strong points and vision statement and work around them. The interviewer wants to know that you will fit in with the current employees and not disrupt the status quo.

10. Professional organizations and networking events are a great way to network and meet potential employers. This informal environment will be less pressure to discuss potential opportunities than a formal interview.

11. Great interviews are a conversation that is the result of planning and questions prepared ahead of time.

12. You are in the ITC program for a reason, so as soon as possible set goals for yourself, both short and longer term. This will help give you direction, and help you ask the right questions ahead of time.

13. LinkedIn is a great career tool while climbing the IT ladder. Get a head start on establishing an online presence by setting up an account. Do remember that past achievement will be an asset no matter what industry it comes from. Recruiters are always scouring here to find new clients. Connect with others and professional groups. Be there when the recruiters or companies post or search for professionals in your area.
Reflecting on the above, you have to start somewhere, so keep calm set yourself a goal and a task list, work through it one step at a time and you will be amazed how soon your actions will get you to where you want to be. You have to remember the golden rule! you control your own destiny, if you wait on others for direction, you will never be able to really go out and have fun in your new career.

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