How to Increase Your Website Traffic Without SEO

SEO can be a brilliant strategy to increase your website traffic but it isn’t always enough. 

Imagine you rely on SEO for all your traffic. What happens when the Google algorithm changes? You risk losing potential customers! 

That’s why diversifying your methods of increasing web traffic can offer better results. If you have multiple traffic sources, changing algorithms won’t completely halt your business. You will have a toolkit full of optimization strategies to keep your business running. Diversifying your web traffic can also be helpful in cases where there’s little scope for search engine optimization (for example, podcasts). 

In this post, we’re going to look at effective strategies to grow your website traffic without SEO so you’re never left stranded by algorithm changes again. We’ll also look at practical tips you can start using right now, so you can get back in the game if your traffic has been low for a while. 

Why Should You Try to Grow Traffic Without SEO?

You can generate substantial traffic from SEO alone, but not all traffic is equal.  High-quality traffic (that includes users more likely to convert) offers better ROI, so you need to prioritize it. 

Plus, if you aren’t an SEO expert, you may want to focus on other strategies to grow your website traffic efficiently. 

This doesn’t mean you completely ignore SEO. All websites, irrespective of their niche, must follow the best SEO practices to avoid being penalized by Google and to ensure the site gets indexed. 

The strategies we’ll discuss below can be a helpful addition to a pre-existing SEO plan. 

Top Strategies to Increase Website Traffic Without SEO 

1. Content Marketing

If you have been reading about digital marketing for a while, you must have heard the term “content marketing.” In simple words, it’s a way to organically advertise your brand through high-quality content.

Content marketing strategies often include blog posts, podcast episodes, infographics, YouTube videos, downloadable PDFs, etc. 

For instance, Toggl, a time tracking software company frequently uploads informative blog posts and research data about productivity, work-life, and career. 

This attracts users interested in time management, productivity, and wellbeing in the workplace. When they read Toggl’s blog, they eventually discover Toggl’s time tracking app, among its other productivity tools. Some of these users convert, helping Toggl increase their website traffic and ROI. 

Content marketing isn’t limited to blog posts. If you connect better through audio, you can try launching a podcast or host a webinar. 

Nowadays, most social media apps let you post a variety of content formats including photos, audio clips, long-form text, and videos. You can experiment with one or more of these formats to see what works best for your audience. 

2. Paid Ads

Content marketing is beneficial but it can take a lot of money, especially if you’re paying established writers to create original, well-researched posts for you. 

Most of these projects also take weeks or months to show results, which isn’t a practical timeline for many businesses. 

If you want quicker results with a budget you can control, why not try paid ads?

Seven in ten Americans use social media today. That’s more than two-thirds of the population. Think about the possibilities! 

Paid ads can instantly generate hundreds, if not thousands, of clicks to your website. Plus, with new advertising and social media platforms appearing and innovating regularly, getting your ads in front of the right people is becoming easier than ever.

For example, Facebook offers detailed customer personas and multiple targeting options so you can put your business in front of your target customers without wasting a lot of money on mass advertising. 

However, you don’t have to stick to the largest platforms for effective advertising. In fact, advertising on lesser-known platforms whose audience aligns with your products can be more effective in the long run. 

For example, if your ideal customer includes teens who enjoy memes and weird stories, you’d have much better results by advertising on Reddit, rather than Facebook or YouTube. 

Another option is dating apps. If your brand is focused on relationships or if you’re targeting young singles, advertising on dating apps like Tinder can help you find your target customers faster. 

If you’re worried paid ads will take a lot of money, remember, you don’t need to spend $1,000 on your first day. 

Test the waters with $5-$10 a day and see what happens. Do that for a week, just to learn how different media platforms work.

3. Social Media Strategies

One of the best ways to increase your website traffic is to meet your customers where they like to hang out. Like we discussed earlier, almost everyone is using social media today. Ramping up your social media marketing efforts can help you reach new users, develop brand awareness and increase website traffic. 

How to gain website traffic through social media?

When it comes to social media, you can’t just barge into “conversations” and ask people to buy something from you or to visit your website. 

Think about how you’d present your brand in real life when you meet an individual for the first time. Would you immediately talk sales in their face? How about providing details about your product/service without introducing yourself first?

Remember, users visit their preferred social media platforms for entertainment, not for being sold to. 

To make sure your efforts are well-received, you need to provide value first and develop positive relationships with your potential “followers.”

You can do this by sharing informative posts like How-Tos, or posting fun photos of your employees, like this post from Casper.

I wrote a detailed guide to increasing social media followers and boosting engagement. Here’s a summary of the top options to help you grow your website traffic. 

• join relevant Facebook groups
• share helpful articles/videos in these groups
• post updates about your company’s latest products 
• host contests and giveaways 
• Leave thoughtful comments on user-generated content 

4. Link Building Strategies

When marketing teams talk about SEO, link building frequently comes to mind. When reputable websites link to your content, the algorithm favors your website and increases its rank on the search page.

Sounds helpful, but that’s not all. 

Did you know link building can help you increase web traffic without relying on SEO?

Link building for brand awareness is a process where you focus your strategies on expanding your reach, putting your content in front of new users, and generating conversations around your brand. 

This is more than just a casual backlink in a blog post. Link building for brand awareness takes more planning and resources, but the investment is worth the high-quality leads you’ll get. 

Here are some tips for developing effective link building strategies to increase website traffic:

• Engage with your audience: Create interesting, shareable posts and encourage your followers to respond and share your content. 
• Work with PRs: Recruit efficient PRs to help generate brand awareness and distribute your story to your desired audience. 
• Guest blog intentionally: Choose unique publications that align with your readers’ key interests and post guest blogs on their page. 

5. Interact With Other Blogs

Guest blogging is an effective traffic-driving strategy aimed at leveraging somebody else’s audience to widen your brand’s reach. 

Think about it: Somebody in your niche has a large, engaged following. Imagine if you could put your content in front of them. How much traffic could you drive to your website! 

Why would someone publish your work?

Probably because you’re good at what you do. 

Everyone is looking for high-quality content. If you can provide a well-researched, helpful post for free, people are often open to publishing it on their website. After all, it’s benefiting their audience at zero cost. 

Why would you give precious content away for free?

It’ll help you gain access to hundreds, if not thousands of new users, many of whom could become long-term customers. 

It’s a win-win situation, but you have to be careful how you approach it. 

Start by searching for blogs and media publications that publish content relevant to your business. For example, if you run a recruiting company, publish content on business blogs read by people interested in the latest recruiting practices. 

If you want to find blogs in your industry that are accepting guest posts, use the following search queries to see more specific results:

• name of your niche + “write for us”
• name of your niche + “submit guest post”
• name of your niche + “sites that accept guest posts”
• write guest article + ‘name of your niche” + blog

Solvid provides a comprehensive list of places accepting guest blogs:

In addition, research online biographies of specific companies and bloggers. More often than not, their web profiles contain a handy list of sites where they’ve been invited to guest post. That’s a plethora of most fitting guest blog opportunities presented to you on a silver platter.

Then, send a request. Most websites will have publication guidelines you can follow. Follow these instructions carefully to increase your chances of publication. 

There’s also the option of using blog comments as a way to generate traffic to your site.

In the past, I have managed to generate $25,000 as a result of 249 comments.

How exactly do you go about using comments to generate traffic?

When leaving a comment, make sure you are adding something worthwhile to the discussion.

There is no use in leaving comments like “Awesome post!” or “Nice website!”

If someone posts a question, make sure you take the time to answer thoughtfully.

This showcases your expertise in the given niche and will encourage someone reading to click on your name and be taken through to your site.

If you read an article on a subject you don’t know very well, it would be imprudent to voice your own thoughts as fact. In this situation, you should simply ask questions. Then the website owner would be able to elaborate more on complex topics or complicated sections.

If you’re knowledgeable about a subject, feel free to contribute (e.g., suggest something, recommend a solution, answer a question). If you’re a novice, it’s best to ask questions. Powerful questions can bring you website traffic by encouraging blog readers to check you out.

Avoid embedding links in your comments. It comes off as a wretched attempt to plant your flag on someone’s lawn.

It’s okay to use your website’s link in the URL field when entering your name and email address, but your comment needs to add to the conversation or challenge an idea without lazy attempts at driving traffic to your blog.

Refrain from using the name of your business as your “commenting name.”  Use your actual full name instead.

Using a random or fake name is a missed opportunity to build strong branding because your brand actually starts with your name. In fact, failing to use your full name will reduce your chances of the website owner approving your comment.

6. Email Marketing

If you read a few posts on digital marketing, email marketing would be mentioned in most of them. That’s because it’s still one of the most efficient ways to increase website traffic. 

One study suggests email generates $36 for every $1 spent, offering a shocking 3,600 percent ROI. What more could you ask for?

Email marketing lets you reach potential customers directly. It’s an ideal platform for building long-term relationships for improved customer loyalty. You can post questions, ask for feedback, introduce soft sales, and persuade customers for the “big buy.” 

Here are some tips for effective email marketing to increase website traffic:

• Be real: Share stories, post behind-the-scenes content, and solicit original user-generated content. 
• Offer value: Just like content marketing needs a high value to convert readers, emails and newsletters must provide value before they make an ask. 
• Include all your links:  Make it easy to read and share your post.  Include links to your social media profiles, latest blog posts, and sales page in every email you send. 

7. Provide Excellent Customer Service and Ask Customers to Review Your Brand

Ramping up your social media marketing efforts to increase website traffic is useless if you offer poor customer service. 

According to a survey, 42 percent of customers said they bought more after pleasant customer service experiences.

Think about it: Users complain on social media, you offer a prompt and polite response. What happens? The person starts respecting your brand. 

Even when users complain privately via email, it’s important to offer the best possible service so they come back for more. 

How can you offer great customer service?

• reply promptly
• offer as many suggestions for customer problems as possible 
• apologize when you make a mistake and offer coupons/refunds 

If you consistently provide great customer service, you can request users to review your brand. 

Platforms like Trustpilot and Yelp can be great for building positive reviews. Many users consult these websites before making a purchase decision, so having a solid profile can help improve your reputation. 

Increase Website Traffic Without SEO Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to increase website traffic without SEO?

Yes. You can use a combination of social media marketing strategies and content marketing techniques to increase website traffic without SEO. 

Are there ways to increase website traffic for free?

Guest blogging, posting on social media, and requesting user-generated content are some of the most effective ways to increase website traffic for free. 

Can I increase website traffic through marketing without an agency?

You can use techniques like guest blogging and content marketing to engage audiences without relying on any agency.

What's the best strategy to increase website traffic quickly?

Working on improving your social media strategies can help you connect with new users, develop brand awareness and drive organic traffic relatively fast. 

Increase Website Traffic Without SEO Conclusion

You shouldn’t only rely on search engines to increase website traffic. Algorithm changes and SEO techniques become outdated quickly. 

The strategies we discussed today can help you create a comprehensive digital marketing plan to increase website traffic effectively. 

Whether you use one of these tactics in isolation, or you use all of them together, they can transform the way you attract customers.

Which traffic-driving strategy will you try today?

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How to Use Twitter Trending Topics in Marketing

Trends come and go. Bell bottom jeans, Rubix cubes, flannel. How are you supposed to keep up with it all?

This is even more of a puzzle in a digital world. Trends don’t stick around for a decade or a year. Sometimes things change overnight.

Harnessing what’s trending could be a powerful fuel for your digital marketing strategy, for the content you are creating, and for reaching your target market with a message that resonates.

Luckily, Twitter trending topics are an up-to-the-minute resource for staying on top of what’s hot. You’ll learn what people are talking about, how they’re feeling, what they’re wondering about, and what’s the general buzz. From that, you can build campaigns and content around topics that matter.

What Are Twitter Trending Topics and How Do They Work?

Have you seen Twitter trending topics as you scroll the news or check out the latest updates from your favorite content creators?

Twitter trending topics are based mainly on Twitter’s algorithm. Twitter figures out what many people are talking about to determine what is popular and shares it.

Under Twitter trending topics in the “What’s Happening” section, you’ll see not only popular tweets that are being reshared and commented on over and over again but also a synopsis of the stories and headlines associated with those tweets to give you some context.

Twitter uses data based on your interactions and what you’ve liked and followed to share tweets and topics that Twitter thinks you’ll be most interested in. This is especially helpful because what’s trending in your networks and with your friends may not be what’s trending on the other side of the country or world, or even what different demographics are talking about.

To find your trending topics, click on the “For You” link on the website or magnifying glass icon on the Twitter app. Then you can use the tabs to explore certain trending topics and figure out which bandwagons you can hop on, which conversations you can contribute to, and where you can focus your marketing efforts.

8 Ways to Use Twitter Trending Topics

You can use Twitter trending topics to give you insights into what’s going on in the world and help you understand your target market’s interests so that when you reach out, you speak directly to what’s important to them.

1. See What’s Popular in Your Niche

By default, Twitter is going to show trending topics tailored to your interests. This will be even more specific when you are active on Twitter. If you’re already active in following and interacting with content related to your niche, you’re going to start seeing trending topics that reflect those interests.

This can also be a gut check for you as you try to figure out what people are talking about and what’s important to them right now. You may feel like you know what the big topics of the day are: TV shows, products, music, and more are, but you need validation.

This is especially useful if you aren’t personally in the same demographic or interest group as your target market. You may not already know what the hottest trends are.

2. View Related Tweets to See Users’ Opinions on the Topic

Once you start getting an idea of what’s trending, you can dive deeper to find out how people are reacting and feeling about a topic.

Oftentimes, trending topics reflect news stories or happenings around the world. In addition to seeing those headlines, you can explore real-world tweets from users.

The big picture here is that every topic is nuanced and primed for a variety of emotions. Those real tweets can serve as an unbiased focus group, where you can hear from your target market about the trending topic.

3. Check the Trending Topics Frequently to See What’s Consistently Trending

In addition to seeing what’s new and happening in the world, Twitter trending topics can help you see what’s consistently trending. By checking in regularly, you’ll start to get a feel for what is remaining popular, rather than just being a flash in the pan.

Some trends come and go in a blink of an eye, while others start to frame our conversations and drive our narratives. They start to really become part of who we are and what’s happening in our lives.

You can get a handle on those more foundational trends by checking on Twitter trending topics regularly. When you start to see the same (or related topics) coming up frequently, you can use those topics for pillar content.

4. Identify and Avoid Downward Trending Topics

On a similar note, you can use Twitter trending topics to help you see what’s losing momentum. As we get busy with our marketing agenda, we can lose touch with what’s going on in the day-to-day lives of our target market.

As we sit down to create a marketing campaign, it’s easy to look backward and think about what’s been working for others or what’s been discussed over the past few weeks or months.

However, by the time your content or ads roll out, is that still going to be the hot topic? Short of a crystal ball, it can be difficult to know if a topic will still be trending in the next week or month. Twitter trending topics can be the place to forecast trends.

Are the tweets growing in emotion, passion, and frequency? Is the conversation growing or waning? Is the conversation dying down? Are fewer people tweeting about it as time goes on? Is that topic not regularly making the Twitter trending topics list?

Steer clear of declining topics in your upcoming content and lead generation to avoid being out of date or yelling into the wind. (You can also cross-reference with Google Trends to see if topic searches have increased or decreased as well.)

5. Find Local Trends in Your City and State

It’s great to know what everyone in the world is talking about, but if you have a locally-based or locally-driven brand, you need to know how people are feeling in your particular area.

There’s a lot of major news and topics that roll through every day. Are people in your area talking about it? How do they feel about it? How is it impacting them?

You will be able to see local Twitter trending topics by interacting with local events and allowing Twitter to access your location on the desktop or app. Twitter can then use your location to share area-specific trending topics.

You can also get specific by typing your topic or hashtag into the search function. You can use the “advanced search” settings to look for tweets sent from a geographical area.

This is great to engage with and even lead the conversations regarding those topics. Be involved.

6. Identify Connected Keywords and Hashtags

Growing your awareness of Twitter trending topics can not only give you general feelings about the latest things going on in the world, but it can also give you specific insights into keywords and hashtags that people are using surrounding those topics.

Which words and phrases are people using in regards to those topics? What are they specifically not using? You can learn a lot from researching top tweets.

If you are creating pay-per-click ads or keyword-driven ads, knowing those natural keywords and phrases can help you lean into those.

If you are creating a social media campaign, knowing those hashtags can help you reach that same audience.

7. Content Ideation

When you’re not sure what to write about, turn to Twitter trending topics for some inspiration. Here you can pick up tips about what people are talking about.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to write about the specific topics that come up in those trending tweets but may serve as inspiration. What are the general concepts that your target audience seems to be talking about a lot?

For instance, maybe every four years, it’s the Olympics that are drawing everyone’s attention. You don’t have to mirror the same stories that everyone is sharing, but now you know that those anecdotes of inspiration and perseverance are popular with your audience.

8. Take a Stand

Sharing a broader vision can bring authenticity and humanity to your brand. As you are seeing certain news stories dominate the Twitter conversation day after day, don’t be afraid to share some of those words of justice, hope, and change.

You don’t have to reshare or retell the stories to jump into the conversations. Speaking to the issues that your target market is truly passionate about can help you feel relatable—and can work for the greater good by sharing resources or education.

Bringing new value and insightful thought to a conversation can help you generate notice, helping increase your brand awareness and following. Just tread lightly here and don’t try to appear to fit in, when it’s obvious it’s not OK for brands to chime in.

Why Are Trends Important in Marketing?

If only you could guess what your target market was going to want in the coming days, weeks, months.

To create campaigns that speak natively to your target audience, you’re going to have to be aware of what’s trending. What are they thinking about? What are they likely to be thinking about in the future?

It’s impossible to read your audience’s minds, but careful research can help you stay aware of the topics that matter the most to them.

On the other hand, one of the worst ways to waste time, money, and energy in your marketing is to create an amazing campaign or piece of content that falls flat by not connecting with your audience in authentic ways that matter to them.

Being timely and relevant are two of the most important ingredients in any digital marketing effort. Use Twitter trending topics to help you stay abreast of what’s happening, and capitalize on topics that work!

Twitter Trending Topics Frequently Asked Questions

What is trending now on Twitter?

You can find out what’s trending on Twitter by going to the “Explore” section on the desktop or mobile versions. For the app, you can click the magnifying glass icon to access what’s currently trending.

How do you find local Twitter trending topics?

Twitter will show you local trending topics if you have your location turned on in the privacy settings. You can also search for tweets coming from specific geographic locations using advanced search settings.

How can I use Twitter trending topics in marketing?

Twitter trending topics give you specific insights into what real people are talking about and thinking about. You can find out what’s growing and declining in popularity and use these topics to inform your SEO, content, ad, lead generation, and social media strategies.

How are trending topics related to keywords?

Twitter trending topics reveal the stories and concepts that people are talking about, as well as real-world tweets about those topics. These tell you the words and phrases people are using to speak and search about those topics.

Conclusion of Twitter Trending Topics

Twitter is more than just a place to check the latest news or updates. You can dive deeper and find out what your target audience is interested in. That’s a powerful insight that can drive your content marketing and social media marketing strategies.

Make sure that as you are following Twitter trending topics, you remain engaged with your niche so that the Twitter algorithm can continue to show you more about that area of interest. Dive into geographical areas to learn more about local audiences and opinions.

Let this research drive what and how you talk about key issues in your content, website, social media, and more. You may even learn something new!

What trending topics have you recently discovered?

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The Ultimate Guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites

If you’re retailing products and want to reach the widest audience possible, having a well-optimized e-commerce website is an absolute must.

Why? Well, there are several benefits.

A great e-commerce website helps you understand the basics about your customers, for example, demographics like their locations, age groups, and how they found you.

By using tracking, you can then use your visitor’s information for behavior analysis to get to know them even better.

An e-commerce website does more than this, though. It can also help you understand where things are going wrong. For example, which traffic sources don’t work, which offers don’t appeal, and cart abandonment issues and their potential causes.

Of course, the more obvious reason you would want to have your site fully optimized: the growth of e-commerce worldwide. Year on year, e-commerce keeps growing, and this pattern looks like it will continue.

If you’re already online, that’s great. However, you risk remaining invisible to fresh prospects and new leads if you don’t take proactive steps to increase visibility.

How do you do that? It’s simple enough: with SEO for e-commerce.

What Is SEO for E-Commerce?

SEO for e-commerce is a strategy that helps web retailers rank higher in search engine results. A well-designed and optimized website with high-quality content will rank better in search engines such as Google, increasing your store’s visibility and driving traffic.

In other words, SEO for e-commerce concentrates on optimizing your site, which makes it easier to get leads and conversions.

However, unlike SEO for content-focused websites, SEO for e-commerce is more than just adding keywords, writing blog posts, and gaining links. You need to understand how search engines work and what they reward.

That means having a working knowledge of SEO for e-commerce, considering Google’s guidelines, analyzing buyer intent, and implementing it strategically.

E-Commerce SEO Best Practices

E-commerce for SEO is a complex field, and with millions of online retail sites in existence, it’s not always easy to make your site stand out.

While it might seem like a huge challenge to build your SEO rankings, you can make a positive start by applying some best practices. In time, this increases your chances of visibility and gaining more organic leads and customers.

For the unfamiliar, what do best practices for SEO for e-commerce look like? Well, you could start by addressing fundamentals like:

• navigation
• internal links
• avoiding clutter
• creating unique content
• including alt text for images

However, there’s far more you can do. Below, explore our list of SEO for e-commerce best practices you can implement today.

1. Perform Keyword Research the Right Way

There are many different ways to optimize your e-commerce site, and not every approach is suitable for every site or product. However, some guidelines apply to every online retailer, and one of them is performing keyword research correctly.

Yes, you want the most relevant and popular keywords in your industry, but you must also understand buyer intent.

Keyword intent is the intention behind a search query. You can identify it by looking at the specific phrases and terms people use when looking for an item online.

There are two main types of keyword intent you see most often.

Informational Keyword Intent

Informational keyword intent is used in SEO to describe the type of information the searcher is looking for.

These types of searches usually consist of:

• How tos: These are searches that contain questions such as “how do I?”
• Direct purchase: These involve searches with keywords like “buy this.”
• Factual queries: These use words such as “fact” and “information” when a searcher wants more details about a subject.

Commercial Keyword Intent

Commercial keyword intent is when people are looking for information to help them make a purchase. This means that they want to find what they need and buy it as fast as possible.

Consumers typically use commercial keyword intents when they know what they want but don’t know where to find it yet. You see this when you’re typing specific terms into Google like “buy digital camera” or “find new laptop deals.”

Commercial keyword users typically have more intent to purchase and are less likely to search for information about the product or service than just researching where to find it.

Determining Keyword Intent

Deciding consumers’ keyword intent seems challenging, but you can make it easier on yourself. For example, AgencyAnalytics breaks it down into stages.

1. Analyzing SERPs: Pay special attention to paid ads, knowledge graph results, and organic listings.
2. Look at Google ads for commercial intent: Seeing bid prices for keywords gives an idea of how competitive keywords are.
3. Review your analytics: Look for content with high bounce rates as it may mean it doesn’t match with searcher intent.

You could also use keyword tools like Google’s keyword planner. Others you can try include:

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free online tool that can find long-tail and related words to any topic or keyword, or you can opt for the paid version.

This tool is great for content writers, bloggers, copywriters, and marketers who want to generate new content ideas or find out what users are searching for about a given topic.

Features include:

• backlink data
• rank tracking
• site audit reports

Backlink Data

To see what backlinks you are getting from other sites, go to the backlink analyzer under SEO Explorer. This can help you see who is already a fan and what related sites you can target for more linkbuilding.

Rank Tracking

See how you rank in organic SERPs for your target keywords with Ubersuggest rank tracking. That way, you can see how you have improved over time. This is under Dashboard on the left side.

Site Audit

Run a site audit to track what issues need to be fixed on your site that could be affecting user experience and organic traffic. Think of the audit as a starting point, then review it regularly to make sure you’re fixing other issues. This is under the SEO Analyzer section. One the audit has run, it will tell you your top SEO issues and how to fix them.

It also has a free chrome extension to do keyword research while you’re conducting Google or YouTube searches.

Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great tool. It lets you uncover what people all over the world are curious about and going through.

Answer the Public is intuitive, too. Just enter your keyword on the homepage to understand precisely what people are asking. It can also help you find which topics are most popular at any given time, which might be helpful as another tool for keyword research. However, if you want further guidance, there’s a set of tutorials available.

It’s free to use, but you can upgrade to pro for more features. The following example uses “multivitamins.”

The results give a detailed picture of the kind of questions people are asking and give a better idea of intent.

2. Optimize Product Pages to Improve Ranking

If you want to attract and acquire new customers, look at your on-page user optimization. It matters because it gets your site a higher rank, meaning fresh streams of organic traffic and more conversions.

Not every area of your e-commerce site needs optimizing, so in this section, let’s focus on the ones that matter most to online retailers: product descriptions, images, and reviews.

Optimize Your Product Descriptions

A product page is interesting because it has a lot of different features that all need attention. You also want a few things to stand out from the page to gain visitors’ engagement and get them to click through.

To begin optimizing your e-commerce product pages, you need to keep in mind three key aspects:

1. What are the most crucial things on the page?
2. How can you maximize visibility and impact with these elements?
3. How can you use this information to improve your product description’s effectiveness?

Now, start looking at what you can do to maximize the impact of your product descriptions. This could be things like.

• adding multiple, high-quality, unique images
• including keywords
• including detailed, keyword-rich descriptions
• adding calls to action (CTAs)
• including testimonials

Optimize Your Images

A sometimes neglected area of SEO for e-commerce is images. Photos are an excellent way to communicate a message and draw in an audience. However, they can also distract people from the message you are trying to convey, so be careful not to use too many images and crowd your descriptions.

Although quality images are vital to show your goods at their best, there’s more to it than that. Optimizing your images for SEO will give you higher search engine rankings and more traffic from potential customers and may gain you traffic from social media channels.

Here are some pointers for optimizing your images:

• Choose suitable images for your platform. Your host usually specifies optimal image sizes and other image guidelines.
• Provide captions with alt tags for pictures.
• Use the right keywords in file names.

Feature Reviews

Reviews provide a snippet of information that helps shoppers weigh whether to go with a particular product or store.

Reviews are vital for success in e-commerce as so many people rely on them. Additionally, they help you build trust with your potential customers and improve conversion rates.

You can encourage customers to leave reviews by sending automated messages whenever they purchase. You can also set up email campaigns to send out reminders or offers once they have left a review on your site.

Before moving on, here are more optimization tips:

• Use canonical tags to link duplicate product pages and similar group products together.

• Create a well-written page that includes the necessary information about the product, an image of the product, and a video of it in action.
• Include at least one CTA on your product page. For example, “Add To Cart” or “Check Availability.”
• Make sure you include shipping details and policies upfront so customers know what they’re paying from the start.

3. Make Sure Your Site Is User Friendly

UX stands for user experience. You can enhance UX by good design, making the aesthetics more visually appealing.

However, it’s not just about making a website look good; it’s about making it work well. UX includes everything from navigation, ease of use, and the overall “feel” of the website.

UX is also about making sure people can find what they are looking for, keeping them engaged while browsing, and giving visitors the best experience possible.

You may not think that UX affects SEO, but the interaction between the two began some years ago, and UX is also imperative for discoverability.

Additionally, recent changes mean that UX is soon to be a Google ranking factor. According to Search Engine Land, that means if Google thinks your website offers visitors a bad experience, it may rank lower. Google measures the new ranking with “Core Web Vitals” and has set out its guidelines online.

Many things can influence UX, but a few key factors are apparent:

• Ads shouldn’t interfere with the user’s view of content.

• Your site should load quickly and be mobile-friendly.
• Any website should be clutter-free and easy to navigate.
• You should include CTAs, so customers know what to do next.

Finally, use consistent styling throughout, and make it accessible.

4. Don’t Forget Long-Tail Keywords

You usually see long-tail keywords on the right side of a search engine results page (SERP).

A long-tail keyword is a term that typically has low search volume but still meets the criteria for relevancy to your business. They also tend to convert well because they’re a better match for what the searcher is looking for, and they typically give higher traffic.

For those reasons, you shouldn’t be afraid to rank for long-tail keywords because they’re a valuable source of traffic.

Long-tail keywords are great for:

• competitive niches
• increased conversion rates
• ranking new sites more easily

You can find long-tail keywords by using Google’s “People also ask” or use a free keyword tool like Ubersuggest. There are plenty of other tools available too.

The following example uses Wordtracker, where the search for “dumbells” delivered this:

As you can see, they give you a firm idea of what your customer is looking for and of their intentions.

5. Use a Simple URL Structure

There are more detailed guides on URL structures, but this section gives you the basics.

A simple URL structure not only enhances the user experience but also improves your SEO e-commerce efforts to some extent.

Additionally, when your e-commerce site has a simple URL structure, it’s easier to share products on social media and other websites, and it can improve SEO for e-commerce as it provides more relevant data for search engines.

For the best results, URLs should be as readable and understandable as possible.

For instance, here’s an example of what NOT to do: https://ift.tt/3zwHiWq

It would be much better to use this URL structure: https://ift.tt/3gNJjGp

Google also has some advice on improving URL structure.

Additionally, you can:

Use Keywords

Search engines scan the URL and use the keywords in the URL to determine where that page should rank in the SERPs. The keywords in the URL are called “metatags” and help tell search engines what the content or topic of that page is.

That’s why you must spend some time thinking about your keywords before deciding on a URL structure.

When people search for your business online, they often type in the precise words they’re looking for. As an example, a person may type in “online shoe store” into a search engine.

Therefore, when someone types in “online shoe store,” it’s crucial those words are somewhere in your URL structure.

Use Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are a navigational tool. They allow website visitors to retrace previous steps and return to where they started. Breadcrumbs are not just a usability technique but also provide additional SEO benefits.

For example, if you visit a blog post from your main homepage, the breadcrumb for that post would be “Home > Blog > This Post.”

You find breadcrumbs in many web design tools, and you can add them by using markup tags or via JavaScript.

Avoid Stop Words

Common stop words are “the,” “and,” “of,” and “a.”

Stop words can decrease your content’s readability and may lower your SEO rankings.

In addition, stop words are less likely to hold a reader’s interest. By removing these words from your website, you can use those spaces for more creative and relevant copy.

6. Use Schema Markups to Help Google and Users Understand Content

Schema markups are HTML tags that provide additional information about the content on web pages. By using these markups, it can improve your SEO for e-commerce efforts.

When you use schema markup, it produces rich snippets. These are a way for search engines to show more information about specific items in the search results.

They also help people find what they are looking for faster and easier by showing different types of information.

There are many different types of rich snippets, such as:

• product markup snippets
• music snippets
• review snippets

The kinds of e-commerce schema are:

• Product schema: This is an extension for products, services, and organizations. It enables discovering new products and services in web search queries by providing rich product information such as images, price, and availability. Product schema also allows the display of product ads on the SERPs.
• Review schema: This enables online reviews. The author and title filters allow you to find specific people who have written reviews on your website or blog post and for searchers to find product reviews.
• Product availability schema: The product availability schema is a list of products that are available to purchase. It can be a single page, or it can be within an online store. Such lists typically detail the product name, description, price, images, and variants.
• Video schema: Video schema is a type of metadata used to describe the content and format. For example, video schema may include the audio language, video resolution, or age rating of the video.
• Price schema: Price schema is a technique for the pricing of products or a price range.

7. Avoid Duplicate Pages and Content

Have you ever visited a website and got the feeling you’ve read it all somewhere before? That’s all too common with production descriptions and category descriptions when online retailers use duplicate product catalogs and images.

It’s understandable why e-commerce sellers just republish the same descriptions. Usually, it’s simply because they don’t have the resources to produce fresh content themselves.

However, even if you don’t have time to rewrite everything, you can still significantly reduce the amount of duplication on your site in product descriptions and other areas.

For instance, by

• using a CMS with site-wide 301 redirects or adding canonical tags on every page that you know might have duplicates (pages with similar titles, pages that share an identical URL, etc.)
• adding a suffix to the URL
• using different product images
• adding unique keywords on other pages

8. Don’t Let Page Speed Kill Your Ranking

Website page speed loading time is the measurement of how long it takes for an internet user to open a web page. You can measure it by adding up the time to download all the non-hidden assets, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets.

Page speed is a ranking factor, and survey after survey shows consumers aren’t willing to wait around while a site loads.

Web-users say their ideal site speed is just two seconds, but the faster, the better. If you’re not sure about your current speeds, you can test it at Cloudflare or try Google’s tool.

What should you do if your site is too slow? First, you need to find the reason. It could be:

• Your site simply has too much content for your server to handle.
• Too many scripts are slowing down load times.
• Images take an excessive amount of time to load.
• There’s a problem with your web host.

While not all e-commerce site owners can guarantee a perfect 100 percent on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, you can try and fasten load times by:

• having fewer images on the pages

• compressing files
• using fewer social media widgets
• optimizing your images
• avoiding clutter and using plenty of white space
• limiting redirects and HTTP requests
• fastening your server response time

Additionally, you might want to think about changing web hosts or upgrading your hosting package to accommodate your needs better.

9. Content Does Matter for E-Commerce

E-commerce isn’t just about images and keywords. Written content should also be part of your SEO for e-commerce strategy.

Posting regular content not only attracts organic traffic. It can gain your customers’ trust, boost your website rankings, and solidify your reputation as an expert in your niche too.

There are many types of content you can focus on:

• sharing how-to pieces and answering FAQs
• new product launches and anything newsworthy
• a glossary page
• including user-generated content (UGC)
• testimonials and launches
• video demonstrations and Q and As
• webinars

For more ideas, take it a step further and get to know your audience so you understand their main concerns and problems. This allows you to write content that addresses their everyday worries and offer products that solve these.

Now you’ve got some ideas for content. However, content isn’t worthwhile without a strategy behind it. Let’s break it down:

1. Get to know your customers better with buyer personas.
2. Understand their preferred content. If you’re tracking your content data, you should see which content types get the most views. Additionally, you can ask customers and prospects through surveys or groups.
3. Establish a content calendar and create the content.
4. Publish the appropriate content for the various stages of the buying cycle.
5. Use A/B testing in key areas like titles.
6. Measure the results and tweak.

10. Link Building for E-Commerce

Link building is a ranking factor for SEO. Quality links tell Google that your site has credibility. Backlinks also influence how your website ranks for keywords.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But just how do you go about creating these all-important backlinks?

A few ways to do this are:

• creating internal backlinks
• writing guest posts
• using social media ads
• sharing content on social media
• issuing press releases
• writing blog comments and sharing on forums (if allowed)
• creating infographics and sharing them online
• issuing whitepapers and case studies

These are all legitimate ways to build quality links. Although they can take time, you shouldn’t take shortcuts by buying links. Some paid links violate Google’s guidelines, and if you’re buying cheap links, the quality is usually questionable. Poor quality links lead to lower SERP rankings and reduced traffic, as well as a potential negative impact on your site’s reputation.

11. Add a Sitemap

A sitemap is a visual representation of your website or digital product. It provides visitors with a bird’s eye view of the website and explores different pages.

Your sitemap should detail all of the pages on your site, from category pages to product pages. It should also include all the subcategories, products, and other content within those sections.

You can develop a sitemap manually or use an automated tool such as Google’s Webmaster Tools to generate one. Sitemaps use both XML and HTML, although HTML sitemaps are more helpful to visitors.

Other tools for creating a sitemap are:

Lucid Sitemap Generator

The Lucid chart sitemap generator is a user-friendly tool that makes creating a sitemap for your website easy. It has many features, like adding categories and subcategories.

Powermapper

Powermapper is an easy-to-use tool for creating and updating sitemaps and allows you to generate one-click checkouts.

It’s a web-based tool with no coding expertise required. However, there is a fee.

12. Make Social Sharing Easy

Google’s Matt Cutts once said that social sharing doesn’t impact SEO, but many would disagree.

While social media sharing may not directly affect your SEO, sharing your content on social media increases brand exposure and gets people more familiar with your business.

Further, the more mentions you get on social media, the more influence this can have on your SEO by:

• driving organic traffic and increasing visibility
• improving local SEO
• expanding your content reach and enhancing brand recognition
• increasing backlinks

If you want an easy way to increase your shares on social media, consider getting a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to automatically post content from your site across all of your social media accounts at scheduled intervals.

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO for E-Commerce

How do I Find the Right Keywords For my E-commerce Store?

There are several free resources that you can use to find keyword ideas, such as Google AdWords, Ubersuggest, and Google’s Keyword Tool. You should also look at what your competitors are using to find the best keywords for their audience.

Finally, avoid using broad keywords that generate many clicks but don’t provide much conversion value. Use long-tail keywords where you can.

How Much Does SEO for E-Commerce Cost?

The cost of SEO depends on many factors, including the number of keywords targeted, competitive landscape, and how much effort you need to optimize each page for ranking.

It’s not easy to put a price tag on SEO because it depends on how many resources you allocate and what you want to achieve. To help you budget, Search Engine Journal provides an SEO budget calculator.

What Is SEO for E-Commerce?

SEO for e-commerce is the process of optimizing a website so that it can rank more highly in search engines. Several factors affect how well a website ranks on the SERPs, such as the quality and relevance of the content, the use of appropriate keywords to optimize the site, and the site’s load speed.

How Is SEO for E-Commerce Different?

When it comes to SEO for e-commerce, there are different areas you need to focus on, such as optimizing:

• product pages and descriptions
• diversifying product content and information
• images on your website
• your homepage

SEO for E-Commerce Conclusion

SEO for e-commerce helps boost your website visibility, brings new queries and customers, and helps build your loyal audience.

It may seem like there’s a lot to think about. However, by concentrating on the main SEO best practices and optimizing the critical areas of your website, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds.

The most important thing to remember is SEO for e-commerce doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it’s an ongoing strategy that requires updating as you go to get the optimum results.

What is your experience of SEO for e-commerce? Tell us below.

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The Complete Guide to Designing Visually Stunning Content (Even If You’re Not a Graphic Artist)

Let’s face it: a picture really is worth a thousand words, but an image you made yourself?

Priceless.  

Compelling images create a connection between you and your audience and help you build on that relationship. They encourage discussion and shares.

In short, images convert.

According to Venngage, 64 percent of marketers say images are “very important” or “essential” to their marketing strategy.

Yet, 40 percent of marketers use stock photos in their content.

While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional stock photo, businesses that want to stand out need to make the effort to create unique, stunning visual content.

The good news? You don’t have to drop thousands on a graphic design pro. With the right tools and knowledge, you can create stunning visual content on your own.

In this guide, you’ll learn which tools are the best for creating the most in-demand graphics (like social media cover photos, infographics, and trendy header images) and basic graphic design principles to help your visual content stand out.

Graphic Design Tools to Create and Optimize Visual Content

You know you need to be able to create stylish, professional-looking results – but how do you do it?

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of tools offering easy-to-use graphic design platforms.

The best part is that there’s no graphic design experience needed to create stunning, share-worthy images. You can simply drag and drop the elements you want to get surprisingly good results.

Even when you’re done, you can optimize the finished graphics to load fast and look great on any device; no designer necessary!

Here are a few of my personal favorites, along with the types of images you can create with them. 

Tools to Design Your Own Graphics

Creating graphics doesn’t require a degree in visual arts. Drag and drop editing tools make it easy to create infographics, blog photos, social media posts, and more.

Canva

This is a full-fledged graphic design program distilled into a simple, drag-and-drop platform. It works right from your browser, so there’s no huge software download or complicated licensing scheme to wade through.

Canva lets you create a whole host of graphics and sizing and dimensions are already taken care of.

Create everything from flyers to business cards or social media images and infographics. Use your own photos or browse Canva’s 1 million+ stock photo library where you can license images for as little as $1 each.

Simply choose a template as a starting point (or create your own if you’re feeling brave). Then, customize your colors, icons, photos, and fonts to design your own perfectly built graphic masterpiece.

Beyond photos, Canva also has a fully stocked library of graphical elements and shapes that form the perfect backdrop for any image. Simply search, drag and drop your way to an image you’ll be proud to say that you created.

A wide range of images and styles are available – ranging from social network graphics to collage-style images and everything in between.

The best part is most of Canva is free to use, apart from the photo licensing fees and added features. So you can create as many graphics as you want without restrictions. You can even log in using your Google or Facebook account – saving you from yet another password to remember.

PicMonkey

If Canva isn’t your jam, I suggest PicMonkey. It’s a pretty similar platform, but slightly more in-depth. If you want to erase backgrounds, add fonts, and even edit photos, it’s a great choice.

Top features include templates for different social media photos, photo editing, tons of graphic elements, and plenty of templates. Like Canva, it is a drag-and-drop photo and graphic editor and pretty intuitive to use.

Pricing starts at $7.99 a month for their basic plan, which includes 1GB of cloud storage, video editing, tons of fonts, and premium effects, templates, and touch-up tools.

Tools to Optimize Your Graphics

Slow load times can clog up your site and eat up your bandwidth.

What’s more, every second your visitors spend waiting on your page to load is a lost conversion or a lost sale.

Fortunately, several resources can help you tame large images without the help of a graphic pro. You can even resize or rescale them in bulk.

Optimizilla

Drag and drop up to 20 images and quickly optimize them on the fly. You can click/tap through the images and then use the slider bar to adjust the quality and compare the two files:

Optimizilla works with both JPG (photos) and PNG (logos and transparent images) formats since both of these file types tend to be larger in size. All of the images you upload are automatically deleted after an hour and you can download the optimized versions selectively or all at one time.

Optimizilla is perfect if you have a limited number of images that need a size change and also tweak the quality of those images visually.

EWWW Image Optimizer

This WordPress plugin lets you optimize images fast. The end result shows you how much space was saved, as well as the percentage of reduction.

It works with other popular WordPress image plugins too, like NextGen photo gallery. If you don’t like how a reduced file size image looks, you can either re-optimize it with different settings, or restore the original.

The plugin leverages several unique optimization utilities in one complete package. Because each individual image format has different ways of conserving file size, each one has its own unique utility to compress images without sacrificing quality.

Even as a graphic designer-in-training, you can still be inspired by unique website and graphic designs. Trying to save them directly from your browser can be a download nightmare, though.

You end up saving a lot of extra scripts, content, and other junk that clutters up your hard drive. What if you could just have a screenshot of the page instead?

Page2Images

This site takes a screenshot of any page for you or converts multiple URLs into images.

It’s great for saving images for inspiration and for creating more engaging how-to content.

Page2Images also lets you see what your site looks like on mobile devices via its mobile emulator:

If you’ve ever wondered how to get that trendy “my site on a smartphone” look – this is how it’s done. It’s also a quick and easy way to tell whether or not your page is optimized for mobile devices.

If you’d like something beyond the typical computer screen and mobile device as your choices, check out:

PlaceIt

PlaceIt lets you drag and drop your site to a variety of smartphones, monitors, tablets, and other devices. Don’t have a screenshot? No problem. You can choose an image and enter your URL to have PlaceIt grab an image of your site.

Want to show a group of people interacting with your app? Done.  

Want to show off your new smartwatch program? Easy.

From billboards to bus stations, Placeit lets you put your site anywhere.

If you need a more human touch, PlaceIt also includes headshots of people of all ages and in a variety of situations. You can even narrow down your search to a specific gender, location, job, and much more.

Data Visualization Tools

Good data makes a larger impact when it’s visually relatable. When people see the numbers in a tangible, interactive way, your mission and goals go from being abstract terms to meaningful information.  

These tools make it easier to use data visualization to create appealing charts, tables, and graphics.

Chartblocks

A tool that helps you create colorful, full-featured charts. Data can be imported from spreadsheets, databases, or even live feeds and every aspect can be customized.

The charts are designed using HTML5 and Javascript, so they’re optimized for mobile devices and can be embedded directly into third-party sites, like websites and social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

What’s more, the finished graphic can be saved in a vector format, meaning it can be resized to any height and width without a loss of quality or resolution.

A free plan is available which lets you create up to 50 charts as transparent PNG files. The free plan includes up to 50,000 monthly views and your charts are viewable publicly.  

Paid plans give you more monthly views and the ability to make charts private. On the lowest-priced plan and the free plan, charts are branded with the Chartblocks logo.

Timeline

Timeline is an easy way to create an interactive timeline of events on just about anything.  Timeline can pull media from sites including Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps, and Wikipedia as well as video sites like YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo.

It can also pull sound files from Soundcloud, letting you create a rich media experience that’s interactive and informative.

Using a Google Spreadsheet, you’d simply enter the data into the pre-made template, including major and minor events, dates, and associated media. Timeline then builds the finished product for you.

When it’s ready, you’ll get a finished URL that you can embed in your website, showing off a timeline with an associated media slideshow in a similar format to the example above.

Social Media Graphic Design Tools

Whether you want to create awesome images for Instagram or interesting social media profile photos for Facebook, there’s a social media tool for that.  

Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Social Image Resizer

This web-based tool features a quick and easy way to take your existing images and resize them for use in just about any social media context. You can turn images into icons (even favicons), as well as Facebook and Twitter images.

What if you need more social network-ready images beyond Twitter or Facebook?

Desygner

This tool helps you create images for a variety of social networks. In addition to Twitter and Facebook (both cover and profile photos), you can make images for use on Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

They offer a free plan with thousands of free images.

With these tools, you’ll never run out of unique professional looks for your social network pages.

Of course, now the question becomes – where do you find graphics?  

There are plenty of stock photo sites online, but for those just getting started with graphics, there are also plenty of free (even for commercial use) images and photos you can use.

Where to Find Images for Visual Content

One of the biggest challenges to overcome when designing your own graphics is finding pre-made images that you can use as a starting point. Fortunately, these sites will make finding images and icons for your projects (even commercial ones) as easy as searching and downloading.

Flat Icon

Flat Icon contains over five million icon and stickers to choose from. These include all of the common computer-style icons (cursors, pointers, and the like) but also include icons of a variety of other things like people, objects, animals, and more.   

Many of the icons are free to use with proper attribution to the author.

The Noun Project

An icon-illustrated repository of graphics depicting just about anything. Anyone can volunteer and artists from around the world have created miniature works of art on anything you can imagine from summer camp to tattoos.

Just because you have all the tools at hand doesn’t necessarily mean you can create great graphics (although it certainly helps!).  That’s because none of them teach you how to actually design.

While the subject of how to design graphics from scratch is far more involved than this guide can cover, there are nevertheless a few basic principles to keep in mind.

Graphic Design Basics: Principles and Elements

There are six basic principles to graphic design. These apply whether you’re designing a logo for your website or a print brochure.  

Graphics of all sizes and styles use one or more of these principles, so knowing them and how to apply them to your design will help you create the kinds of results you can’t wait to show off.

The Line

Lines are the building blocks of graphics. They separate and create borders. Thin, straight lines give the impression of a more corporate and professional look, while hand-drawn lines can show a more artistic, or even childlike flair.   

These days, many websites trend toward segmenting content in large “blocked” areas, dividing each one with a line to keep the user scrolling. Not only does this give you a visual separation, but it lets you transition from one thought to another without losing your visitor in a sea of content.

The Shape

Shapes can impart meaning. Think about the octagonal STOP signs; you don’t need to see the word STOP to know what the sign is. Or, the cross symbol that denotes first aid tells you that is a place to get medical help.

Shapes impact our world, our feelings, and how we interact with the world around us.

Sharp, angular shapes are seen as being more rigid and forceful, whereas gentle sloping or curved shapes have more of a feminine appeal to them. Keep these points in mind when considering your target audience for your new design.

Texture

Textures create a wide range of design possibilities and still remain popular on web pages to this day.  

From natural patterns like wood and leaves to background designs like paper or chalkboards, texture communicates a great deal about the page itself, even before you read a word.

If you’re looking to create a certain impression in the minds of your users, consider the available textures that lend themselves to that type of design.

Color

Color is one of the most important, but also one of the most overlooked, aspects of graphic design. It’s important not just in logo and website design, but also in print.

Color and its various shades (see more on that under Color Values below) have very different meanings to visitors around the world.  Depending on language and colloquialisms, colors can impart feelings as well.

For example, many people associate “going green” with doing things that are good for the environment. But when someone is “green” with envy, it can convey a sense of jealousy.

That’s why it’s important to properly balance color with other aspects of your page or design so that you create a positive association in the minds of your visitors.

Even if you’ve gone to great lengths to choose an appropriate color scheme, there’s still the shade, hue, and degree of lightness or darkness of the color that can change its perception.

Color Values

A color’s value is the intensity of its lightness or darkness. For example, orange may be perceived as a color of warmth, friendliness, and confidence, but once lightened into more of a peach tone, can give off more of a feminine, comforting vibe.

Darkening a color can make it seem more foreboding or unapproachable. Many corporate sites follow the “dark blue and grey” color scheme which, while it seems “safe,” can also be off-putting to consumers and make them feel as if the company is cold and uncaring.

It’s a lot to keep in mind, but having some basic knowledge of how colors affect your user and how you want your design to be visually perceived and understood can make a significant difference in how well it resonates with your chosen demographic.

Space

Space is the last of the graphic design principles, but it is certainly not the least. You may have heard the term “white space” before – meaning the area of a page with no graphic elements or color.

Having enough white space on a page gives each individual element a sense of “breathing room.” Having too much white space can make a page seem like the elements are floating all over the place with no real cohesion.

Like all of the other graphic design principles covered here, you need to carefully balance your use of space to avoid making your graphic look too cluttered or too empty.

How to Improve Your Graphic Design Skills

Once you have a firm understanding of the basics, you’ll want to branch out and try new things.

Even if your artistic ability ends at drawing a stickman (and a shaky one at that!), improving your graphic design skills is more about being observant and perceptive rather than having amazing artistic ability.

Study Famous Graphic Designers

Having the tools and knowing the basic principles of graphic design will take you far, but one of the most crucial ingredients of a great graphic design is creativity. Contrary to popular belief, creativity is not born, it is learned and made through practice.

What better way to practice and learn than by seeing what others have done?

For example, you may not have heard of a graphic designer named Paul Rand, but you’ve most certainly seen his work:

Largely self-taught, Rand’s best advice to aspiring graphic designers was the “you don’t have to be original. You just have to be good.” Even if you weren’t familiar with the brand’s logo, Paul was determined that eventually, you would be.  

One of his most famous corporate poster designs reflects that insistence:

Create a Swipe File

The best way to start is to look around. Check out sites like Dribbble and Behance for design portfolios you like and then follow those designers so that you’ll get updates when they add new selections to their portfolios.

Create your own little “swipe file” of ideas, concepts, and images that you like. Remember, even the most complicated designs can be broken down into their core pieces — shapes and lines.

When you learn the process behind the design, you can work on how to recreate it on your own.

If you like what you see, stretch your skills a little more and learn about filters and layers — core components of top-tier graphic design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Obviously, I’m not advocating that you infringe on someone else’s copyright. Everything in this guide is meant to walk you through the learning process to create your own graphics with no experience starting out.

Don’t be afraid to emulate those whose style you enjoy. Over time you’ll come to refine it and create your own style.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Feedback

It can be hard to ask for feedback on your work – especially when you’re just starting out.  

You’re anxious. Unsure of yourself. Afraid of criticism.

We’ve all been there and experienced that. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. However, instead of saying “What do you think about this?” ask “How can I make this better?”  

People won’t want to openly criticize your work, so asking what they think is bound to get you some praise – but praise isn’t what we’re going for – we’re going for improvement.

Some feedback is well-meaning, but when put into your design, it would make the end result look terrible. That’s okay, too. As the designer, you’re free to dismiss any or all feedback.  

However, take the time to reflect on criticism before dismissing it. Is something lacking from the piece? Does it communicate the brand and message well? Is it something that others would want to share on their own social media pages?

Remember, everyone was a beginner once. Some may have more artistic or creative talent than others, but it’s not something that can’t be developed over time.

Taking the time to learn the skills behind great graphic designs will help you appreciate and admire the work that goes into them even more.

Visually Stunning Content: Frequently Asked Questions

Can I learn graphic design myself?

Yes. There are a number of tools and guides (including this one) that can teach even non-designers the basics of graphic design. Using a tool like Canva or PicMonkey, you can create visually appealing content for your blog, social media channels, and more.

What's the fastest way to learn graphic design?

The fastest way to learn graphic design is through practice. Use a tool like Canva or PicMonkey that offers templates. Then create a swipe file of graphics you like and use those for inspiration.

What is the best graphic design tool for beginners?

PicMonkey and Cavna are easy to use for beginners. They feature drag and drop functionality and templates you can customize to fit your needs.

What is white space in graphic design and why does it matter?

White space refers to the space between design elements. It can be used to direct the eye to important details or make websites easier to use.

Guide to Visually Stunning Content for Non-Designers Conclusion

As you can see, getting started designing your own graphics doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

A basic sense of how colors, lines, space, and other principles play together on a canvas is only the beginning. Today’s most in-demand graphic designers spend years perfecting their skills and building upon these core concepts.

For the rest of us, however, the web has made it easier than ever to craft beautiful, interactive designs that don’t take an artistic touch.

If you want to build upon what you’ve learned in this guide, there are plenty of fantastic resources, portfolios, and graphic design tips out there waiting for you.

Have you tried out any of these tools? Which one is your favorite?

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