Boost your contacts

Summary

1. The content
   Be careful about your content for both visitors and search engines.
2. Getting listed
   Getting your portfolio correctly listed to maximise your chances of making contact with people who are interested in your work.

The content

Your portfolio must be complete: profile, services, experience, examples of work, etc. Think carefully about the content and how you organise it.

The layout

Use the software's layout formatting functions to define: headings, sub-headings, bold text, etc. Search engines analyse the layout of the words to decide on their importance compared to the rest of the page. A word's importance depends on how it has been formatted: Heading > Sub-heading > Bold text > Standard text, combined with the proportion of each type of text on the whole of the page: the less bold text there is on a page, the greater the importance attributed to each word in bold compared to the rest of the text (the same applies to headings). If you use bold for all your text, it will end up highlighting nothing.

By optimising the content for your visitors, you are also optimising it for the search engines.

The Links

If you insert a link on page A to page B and use "actor CV" as the link text, this will improve the listing of page B in search engines for searches using "actor" or "cv" as search terms. Do not use "Click here" or an URL address for your links; use the title of the destination page as the link text.

How to insert a link in text or on an image (banner) ?

Images/photos

By filling in a title for every image/photo on your website you improve accessibility for the visually impaired that use screen readers and you also improve your ranking in search engines.

The title must describe the image by taking into account the context: it must not reuse information already published on the page (title of the gallery, description underneath the image etc.)

Writing tips

• The title should be a short phrase and not just a list of key words.
• The title should not begin with "photo of ..." "image of ..." etc.
• If for example a photo of a mountain is published in a gallery named "Mountains" the title of the photo should not be "Mountain ..." (because the information has already been published on the page).

How do I fill in titles for images/photos that are already online ?

2) Getting listed

Getting a site listed involves submitting it to website directories and exchanging links with other sites. Links towards your portfolio bring you direct and indirect visitors by increasing the popularity* of your portfolio with search engines.

Search engines

The main search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo!

The search engine will scan and record (index) every page on your site in its database. Subsequently, it will return to regularly update its information by re-recording the pages (the more popular* the site, the more frequent these updates). Search engines move from site to site and page to page, so if your portfolio is listed in the Artfolio directory, it will automatically be recorded by the search engines.

The search engine looks at page CONTENT and POPULARITY* to define its ranking (position) in the results.

*Popularity: The more internet links there are towards your portfolio, the more popular your site is considered to be by search engines. The greater a site's popularity, the better its ranking. Your position in the search engine rankings is thus dependent on your presence on other sites. The greater the popularity of a site, the greater the popularity that it confers on its links. However, the number of links on a page also has an effect on the amount of popularity that is conferred: the fewer the number of links, the greater the amount of popularity that is transferred to each of them.

To improve your popularity, you can submit your portfolio to web directories, exchange links with other sites or simply "harvest" natural links.

Web directories

DMOZ is the most popular website directory.

In contrast to search engines :

• Websites are classed by category, e.g.: Arts > Plastic arts > Sculpture > Sculptors. The user can find a site either by following the arborescence or by using a search enquiry (key words).
• The directory records for each site: its name, its description, its URL address and the section in which it is included. If a user enters "sculptor Paris" and this is not included in the name or description, the site will not be included in the results.
• The sites are checked manually by an editor who decides whether or not to accept the submission.

Tips :

• Your portfolio has a better chance of being accepted if it has a high quality content.
• To propose a site to a directory, you must first decide under what category it should be listed. The most appropriate category is the category where your competitors are listed. Consequently, you should start by looking to see where they have added their sites. (In the appropriate category, click on "propose a site", "suggest a site", "add a site", etc.).
• Analyse the names of the sites in the directory: if the directory allows it, you can add one or two key words to your site's name, e.g.: "Patrick - Fashion photographer". If this is not possible, limit the site name to your name or identifier.
• Analyse the descriptions in the directory: if they are short, yours should also be short. If, on the other hand, the descriptions are long, try and get more key words included. Do not simply use a list of key words separated by commas but write a real sentence with meaning. Specify your town or administrative region.
• Patience. Some directories have a long list of submissions awaiting acceptance. By re-submitting a site to a directory, you may be putting it back at the bottom of the waiting list (DMOZ)

Exchanging links

Exchanging links (or reciprocal links) involves adding a link to another site (partner) in exchange for a return link to your site.

The link's context is important. A link will get a better ranking in search engines if the linked pages have a similar subject matter. Preferentially select the sites that are likely to interest your visitors (having a subject that is similar to yours).

Add a few words within the link text to improve the listing of your partner sites for these key words.

Your home page is often the most popular page as this is the page towards which most of the links to your site point. If you put your external links (partners) on the home page, you will "dilute" the popularity that the page confers on your internal links (CV, News, etc.). It is therefore recommended that you place your external links on a page dedicated to your partnerships.

Natural links

An interesting content will provide you with "natural links" (discussion forum, blogs, etc.).

In conclusion :

Getting listed requires a lot of time. When done well, a good quality listing will avoid useless contacts (and appointments). By taking care with getting listed, you maximise your chances of being contacted by people who are interested in your work.