As a website designer, I am often asked what are the best methods for better search engine optimization. There are a few simple steps anyone can take to improve their website performance: clean coding, using proper tags, clean coding, keywords, and did I mention clean coding?

The following video says it all - and is fun to watch, too!

You learn something new every day!

Within the past week I've had 2 projects that required resizing over 100 photos for a photogallery. The originals were all high-quality digital photographs, thus rendered at over 1000 pixels wide. My image area was only 450 pixels wide. I envisioned DAYS of resizing, until I discoverd this new trick. Actually, its not "new" but it is new to me.

Photoshop Image Processor Is My New Best Friend!
Adobe Photoshop is the program I use for most of my image work and within that program, there is a wonderful tool called image processor. I use CS3 and this is how it works (for anyone who might need to use it and didn't know it exists):

1. Open Photoshop and click File > Scripts > Image Processor
2. In the Image Processor window, select the current folder in which you have your images
3. I suggest you save the resized images to a different folder - so choose that folder (or create it if you haven't already). Even if you choose to have the resized photos in the same folder, photoshop will place them all into a new folder called "JPEG" so it doesn't overwrite what you have.
   
4. File type is JPEG and quality of your choice (5 good, 10 is best).
   
5. Since I am resizing my images for website use, select "Resize to Fit" and enter the desired dimensions. My photos were all different heights, so I used a set width of 450 pixels and an arbitrary height that I knew would cover any photo I had. The nice thing is the aspect ratio is kept if the photo is shorter than the dimension entered.
6. Click Run and Photoshop will start the processor. In a matter of seconds the photos are all resized!

GOTTA LOVE IT!

"How did you do it" asks L.L.Bean

After reading my last blog about the SEO success of Hola Amigos, an employee and friend from L.L.Bean, Inc. - who runs a large part of the L.L.Bean website - asked "how did you do it". My response:

"... basic techniques – using the right wording, <title> codes, using the <h1>, <h2>, etc, linking keywords to other parts of the site, and keeping it NICE AND CLEAN in the coding overall."

Basic search engine optimization doesn't have to be complicated - unless you have a complicated site like L.L.Bean and other large corporations. Working with small business websites typically has a much more focused target audience, so even a small tweek can bring big success.

Read more about SEO with these articles:

Your New Website - Getting Started with Keywords
SEO Basics: Beyond the Keywords