You’re a mature creator. In the process of building your site, you’ve baked in “best practices” for maximizing your SEO. Launch! Your web designer runs the site through an analyzer or a plug-in to determine your traction.
Everything seems great… except “readability.” So now it’s time to go back and redo all of your copy, right?
Not so fast. Instead, it’s better to make a careful assessment of your body of work, reputation, and writing skills.
Yes, you may need to go through and do a grammar check, break up some paragraphs, and include content that’s less generic and more unique. A few hundred more words might help, too.
Now, take a look at what you have to offer, whether it’s arts or service-related. Is it high quality and (at least potentially) in high demand? Then, people are already associating you with this work, and when they see your name, they’ll go looking for it. Make it easy for them to find it. Too many clicks lead to click-outs. The structure, UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) matter.
Next, what’s your reach/reputation like? if you have others linking to your site (backlinks), that’ll make a major impact on your SEO. How to improve this metric? Relationships. Real ones, not transactional ones. If you not only proclaim but embody long-term authenticity and quality, you’ll organically gather people who are happy to be associated with you. There’s no shortcut here.
The first two sites in my online portfolio, this one and this one, are prime examples. Your maturity, body of work, and reach are your own, of course. But as living is a long game, so should be your online presence. This pulls against the tide of quick-fix culture. It has everything to do with your legacy.
