How BuyerZone Fought a Competitor Scam

People are impatient, especially when it comes to reading content on the web. We bloggers have been using bulletpoints, bold headings, and block text for years to get people to read our pages. Most of us know that using a picture or two will also keep readers on the page. And when used correctly, pictures can also draw search engine traffic to your blog.

• Pick a theme. This Squidoo page called The BuyerZone Scam: A Case Study in Online Reputation Management jazzed up the somewhat dry topic of Online Reputation Management with pictures of popular TV shows and movies that take place in office settings. What businessperson can't appreciate The Office, Office Space, and Mad Men?
• Fill in the alt attribute. Most people ignore this blank box when they're uploading an image, but it's the simplest thing you can do to show up in search engine results. If you're inserting a picture of puppies, make the alt tag include "puppies" in some way. Use adjectives to go for the longtail keywords. And it's been said that more "natural" looking image alt attributes do better in the rankings (i.e. "puppyinachristmasstocking.jpg" instead of "christmaspuppy.jpg").
• Use a unique photo. I once wrote a blog post called Ode to the Short-Haired Girl. I used a picture of myself with fiercely short hair, a picture of a celebrity, and a picture of an edgy looking female. I didn't know this at the time, but apparently "short hair girl" has a ton of search volume on Google Images. Three of my pictures show up on page 1 of the Google Image results for that keyword. Whoever clicks any of those pictures will be sent to my blog. Hopefully my content keeps them reading!
• Find the hottest Google Image searches. Here is a sweet tool for finding out what people are looking for in Google Images! Think of a hot topic in celebrity-land or in the news. I picked Justin Bieber. I headed over to Google Insights (a free tool) to find out the Bieber-related keywords people have been looking for in Google Images over the past 30 days. Then write a blog post on a hot keyword like "Justin Bieber costume" using either an original image or crediting whoever supplied the image. Hint: When using Google Insights to find image trends, use the "Image" filter, your country of choice, and narrow down the time period.
• Use Twitter. Find out what's trending on Twitter, and write about it!
• Share on social media sites. Using interesting pictures to attract traffic works well on Stumbleupon and Digg -- besides the title, a picture is often what gets people to read your content.