Pick a directory
- Accounting and Bookkeeping (15)
- Administrative (16)
- Advertise Your Craft Business (19)
- Advertising: Ads on Your Site (9)
- Arts and Crafts Magazines (21)
- Blogs and Blogging (27)
- Build a Website (28)
- Business Materials (11)
- Business Opportunities (9)
- Business Resources (17)
- Copyright (29)
- CPSIA and Child Products Law (10)
- Craft Councils and Related Organizations (32)
- Craft Fairs and Trade Shows (20)
- Directories (5)
- Etsy Tools (21)
- Forums (14)
- Free Tools (15)
- Funding (7)
- Google Analytics (17)
- Handmade Online Market Places (28)
- Insurance (18)
- Interviews (28)
- Legal (9)
- Legislation (6)
- Marketing and PR (35)
- Miscellaneous (14)
- Payment (9)
- Photography (33)
- Pricing (26)
- Resources (3)
- Selling Online (29)
- Selling Tips and Advice (5)
- SEO (11)
- Shipping, Postage and Handling (18)
- Shows for Crafters (2)
- Snark Sites (7)
- Social Networking Tips and Tools (24)
- Software (20)
- Starting a New Business (28)
- Tax (15)
- Video Tutorials (17)
- Wholesale (14)
SEO and Webmaster Tools for Craft Businesses
If you have an online store, then knowing about SEO will help you build your web presence. There are many webmaster tools that can help you.
SEO or search engine optimization, to give its full name, is the exercise of looking at web pages and websites as a whole and making changes that are aimed at improving the way that search engines index the pages.
Any craft business with an online presence should at least give due consideration to the basics of SEO to ensure that their pages are performing to an acceptable level.
There is a lot of discussion about SEO, at times contradictory, and it can seem like some form of witchcraft. However just following the widely accepted basics can help improve a website's performance and ensure that there are no aspects of a site that may be causing search engines to penalize or blacklist certain pages.
For more information about selling online see Selling Online and DIY Websites.
How to optimize your content and listings for search engines +tab
Optimize your content and listings to perform well in search engines and in Etsy searches
Yahoo! Submit Your Site +tab
Different options for submitting your site to Yahoo for inclusion
Submitting a Site to The Open Directory Project +tab
Not the giant that it once was, but still worth submitting your site to. It won't hurt - and it's free. Could take anywhere from two weeks to forever to get listed, however.
WebmasterWorld News and Discussion for the Web Professional +tab
A lot of information and a forum - this is more heavyweight for people with experience
Alexa +tab
All the information you require about your own and other websites. Find out where you rank and how this compares with others.
Google Webmaster Central +tab
A one stop shop for webmaster resources from Google that can help you improve and understand your site, connect with visitors, and find answers to crawling and indexing questions
Website SEO Tool | Website Grader +tab
Website Grader - provides an Internet marketing report for your website.
Etsy Guide to SEO Workshop Video +tab
Video of an SEO workshop in Etsy's Virtual Labs? Listen to the workshop here and follow along with helpful images and graphs.
Page Rank - tips and tricks for increasing your traffic. +tab
Tips for increasing your traffic to Etsy and Art Fire shops - however applies to any online activity.
SEOmoz | Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization +tab
A comprehensive guide to the practice of search engine optimization for those unfamiliar with the subject. The guide covers dozens of areas of SEO including keyword research, page optimization, site structure, link building and more. Written in 2006, but
