Finding Family Mentioned In A Novel
September 12, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as historical, history, James Clyman, Writing History
Imagine you’re reading a fiction historical romance book set in the back country of Montana and one of the characters asks another character if he’s always been a freighter.
He responds with no. He was a trapper.
Aww. Cool. Immediately my mind went to my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather who was a trapper. I continued to read.
He was a part of the great mountain men.
Wait! My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather was called that too. Now my heart was thumping faster as I continued to read. Somehow I just knew what I would see next.
Mountain men like Jedidiah Smith and Jim Clyman.
Stop the presses! That’s my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather’s name! Here in the fiction book I’m reading!!
How cool is that?
I ran around the house showing everyone my Kindle I was so excited!
A lover of all things history, I’ve wanted to write a blog post on James Clyman and our family history for a while, but I’ve been so busy with other topics, I hadn’t gotten to it, but I just had to share this exciting news and tell you a little about him now.
James Clyman. My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather.
He called himself a mountain man. A trapper with Jedidiah Smith, he was the one who sewed Jedidiah’s ear back on after a bear almost swiped it off. He also came over the pass in the sierras and encountered the Donner Party, advising them not to go that way since winter was settling in. And unfortunately they opted not to listen.
Just how do we know all this? He wrote journals. Daily. Details describing who he met and what he did. Those journals have been printed into books. One titled Frontiersman, was printed in 1960 in a limited number mostly for libraries.
He apparently wrote it all on slates and his daughter composed it into a book. I haven’t read it through completely but there’s a chapter on the Black Hawk War and being in the same unit as future President Lincoln and another on his later years when he settled in Napa, Ca.
Another smaller version came out in the 1980s. My dad signed that one for me. Writing on the inside cover that I’m the 6th generation born in Napa to James Clyman. Pretty cool.
And even more cooler…I’ve actually seen the original journals. They are in the Huntington Library in Pasadena.
A Page from a 4th Grade History book from 2014
He’s in the 4th grade history books as well, which was a real treat for my boys whenever they got to that particular unit.
He’s buried in the same cemetery as my parents and his grave is part of a historical tour they host every once in a while.
Another historical nugget – the original ranch house is still standing. My dad used to spend his summers there and when the land was sold off for housing developments my parents purchased in the neighborhood. You could see the top of the ranch house if you stood in my parents backyard.
There’s more but I’ll save that for another post. I have plans for him to make an appearance in a book or two someday. With all the books out there to read, how fascinating I found someone who beat me to it.
2 0 Read morePart 3: Increase SEO With Photo Image Caption In Your Posts
August 10, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as Denise M Colby, Image Caption, Marketing for Authors, SEO, SEO Marketing, website marketing, writer's tips
This is the third installment on using website images to increase and maximize the SEO potential for website pages and posts. In the first part I discussed ALT text, which is text added to the image file background before being placed in a post. The second installment covered specifics on Image File Names and how naming the file BEFORE it’s uploaded to a website will get better results in SEO ranking. In this post, I will discuss Image Caption, why Image Captions are important and how to use them best.
Image Caption are the words shown underneath photos on a website page or post.
Sample of an image with the caption underneath describing the photo.
It is a known fact that readers will scan and read the image caption more than the article itself. Thus, image caption helps to highlight what the article is about and draw readers in. When writing captions, it’s important to not just state what the picture is, but to tell readers something they don’t know from just looking at the photo. Captions can be a few short words or several sentences long. The decision is personal preference, but whatever is decided, keep consistent for an overall look and feel.
How to write Image Captions to maximize SEO?
1. Choose a great image.
An image surrounded by text that is related will rank better in a search, so choosing an image pertinent to the post is crucial.
2. Identify what is going on in the picture besides the obvious.
Save the obvious description for the ALT Text. See this post for details on writing strong ALT text.
3. Write descriptions without flowery or unnecessary words.
There’s a small space to communicate the idea so choose words wisely.
4. Provide context to connect the image to the article.
Make sure to share something the reader wouldn’t know just by looking at the photo.
5. Be informative.
If a reader isn’t going to read the entire article, what information should they walk away with? If they find the captions helpful, they may read more or reference the information later.
How does this apply to us as writers?
We want to find readers for our books, right? Ask—how would someone search (type in words in the search bar) to find a book that has a topic like mine?
Example #1
My working manuscript titled A Man Was Not The Plan is set in 1869. My heroine moves west to become a schoolteacher in a small town. One of the main settings is a one-room schoolhouse. Schoolhouses are a niche, so I might choose to write a post about schoolhouses. So for that post I would choose an image with a schoolhouse and add an image caption such as:
This One-room Schoolhouse in Sacramento, CA was used for inspiration in my latest novel A Man Was Not The Plan.
Example #2
If my book is released or I have the cover done, somewhere in the post I would include a picture of my book cover which I hope to include a schoolhouse—even if it’s in the background. The title itself doesn’t say anything about schoolhouses and I don’t need to mention where to purchase because I can provide a link with the image, so I would want the caption to be more descriptive.
This one-room schoolhouse seems to wreak havoc on Olivia’s plans in A Man Was Not the Plan by Denise M. Colby
What are other ideas to use for image captions related to our books?
Animals, clothing, any setting—whether a specific building, ranch or room (a picture of the kitchen table where many discussions in the book take place for example), a map or even a quote from your book. If you did a quote, one idea for an Image Caption would be to state a behind the scenes thought to support that quote, such as:
Olivia Carmichael had no idea how much she would eat her words.
Luke’s heart had other ideas.
Note: You can bold, italicize the words, and alter the phrasing after they are placed in the post. The number of lines for the caption can vary by increasing or decreasing the size of the photo. The one thing I haven’t figure out yet was how to center the text under the photo. Of course once I hit preview it did center the text. So make sure to look at your preview-it will look different than where you input your post.
As you can see, there are several ways to be creative with the words used in the caption. I hope that this post gets those creative juices flowing. You don’t have to always use captions for every photo, but a few strategic ones here and there can help readers find exactly what they are looking for.
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Smile And Be Grateful In The Little Things
July 12, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as #amwriting, Be Grateful, poem, Smile, writing life
I had planned to have completed the third post in my “How to Maximize the SEO Potential of your Website Images” this month, but things got a bit derailed for me when my mom’s health took a turn.
Instead, I found myself sitting in her nursing home room with lots of family and nurses coming and going at all hours. Even though I lugged my backpack back and forth, I never pulled out my laptop. I couldn’t write. No quiet, no time, and my mind was just mush.
How did I come up with this post, then?
I rented a car to drive home and had over 6 hours by myself. So I made good use of the time with my handy voice recorder in my Notes APP where I preceded to share my thoughts about all that happened.
I’ll call it writing words with my voice.
I’d talk until I had nothing, then turn up the radio and sing a song. Then more would pop in my head and I’d talk some more. There was a lot. I hope to edit it and share it some day, but right now it’s pretty raw.
And once I got all my thoughts about my ailing parent and all that comes with this chapter of my life expended, my mind started to open up on my work in progress, and blog posts, and ideas for social media, and….I think you get the idea.
Remember, I had six hours.
And I probably could’ve used more.
One brainstorm was to write about enjoying the little things—like the color of my rental car.
It was green. And small. And quite cute. It made me smile, which was good because I needed to balance out the tears that kept flowing every time I thought about my mom and all that transpired.
Isn’t It Cute?
The rental car guy even joked that no one should hit me because they couldn’t see me.
I found myself wanting to have good driving behavior because I was the only green car on the road.
I stood out.
And it made me smile.
When I stopped for a snack, I smiled. Whenever I changed lanes, I smiled. When I stopped for gas….yep, I smiled.
We need to smile at the little things. Sometimes that’s all we can do.
I find a smile leads to a grateful heart. And I am immensely grateful to have had my mom in my life for as long as I did. Yes, my mom is no longer with us, her body no longer mangled and in pain. And she is finally reunited with Jesus and my dad. And that makes me grateful, which makes me smile. Or maybe it’s the other way around. It makes me smile and then I feel grateful. Both ways work for me.
My mom and her dog with my boys in 2008
I wanted to share a poem I wrote last year in her honor. It’s all written in one syllable words, which was quite fun to put together.
Thank You, Mom by Denise M. Colby
To be a mom is hard work. More than I thought it would be.
It was not till I was in the role, did I know by how much.
The trials. The hurt I take on for my child. The times I have to stay strong.
Now that I know, I want to say thank you to my mom.
For all she did. For all she gave. For the love she gave me.
Her words were kind, she backed me up when I had tough days.
She taught me how to read my bible and pray.
Her love meant more than just words to me.
She poured her heart and life into all I did.
She had pluck, pep and punch. She shared in my joys and woes.
She was there for me through it all.
She told me I made her proud to be my mom.
She held my hand. She hugged me and told me she loved me. I didn’t doubt it one bit. I knew.
My mom did cool things. She was fun. She showed up to all my acts and cheered me on.
I was in awe of her and looked to be like her when I grew up.
I hope I am.
She told me she loved me, hugged me, prayed with me.
She is my mom and I love her. And I hope she knows how much I thank her each day.
Thank you, Mom
Love you Mom.
My mom & me, 2008
Part 2: Maximize Your Website SEO With Image File Names
June 12, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as Image File Names, Marketing 101 for Authors, Website SEO & Images
Part 2: How to Maximize Your SEO with your Image File Names
In this post, I’m covering another element of metadata for your images, Image File Names, and how they too can increase your SEO. In case you missed Part 1, I spoke specifically about Alt Text and how it increases the SEO on your website. It is the number one way to quickly add SEO. Click What Is Alt Text? for that post.
Please Note: There are several posts out there that touches on all the terms I’m talking about. I’m focusing on giving guidance on what/how to use these features to increase your SEO.
Image File Names
Attachment Title:
Before you upload a photo into your website, rename it. One short keyword is best. This keyword gets indexed by the search engines, thus adding to your SEO.
Note: Yes, there is a place to change the title in your media files. However, I found it doesn’t change the file name attached to your media, it only helps in indexing it within your media folder. It will not appear anywhere else.
I’ve made this mistake myself when I’ve uploaded screen shots or graphics made from WordSwag from my phone with basic plain numbers that make them difficult to differentiate what they are without opening them. Not to mention there are no references to my brand or post that would help someone find more information about the photo.
To give an example, I did a test on my own website. And even though WordPress allowed me to change my title after I uploaded it, I found the file name used when uploading is the one that carries forward with the image.
My example:
I took an image and made two files. One I did not rename – IMG_3829 copy.jpg when I uploaded it and one I renamed BEFORE I uploaded it – Psalm136.jpg.
Even though I changed the Title to Psalm 136 after I uploaded the image, IMG_3829 copy.jpg is what is indexed/attached to the file.
If you go to my post Why The M? and right click to save either file you will see what the file name will be when you download it.
So why is your Image File Name important?
Think through what you want the image to do for you.
Why did I choose to name the above file Psalm136.jpg?
That’s the bible verse I have on the meme I created. If someone is looking up that verse, ideally I would like my photo to appear in the search, 
and because I have my website on the bottom right, it’s just one more way for someone to find me. (My focus on this post is SEO on websites, social media is a completely different topic and one I hope to touch on in later posts.)
Keep in mind, and I’m not doing this one consistently well yet, one word file names work best. I’ve also read to use all lowercase and only letters and numerical numbers.
Also remember, once the file is uploaded, the file name is public, so nicknames and funny references only you would understand might not be what you want attached to the file out on the internet.
Use Both Image File Names and Alt Text to Increase Your SEO
I did a search on my author name, Denise M. Colby and this is what I found under images.
The far right one was just in the post a month ago and because I uploaded set Image File Names and added Alt Text, it didn’t take long to get indexed and show in a Search Engine Results Page.
Another note: I’m noticing my earlier posts don’t show up as I do not have any alt text in the photos, so I will need to go back and update them at a later date. As I stated in the Part 1 post – you have to delete the photo and add back in the updated version with the Alt Text in it. Changing it in the media files alone will not work.
Let’s continue on with this example;
If I were to click on the image I see a description like this:
As you can see, the alt text I used appears below my name and the website this image is from. Interestingly, If I were to right-click on this image here, the image name only says download.jpg. But if I were to click on it and go to the actual post, then download the file, here is what comes up:
This is the file name that I had used when I uploaded the image. If someone is downloading your book cover image, you would want it to have a file name that references your book. More importantly, you would want that image to appear in a search engines results page when someone types in your name or the name of your book. Create your Image File Name before you upload and put your author name and book name in the Alt Text and your image should appear when anyone searches under either one.
File Extensions
Since the file extension is part of your Image File Name, I wanted to cover the two common types – .png or .jpg.
Use .jpg with photographs. It actually compacts the file size better than a .png and since photographs have an abundance of color in them, .jpg is the better choice.
Use .png when using designs, images with text in them, infographics or logos. PNG files handle large areas of color better and the lines are crisper even when someone zooms in. Just the file size can get large if you save a photo this way.
File Size
My website won’t allow file sizes larger than 2MB, but if yours does, keep in mind that the larger the file size, the longer it will take for your photos to load on someones computer or mobile phone and in our digital world, load time matters.
There is a thing called Site Speed and Page Speed (also called Load Time). Google uses that information in their algorithm to rank pages. Hence, why file size is important.
What to do next?
- Any new content make sure to create purposeful Image File Names and Alt Text.
- Update past photos in previous posts.
I have read that one of the best things you can do is go back and update your current files to add SEO substance immediately to your website. Search Engines look at ALL the pages, so pay attention to your existing content even before you create new content.
I hope that this information has been helpful. Let me know if you would like more of these in the future. I’m enjoying testing different theories and creating examples. You can’t see it, but I’m testing another theory out within this post as well. And, if you go to my Why The M? post on my website, I touch on another SEO feature I recently learned about.
Blessings,
Denise
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What is ALT TEXT and How To Use it? By Denise M. Colby
May 12, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as First Line Fridays, Marketing, Website Images & SEO, writing
If you’re like me, you’ve seen the line entry called Alt Text when you uploaded an image to your website and wondered, What is that? Do I need to put something there?
Short answer – YES, you do.
Alt Text, an abbreviation for alternative text, is sometimes referred to as attributes, descriptions or tags of images on the internet. In essence, the words provided in the Alt Text entry are used to label and describe the appearance and function of an image on a webpage.
In simpler terms:
- Ever see text in place of an image that did not load? That’s Alt Text.
- Ever wonder how images are chosen when searching specific terms? That’s Alt Text.
- Ever hover your mouse over an image and words appear to describe what you are seeing? That’s NOT Alt Text. That is Image Title Attribute and is a little more advanced and just as important. I will cover that topic in another post. For now, let’s continue on about Alt Text.
Why is Alt Text important?
It allows your images to appear when someone searches a specific word or phrase in any search engine.
You have probably heard the term SEO (search engine optimization). SEO is important. The stronger your website SEO, the more your readers can find you on the internet, whether it’s from a blog post, your book page, or even your welcome page.
Alt Text adds to your website SEO.
It helps index the image and allow someone searching by keywords to find images that have those keywords in their Alt Text.
For example: I participate in a weekly post called First Line Fridays. I add my standard blog header to each and every post. I also post an image of the book I’m featuring. For both, I include the words ‘First Line Fridays’ in the Alt Text (see images below).
This first photo is actually two images combined into one to show how the data is connected.
The first half shows the image as I insert it into my blog post on my website.
The second half shows where the Alt Text appears when the image shows on a search page. As you can see, the Alt Text appears as a photo description.
Because I add ‘First Line Fridays’ to my Alt Text, my images appear in the search when I google ‘First Line Fridays’, along with other blogs who use the same words in their Alt Text.
This next photo highlights my second example. One of the books I featured was my friend’s, Nancy J. Farrier. Because I put First Line Fridays in the Alt Text with her book cover photo when I added it to my post, it appeared in the search output for First Line Fridays with my website.
Then, if I was to click on this image, it would take me to my website because it is linked to my website.
Interestingly, if you search by Nancy’s name, Nancy J. Farrier, my blog header shows up in images because I have a blog post that uses Alt Text with her name.
It can be a little confusing.
Thus, what you need to know is how to create good Alt Text and let the search engines do the rest.
How to add Alt Text to your image in WordPress:
1. Upload image to your media.
2. On the right hand side where it says Alt Text, type in the most descriptive words for your image.
- Several sources say to keep it at 125 characters.
- Write it as a complete sentence or choose words someone would use to search for what your picture is.
- This is so if your image didn’t appear, readers would know exactly what the photo was about by reading the words only.
- Include any colors and describe the action, if available.
- Don’t cram in every keyword possibility. It makes it difficult for search engines to categorize the image. More specific it is, the easier it can be indexed.
3. Make sure your website link is listed (it’s usually automatic) to the image, so in a search the image could be clicked on. This takes the user to your website page where the image is posted. This is different than adding a link into the post directly, which you would do if you wanted to provide where to purchase a book, for example.
4. Insert image into your post
It’s that simple.
And once you enter in Alt Text in your media file it stays, so you won’t have to enter it in again.
PLEASE NOTE: If you go back and change Alt Text for any photo in your media, it does not automatically update the photos already placed in your existing posts.
If you want to fully SEO optimize your website, you would need to go back and delete and add in the photo again with the updated Alt Text.
I hope you have a better understanding of what Alt Text is and how it works. Part 2 and 3 will talk about two other ways to add background data to your images to maximize your SEO on your website or blog.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!
Blessings,
Denise
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