Character Development and Worldbuilding

You’ve come a long way, and already have a solid base that should get you the beginnings of an audience. Now we get to bring a bit more colour into the situation. Everything you’ve done so far has been text-based, but what about your project’s imagery?

Images can make you searchable in Google Image searches and encourage people to click on your stuff. So, what images do you need? None of the following suggestions are obligatory, and some may cost money, but you can still do this for free or cheap if you want.

Suggestions

• A logo. There are companies and specialist indie artists who will draw these for you. Don’t want to buy one? Open up a copy of Photoshop, GIMP, FireAlpaca, or whatever painting program you have to hand, and make one. Get creative, and remember there are some great opensource options out there! I made my first TCC logo (see below), and while I daresay it wasn't great, it got me started until I was happy to budget for a professionally-made one.
• At least one picture of yourself. Want to keep your face hidden? Have an artwork drawn instead of using a photo. This is something TheOdd1sOut did for a long time, yet even his simply-drawn marshmallow man-esque avatar is distinctive. Depending on your project, you might want pictures of yourself doing something specific, such as leading a workshop or making whatever product it is you make. Just make sure, if anyone else is in the picture, that you have their permission to use the picture.
• Does your work involve project-related images? Some of my TCC projects involve a face image of the character I’ve analysed. Kaleida involves dozens of concept sketches. Maps, diagrams, all of these things can be made and used, whether technical or artistic.
• Is it appropriate for you to have a price list, menu, or list of services in image format? Upload that to your site and link to it everywhere you can! Might a digital business card work?
• A lot of those post-and-forget accounts you made probably have a banner facility to make the top of the screen look prettier and more like yours: Can it be something relevant to what you do? Mine, at the top of this page, is a picture of the Dunes of Gold, a desert on Kaleida.
• Consider posting at least 3 Youtube videos, as their thumbnails can show up on a Google search.
• Consider making at least 5 tutorials in the form of infographics. Base them on information you’ve already written about, especially if you know people liked them. Give ‘em a try and see how well they do! You don't even have to make bog-standard infographics either. Get creative - I uploaded a series of pretend book covers.
• If there are any miscellaneous pictures you could put up, then do so: a good snap of your studio, team shots, WIPs, your new business cards that you’re proud of, your products, or screenshots of well-articulated points.

It's also worth realising that images are more intuitive than words. If you pick bright, sunny colours, that's going to tell your potential audience something different than if you pick shades of grey. Sharper or softer angles, presence or absence of faces, your choices of motifs (if you use, say a wolf as a motif, that has different connotations than using a cute little bird or an oak leaf or a skyscraper. Consider what message you want to put across).

Okay, I’ve Made My Images. What Do I Do Now?

This is where we refer to your list of backlinks again (you did list them down, right?). We’re going to go through each of those, including your URL, and add your images everywhere you can. But you’ll want to do it in different ways depending on the image.

Let’s go!

• Logo and pictures of yourself: Add this to your URL, obvs. Then go through your other accounts – your post-and-forgets, and others – and decide whether you’d rather use your logo, or a picture of your face. One is businesslike but ‘faceless’, which may make people connect with you less, and the other is more informal but lets people get a first impression of you. Which do you think works best on each account?
• Project-related images: Having a portfolio may or may not be suitable for you. Posting large numbers of pictures is time-consuming so how much do you want to post, and where? You may only want one or two bigger portfolios. Perhaps on others, you might want to post just a small selection. Example: I post most of my portfolio to Deviantart despite its, ahem, reputation, because it’s an old site which gets high results on searches, Furaffinity because it's a specialist site and furries spend generously on commissions, and Patreon because it means people can pledge a specific amount every month if they like my work, which gives me peace of mind. Everywhere else only gets a handful of portfolio items – my ‘best of’ selection. Bonus tip: remember your three keywords? Add them to each item in your portfolio when you upload them: to the tags, in the title, and in the description. The holy trinity will make it very clear to Google what your uploads are all about!
• Price list, menu, or services list: Definitely something to post along with your portfolios. Anyone on that site looking through your portfolio may want to browse this. Or, if you don’t do portfolios, upload this as an image along with your URL and link to it on your URL – and on your post-and-forgets.
• Banner: As stated above, make or find a suitable image to go across the tops of your post-and-forgets. Remember that it may well show up on Google image searches, and each site may want it in different dimensions, so this might be a fiddly task, but potentially worth it. Example: The Character Consultancy’s LinkedIn banner is result no. 12 on an image search.
• Video thumbnails: I suggested Youtube above, but other video-based platforms are available. Youtube videos do tend to get a high result on Google, though. Make sure your thumbnails are good – include your logo or face, clearly visible text to identify what the video’s about and entice people to click, and make the whole thing look… colourful? Sleek? Whatever aesthetic suits your project. If you can link to them, especially in your 30 backlinked places or URL, all the better! Also, remember you don’t have to show your face on a Youtube video, or even speak. Make it in whatever way you’re comfortable with.
• Tutorials: These, like your Youtube thumbnails, will showcase plenty of your knowledge in a small space. Examples: Energy and Water Interdependence | Statistics about milk | The life cycle of butterflies. Make and post some of these to your post-and-forgets. People will find them, love them, and share them, increasing their backlinking power!

And that, my friend, is a wrap!

What Do I Do Next?

You might want to leave your SEO game at that. Honestly, you can. Or, you might want to keep building on it. If you’re doing all of this on a small scale, don’t let anyone bully you into thinking you have to keep it up. That crap’s exhausting. What suits you?

• You may find you actually like some of the web sites you’ve found, and keep visiting them. Interacting with others on that platform, making random observations in whatever status update function exists on that site, or uploading your newer portfolio pieces will give you opportunity to use your keywords.
• Perhaps you’ll want to expand on your original 30 backlinks. There will doubtless be more sites to try, especially as people quite like building The Next Big Thing.
• Running the occasional search just to see where your SEO game is at, will probably give you new ideas. Think your banner could look better? Go ahead and add something to it! Want a particular infographic to get better ranking? Give it a boost on your main 30!

Thank you for joining me on this journey. It’s been a pleasure writing all of this, and I’m more than keen to hear your questions, thoughts, and suggestions. Why not email me?

Credits

All content created by The Character Consultancy unless otherwise stated.
Title image by AdinaVoicu and used with their kind permission.