Choosing Image File Formats for Your Blog

By guest contributor Mike Loveland.

The last step in preparing a photo for your blog is to save it in the right format. But which format should you choose?

The first thing you should remember is that any work you have done in high-resolution should be saved in high-resolution. To improve the contrast, composition, and perform any necessary retouching of an image, you need to keep all the work you have done saved at full-resolution. Simply save your file as it is! If you're being extra cautious, then you'll save your work separate from the original file. This way, if you've done something to your file that you regret, you haven't lost your original.

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SEO: How to Start and End a Post Well

By guest contributor Amy Lynn Andrews. Photography by The Business of Fashion.

How to start a post

Your blog is constantly being visited by search bots (a.k.a. spiders, crawlers, robots). Their job is to read your content, and determine what you're writing about. That information is then added to the databases of search engines, and pulled up in search results when relevant.

Presumably, the bots read from top to bottom. It's been said (no one knows for sure how it all works) that keywords near the top of the post are weighted more than those that come later.

Start your posts with a strong first paragraph. If you use an image at the top of your posts, know that images are unreadable to the bots; bots can only read text. For this reason, make sure you are optimizing your images:

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Setting up Shop: Look like You're Big-Time

By Melanie Burk.

Seven years ago, the only options for a shop online were expensive and complicated. Most cost thousands of dollars to set up and had a pretty complicated back-end. I know, because that is how I started my shop. Today there are practical, easy, and professional platforms to choose from. Which platform is best for you? It depends entirely on you and your audience, your marketing plan, and your skill set.

Here are the two best platforms for hosting a shop online:

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Travel Blogging: Taking unique Photos

Post by Tina Fussell.

You've just checked into your hotel - now it's time to grab your map and start seeing a new place. With the camera slung around your neck, you set out and start snapping away. You want to take unique photos. This can be quite a challenge if the places you are visiting are frequented by many tourists. It can also be challenging if the place you are visiting is famous, because everyone has the postcard already.

How can you find your own photographic voice?

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Friday Links

This week was HUGE. We gathered in New York City for our first East Coast conference! Were you there? We'd love to hear and share your posts about the conference. Help us find them by leaving links in the comment section below. If you didn't make it, join the conversation by following us on Twitter and searching #altsummit.

Here are a few favorite recaps from the past:

• What Megan learned from Swiss Miss
• Be sure to come with a plan
• Great quotes to tweet
• A guys view of things
• Blog etiquette from Grace Bonney
• Business card inspiration
• Favorite things to pack
• Thrifting in SLC is amazing

Photography by Perigryn