SEO: The Zero Waste 101 of Content Marketing with Krissie Claire (episode 146)

by Chloe Thomas

Krissie Claire is the CMO and founder at Kollectify, the zero-waste digital marketing agency for Shopify Businesses. Today we explore SEO from a planet-first perspective, and how it can fit with better SEO performances. Enjoy this conversation with Krissie as she shares some fascinating insights into the carbon footprint of our content marketing.

Krissie Claire Kollectify SEO

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About Krissie

Krissie started out as a blogger and writer, talking about inspiring entrepreneurs from her area. She eventually turned her site into a Shopify store selling the products of the entrepreneurs she wrote about.

She eventually joined an eCommerce agency as a content marketing manager, and that’s where she honed her SEO skills. She then became a freelance writer for eCommerce businesses, and this turned into an agency that specifically works on zero waste digital marketing.

What is zero waste digital marketing?

Zero waste digital marketing, according to Krissie, is a mindful approach to marketing your business online.

The goal is to minimize digital waste and its negative impact on the environment. When businesses implement the zero waste approach, they also enhance their reputation as responsible and environmentally conscious companies. 

Optimising Load Speed Means Helping the Planet

One of Krissie’s favorite SEO tips is to optimise the load speed of your website.

Research has shown that the carbon footprint of the internet and websites is massive. Improving your SEO, such as through the optimization of your site speed, can help with this. When loading time is improved, it will help reduce the amount of energy required to access your website.

The Importance of Keyword Research in Driving the Right Traffic

What keyword research does is help you create relevant content and copy for your website. And when you’re able to implement what you’ve created, you’re going to attract the right audience. These are the people you want visiting your website because they’re more likely to convert.

When you’re able to deliver relevant information about your products efficiently, you will use less energy to get your customers to convert, and this is what keyword research can do for you.

Tips for Speeding Up Your Site

Specifically for Shopify retailers, Krissie has the following tips to lower their carbon footprint:

  • Compress images. You can use a tool called TinyPNG to do this.
  • If you’re using videos, turn off the autoplay.
  • Avoid using animated GIFs, but if you do use them, compress them as well.
  • Reduce the number of fonts you use, and if possible, use Google fonts because they’re installed on local computers and take a lot less energy to load.
  • If you can, use darker colors because they load easily and take less energy.
  • When it comes to navigation, set it up in a way that reduces the number of clicks from the user.

Remember that your main goal is to make your website design clear and easy to navigate so visitors don’t have to go through so many pages.

Insider Tips

If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with SEO – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?

Get clear on who your customers are, then use whatever information you obtain to drive your keyword research because that’s how they’re going to find you.

For some example customer interview questions, grab this guide from Krissie.

Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve SEO performance?

Take consistent action. If you’ve done your research and you have a plan, do one thing every day to get you closer to your goal. This is going to create a compounding effect that’s going to positively impact your business.

If someone listening wants to learn more about SEO is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?

Krissie highly recommends Moz.com’s beginner’s guide to SEO

She also suggests checking out Beacon if you want to measure the carbon footprint of your website.

And if you want to see some examples of low-carbon websites, visit lowwwcarbon and the lowww directory

Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in SEO?

Krissie if you’re not involved yet, now is the time to prepare for a speedy, low-carbon internet. Remember that speedy websites can help slow down climate change.

Interview Links

Krissie on Social media:

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