curateyourcurious

Hello, long time no see! We were all enjoying summer sunshine the last time I was here. Now it's all about Christmas lights, mulled wine and cosy nights in.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I have missed you guys and more importantly I've missed working with you. Thankfully, I now feel in a place where I can work again with passion, creativity and love. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thank you to all of you who have offered your kind words during my break. It's been over 4 months since my husband and partner of 13 years came home and told me he was leaving. As you can imagine the shock and the heartbreak has been immense. My whole world turned upside down and it has taken time for me to get my strength back and to figure a lot of things out. Wine with the girls, puppy cuddles, family support, and too much chocolate has helped me to get ready for a new normal. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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There is so much still to sort out but I feel ready and pumped to start working again with you lovely lot. So let's get reacquainted and get creating magic.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Of course I have been plugging away at a few things whilst I've been gone. Working through to upskill and create even more amazing Squarespace websites, creating branding for an architectural and design collective that I am co-founding and also working on an AR App for a heritage site - launching soon! It's only up from here.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Lots of love Emma x⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Hi everyone, long time no post. I'm popping on to say that I am taking an extended break from Curate Your Curious. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I'm going through major life changes and I need to step back to support myself through this change. I need to come to terms with what is happening, I need to grow as a person and find a way to move forward in a way that feels right.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thank you for all your support x

Happy everyone. It just makes me feel positive, energetic, and raring to go (which is a good thing on a Monday morning!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It's a one-day working week though this week as I'm off to the Cotswolds tomorrow with the husband, 3 friends, 2 pooches, and a baby. It's going to be great!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Lots of work to be getting on with!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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📸 Pinterest/ Venus Image Paste in Place⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Happy hump day! How's everyone's week going?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I'm still swooning over the branding and assets for the Frills brief from and my wonderful client Bianca's website launch yesterday.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Taking it slower today with admin and script writing for an exciting AR heritage app. First cup of tea and dog walk 😊️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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There's a lot to think about when planning and building your wesbite, is image optimisation one of them.

Hands up who quickly took a screenshot of an image on your Insta grid and uploaded it to your website? A screenshot or digital photos can be 1-2mbs and when you are aiming for 5Mb a page, these can easily add up. Google hates long load times and slow site speed.

So here are 3 tips to help with your image SEO.

1. Name your photos appropriately. IMG4758 isn't telling google anything about you or your business. But a photo of a yoga studio with the name yoga-studio-clapham.jpg is. Keep it simple and say what's in the photo.

2. Resize and compress your images to reduce the file size for quicker site speed. I recommend CompressJPEG or Tiny PNG

3. Don't forget the ALT text. You want your website to be accessible to everyone so help by providing descriptions of your images not only will people thank you but Google will too.

How many of these have you done to optimise your images for your website?

1 week to go until the launch of this baby with the fantastic Bianca . We're just making those final adjustments and carrying out final SEO work across the site.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It's the sense of community and passion that emanates of the page with the lovely previous stallholders and Bianca's passion for her business twinned with the animated touches and design. Really love this project.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Are you excited to see the final website next week? Let me know!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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A little work in progress pic of a bespoke illustration for a wonderful cafe in Altrincham. Next signage and window decoration 😍⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What are you getting up to this Saturday afternoon?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I just can't stop swooning over these brand marks for ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I just loved building on Lauren's values and vibe she wanted for her audience. The colours and marks are routed in her brand story and services to create something intimately hers and in tune with her power.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Plus I loved drawing all the bespoke illustrations for her too.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Which one is your favourite?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It's live and people are loving it! The new Portico Library website that I'm so proud to have designed and built. This fantastic library in the heart of Manchester has so many wonderful treasures, a passionate team and bookshelves to swoon over.

Check it out www.theportico.org.uk

Who doesn't love a bespoke drawn logo submark? I've loved working on this brand design for the lovely ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Now that the brand design is signed off it's onto planning the website strategy and developing a standout Squarespace website. I can just picture it and it gets me so excited! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Just sharing these gorgeous bespoke Instagram templates I created for the wonderful .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I worked with Katie to delve into her business, how she wanted to make her clients feel on her Instagram. Katie is the first to admit that colour and design are way out of her comfort zone. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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But going through this process to discover her visual identity and translate this into Insta templates for her marketing has really helped to bring her happiness, clarity and confidence. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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And I bloody love them!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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