SEO Tips for the Professional Photographer

SEO Tips for the Professional Photographer

Sat, Jan 15, 2011 For Fundy Software, SEO is king. We always bounce between number one and number two on Google for Album Design Software and we are number one for Professional Album Design Software. When we do a new blog post, our key words are always number one on Google for at least a month. When we did our review of ProDPI’s Bamboo Mounts, we had the number one spot on Google for Bamboo Mounts, over Amazon.com. Needless to say, we’ve been working on our SEO for years and without it, our business would not be where it is today. Here is a fantastic blog post on SEO by the author of “Photography Web Marketing Guide,” Zach Prez.

The Ticket to Better Search Rankings, and Getting Phone Calls

Search engine rankings change a photographer business overnight (at least it seems like overnight). One day your site’s invisible to search engines and suddenly you’re BFF with Google. This post talks about how to make your site an overnight success with some simple search engine optimization (SEO) suggestions. You can also signup for my free web marketing email class to learn easy steps to grow your online photography business.

Search Engine Success

Let’s begin with how a page ends up in the top 10 for a specific search on Google. A user searches a broad phrase like “Portland wedding photographer” or specific one such as “Who is the best wedding photographer for the Hyatt in Portland?” Google then tries to find the best page that fits the search criteria. It matches pages to the search phrase by looking in the webpage title and URL first because those two things will best explain the topic of the page. Then it looks quickly at images and page text. A search engine will probably find hundreds or thousands of pages about a broad phrase, and perhaps only dozens of pages talking about a specific phrase. Hopefully you see that your chances of ranking improve the more pages you have, and the more specific those pages are written.

Tip #1 to ranking well – think about a specific phrase a user might type (Who is the best wedding photographer for the Hyatt in Portland?) and create/edit a page around that subject. For example you could create a blog post with the title “Best Hyatt Wedding Photos for Portland’s Prez Couple” and URL of yoursite.com/weddings/best-hyatt-photos-portland/. Do you see how we know exactly what that blog post is about from the title and URL before even looking at the post? Google knows too, and so do users who will quickly click your link if they’re looking for Hyatt photos.

Big phrase or small, Google usually finds a lot of results for any search. How does it know which page to rank first? You may be surprised that keywords (the title, URL, page text, images, etc) only account for about 15% of the ranking process. The rest is a popularity contest and everyone wants to be Lady Gaga. Did you know Lady Gaga has the most Twitter followers with over 7 million? Anyone can instantly tell she is popular by the number of connections she has. Google can tell when a website is popular by its number of connections (links). When 100 other websites point to yours, Google knows that the “Internet” is recommending your site and therefore it is popular. Popular sites (those with a lot of inbound links) rank well because search engines understand that those are the sites people want to see.

Tip #2 to ranking well – generate links to your website from as many quality sources as possible. Creative ways to get links include:

•Write an article for a friend’s blog (7 tips to shooting hotel weddings) and use the “About the author” biography to link to your site

•Create a signature in online forums so that every post you make in the forum carries a signature link to your website

•Offer a testimonial to another website and ask that they link it to you

• Offer professional photos to someone’s website and ask them to credit your work with a link

• Do an interview or contest for another website – these always link back Now you know how to rank a photography website so you can turn that traffic into dollars. Get More Phone Calls

Revenue is the ultimate goal of SEO and even a successfully ranked site does not always generate new business. To build revenue a website needs to impress a potential client with quality content and get them to buy something (a photo session). Your website should A) impress and B) get a user to buy by contacting you.

Most websites create many distractions to fill the space. Distractions don’t impress, and don’t lead to new business. Take a look at your website or blog and answer the following questions.

● Does your webpage impress by showcasing your talent? Quality photos, testimonials, awards and experience all help to impress.

● Does your webpage encourage users to hire you, contact you, or schedule an appointment?

● Does your webpage include things that distract? Links to other websites, lists of keyword tags, a feed of nonsense Twitter discussions, and calendars fall into this category and should be removed.

If your homepage aligns with the above objectives – great work! Take it to the next level by optimizing subpages and blog posts to do the same. Keep in mind that a page about “Hyatt Portland weddings” is probably not your homepage. When it ranks well, that blog post or gallery page will be the starting point for a potential client and quite possibly the only page he or she looks at. Well ranked pages also need to showcase beautiful images, testimonials, contact information, and links to your best work.

Summary to Great SEO and Getting Phone Calls

Look at each page as a starting point for new business. The page should be written so it can be found by search starting with the title and URL. Showcase your best work and support with reasons why a potential client would want to hire you, including testimonials, awards, and text about your experience. Offer clear contact information with benefits for contacting you now. Simple offers like “Call for a stress-free consultation” or “Now booking July weddings, call now” give users a reason to act.

About Zach Prez

I’m a dad and social cyclist who loves to talk marketing over a cup of Lipton tea. I wrote Photography Web Marketing Guide to help photographers get more clients with photography websites.

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