We’ve been talking a lot about online marketing and search engine op-ti-mi-something-or-other lately. I’m kind of the online marketing guy around here, and we’re offering SEO services to our clients so that all makes sense. The thing to remember is that the online portion of your business is very important, but getting out in person is actually much more important. Yes, I know, I’m always preaching about selling online, proper website set-up and page content, about blogging, social media and spreading your brand online, BUT we all know that nothing goes further in business than a hearty handshake and a genuine smile.
Don’t get me wrong, you have to balance the equation. If you meet a great prospect and they go to look you up and find an unimpressive website, or much worse, can’t find you at all – that is bad. But if you’ve got the online portion mostly handled, get your butt out into YOUR community and network. How? Where? When?
How? Clean yourself up, have the business cards ready and get your confidence up by looking at some of your best images or reading testimonials from some of your most appreciative clients.
Where? Go to local chamber events, sports outings, high school events and city or township planning meetings that are open to the public. Just from that list you could generate Headshots, Grand Opening Parties, School Events, Sports Photo Opportunities and other Corporate opportunities like product or commercial photography gigs.
When? Whenever you can. Get dialed in with some email newsletters that keep you posted on community happenings in your city. Make a commitment to go to 2 per week and see what happens after a solid month. Don’t want to be a wall-fly? Grab a friend in another industry and go together – feed off of each others’ connections.
In last week’s edition, we talked about “where to advertise” – from phone books to fundraising events, and how to know when you’re getting the most bang-for-your buck. We only briefly touched the surface of online marketing, and this week we’re expanding that topic to include tips on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for photographers; more specifically answering the question – “how do you get found online”? This chapter will be the introduction to SEO, and will be followed up with another edition including more detailed tips.
The first and most important piece to SEO is proper website structure. You want to lay out each page in a thoughtful way, that is user friendly for your prospective and current clients. Your pages must also be easily navigable by the search engines. Having pages such as “Home”, “About”, and “Contact” are a must. Additional pages that make a site more interesting to the user are a benefit as well. “In the Studio”, “Testimonials” and “Blog” are just a few examples. Once you get that part down, here are some tips that will help you get each page properly optimized for our tricky and constantly changing friends (or enemies) – the search engines.
Meta (a.k.a. Page) Titles: Read by all search engines – and the information is used when tagged as a Favorite or a Bookmark (in your browser). This tag can be seen in the blue or gray bar at the top of most browsers. This is your MOST IMPORTANT piece of searchable data. To see what your current Meta Title is, mouse over the tab at the top of any webpage you’re on and you will see it. Note: this is different than your url (http://www.traversecityphotography.com).
Example: Wedding & Portrait Photographer| Traverse City, MI | Mike Connors Photography
Keywords: Metadata field read and used by YAHOO.
Use words and phrases that web surfers would use to search for you. Include your location, special services or skills and your business name. Include words AND phrases and separate with commas.
WARNING: This is fairly new from Yahoo. Do not use the same word repetitively. THREE (3) times or less is a good rule of thumb, otherwise the search engines may tag that word as spam and ignore it. Limit yourself to about 250 to 300 characters.
Example: Traverse City, Wedding Photographers, Photography, Mike Connors, Senior portraits, family photos, photojournalism, professional photographer.
Meta Description: Read by Google and other engines. The snippet may be used in Google’s search results, or they may use other text from your webpage.
Be clear and concise. Pack as many keywords as you reasonably can. Use proper punctuation and a sentence format as it will be read in the snippet of the search results. Use about 250 characters.
Example: Michigan Photographer Michael Connors, owner of TC Photography by Mike, also shoots Senior Portraits, Family Reunions, Bar Mitzvahs and other specialty event photos.
How do I change these fields? Good question. If you’re tech savvy then you already know how to change them in the code. If you have a CMS (content management system) for your website, then there are often SEO fields listed for each page, or at least the home page of your site. Last resort – do the research and tell your web designer what changes you would like and they can implement them for you (there is usually a small fee associated).
Page Content: Use of relevant page content to your industry and your target search terms will help in the overall goal of getting your website well optimized for the search engines. Try to blend the techniques we’ve discussed and use relevant keyword phrases. Try to stay between 3% and 6% of total page content for any given keyword phrase in your text content.
Important: Please note that all of the above should be completed after doing thorough research on what keyword phrases are actually being searched for. You can obtain estimates of real monthly search volume via Google’s free keyword tool. Need help? Feel free to reach out to us for an affordable SEO consultation.
Stay tuned for the next edition which will cover SEO in further detail so you can start to see your website creep up in the rankings.
