Growing Pains: Obsessed with SEO for Photographers

For the past two weeks I've been completely obsessed with Search Engine Optimization for Photographers. A lot of people think SEO are techniques that ensure my website comes up first when you type in the company name. But that's not right. When you search for "Picture Your World Photography," either my blog or my business website are usually among the top three listed search results. But that assumes potential clients already KNOW my company name. What I really should be striving for with SEO is making sure that my website ranks higher in searches on Google and other major search engines when leads type in probable searches such as "Denver Photographer" or "Denver Wedding Photographer," etc. etc.

I knew it was something I had to get up-to-date on quickly when I started noticing description tags that appear at the top of some photographer's web pages. You've probably seen them too...."John Smith Photography, New York-based wedding photographer..." or "Jennifer Smith Photography, Atlanta's premiere lifestyle's photographer," yada yada.

When I looked up my business website for www.pictureyourworld.net, all mine had for a description was this: var ssConfig = { AlbumID: '3505170',AlbumKey: 'f3ta9' newWindow: 'false', transparent: 'true'. What the heck? It took me a while before I realized it was coding from my bio page on my SmugMug site. That description is the only way clients have of knowing what my business is about and why they should hire me. Needless to say, I was totally blowing it by not having a valid explanation of who I am and what I shoot.

So far, I've been slowly implementing some techniques I found in the The Moments4Ever Photography SEO Starter Guide. Those include creating unique page titles, using description meta tags and keyword meta tags in my html page layouts.

I thought their directions were pretty clear cut, especially for a SEO noob like me. I was able to add new page titles and descriptions to both my blog and my website.