As photographers, we quickly learned one of the most beneficial tools in marketing our business is our blogs. We can display our work, chat about what we do, and show potential clients what we have to offer. One of the most common mistakes I see photographers make is their blogging. Here are some quick tips to help you blog better, more efficiently, and blog better for SEO.
Main Blog Site Meta Data: One of the most important and easiest SEO factors that are quite often overlooked when people make their own blogs is the blog Metadata. This Meta data is what is the very first impression a potential client will see when searching for a photographer on Google or any search engine. This is your opportunity to make your company stand out, so make your Meta data good. There are 3 aspects to Meta data that should never be overlooked.
Title – the website title for the page is what appears in search results as well as at the top of the browser. An example would be “Buffalo Family Photographer | Portrait Pretty Photography”
Description – the description is what shows up in search results, so you will want to input data that will not only draw a person in to click on your site, but you will also want to tell a brief story explaining what the page is about. An example would be, “Portrait Pretty Photography is a Buffalo Family Photographer based in Western New York offering custom family portraits throughout locations in WNY or our studio.”
Keywords – this should be included in the relevant web page, title, as well as description. A good example would be, “Buffalo Newborn Photographer”
Duplicate Metadata can hurt your site. A quick way to check if your blog is an offender of duplicate meta descriptions you check it in your Google Webmaster Tools, from there click on the search appearance, then on “HTML IMPROVEMENTS & META DESCRIPTIONS”
Blog Posts: Have you ever seen posts that have no content and are just images? Or posts that contain very little content, a sentence, or two or three? When you think of Google, think about if you were a search engine, what would you want? You’d want valuable content to supply to your searchers right? There is nothing valuable to Google when you are posting little to no content. When you are blog posting keep these important factors in mind.
Keyword Rich Topics – have the relevant keyword in the first 90 characters of the post, and also included in the last paragraph of the post.
Content – Plan for a minimum of 300 words per post. Write about something your reader will want to know and do not write just for the sake of ranking for the search engine. That tactic will get short-term results but they will not last.
Keyword overuse – Do not keyword stuff a post. Add keywords and variations, only if it makes sense.
Posts – Write blog posts about what your potential client might be searching for. For example “family beach photographers in Buffalo, NY”
Plan on 1 page per keyword – Don’t use the same keyword for each page. This goes back to, the main point I mentioned above regarding duplicate Meta data. This applies to duplicate content as well. It will only hurt your website and blog. Search engines want fresh unique content.
Blog more than just client sessions. I often write How To’s, Where To Find, etc.
BIO – a short credible bio about who wrote the post/article. For instance, “Jennifer Lee is a Buffalo Family Photographer and is a recognized authority on the subject of SEO and Merchant Services for photographers. Jennifer has written over 200 articles on merchant services and SEO if you are looking for a merchant account or SEO for your business Jennifer can be reached at 777-7777” A bio is a great way to add credibility to the post or article and it also tells the reader what to do next.
Blog Post Images – When you are posting images to your blog, always keep in mind the search engine does not know what is in the image, as they cannot see it. So a good thing to do is tell the search engine what is in it. An easy way to do that is to fill in the information prior to adding the image to your post. The information I am referring to is the Title, Alt Text, and Description. Now when someone does an image search, your images will appear.
Image Title – This is the name of the image. You want to steer Google in the right direction, correct? So having a file name M24FISAJ.jpg does not tell the search engine anything, while beachfamilyportraits.jpg tells Google what the image is.
ALT Image Information – A good example would be “Family Portrait in Water at XYZ Beach” instead of “Beach Portrait” if it is a long description make sure to include it in the text of the blog post. ALT text should be no more than 125 characters and do not keyword stuff.
Image Captions – This helps the search engine further understand what the image is about. Make sure to use your post keywords and descriptions.
Images size – make sure to resize the images for web, and search engines like fast-loading websites. There are free web resizing actions, Bellevue Avenue offers a free resize for web action.
SEO has changed so drastically in the last 15 years. Quality content is so important when it comes to SEO. Create good fresh content consistently and you will get to the top of the search engines in no time.
About the Author: Jennifer Lee is the lead photographer at Portrait Pretty Photography specializing in newborn photography in Buffalo NY. Jennifer has over 15 years of experience in Search Engine Optimization and teaches other photographers how to rank their websites, blogs, and images as well as ranking top 3 on Google Maps.
