As we continue on in our blogging tips series I have a really exciting post for you today! I’ve split it into three parts because there is SO much information to cover. I recently sat down with SEO expert and my lovely older sister, Jessica to talk about tips for improving your blog – and she had some amazing tips so let’s jump right in!

P.S. If you want to check out our other blogging tips in this series visit the links below:

Blogstomp: Organizing and re-sizing your photos for your blog.

Sharing to Facebook: Tips to improve your posts visibility on one of the largest social media platforms.

So to start, what is SEO?

Stands for search engine optimization. And what does that mean? It is the practice of writing or modifying your website or blog to come up higher in rankings when people search for certain phrases. So think, what do you want to be found for? Google has over 500 factors that go into deciding rankings and they are constantly changing and evolving. Their algorithm is secret and so no one can really know how – but there are some tools, tips, and tricks to help you! But know it is changing all the time, so it’s important to stay up to date on what they are looking at. There are 3-4 major updates a year and lots of little ones all the time. But doing SEO for companies is both super technical and creative – kind of like photography!

It’s important to remember especially as photographers our field is so competitive and so many people are competing for a handful of phrases. You can’t be booked if you can’t be found and people rarely will travel to page two of the search. You want to stay on page one!

What are the 3 most important things that factor into rankings?

1. What you are saying; your content.
2. How fast your pages load
3. How many relevant links you have (more on that later).

So let’s start with content, what are some things to improve there?

When planning content the best thing to think of is the phrase you want to be found by. For example “photographer” is too broad but “Wedding photographer in Blacksburg that specializes in outdoor weddings” is too specific. You want to be somewhere in between! Find a phrase that a decent number of people will be searching for, but not too narrow a demographic. Try to avoid duplicate content or saying the same thing over and over. And most of all, keep it unique! Also when thinking about content – don’t simply use the same phrase over and over again. Try to think of a unique variation for each entry. When using photos remember

As creatives, we use a lot of images in posts so when using photos remember the more content the better. But since Google can’t “read” photographs you’ll want to use “alt tags”. These can be set in WordPress or Lightroom! (More info on how coming soon!). When you apply an alt tag to a photo search engines can read the image and then understand what your photo is about. Think of when a blind person reads your blog, the search engine reads them the alt tag and it tells them what the image is you’ve included. Also, don’t use the same alt tag for all 10 images in your post, try to make them unique as well. For example, a picture of a bouquet should be tagged “Roanoke Wedding bridal bouquet” vs “Roanoke Wedding”.

Ok so let’s move on to speed, how can we improve that?

How typical is it for you to visit a website and if it doesn’t load in less than 2 seconds people will typically hit the back button and try another option. That is why speed is so important. There are free tools where you can check your speed and see what you need to fix. Visit them here:

 

Now, most photography web platforms load very quickly and will take care of this for you but it is always better to know so you can get things fixed!

So what are relevant links? And how can we incorporate those?

Relevant links are when another company in your industry links to your page. It is telling Google they agree you should be seen – think of it like a vote for your page. And if you, in turn, link back to them you agree that yes you are both relevant. So anytime you work with other wedding vendors link to each other! Help each other out! Another tip for this, instead of using their business name as the link, use what they do. i.e. “Fresh Baked VA” vs. “Roanoke Cake Artist”. The second one should be your hyperlink text because it gives the search engine more information about who you are linking to. In a future tips post, I will be sharing how I ask for these!

Another great way to get relevant links is by guest blogging for other vendors or getting featured, especially if they are well-known sites because that carries more weight and authority. And remember: personal recommendations + visibility = trust! (as long as it is your clientele and ideal customer).

A few other tips: Keep other online profiles up to date – wedding wire, yelp, etc. The more reviews you have the more positive visibility. People today have very little time and so what search engines do is try to save them time by giving them the website that best fits their needs – that way that search engine company is considered dependable and they will use it over other search engine options (i.e. always use Google to search instead of Bing or Alta Vista for you Parks and Recs fans out there :)

So, it seems like there is a lot to do, what would you say is a good thing to focus on today?

Good content is most important and instead of focusing on your “phrases” as much, be yourself and they will come naturally. Natural and personal will rank higher than anything else. Don’t force it. If you are true to yourself your niche will come and then the phrasing happens naturally. In the end, if you can provide an authentic experience to the end user that is relevant, easy, and fast to use you will rank higher. Because the more relevant and easy your site is to use the more people Google will want to tell about you. So if you provide content and alt tags, etc. it tells them you are user-friendly so they want to feature you!

Thanks Jes! We have 2 more parts in this series with a TON more practical tips so come back next Thursday for Part 2!

Also, she’s going through a site redesign right now, but for more information on Jessica visit her company’s website here!