Intro by Skip Cohen
This post by Sarah Petty may be from her archives, but it’s so relevant today, especially with the number of you who now have both a website and a blog. Your Internet real estate is the equivalent of your storefront, but you’ve got to do a little work to show up in your target’s searches.
Think about all the noise in our lives. We’re all caught in the information equivalent of the perfect storm! We’re bombarded with email, snail mail, online banners, pop-ups, television and radio advertising, bill boards and the list goes on and on.
Well, you can’t do much to change information overload, but you can make sure your message gets through the “storm.” Keywords are just one aspect of SEO, but so easy to tie into things you publish online.
Here’s the link to Google AdWords and the keyword planner Sarah talks about in her post.
By Sarah Petty
Having a web site is a must in today’s day and age. While some people may still go to the Yellow pages to find a photographer, most rely on referrals from friends, the impression they’ve gotten from your storefront, marketing materials and advertising. Here’s a quick, inexpensive way to make sure when someone searches your specialty (weddings, kids, family) + photography + your city name, you appear in the search results.
Use Keywords in all of your blog posts and within web site content
Keywords are the words your customers and potential customers would type into a search engine to find you.
For example, for Sarah Petty Photography a sample keyword could be Springfield, IL children’s photographer. Brainstorm a list of keywords that describe your business. Once you have a good sized list, check out Google’s AdWords’ free keyword tool for basic keyword analysis. It’s geared toward potential advertisers using Google’s sponsored links program, but can tell you useful information, like how frequently a keyword was searched in the prior month or year, how competitive each keyword is a list of related keywords you might not have considered and more.
Make sure you ask your customers, employees, and vendors how they would describe your studio/photography. If they were searching the web for a photographer like you, what words would they use when searching? Often our customers use different words than we do to describe our businesses. And after all, people like your current customers will be searching for you on the web, so make sure you understand how they view you.
Now, narrow the list of keywords to those which you feel describe you best. Then, cite these words often in your blog posts and on each page of your site. Incorporate these words into everything you write on the web and you’ll see your web site traffic increase!
