1ADD LOCATION TEXT TO YOUR WEBSITE
Sometimes when I visit a photographer’s
website, it’s like searching for Carmen
Sandiego: I have no clue where in the
world they’re located. Ironically, photographers who are dying to be found by
people in a desired city don’t have their
location listed anywhere! I can understand
some of the excuses: you work from home,
or you really want to book jobs in the next
town over. But it’s still essential to list—at
the very least—the region or town you are
servicing or the area in which your business is physically located.
Search engines can’t see videos or images;
they only see the text that’s associated with
those videos or images. So adding text—in
this case, location text—is vital! (You can
choose not to show your home address if
you work from home.)
Add your location, the kind of photography
you do and which regions you serve to at
least three pages of your website. For exam-
ple: “Feuza Reis is a Myrtle Beach Wedding
and Maternity Photographer serving Horry
County and Charleston, South Carolina. She
is also available for destination weddings.”
This kind of text should be on your
homepage, your About page and your Con-
tact page, if your site has all three.
Add your location information to the
page titles and descriptions of your website
and blog as well. Page titles is that text you
see above someone’s URL, and description
is the summary of someone’s site when you
Google something and URL results appear.
Your main page title should have your location text on your website and your blog,
but vary the wording, otherwise your own
pages will start to compete with each other.
To change your page
title in WordPress:
A. In your WordPress dashboard, go
to Settings, then General.
B. Make sure there is no text in the
Tagline area.
C. Add text to your site title with separate
keywords using the vertical bar or pipe
symbol (“|”). For example: “New York
Wedding Photographer | NYC Bride.”
This text should not be more than 70
characters and should be entered as a
phrase, not a complete sentence.
Bonus Tip: Don’t spam your blog
posts with anything like “Myrtle Beach
Wedding Photographer” for every post,
as Google can consider this keyword
stuffing. Instead, use variations on
the location wording. Where are you
shooting? Is it an engagement session
downtown? Is it by the shore? Is it in
a specific venue? Don’t forget to share
these specific locations; think more like
a client and less like a photographer.
2 ADD YOUR PHONE NUMBER WITH THE AREA CODE
Before the Internet was developed, there
was this book called the Yellow Pages,
a big, printed directory for businesses.
When you wanted to find a plumber, for
example, you would go to the plumber
section and look up phone numbers.
You could get a free listing with just
your phone number in the Yellow Pages,
or pay for a larger, more eye-catching
ad like what you’d see in a newspaper.
Because you were paying for that listing
in order to attract new clients to your
business, it was extremely important to
have your name, phone number and address listed correctly.
Today we have access to many online
listings, which serve as our virtual Yellow
Pages directory, often for free. When
looking at your online presence (
websites, blog listings), Google looks closely
at your NAP (Name, Address and Phone
number). By seeing the area code, Google
knows which region you are affiliated
with, and the phone number reinforces it.
Google gets ticked if your information is
Top: Feuza Reis advocates putting your location
information in text format on at least three pages
of your website, as she does on hers.
Left: WordPress’ dashboard allows you to
change your page titles to better suit SEO.
Opposite page: A detail shot from Reis’ portfolio.