Content first, SEO second

Always, ALWAYS think about the end user and how he or she wants to look at your site. The search engine should never be your number one audience. Sure, the search engine can help you get to that end user, but what happens when that user gets to your page? Will he or she be driven away by the unreadable content? By the obvious keyword stuffing? By the lack of good navigation?

Search engines are getting smarter, and this means that they’re being taught to think like a user. Websites that are usable and accessible are being rewarded with higher ranking on SERPs (search engine result pages). If you use header and subheader (H1, H2, H3) tags on your website and blog, you’re showing the search engine that you are trying to organize your content in a way that’s helpful to the user. That’s why these sorts of things are factored into SE’s algorithms – good titles, alternative text on images for screen readers, and other techniques that improve usability and accessibility will also be the places that you’ve heard you should place key words and phrases.

So what does that mean? Don’t focus on key words? Not at all – just think about how they’ll be helpful to your audience. The structure of your pages, the navigation through your site, the amount of content on your pages and their freshness are all things that will help someone consume your site – AND will help search engines understand what your pages are about. Thinking this way (and not about how you can rank high for keywords) is what will get you to the top.

Here are some things to think about:

• Sitemaps. Have you ever made one? This is a great way to figure out what buckets of pages you have and whether or not you have a cohesive site. Creating it and submitting it to search engines is great for SEO.
• The title of each page in the browser. Is it different for every page, which would help the user understand what that individual page is about? Same goes for the description of each page.
• The organization of each page. Is there a clear, unique title on your page in an H1 tag? Does it succicntly describe what’s on that page? Do you have the content on your page broken into subsections, and do those subsections have H2 subtitles?
• Navigation to other pages. Is your navigation easy to use? Does it accurately (and succinctly) describe what’s on the other pages? Do you list related pages that the user might want to check out?

This is just the tip of the iceberg – there are many ways of making your website usable and accessible. Read up on usability testing – maybe ask some friends to try out your site to see if they run into any roadblocks or are left with unanswered questions. Ask your clients if they thought any information on the website was missing or confusing. Check your web analytics to see what pages have the shortest “time on page” or bounce rate and see how they can be better improved to provide useful information. All of these things will improve your site, and search engines will take notice.

Search volume

Yes, we’re all going to end up picking keywords and phrases after all of that is done. So where do we start? Here’s an example: in terms of search volume, “wedding photographers” is searched for more than “wedding photographer”. Examining search trends is important in determining what keywords you optimize your site for, as it will help you get more traffic to your page. Researching now will save you a lot of time later.

Put yourself in their shoes

Think about the newly engaged couple – are they searching for a “unique wedding photographer” or a “list of Virginia wedding photographers”? Are they searching for “amazing details and real moments” (sorry, [b]ecker) or “destination photographer”? Optimizing your site for “emotional”, “candid” and other adjectives for you and your work may not be the best place to put your resources. It’s more likely that a couple is searching by location (city, state, and venue names) with some form of the word “photography”. Keep this in mind when blogging – it’s always good to repeat your locations and venues in your posts and images’ alt tags.

Clean code

Is your code clean? Have you ever run it through the W3C Markup Validation service? How about your CSS and Javascript? What would people see on your site if they had images or Java disabled? Have you ever checked out what your site looks like on other browsers?

These are a lot of questions, huh? Accessibility and continuity across platforms is a major struggle for many visual artists, since we don’t have the simplicity of just displaying text. Check your web analytics to see what types of browsers and operating systems people are using to visit your site, as well as their screen size and other factors. If your site is unusable for a certain demographic (damn you, IE6 users! Upgrade already!) then you have an opportunity to improve it. Working out these issues will certainly help users stick around on your site, if not increase your ranking on SERPs.

In Sum

This may be sort of hard to hear. You’ve spent lots of time optimizing your site for keywords and now you’re realizing that search engines don’t just look at them anymore. There are so many factors and the algorithms keep changing – that’s why following the guidelines above will help you no matter what. In the long run, you will be rewarded for having a usable and accessible site, whether it’s by search engines or your end users.

Broadcast Fail:

Little kid win:

SHOUT:

I thought of my second shooter Jen, who asks every DJ to play SHOUT at every reception.

One other really important thing that I want to be honest about it that to me my weight is a very big issue. I try not to let it effect me and I want to try and not let it bother me on my wedding day. However, I’ve been trying to struggle to lose weight for the wedding day and didn’t really succeed. My biggest fear is that I’m going to get all my pictures back and hate the way I look in them because they will catch all my bad features or something. So use whatever camera tricks you can to get my “good side”. We recently had a friend take some informal shots of us and the one that looked the best of us what when she was sort of standing above us because it really hid my chin which I’m mainly self conscious about. I’m also pretty self conscious about profile shots because I think I look thinner from the front. I know this may sound ridiculous as I type it and I know you can’t work miracles, but I just wanted you to know about it and wanted to be honest with you. Thanks for understanding in advance.

When I received this email, I was both impressed by her courage in expressing her self-consciousness, and in awe of how proactive she was being. I believe many women and men get ready for this one big day of photographs with a great deal of worry, and I want to do all that I can to ease this. As I said to Sarah in a recent email, “photographers work with so many different people, and how it’s our job to make you look goooood.”

Many photographers (myself included) have either gone to school for photography or taken classes and workshops on posing people. Beyond this, we have tools at our disposal (cough cough Photoshop) to work with images after we take them. But the thing I want to emphasize the most is that photographers have experience. I have no idea how many people I’ve photographed, but I can easily tell you that the non-models vastly outnumber the models. I regularly work with individuals who have never had a professional photo taken, who hate the photos that others take of them, and who are generally unimpressed by what photographers do. And guess what? They love the photos I take of them.

When I asked Sarah if I could post her quote, she replied, “OF COURSE you can share that with people… My pictures turned out so amazing and you did such a good job of making me feel nothing but 100% beautiful on my big day!” So if you’re starting to get nervous about how you’ll look on your wedding day, then you can read tips on what you can do, and study America’s Next Top Model, but most importantly – talk to me. I can answer your questions and help calm your nerves. And you know what? You’re going to look great in your pictures. Promise.

This is a clip from Fairfax County’s website:

For a one-time civil marriage celebrant (non clergy), the person wishing to perform the ceremony must be a resident of Fairfax County and never have committed a felony. This documentation is submitted either by mail or in person to the Civil Intake Section of the Circuit Court. An order is prepared by the Court and presented to the judge… One-time civil celebrants may perform the ceremony only on the date submitted on the petition but can perform the ceremony any place within the Commonwealth.

Here’s more information for Fairfax County, but I’m sure you can find relevant information for your own city or county online: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/courts/circuit/marriage_info.htm

What moment stands out to you most from your wedding planning process?

We really enjoyed the food tasting for our cake and reception catering! But I think the biggest relief was when we finally booked our photographer. After that, it felt like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders and everything else would fall into place.

What moment stands out to you most from your entire wedding day?

Our favorite moment was during the reception after all the “events” were finished and we could dance and spend time with all of our guests and really just enjoy our day.

What advice would you give to couples currently planning their weddings?

Don’t get caught up with all the small details. Hire professionals who you can trust to take care of everything on your wedding day so you can enjoy yourself. If you don’t hire a wedding planner, have a friend or family member be the point of contact for all vendors on the day of in case any questions or issues come up so you don’t have to worry about it.

What was your favorite wedding photo and why?

Our favorite photo was the “dip” picture in front of the church right after the ceremony. When the picture was being taken we had no idea how beautiful and dramatic it would turn out. We love how romantic it looks. Even though it ended up rainy and cloudy on our wedding day, it made the lighting in this photo look even better.

What have you done with the photos since the wedding?

We had Lara create a beautiful album right after the wedding that is currently sitting on our coffee table. We’ve framed a lot of our favorite photos from our wedding day and hung them throughout our house. We framed one of our favorites- a picture of our first dance with our guests blurry in the background- with the mat that all our guests signed at the reception, and hung it in our living room.

What are you looking forward to for your next year of wedded bliss?

We are looking forward to enjoying more time spent together and with family and friends and hopefully taking a fun trip for our 2nd anniversary next year!

To put it simply – it’s all pretty flexible. Each couple is unique, and you will have your own ideas for which wedding photos mean the most to you and which you’d like to devote the most time to.

Getting Ready Photos

For couples who are interested in “getting ready” or “preparation” photos, I recommend the photographer arriving about an hour before the ceremony. This gives us a chance to catch a lot of the details (makeup, shoes, ties, dress) before much is assembled, and also gives us an opportunity to catch a lot of the action (putting on the dress, pinning boutonnières, stuffing tissues in bouquets). If you are planning on taking longer to get ready, or putting on your dress earlier, then you may want your photographer to arrive earlier.

Formal photos before the ceremony

Taking formal portraits (your family, your bridal party, and the two of you) before the ceremony is something that works for some couples. These couples typically meet some of the following:

• They don’t mind seeing each other before the wedding (and sometimes still have a “first sighting” to document that special moment)
• Their ceremony starts later in the day, and formal photos afterwards will be tough for natural light
• They know that their families will all be in the same place before the ceremony (instead of trying to find them all afterwards) – this often happens with a Ketubah signing
• They want to get some of the group shots out of the way beforehand so they can spend less time between the ceremony and reception taking photos. For example, some couples will do all the bridal party shots before the ceremony when their flowers will be at their freshest, or all the family shots so the family can go straight to the reception after the ceremony. Either will cut down on time later.

Order of formal photos

How do formal photos go down? I like to do family first, then bridal party photos, then photos of just the couple. This way, after your family is all done they can head right to the reception and start partying. The same with the bridal party, but they’ve been hired to be patient so they can go second! Then when they’ve been sent off, it’s just me and the two of you – nobody to look on and giggle while you exemplify how happy you are to get hitched. (Plus – nobody to feel self-conscious in front of if you don’t like getting your picture taken!)

How long do the portraits take?

If you have a large family and want lots of different group shots, you will definitely need to allocate at least 45 minutes for photos. I’m known as the fastest photographer on the mid-east coast (just kidding) and work very quickly with group shots (especially with my steadfast assistant by my side, corralling guests), but there is not much we can do if family shows up late or doesn’t know where they’re supposed to be. That’s when teamwork comes in handy! If you can put somebody in charge of finding people who need to be there and pulling people when we shout their names off the shotlist, that will greatly expedite the process. Typically this person is somebody that knows a lot of the family already.

If you’re worried about time, one of the easiest things to do is cut down on the number of photos where only you OR your partner are in them. Is it really necessary to do one of you, your brother, your dog, and Aunt Mary and then another of you, your partner, your brother, your dog, and Aunt Mary? Probably not. Consider only including photos on the list that you both are in – after all, the day is about celebrating your union!

As you prepare, make sure that your family knows where to be and when. This is the single most helpful thing to get formals over and done with!

Individuals with special needs

There is a place on the shotlist questionnaire I send you 45 days before the wedding that asks if there are any individuals involved in the formal photos that have special needs – an elderly person who can’t stand for a long period of time, anybody who has trouble with lots of stairs, etc. It is imperative that I be aware of this ahead of time – these things will dictate the location of the photos and the order of them. I will get the photos with this individual all done at the same time so they don’t have to walk back and forth from the group, and I will give location suggestions that are accessible.

In a similar vein, if there are individuals who should NOT be in the same shot, please PLEASE let me know. If there are individuals who you would like to have in the same shot but not standing next to one another, please let me know this as well. We can be totally flexible with each of these scenarios, but you do need to let me know ahead of time so we can plan!

Things change!

No matter how much we prepare, thing will change on the day of. The most important thing? Don’t stress. It always happens – someone forgets where they’re supposed to be, or the flower girl is in tears, or things run late and you want to slash half the list. That’s why you hire professionals – we know how to handle these situations! If I were to figure out what my defining moment as a professional photographer is, it would definitely include a tricky formal portrait situation. I’ve had terrible lighting, hotel gift shops next to the only good place to take portraits, massive fights between the bride and her mother moments before, florals arriving late (and wrong), bridal parties getting lost and stuck in traffic, unexpected and inconceivable amounts of precipitation, the list goes on. Don’t worry – we will get the shots, and figure it out together.

But Teresa was kind enough to answer a few questions, and provide some encouragement to those wanting to make the switch on their own! I know that we have more than a few “green” brides reading this blog, so I wanted to pick Teresa’s brain and share it with you!

Can you describe what you do and what you love about what you do?
Teresa: I love making bags because they are so handy and useful. It’s not something that gets put in a corner to be admired, I love functional art. We use a lot of hand thrown pottery dishes in our house and I love that we eat off of something that someone made.

What are some of the more creative things you’ve seen done with your bags?
Teresa: Bags used as “gift bags” or “wrapping paper.”

Anything you want to share to couples planning their weddings? (Go green!)
Teresa: Think about every think you buy, do you REALLY need it to make the day special. If not, don’t buy it or use it. It will save you money as well as the planet from more stuff!

While she’s taking a break from the bags for right now, you can visit her blog where she’s uploaded a a downloadable pattern and a how-to video! Be sure to also check out her post on why she’s started this project; it’s a really inspiring read.

Title of your blog

I read hundreds (yes, hundreds) of photographers’ blogs each day. It’s really sad to see that so many of them are named something like “Journal”. The title of your blog may not seem to have a huge effect on those reading it, but it definitely has effects outside of looking at your physical blog. The title of your blog weighs heavily in how you rank for search engines. Do you want to rank among those searching for “Journal”? Or do you want to rank among those searching for “Seattle wedding photographer”? When somebody stumbles across your page in search results, the first thing that they’ll see is your title – make sure that it describes you and what you’re about. A great example is Washington D.C., Virginia, & Maryland Wedding Photographer – Armin DeFiesta. However, be aware that most search engines will not index past the first 70 characters.

Age of your blog

This one is simple – the longer your site’s been around, the higher it can be ranked. Also, the more time you have to build up links to your site, to build up content on your site, and to build readership. So if you haven’t started yours, start now!

URL of Your Blog and Updating Content

This is weighted less heavily in search engines, but it is something to consider. Check out these Philadelphia Wedding Photographers. If you were a bride searching on the web for wedding photographers in your area, how likely is it that you’d want to click on this link? Very.

Secondly, it is very helpful to your portfolio if you have your blog attached to it. In other words, having your blog’s URL as http://www.yoursite.com/blog will actually help www.yoursite.com, since you have new, updated content continually on that site. New content will be seen by search engines, which is great. This is a reason why it’s important to update your blog often! Not once a week, not once every two weeks – at least three times per week. I update mine every weekday – it retains readers and it gives search engines new content and keywords to index for my site.

Depth of URL

Although Google has said that it doesn’t matter how many slashes are in your URL (for example, yoursite.com/blog/2008/05/01/postname.htm), it is rumored that it negatively affects other search engine results. I also like to keep my URLs as clean as possible for easy linking, so mine look like

/blog/index.php/post-name.htm

If I could, I would also remove the index.php part, to keep it even simpler. I highly recommend inspecting your post URLs to see what they look like and to see if they can be cleaned up.

Linking to other sites

Although linking to other sites does not necessarily help you with your ranking in search engines, having others link to you helps you BIG TIME. So why not start a blogroll and link to other vendors, maybe even other photographer friends, and see if they return the favor? If you ask someone to link to you, also ask them to link the keywords you would like to rank high for. For example, I love it when someone links to me as a nontraditional wedding photographer. :) You can also ask them to include a “title=” element to the link tag with your name, the keywords, etc. which helps with your search ranking as well.

Within posts

“alt=” element in image tags: If your code for images looks like this:

<img src=”image.jpg” height=”900″ width=”600″>

then you are missing a golden opportunity for SEO. Adding alt=”keyword” in this tag will help immensely. For example, if I want to rank high for a search on a venue like the Watergate, and my image is of a bride dancing with her father at this location, my tag might read:

<img src=”bride.jpg” alt=”Wedding at the Watergate in DC” height=”900″ width=”600″ />

As photographers, this can be our biggest opportunity for search engine optimization. I also recommend bolding keywords like venue names, other vendors, etc. Search engines note this as well.

Headings: <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> tags will help you rank very high in search engine results for the words you put between them. For example, I have put <h3> tags around each of the subtitles in this post – “Title of your blog”, “Age of your blog”, etc. I highly recommend subtitling articles you write, or breaking up long posts this way.

Install Web Tracking Code

I use Google Analytics to track pages on my site. I can see how many visitors I had, how long they stayed on the site, what they saw, where they came from and what pages they exited on. I highly recommend installing tracking so you can follow the same things and then tweak your site to lower exit rates, increase pages per visit and time spent on your site, and the number of visitors you get from search engines. I know exactly what keywords are being used to get to my site, and I work on improving them and adding to them every day.

If you need help

If you need help doing any of these things or need more information on what I’ve described, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am very interested in educating photographers on how they can improve their search rankings and drive more traffic to their site, since this can be a huge source of potential client inquiries. It’s worked for me, and I’d be happy to help you figure out how it can work for you!

Also check out SEO for Photographers Part II!