If you jotted down the hours you spent writing, publishing, and sharing your blog, how much of your workflow are you spending on these tasks? Your blog is key to attracting ideal clients to your photography business, so the time you put into it should be strategically planned out. Focusing on mastering the techniques necessary to rank higher on search engines can assist you in reaching clients who are perfect for you. Incorporating keywords which your ideal clients search for is crucial to placing your content in front of couples looking for a photographer.
When an ideal client types a keyword into a search engine, your blog can be one of the top posts if keywords (and SEO) are added correctly. These keywords can be featured in your blog posts (your images, title, and Yoast SEO). As well as using typical keywords such as “photographer” and “wedding photographer,” including more specific keywords into your blog posts gives you a larger chance of reaching clients. But, how do you know what keywords will work for you as a photographer? Starting today, use these 24 keywords in your blog posts to help reach your ideal clients.
Share Your Specialty
In your blog posts, include keywords to share your specialty with searching couples. A bride and groom who live in Northern California and desire to have an outdoor wedding will most likely search for keywords that match their vision for the big day. Keywords which share your specialty can be:
1. Destination Wedding Photographer: This description informs your ideal client that you are a photographer who travels to shoot weddings.
2. New York Wedding Photographer: When each of your weddings are shot in one location, use a keyword that shares the location to inform ideal clients of your specialty.
3. Outdoor Wedding Photographer: Including a keyword which shares your unique specialty narrows down the clients who you will reach (which means you will have more ideal clients to share content with).
Tip: Discover the most popular keywords with Wordtracker or Moz. These tools can help you learn what keywords are most popular for your ideal clients.
Identify the Location
When an ideal client searches for a location keyword, they are looking to find an area which would be perfect for their venue. Looking online for images of wedding locations can include keywords which shows them what their wedding could potentially look like. Use keywords that describe where you shot the past wedding you are sharing, such as:
4. Town: Including the town’s name into your keyword is helpful for potential couples in the surrounding area, especially if it is a smaller town that may not have many search results on Google.
5. City: A city is typically larger than a town, meaning you have the potential to broaden your search results for couples who live (or know of) the city where you shot.
6. State: Adding the state into your keywords is important because couples are likely to first search for the state where they would like their wedding to take place. Although this is the case, try to incorporate the town or city with the state so clients know where you prefer to shoot.
7. Indoor Wedding: This keyword shares with your ideal clients that the wedding was indoors, which many couples may be searching for.
8. Outdoor Wedding: Describing an outdoor event can help clients narrow down their search for a photographer who shoots outdoors.
9. Outdoor, Mountain Engagement Session: When the wedding was outdoors and in a certain location, you can provide that in your keywords.
10. Beach Wedding: If a couple knows they want to have their wedding on the beach, this is the keyword they will use in their search.
11. Church Wedding: When you simply say “indoor wedding,” your couple may not know exactly what that means. Including the type of wedding it is can help them see what their wedding may look like.
12. Backyard Wedding: This keyword shares a specific event that will provide a clear example for your ideal clients looking to have this type of wedding.
13. Destination Wedding: Since destination wedding photographers do not always shoot in the same location, adding this keyword to your blog posts means clients can see your work from the specific location they were planning to book.
Related: Are you using these 5 tips to market your photography business?
Showcase the Venue
Before booking or choosing a photographer, the couple wants to see what the venue looks like (so they can envision what their wedding could look like). Share the name, and link out to, of the venue you shot the wedding you are sharing in your blog post copy (you cannot link out your title or YOAST SEO keywords). Specific keywords could look like this:
14. Maui, Hawaii Wedding, Haiku Mill: Although couples may not directly search for this hotel, unless they are referred, combining the location with the venue gives them the opportunity to click on your post and see what a wedding would look like there.
15. Rustic, Indoor Wedding, Union Hill Inn: Couples who know what type of venue they want to have their wedding in will use relatable keywords. If a bride and groom want a rustic, indoor wedding, your post will appear (as well as the venue you have added in the keyword).
16. Romantic, Outdoor Wedding, Treehouse Point: Outdoor venues are popular for many couples, so incorporating that into your keywords can help you reach couples interested in this type of wedding.[ninja-inline id=14322]
Related: Are you avoiding the 4 critical mistakes you can’t make in SEO?
Describe the Time of Year
Even if not every couple knows what their style is, many will know where and when they want their wedding day to take place. Every wedding is unique, so describing the time of year of your past weddings on your blog can help you reach those clients. When a couple is looking for something specific, they will type that keyword into a search engine. Use keywords in your blog posts similar to:
17. April Wedding: If couples want to get married during this time of the year, they can search for the month in which they want to have the wedding to find results.
18. Spring Engagement Session: In addition to searching for the month, couples search for the different seasons when they can get have their engagement session.
19. Summer Wedding: Summer brings about busy season for photographers, so including this keyword can help place your content in front of ideal clients.
20. Fall Wedding: You may shoot weddings all year, but fall is also a popular time for couples to tie the knot. Using this keyword can help your past weddings encourage couples to book your services.
21. Winter Engagement Session: Depending on where you live, the winter can provide snowy or Christmas shoots. Clients who desire something similar will search for this keyword.
Portray the Overall Feeling
22. Rustic Wedding: If one of your weddings represents a rustic dress code and feel, include this keyword into your blog posts.
23. Black Tie Wedding: When you shoot a black tie wedding, there is an overall mood that represents the shoot. Use this keyword to attract clients interested in this type of wedding and mood.
24. Casual Wedding: This keyword can represent the dress code and feel of the wedding you are sharing. Couples who are interested in having a casual wedding will search for this keyword.
Tip: When you add keywords to your blog posts, make sure you include them on your images (after your photos are color corrected by a wedding photography editing company). When you save your image to your computer, add keywords in the filename. This will set the Alt text, which helps your images become searchable. Try a naming convention of, “Name of Couple – Type of Wedding – Wedding Photographer – Your Photography Business Name.”
Using keywords which fit you as a photographer assists you in reaching a higher ranking on search engines. The higher your ranking, the more likely your content will be seen by your ideal clients. And since ideal clients are who you want to see your best work, anticipating what keywords they will search for helps you and your brand become more recognizable.
Discover additional ways SEO can skyrocket your reach and more with our free Guide, SEO for Photographers: 8 Pro Photographer Sucess Stories! In our guide, created in collaboration with PhotoBiz, we reached out to 8 photo industry leaders to find out how SEO empowered their photography businesses. Read through their success stories to learn more!
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Great advice on Seo gives you a different point of view which is helpful thank you.