SEO

When I first learned of this assignment, I was extremely interested to read the PDF on SEO provided for us (Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide), and to further exhaust the topic through subsequent blogs about SEO, and other articles.

This past summer, I began establishing myself as a freelance wedding and portrait photographer, and created both a website and a blog (with a new blog being released this week). That was my first introduction to the importance of SEO. But until I read the material required for this assignment, I had no idea just how much went into it, and how much more I could be doing to promote both of my sites.

How have I gone about SEO so far? Well, for starters, I have definitely dealt with "description" meta tags. (In all honesty, my fiancé and business partner is the brains in that department, so I left most SEO stuff up to him.) Ways in which I have felt comfortable promoting my sites have been through social networking sites. Myriads of such sites exist for wedding photographers. (Imagine a Facebook strictly for photographers.) I also utilize Facebook itself, through a fan page for my work.

I also utilize Google Analytics for my main website, and check it every day. It has been very helpful to see how people are coming across my site (how much traffic is the result of direct searches, how much is the result of referral sites, etc.). I can then determine which meta tags I should keep/change to get the most traffic.

However, like I said, I have learned so much new stuff about SEO because of Google's SEO Starter Guide. For example, concepts of HTML/XML sitemaps and "breadcrumb navigation" are all new to me. This is not to say I fully understand everything about these topics now that I've been introduced to them. But I definitely intend to reread this guide to further promote my site and my business.

In searching the term "Search Engine Optimization" I came across two different interesting sites. One, titled "95 SEO Tips and Tricks for Powerful Search Engine Optimization" outlines which SEO tricks should be a high priority. This is very helpful for me. Some examples of these tricks include writing unique content, and writing it often (something I try to do at least a couple of times per week to increase my SEO). I would definitely encourage those of you reading this to check out this helpful site, as it breaks down very nicely what you should make a first priority. As a matter of fact, I am bookmarking this site to refer to as I continue trying to increase my SEO.

Finally, I also found a blog with a post called "Search Engine Optimization Basics". This site was particularly encouraging because it points out that while SEO is time-consuming, it is not hard. It can be done.. The right way. Successfully. The article (like the PDF) also harps on the importance of "linking" tactics. This is something I think I do, but perhaps not enough of. One tactic that has seemed to work is actually following other photographer's blogs and commenting on their posts. This increases the likelihood that other commenters will click on my username, which will take them to my site.

All in all, this assignment has encouraged me that what I have done so far has been useful, but that there is always room for improvement, especially in terms of "keywords," "anchors," and the like. And as I said, I look forward to learning more about SEO through rereading these helpful resources.