How to determine keywords for your photography studio

fremont-wedding-photography

The first thing we need to do is come up with a list of keywords. The keywords will determine the title of your website, the title of your individual blog posts, the names of your images, and the specific words you use in your text. They will also determine how you structure your website and how you link to your own website. Keyword research is the basis of SEO and the first thing to master. To establish a good keyword strategy, you need to have a full understanding of your own business and clients. To help, use the “SALE” acronym:

  • S – Service: What services do you offer?
  • A – Areas: What cities and areas do you service?
  • L – Locations: What specific locations or venues do you target?
  • E – Emphasis: What specific emphasis do you have in terms fo style or genre?
  • S – Synonyms: What are some synonyms for photography that your clients might search?

You will waste time and effort if you rank for keywords that have nothing to do with your services. To continue with our previous example, there would be little value in being ranked for “San Francisco Wedding Photographer” if Jennifer either didn’t live near San Francisco or didn’t specialize in Wedding Photography. Maybe San Francisco is only a flight away and maybe she technically has the skills to do Wedding Photography. Unfortunately, if her entire portfolio consists of Fashion or Architectural photography, Jennifer’s not likely to see any increase in bookings or benefit from ranking well for that particular keyword.

On the other hand, if she lived in the heart of San Francisco and her entire website was full of great wedding photography images and information, then ranking for this keyword would drive targeted clients to her site. Remember, SEO for photography is not about ranking well. It’s about benefiting your business by getting you actual clients.

So your first exercise is to answer the following questions. For the examples, let’s continue working with Jennifer Reynolds in San Francisco.

  1. S – Service: List the services you provide:
    Examples: Wedding Photography, Engagement Photography
  2. A – Areas: List areas where your ideal clients might be located:
    Examples: San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Bay Area, Fremont
  3. L – Locations: List the specific locations and venues at which you would like to book more shoots:
    Examples: Fairmont San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, City Hall
  4. E – Emphasis: List your areas of emphasis in terms of style and genre of photography:
    Examples: Artistic, Creative, Vineyard, Sunset, Rustic
  5. S – Synonyms: List synonyms and closely related works to photography:
    Examples: photographer, photojournalism, images, pictures

Do not try to make a complete list yet, as we’re still just brainstorming. For now, start to combine these words into potential search terms, putting yourself in the minds of your clients. What are they searching? What exact phrases are they using to search? Make a list of 5 to 10 potential keywords.

Here are some possible combinations based on our hypothetical SF-based business:

  • San Francisco Wedding Photography
  • Oakland Family Photographer
  • Golden Gate Park Photography
  • Fremont wedding venues
  • City Hall Wedding Photography
  • Napa Valley Vineyard Photography
  • Pictures of Rustic Weddings in Bay Area
  • Bay Area Sunset Photography
  • Creative Wedding Photographer in San Francisco
  • San Francisco portrait photographer
  • San Francisco engagement photography

Note that these are just possible ideas. We are still brainstorming so it’s possible that many of these ideas won’t pan out. Some keywords will require modification, and others might be exactly what we are looking for.

 

CHAPTER 1.01 – INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: 1.02 – SEO BASICS & KEYWORD STRATEGY

CHAPTER 3 1.03 – CREATING CONTENT

CHAPTER 4: 1.04 – SITE STRUCTURE

Chapter 5: 1.05 – ACCESSIBILITY, SPEED, AND DUPLICATE CONTENT

Chapter 6: 2.01 – LINK BASICS

Chapter 7: 2.02 – LINK VALUE FACTORS

Chapter 8: 2.03 – NOFOLLOW, RELATED LINKS, & ANCHOR TEXT

Chapter 9: 2.04 – LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES

Chapter 10: 3.01 – THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Chapter 11: 3.02 – MAXIMIZING SPECIFIC SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS

Chapter 12: 3.03 – MASTER LOCAL SEARCH

Chapter 13: 4.01 – Initial Decisions

Chapter 14: 4.02 – WORDPRESS AND SQUARESPACE

Chapter 15: 4.03 – GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Chapter 16: PAID DIRECTORIES

ACCESS TO INDUSTRY-LEADING EDUCATION

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