Photoshelter weighs in on Search Engine Optimization for photogs - Free SEO Cookbook
Posted on | April 8, 2009 |
I spotted this today on Photoshelter’s Twitter feed.
Catch our webinar on SEO & photographer websites tomorrow http://tinyurl.com/cn5b7f and grab our free SEO tookit http://tinyurl.com/dxy2j6
It’s a 30-page PDF you can get via email at the link above. And if you really want to bone up, join their webinar tomorrow.
My take on their document:
Comprehensive, well-written in plain English and chock full of good advice like this:
SEO is not rocket science. All the effective methodologies for improving SEO take time and planning, but ultimately they provide end users with a better search experience.
I’ve said very much the same thing myself before! Patience is a virtue, because SEO is a long-term strategy for you to improve your website for YOUR VISITORS. If they can A) find you before anyone else and B) have a good experience on your site, you win!
This advice on page six I kind of disagree with:
You should start with a minimum of 50 keywords/phrases because many of the terms might have too much competition to truly optimize for, as we’ll see in the next step. Your list can be as long as you want, but there’s no point generating a list that is too long for you to manage.
50 phrases is daunting for a beginner in SEO. I say start with five, and make them 4-5 word phrases. Using longer phrases means less competition, and more specificity as to whom you want to attract. Pretend you are YOUR CUSTOMER searching on google when you write these phrases. Or, the customer you want to attract! After you nail those, move on to a bigger list. In addition, think or phrases for specific pages on your site - each page exists for a reason (most of the time a different reason!), so choose different keyword phrasess for each page you wish to optimize. Start with your homepage - it’s the core of your business. One more thing - think local. Attract customers within driving distance first if that’s your business. Use location-specific keywords (which the report does cover).
There is another passage I question:
Flash
Adobe Flash is a technology used by many websites because of its support for attractive user interface elements (e.g. crossfading transitions, elegant drop-down menus, etc). However, Flash cannot be reliably indexed by the major search engines. The best Flash website software programs and vendors build HTML mirror sites to allow search engines to see the contents of a website, but most do not.
As of June/July of 2008, Adobe and Google announced that Flash files are now indexed. I am curious as to the state of this since the announcement, and don’t claim to have direct knowledge of success or continued Flash and search ‘bots problems. I do, however, think that by now, it has to be fairly accessible from a text standpoint. Geek links one and two.
Outside of that, the document is SOLID, well-written and full of useful advice.
I especially like their #9 in the list of things to avoid:
Giving up. SEO is a very worthwhile and attainable goal. And although it takes some foresight and planning, it doesn’t require a computer science degree. If you can understand f-stops and shutter speeds, you certainly can master SEO.
Mad props to Photoshelter to tackling one of those “black magic” areas that photographers like to avoid. I hear the phrase “SEO” on so many photographer’s lips, coupled with a frown and nervous grasping of hands. Grab a cup of coffee, request their PDF and make a long-term plan. it will pay off.
aSDa
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