I really found my calling in college, first at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and later at The University of Arizona, in Tucson. In each case, working as a staff photographer at the college newspaper was more fun (and more enlightening) than my regular liberal arts studies Though I enjoyed studio photography and journalism classes, they lacked a certain direct “realness” compared to covering events that you could see in print the next day. It was the 90′s and film was still king. Late nights in a darkroom and the smell of crazy Kodak chemicals were a right of passage, and we college journalists were a weird, surprisingly tight-knit bunch.

© Christopher Richard

When a spot opened up as an in intern at the photography department of the big morning paper, the Arizona Daily Star, I jumped at it. It was like moving up to the big leagues. The Star had a strong photography department, with a dozen grizzled photojournalists who were, I found, actually willing to share tips and tricks of the trade. It was the tail end of the glory days of print journalism, and it was a blast. I learned quickly on the job, with a variety of weird and wonderful assignments every day – from rock concerts to shootings to weather disasters and community struggles. I was elbow to elbow with everyone, from the famous to the forgotten, all caught up in the cycle of the news. And at any moment, everything could change with a call on the police scanner. Drop what you’re doing, something’s on fire! It’s an exciting way to live, but not a terribly sustainable one, over the long haul.

I continued that work for ten years, traveling around the southwest and the United States for in-depth pieces on stories that affected Arizona. Digital photography came along, and the newspaper industry embraced it as a way to get photos to print that much faster. They bought us all the new toys and brought in specialists to teach us – a tremendous learning experience.

Along the way I started to see I could supplement my meager salary as a journalist with freelance jobs, which were almost as varied as the news assignments. On the advice of an AP photographer, I bought my own pro equipment (no small investment!) as a safeguard against a surprise layoff.

© Christopher Richard

Weddings came naturally after that. At the time, wedding photography was still mostly the cheesy, awkward, painful schlock we associate with soft focus and star filters, but a trend towards “documentary” style was growing in California and picking up steam. That suited my skills just fine.

Over time, my style evolved to include “candid portraiture” – a relaxed but composed method of solo and group photos that incorporates movement and spontaneous fun. No more “firing line” style shots. We keep it light, fun and playful, and clients absolutely love it.

I quit my journalism job about five years ago to do this full time – 25-30 weddings a year, with a smattering of family portraits, commercial jobs and volunteer work. It’s hard work, especially during the peak seasons of Spring and Fall, prime wedding photography season here in Tucson Though sometimes I miss the crazy variety of journalism, I don’t miss the police scanner.

Website: Tuscon Wedding Photographer
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChrisRichardsPhotography

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• Featured Member: Iacopo Di Luigi

Google, Bing and Yahoo each have their ongoing, ever-changing search engine optimization algorithms that most people do not understand.

What I mean is, Google and Bing/Yahoo are now using Social Signals for their rankings.  They are also looking deeper at where your links are coming from.  They want to see that you have Open Graph meta within your pages and posts.  They want to see movement (fresh content).   They’re integrating microformats into their search results.  The list can go on forever.

While there are so many new SEO topics that we will talk about, I want to start at the beginning.  The reason for this is because if your website is not doing the SEO basics, then there is no point in trying the more advanced tasks.

So where do you start?

The first thing you should do (if you haven’t already) is to sign up for the 8 part SEO eClass available on the Photographers SEO website.

The SEO Basics

As I got through the SEO basics, you can verify that the on-page optimization is in effect by using your browser’s View Source function and searching for the various components.

• Did you pick your most important keyword for your home page?  For instance, Arizona Wedding Photographer.
• Make sure every page (and post) on your website contains a unique meta titles and description.  The meta information not only helps your ranking, but also is how your page will show in search results. (also known as SERP)
• Do your pages (and posts) contain a H1 tag and H2 tags? Every page should contain only one H1 tag but multiple H2 tags are ok.  The H1 tag is what search engines first identify as what the page is about.
• Do your photographs and graphics all contain an alt tag within the html?  If not, be sure to add them.
• Is your text one bulky paragraph or broken up and styled in a more user friendly way?  Did you know that search engines like to see paragraph breaks, line breaks, bullet points, and bold and italic text?  It’s true.  Make sure that you have diverse text flow.
• Are you linking internally from one article to another, from a page to an article or vice versa?   This is important for on-site SEO and the user experience.
• Make sure your URLs contain the keywords you are trying to rank for.  (e.g., RandomNamePhotogrpahy.com/Arizona-Wedding-Photographer/ – this can make a fantastic about page URL)
• Are your image file names titled correctly?  (e.g., sedona-arizona-enagement-portrait.jpg instead of IMG123445.jpg)
• Did you create a Google Places and Bing Business Portal page?  If not, stop reading and set them up.  Then come back here for the next step.
• How about Google Webmaster tools and Bing Webmaster tools?   Have you set those up yet?  If not, go to so and then come back when you’re finished.
• Have you implemented off-site SEO measures like social profiles, appropriate (and SEO friendly) directory listings or guest articles on complimentary websites?

The last item I would like to suggest is our Photographer SEO Book.  For just under $40, you can read 100 pages of SEO tips, tricks and instruction.  The book will cover all things SEO from the basics to the most difficult and important, like Link Building.

Like SEO, the book is evolving.  New updates will be coming and everyone who purchased the book will receive the update for free.

To conclude the SEO basics article, I want to point out that there are many WordPress plugins available to assist your SEO efforts. In fact, we shared 27 of them on the blog.  In future articles, I will be talking about many of the plugins individually.

Thanks for reading and please comment with how you’re doing with your SEO efforts.

Scott

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Todays article is a very simple tip on how to use a Google Analytics report as a means of finding content to write about.

Before we begin, you need to understand what long tail keyword is.  Basically, it’s a keyword that you are ranking for, consisting of 3 or more words.

When you’re ready, click here to access my long tail keyword custom report.

The link will launch your Google Analytics account where you can then save the report.  Once you saved the report, open it to find each long tail keyword that a visitor entered with.

You will notice from the screenshot that over 1,400 visitors to my website came in from a variety of photo booth keywords.  What this tells me is that I can write about different photo booth topics and boost my SEO for the keyword and, in turn, increase business for photo booth rental.

Long Tail Keyword Recap

• Long tail keywords = incoming questions/search phrases
• Long tail keywords = more topics to write about in articles
• More (optimized) articles = better page rank
• Better page rank = more business

But Wait, There’s More

Long tail keywords are not the only way to find new content.  So stay tuned because I will be sharing more tips in future articles.

Comment below and tell me how the long tail keyword report works out for you.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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• How to Use Long Tail Keywords to Increase Blog Traffic

© Gregory Warran

After doing this for about a year I decided to pursue other areas and started playing with different processing techniques (some successful, some less so) and worked heavily on landscape and portrait work. I was taken on by Getty Images who now represent over 500 of my images and these are used commercially worldwide. After a couple of years I felt I wasn’t getting any real satisfaction from this work. I wanted to have my work hanging in galleries. I wanted to produce something original. Landscapes can look amazing but someone else could shoot an almost identical photo the next day.

I started pursuing two new fields. Travel photography, specifically street portraiture, and wedding photography. Two areas very different from each other yet fundamentally the same. Tell a story, and capture something that no one else would ever be able to recreate, because that moment would have passed. Last year I have my first exhibition of photos from India and Cambodia at a London gallery.

© Gregory Warran

Travel photography has a special interest for me. I travelled to Cambodia in the summer of 2011 and visited two orphanages. What I found there were many children, happy but in need of the basic essentials in life. I hope to raise awareness of those orphanages and have several photos on my website of the children from there but as yet there is no direct method in place for potential fundraising. Later this year I plan to travel to both Sri Lanka and the southern state of Kerala in India. There is a small town there on the backwaters called Kollam. There are several orphanages there. I am hoping to make some connections with at least one of them, organise some fundraising initiatives, and assist with their learning of English. More than this though I am hoping at a future date to supply some digital cameras and a laptop and teach the kids there the basics of photography, and processing, and hopefully leave them to thrive. In addition at a future date I hope we could then sell some of those photos to further finance the orphanages. Being that this is the hometown of my wife’s mother and father, I will be going back there every year anyway to maintain this.

Aside from this going forward I hope to build up a successful wedding photography business and use the proceeds from this to finance my travel photography.

Website: Kent and London reportage Wedding Photographer
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/gregscargill
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/shortsharpshot

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• Featured Member: Iacopo Di Luigi

Hello Photographers SEO community.

My name is Scott and I am the newest member of the Photographers SEO team.  I am a New Jersey Photographer with a passion for photography and I enjoy helping other photographers improve their SEO.

You may recall an article from 2010 when I was interviewed on the blog.  Well, a lot has changed since then.  In addition, SEO has evolved.

With that said, I am happy to join the team as the Community & Blog Wrangler.  You will find me blogging, chatting and engaging with the community.

If you’re reading this now, it means you may be interested in changing your improving the SEO of your photography business website.

My goal here is to share SEO, business and marketing content with you and answer as many questions humanly possible.

So thank you for stopping by and I appreciate you reading my quick introduction.

There is a lot in the works here at Photographers SEO and so much that I cannot wait to share with you.  So please check back regularly, subscribe to the RSS feed and join us on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

In conclusion, I want to hear from you.  Comment below and tell me what you’d like to read about on the Photographers SEO blog.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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I first started taking pictures at 7 years old when my parents bought me my first camera. Soon thereafter I was using my dad’s camera as it was better than the box brownie they’d bought for me! I immediately fell in love with photography and all I wanted to do was leave school as soon as possible and become a professional photographer. Pleased to say I am still going strong.

I was 13 when I had my first photograph published and that really did give me the encouragement and motivation to provide the highest quality photography possible, no matter what the subject may be. I am delighted today to have so many happy couples who agree with me, their Thank You cards and comments upon receiving their wedding album, or seeing their photographs for the first time means more to me than the many awards I have been fortunate to achieve. My passion for photography has never diminished and I look forward to each and every wedding, assignment and commission with eager anticipation and enthusiasm.

With wedding photography I like to simply let the day unfold naturally and photograph in a nice relaxed manner as unobtrusively as possible. I combine this reportage style with whatever groups the couple require and of course a striking set of bride and groom images. This kind of approach lends itself to really capturing the feelings, emotions, atmosphere and magic of the day, and of course makes for superb Storybook albums!

Website: Wedding photographer Edinburgh
Blog: www.philiphawkins.blogspot.com
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/philiphawkinsphotography

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• Featured Member: David Bellis

© Nicole Campo

The bride is my inspiration, her and her prince; they are what inspire me through my shoot! I watch how they love with their eyes and then I capture it! I freeze it forever and ever for them to look back on, tell their children and children’s children and then they get their turn to tell their love story!

Another part of the wedding experience I enjoy is Bridals. It is so much fun to have the bride all dressed in her wedding gown hair done and accessories, and take her out the day of or a couple weeks prior. My personal favorite is shooting prior to the wedding. The bride is more relaxed, and we can choose whatever location we like!! Though I don’t mind shooting a small bridal session the day of the wedding, while everyone else is getting ready, I feel the bride’s enjoy it best when it’s not the day of! They don’t feel the jitters of the day-if they have them and they don’t have the pressure of shooting in that small gap of time.

I also get the opportunity to choose the best time of day when the sunshine is glowing!! It’s my favorite to go out and shoot an hour before sunset, the sunshine drenches my subject and it adds the warmth and softness I’m looking for.

© Nicole Campo

I have had several people ask me how I decide on posing for my clients. Though I do get very inspired by fashion magazines, adds for famous clothing brands or designers, and photography from years ago such as images of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn-I always decide when I meet my client and get to know them just how I will pose them. My job is to take who they are as a person and show off their beauty! Kind of like make up!! If I showed up with a list of poses and ideas and they did not flow with the personalities or the nature of my clients, it would make for an awkward shoot. If it’s an engagement, I like to take the time to meet my clients beforehand and see how they interact together. That gives me ideas of how to properly “pose” them or “direct” them through their session. If it’s a bride on her own ready for her bridal, I will (most likely) have already met her. So I will know what “look” she is going for, and I will keep that in mind as I create her session!!

If she is giddy, happy and loves to smile, I’ll make sure I don’t ask her to be too serious or place her in poses that make her feel awkward. If she is more solemn and is going for a serious look with a strong feel, I will position her with that in mind! Almost always I am able to capture pensive, serious faces as well as laughing and natural smiles!!

Website: Cary wedding photographer
Blog: www.blog.nicolecampophotography.com/blog
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/pages/Nicole-Campo-Photography/228644637206060

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• Featured Member: Kimberley Nicole

I dabbled in everything I could get my hands on. Babies, Children, Engagements and even Weddings. After my son was born, I dusted off my camera and was obsessed with capturing his many expressions as a baby. Soon after I photographed my first newborn and just fell in love with newborn photography. My inspiration comes from my son and seeing the beautiful work of others like Laura Brett, Keri Meyers, Baby As Art and Amanda Cutler.

In May of 2011 I made the decision to officially go into business and open my photography to “real” clients. I started off shooting natural light but had always had an interest in learning studio lighting. That opportunity came this past winter when I bought my first studio light kit and turned my downstairs bedroom into my own home studio.

I was lucky enough to attend a newborn workshop in March that has brought my work to another level of photography and I’m so thankful for the opportunity and the education. Newborn photography will always be my first love. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you are providing images of such a short and special time that never wants to be forgotten. I aspire to focus on newborns and watch them as they grow building relationships with my clients.

Website: Raleigh newborn photographer
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/melissaberg
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/melissabergphotography
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/melissaberg

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• Featured Member: Mui Tsun

© David Bellis

In my work as a wedding photographer I work largely with a documentary, or reportage, approach – capturing moments as they unfold before me, but can balance this as required with more formal, posed work. Often throughout the day there is a fluid movement between approaches, as I also like to interact with my subjects – I am after all there by invitation and part of your day – while at other times slipping into the background to take a “fly-on-the-wall” approach. I love to photograph people and take great pleasure in capturing genuine, spontaneous moments that portray the essence of a person or event. There’s a song by Mark Germino called “Caught in the act of being ourselves.” That song title kind of sums up how I would like my clients to appraise my images of their day.

© David Bellis

My earliest influences in photography were Man Ray, Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson. While professionally I mostly shoot weddings, I also love street photography and particularly look for moments of ambiguity and interesting juxtapositions of subjects. A good street photograph may often result from finding an interesting location with strong compositional elements and then waiting for someone to walk into the scene. Which can often be very much an exercise in patience… I’m often amused (though also often frustrated) when I have the camera to my eye and an interesting scene before me, waiting for the key subjects to arrive, only to lower the camera to find a small crowd of people watching me, waiting for me to take the shot so they can pass in front without “spoiling” my picture…!

I try to take the philosophy and practice of street photography into my wedding work and have been particularly influenced by Jeff Ascough and Joe Buissink, who I regard as the best wedding photographers in the world. Wedding work is challenging on many levels, particularly having to think about very technical things like shutter speeds while simultaneously building a rapport with your clients. I love the challenge of coming up with fresh creative ideas and hope to be able to continue this work long into the future.

Website: wedding photographer york
Website: http://www.bellisphoto.com/
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/bellisphoto

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• Featured Member: Mui Tsun

I grew up in the 70′s and 80′s so my early influencers were the likes of David Bailey and Patrick Litchfield. However in those early days most of my images were of lads stuff like — planes, tanks, trains and buildings.

I was never really one to spend too much time admiring other photographers’ work. I was merely aware they existed and that they were pretty damn good at what they did.

Today with the advent of the web, social media and not forgetting printed media, it’s a lot easier to become aware of some great photographers out there. Having spent a year on the Annabel Williams (Now Aspire) Bespoke training and mentoring programme, I have become more aware of and inspired by some really great UK, European and US based photographers, not to mention one or two exceptionally good Aussies.

I have recently spent some time with Brett Harkness who is a great and local photographer. I like his style very much and what he taught me in off camera flash techniques has opened up a whole new world of imagery. As far as wedding photographers go, Jerry Ghionis and Yervant have to be two of my biggest influencers at the current time. I recently saw Adam Alex at the Focus on Imaging event in the UK and his photography is one to be admired. Trevor Yerbury is a master.

It would be unfair of me not to mention the likes of Maria Murray whose images of newborn and young children are just breathtaking. I really admire Tamara Lackey and Sandy Puc for their children’s photography. Kevin Kubota and Scott Kelby’s online training are some of the places I frequent through my membership of their sites. I admire the skills of Cliff Maunter and Joe McNally.

As a kid I was obsessed with Bruce Lee! Here was a man whose athleticism defied the laws of physics and whose philosophy is still talked about today. One of his 5 fundamental principles I live by today is “absorb what is useful and reject what is useless.” There is so much information out there today for all aspects of photography and photographers, I think it is so easy to chase shadows or become overburdened with information and that is why it is much better to just get out there shooting and not be too concerned about turning your favourite photographers into gods, they certainly won’t care or thank you for it.

Links:

Website: wedding photographer manchester
Blog: wedding photographer cheshire

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