We prefer to focus on creating templates and products that will work for you like our new Deco Mobile websites or the Splash Page creation tool we have under beta testing right now and leave the SEO to those who work on it each and everyday!

Instead we are going to suggest some resources for you use in working on this pieces of your website design.

1. Google Webmaster Tools (free and something you need to know about — this is where you will register your website for google to search it!).

2. Google Analytics – this tracking code will give you details about your website visitors and allow you to refine your SEO as you continue to grow your business.

3. Photographers Guides to SEO — this is a great set of resources by Zach Prez.  Take a look and see if you find anything that interests you.  He now has an online workshop — which may take some of the mystery out of SEO for you!

This is easy to do and will require just a bit of time.  With FlashPalette websites we recommend that you use the html verification tool.

1. Sign up with Googles Webmaster Tools

2. Click on Add site

3. After you add your site click on Verify.

4. Select the HTML option

5. Download the html file Google has provided.

6. Load the File Google provides into your public_html folder on your server.

7. Go back and click Verify

8. After the code is loaded correctly you will see the statistics for your website show up.

Shannon

These are the two resources that Google has for you (if you have not signed up you should today).

There are so many elements that go into doing a website, many of them go beyond just your website. The hardest part is to figure out what to do and where to start. Blogger Laura M. of Dress it up Photos has a post that gets you started on SEO and thinking about what you need to do.

This is important to think about weather or not you have an html or a flash website.

The meta description tag is where you should write a few sentences about what your company does.  This is very important to keep consise, short, but also convey what you are and what you do.  It is recommened that you keep it to roughly 2-3 sentences.  Longer descriptions could penalize your ranking by search engines as they might view it as keyword stuffing.

This is the sentence that clients will see after your name on a Google Search.  This should contain the key information you want to give them and motivate them to click on your site.  If you have what amounts to a long list of key words they are less likely to click on your link then if you say “James Doe photographer captures your wedding day with a mix of XX and XX” then if you have “Jame Doe wedding photographer town a, area b, city c, city d, county x, county w, etc.

Until next time!
Shannon

 The key words should be 8-10 key words you think potential clients might use to find your business.  While search engines rely less upon keywords now then they did previously, they are still important to include.

Example: Widget, Widgetor, widget provider, companies that sell widgets, online widget company

The description, is just that two or three sentence that describe your business.  This is important as it is this tag that will come up as a short descriptor on searches.  You should use as many keywords as you can, but do not simply create long sentences that have as many words as you can think to list.  You want to keep is short and to the point.

For today I made up a widget company that sells widgets at their store/plant and online.

Example: Widget company services all models of Widgetors.  They sell widget adaptors and widgest at both their store in Central Michigan and online. 

Notice in the second example the list of key words are incorporated into the sentences giving the words relevance and importance.

Next week: More on how to improve your SEO.

Shannon

It is always important to keep your website optimized so potential clients can find you via search engines, especially if your business relies on them finding you by searching for terms like “photographers in yourtown” or “yourtown Wedding Photography”.   Flashpalette’s editor allows you to keep your website updated with some important “Search Engine Optimization” techniques:

In your editor, look at the Search Engine Settings.  Your keywords should be any words or phrases that you think a potential client should use to search for your website in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN/Live Search).  Some good keywords to use may be “wisconsin wedding photographer” or “Seattle wedding photographers”.  You don’t want to have too many keywords, or Google may penalize you for “keyword stuffing”.  Nobody knows the exact number because the search engines keep it secret, but most people aim for 5-10 good keywords (or phrases).

Your Description should be a nice overview of your business and should also include some of your keywords. Mine includes, “Artist Kim Larson specializes in Wisconsin wedding photography, and also provides senior graduation photography, family and childrens photography.”  Again, this should not be too long or the search engines may penalize you for “stuffing” your description with too much content.  Two to three sentences is ideal.  The description may show up in search engine results, and many times directory websites such as photolinks.com will automatically use and display your description when they add your website to their directory – so grammar is important!

Now in your editor, look at the main Website Settings.  Your Website Title is also very important!  The title is what shows up in the very top menu bar of your browser.
The attached image shows a great example of a website title by a tree farm.  At this time of year, they are selling Christmas Trees, so the title of their website is set to “Christmas Trees by Tate’s Trees”.  Notice that their important keywords (“Christmas Trees”) comes before their business name.  Search engines put higher preference on the words found toward the beginning of the title.

Your title should describe what you do before who you are. My homepage title is “Wedding Photography by Life is Art”, because right now I am in full swing booking weddings for next year. Do not make your title more than 10-15 words, or you may also get penalized by search engines for “stuffing” the title. You should also put a different title on each page of your website and make it relevant to the page – so if you have a page about senior photography the title should be something like “Denver senior photography by Life is Art”.

It’s also important to keep your keywords, description, and titles up to date.  You don’t have to change them often, but make sure they remain relevant to your website content and your business.  Then let the new clients come rolling in!

Shannon