Photographers ever hire a SEO company?

9 years 1 month ago #424289 by MYoung
I get contacted every so often from SEO companies looking for business.  Some make claims that I can see from a mile away as scam (ex. Guarantee page 1 on Google).  However I have had some others who's proposals seem closer to Earth.  I was thinking about hiring one of these, but have also read some blogs that say SEO is dead.  It seems the potentially legitimate SEO companies are very pricey, so if I am to go this path, I really want to make sure that of course SEO isn't dead, and that there are some benefits to be gained from this.

Can you please advise.  Thank you!!


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9 years 1 month ago #424296 by Don Fischer
SEO company, don't know what that is. I'm guessing that it's some type of a management Co. I have a good video on Ansel Adams life. In it say's that he never achieved the success he did until he got a manager, then sales really started well. I had the feeling that without that manager, Adams would not have had the success he did. But he id have the talent, big point there. A manager without you having the talent seem's, I suspect is a waste of time. All the talent in the world without the business ability won't make you a lot of money. I think one of the most important point's for anyone trying to make a business, including photography, is a good knowledge of business. For myself, if I were looking to go that way, I'm not, would be to go find a good business manager. I would not consider anyone soliciting me on the internet.


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9 years 1 month ago #424313 by effron
Search engine optimization....

Why so serious?
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9 years 1 month ago #424323 by icepics
It seems to be getting easier for a website to make itself look legit whether it is or not - look up a company and see what you can find out. There seem to be plenty of people throwing together a website that would be glad to take your money but can they actually provide what you need? You might just be throwing money away.

If you don't already I'd suggest getting business resources geared for professional photographers. Try PPA or  http://asmp.org , they offer resources like a monthly webinar Business AsUnusual (no cost, don't have to be a member to participate).

Seems like to do portraits and weddings you'd need to get known in your area; maybe try any local workshops etc. on marketing and running a small business, or see what places in your area offer adult continuing ed. classes or workshops to learn how to market yourself locally so prospective clients can find you.

Sharon
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9 years 1 month ago #424328 by garyrhook

Don Fischer wrote: SEO company, don't know what that is. I'm guessing that it's some type of a management Co.


No, it's not.


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9 years 1 month ago #424329 by garyrhook
Search engines are not going away, and taking advantage of their algorithms will never become unnecessary. SEO is hardly dead.

There is plenty of education out there on managing SEO in your webpages; it's up to you to decide what level of effort to put into it. I've seen good material on CreativeLive on how to manage it, but I would never pay someone to do it for me. I'll happily pay to be educated, however.


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9 years 1 month ago #424426 by J Hemingway
I've been reading on SEO, and I think what you are referring to is just methods that SEO professionals need to follow to get websites noticed by the search engines.  


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9 years 1 month ago #424492 by Alan Nunez
Search Engine Optimisation is important but it is getting increasingly difficult to "Game the System". The reality is companies like Google want to show high quality relevant content in the search results. Most photographers can get their own SEO working pretty well themselves with a few easy steps:

1. Use a content management website like Wordpress so you can add your own content regularly
2. make sure it has the ability to add good Meta page titles and Meta Descriptions
3. Post content regularly (daily or weekly) like a some images and 1-4 paragraphs
4. RENAME YOU PHOTOS: Do not upload DSC_0123.jpg Rename it to a relevant name like "January_Family_Portrait_1" and be sure to add a title, description and alt text in the meta code (most CMS websites will let you add this)
5. Post on social media and link back to your website (make sure the posts are share worthy)

This alone will help a lot. If you want to go deeper you can use tools like SEMrush to do a little more competitor and keyword research.

My final advice is before you let anyone convince you to go with SEO you should use a paid advertising medium such as google Adwords to see which keywords have the highest value to your business and actually convert to sales. I have has websites rank Number 1 in the search engines for dozens of keywords after investing heavily in SEO and got no enquiries because we did not test first.


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