Any photographer worth their salt knows it can be such a hassle landing continuous projects. But imagine clients finding you without over marketing and selling your skills. Imagine receiving random calls from potential clients, clients you did not even reach out to. And you land grand projects with high pay because the clients love you.

This could be your reality. Yes, the market could be crowded, but you can still stand above the noise. All you need is a superbly designed website with killer content. You want to be on top of the list when a bride/groom-to-be searches for the term ‘wedding photographer’. If you are not ranking on the first pages of search engine results pages, this article is for you.

SEO is necessary for the survival of any business whose survival depends on its online presence. It is an excellent source of passive traffic that is more efficient and attractive than social media and is undoubtedly a fire that needs consistent fuel. Besides the SEO strategies you may already have incorporated into your website, consider these strategies that depend on your website’s design and content to spice up your website traffic, help you rank higher, and increase your visibility to potential clients.

How to Make Your Website Rank Higher

1. Optimize Your Web Content

Optimizing your blog content means using the right keywords to increase your search engine ranking. A well-written blog post can only do so much if you do not optimize it for search engines. A good rule of thumb is to ensure you include the photography keywords you want to rank for within the first 100 words of the blog post. After that, you can have the keyword a few more times in the body of your blog post, ensuring it blends seamlessly into the post.

Overall, consider the user experience before forcing extra words into the post. If too much text is unnecessary to convey the message, writing only what is relevant is essential. Keep the message concise and direct, with the target keywords naturally flowing within the content.

Also, optimize title tags and the description and add the target keyword where necessary. This is a low-effort, high-impact strategy for on-page SEO.

2. Building Authority with Outbound Links

Outbound links do not weaken your SEO strength. On the contrary, links to authoritative sites positively impact your website’s SEO. These links add relevance to your content and allow search engines to understand your post’s topic. In addition, they show that the content on your website is high quality.

As a photographer, you can link to unique wedding locations or vendors, to name a few. The ideal number of backlinks should be at least two or four for every 1000 words. Minimal is the best approach to link building. Also, always link to authoritative sites as they mirror your site’s authority.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

In addition, you can also add internal links. They are an effective SEO strategy that photographers least use. You can add links to your previous posts as long as they are relevant to your post.

3. Crafting SEO-Friendly URLs

Keep your URL clear of dates, the post’s category, and any other unnecessary information. It is essential to make the URL the name of the post rather than random letter combinations. If yours is a WordPress website, go to the settings menu, select permalinks, and choose the post name option. Keep your URL short and also include a relevant keyword where possible.

4. Image Optimization for SEO

You can optimize your image by adjusting its size for page speed purposes or optimizing its ‘Alt Text.’ In addition, you can include a relevant photography keyword in the names of your files. This strategy shows search engines what your image is about to help rank it in organic search results.

5. Prioritizing Website Speed

Your website speed affects the user experience significantly. If you use shared hosting for your website, you need to invest in your site’s speed. There are a significant number of sites hosting their websites on the same platform as you. Also, most photography sites have many pictures.

It is, therefore, necessary to have a site with a high loading speed to increase search engine rankings and promote a great user experience. The longer your site takes to load, the more clients you will lose. If your website is unresponsive, you need to hire a web designer or change your site’s theme. Also, you can try upgrading to a better website hosting platform.

6. Include Reviews and Testimonials 

Credibility is a crucial ingredient in building trust with clients. Testimonials and reviews are exactly what you need to build trust. A potential client needs to see what former clients have to say about you and your work. This will either break or make your business. If you are yet to include testimonials and reviews on your website, there is no better time to implement this.

Besides testimonials and reviews of your business, you can also write about other services, apps, or tools that you use in your photography business and provide owners with stellar testimonials or reviews. The person may be super excited about your review and may also feature you on their homepage with a backlink to your website.

7. Get Featured

This is a simple strategy with remarkable results. You can submit real wedding pictures to a wedding blog to have them feature you in their blog. If the blog publishes your work, you may get a backlink that will help improve your SEO ranking. It is essential to create a list of the sites you would love to be featured on and begin by first submitting your work to the strongest sites. You can also write a guest post as a photography expert for any of these sites.

Ultimately, your website’s content and design will significantly affect your SEO rankings. At I Do Design Studio, we understand your website’s needs since we provide branding and web design services for wedding photographers. Contact us today to learn the tips and tricks to capture the hearts of couples.