My Housemate is an event photographer, been doing it for a few years and he's not at all bad at it… Anyway… The issue is he's only getting dribs and drabs of work in through his website. He's recently moved area (moved back to Worcester from Herts 6 months ago), but isn't too bothered where the work is, though it would be beneficial if it was local…

Anyway, when I search "Photographer Worcester" on google, his website is pretty much nowhere to be seen. Is it just as simple as banging on loads of times on your homepage where you're based, and what it is you do? Or is there more to it than that?

His website is here…

http://www.esthetephotography.com/

Any hints or tips would be gratefully appreciated, and likewise, if anybody needs a photographer for any upcoming events, let me know and I'll get him to get in touch and give you some discount too.

If I search for "wedding photographer worcester" he is 4th which isn't bad
but
currently he has a pagerank of 0 (in Google of course) which means he will low down the pile for all standard searches such as 'photographer worcester'. He can improve his page rank a bit by signing up in relevant photography forums (e.g. dgrin) and making sure a link to his site is in his footer. Currently only two sites link to him and that isn't enough. Posting random links to his site is frowned upon. The more relevant the site/link, the more effective it is likely to be. IPTC info in the photos on the site might help with their relevance as well (his site name should be embedded in all photos in case anyone else posts them up). Blogging on events he takes pics of helps as well.

However, pagerank really isn't everything and in this case he probably needs to look at Google AdWords. I think there is a deal running where they offer $100 for you to try but you need to sign up for Google Analytics first (he isn't using it – he should be). He probably needs to up his prices a bit and spend a bit more on advertising to get random web traffic in.

good luck

Best web design book i have read

Cheers both, will give him this thread to read in a bit…

leffeboy, thing is he's not just a wedding photographer, in fact he'd rather get away from it! Still doesn't come up on google for me though no matter what I search…

It has more to do with how the site is constructed than anything else – and making sure you have the URL submitted to the search engines is quite important. Make sure there is good relevant content .

And looking at the site – tbh I wouldn't consider using the guy because it just doesn't look very professional. If I were him I woulc be looking at a redesign of it before spending time/money getting it up page rankings.

Still doesn't come up on google for me though no matter what I search…

interesting, I changed browsers and it came much lower. Google also taylors your results to what you have searched for before so that may be why

thing is he's not just a wedding photographer, in fact he'd rather get away from it!

Then definitely AdWords and make sure his info is embedded in photos so that if companies post them on other sites for whatever reason the search engines will pick up that info. Similarly he has to make sure wherever possible that he is given credit for the photo using a link. It's hard work but every link counts and it does pay off.

And what mastiles_fanylion says – good relevant content. Get him to modify the meta tags depending on what is on the page so that they are relevant as well

Sign up for the webmaster tools and you can tell google about your site http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/webmasters/

And looking at the site – tbh I wouldn't consider using the guy because it just doesn't look very professional. If I were him I woulc be looking at a redesign of it before spending time/money getting it up page rankings.

Fair comment, but could you expand why?

Also, any examples of anything you'd consider a good photographers website would be appreciated for comparison.

re you have the URL submitted to the search engines is quite important.

Without wishing to sound dumb, on a photography website, what constitutes "good relevant content" that isn't already on there?

I'm not sure why mastiles_fanylion doesn't like the site but I would suggest loads more pictures and flash to make a slideshow so people will stay looking at your site longer. You can't click on any of the pics to zoom in which just isn't good enough any more

As for good relevant content on a photo site, that means every picture has a caption next to it and a story nearby that is relates to that picture. Name the photo appropriately and also use 'Alt' text to describe it. Help the search engines know what is going on as they can't see

Good sites – take a look here (not mine)

He could make life easier by using a specific pro photo host. The above site is on SmugMug but they don't handle gbp yet which makes them a bit of a pain for selling photos

Google ignores meta tags, links from other websites with a higher page rank are the most important along with good descriptive text on the pages.
But when in doubt spend some cash on advertising.

But when in doubt spend some cash on advertising.

He's done that in the past before, with next to zero return by way of results…

Where specifically to spend cash on advertising would you suggest in terms of return on investment?

It's all in the links (apparently).

My neighbour has his own web design company Fish Media and does small sites quite cheap.

Also done stuff with Brawn F1, CenterParcs, M&S so knows his stuff.

Worth a call I'd say.

What's not immediately clear from the website when I visited is how to contact him – there's no "call to action". It could be that lots of people are visiting the site, but then go away again straight away without making contact. There's loads of books on the subject and these guys talk a lot of sense regarding usability.
Also, for a photographer's website, I don't like the look of the it: it looks to cluttered with text, and doesn't make enough of the pictures (which is what I'd want to see as a potential customer) , but that's a personal thing.

Where specifically to spend cash on advertising would you suggest in terms of return on investment?

Google AdWords. He needs to bid on combinations of "photographer" and "worcester" and he only needs to use it for the area he is in of course.

He's done that in the past before, with next to zero return by way of results…

He may have got a lot of visitors but not converted them to bookings because the website isn't compelling enough. So he needs to be using Google Analytics (or something similar) to see when people visit, what part of his site they go to, how long they spend looking around to see if it gives any clues as to what point they give up on him.

…and everything that TimS said as well

I'm not sure why mastiles_fanylion doesn't like the site but I would suggest loads more pictures and flash to make a slideshow so people will stay looking at your site longer. You can't click on any of the pics to zoom in which just isn't good enough any more

I just don't think the site reflects what is a creative industry very well – it looks old and dated to me. Obviously it is all subjective, but I have seen much more polished photography sites.

And what Leffeboy says – it just isn't compelling. To make a High Street metaphor – someone could have the best spot on the High Street, but if the shopfront isn't enticing people in, they won't make the sales.

mastiles_fanylion – Member

I just don't think the site reflects what is a creative industry very well – it looks old and dated to me. Obviously it is all subjective, but I have seen much more polished photography sites.

And what Leffeboy says – it just isn't compelling. To make a High Street metaphor – someone could have the best spot on the High Street, but if the shopfront isn't enticing people in, they won't make the sales.

+1 agreed the site is bland
way too much text and not enough photography,

this is the only photographer i know, and her website is much more interesting , image rich, colourful, contemporary.
http://www.phototom.co.uk/index2.php

That site is nice but it isn't going to be very well SEO'd as it is all Flash…

You can't win can you 🙂

.

On most forums you can stick in a sig line. If your mate posts on lots of, say, camera forums… get that sig line filled in. 1,000 links from a major camera forum will do the world of good for rankings.