Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, can be tricky to master on your own, particularly when you’re just starting and are unfamiliar with the various factors that go into it. Since it’s an incredibly important part of any business’s marketing efforts, you want to ensure you have a solid grasp of everything there is to know about it. This guide will walk you through the five pillars of effective newborn photography SEO strategy so that even if this isn’t your area of expertise, you’ll be equipped to handle it effectively in no time.
Keyword Research
1. The best way to start is with a keyword research tool. You can find free versions, or you can use a paid one like SEMrush. You’ll want to run your keywords through different tools for variations in results, but we always recommend starting with the free one first because it’s easy to get started and gives you a good idea of what your competition is like.
2. After running your keywords through the tool, you’ll come up with a list that looks something like this baby photographer in NYC, baby photography studio, newborn photographer near me, best newborn photographer, and so on. Now we’re going to narrow down our search by asking the following questions: Do we need photos? What kind of photography will be used? Is there anything specific about the service that sets us apart from others? For example, if we do baby makeovers and newborn photography, we might want to include both baby makeovers and newborn photography on our list. It’s important to ask these questions about ourselves and our competitors- some are better than others at catching onto trends before they become popular!
3. Once we have a list of keywords, now it’s time to enter them into Google Adwords. Google Adwords allows you to see how much it would cost per click (if someone clicked on your ad) and how much traffic those clicks would generate. To determine the cost per click, type in a newborn photographer and see what pops up. Click on whichever link seems most relevant (you may have to scroll down). Notice that under select location is an option for worldwide. That means if someone clicked on my advertisement anywhere in the world, I would receive payment, which makes sense because being able to reach people all over the globe will help increase my traffic and help me build my brand internationally.
On-Page Optimization
On-Page optimization is the most important pillar of any effective newborn photography SEO strategy. When it comes to on-page optimization, you have two choices: do it yourself or hire someone. If you want to do your on-page optimization, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First and foremost, keywords must be strategically placed throughout your website content so that search engines can find them easily. You want words that are naturally used in the context of your niche to be sprinkled throughout your site content; don’t just randomly throw them anywhere and hope for the best. The other major thing is structuring URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), which are easily readable by humans and search engine spiders (robots).
Link Building
It’s important to consider how your website will rank on the search engines. Luckily, there are some effective things you can do to help ensure that your site is well-optimized for Google and Bing searches. You’ll first want to register your domain name with Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools. Doing so will give you information about how often people visit your site, which pages they visit, and where they come from (i.e., what keywords they use). Next, ensure all pages on your site have relevant titles and descriptions in the HTML. Include keywords in these fields but don’t stuff them, or else Google may flag the page as spammy.
Technical Optimization
1) Technical optimization can make or break your website, so it is worth the time and effort to do it right. Invest in a professional web designer who can optimize your site for search engines. You’ll also want to invest in a professional site auditor who will audit all the code that needs to be changed.
2) Install Google Analytics on your site so you can track what users are doing on your site, where they’re coming from, and which pages are getting more visits than others.
3) Optimize title tags for all pages on your website by using keywords relevant to each page’s content – this will help when other websites link back to you from their sites and when Google crawls through them.
Local SEO
Don’t get discouraged. Local SEO is about doing the work and making it happen. There are a few things you can do to make your local effort more effective, though:
-Use geo-targeting on your website (if you don’t have one, that’s ok!) -Add your location to any blog posts or content you create
-Narrow down your locations to a specific city or region when possible, and add that information to your website as well
-If you’re going to be in the area for a while, reach out to the local media and see if they’d be willing to feature some of your work in their publication
-Create a Google My Business page and fill out all the relevant information, so people know where you are located