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Building A Photography Website
Pt 4 -
Making The Most Of It
By Jeremy Cuff
In the first three articles of this series, published in previous editions of "In Focus", we looked at
the internet as a media, the trials and tribulations of conceiving and creating a website, and the subsequent management of site content. Now, in the last of the series, we look at making the
most of what's been created...
These days, being found on the internet isn't easy. The sheer number of websites out there means that techniques must be employed to ensure that interested parties are able to find your website. It's generally known as web optimisation.
Within the online community, web optimisation is generally concerned with websites being found in search engines such as Google and Yahoo and is sometimes referred to as search engine optimisation. But being found on the internet needn't begin and end there; to make the most of your website, I think it's important to embrace a wider thought process that encompasses other forms of marketing. Firstly, let's start with search engines...
Search engines are often the first port of call for a web surfer wishing to find out something about a given subject. Searching is a simple procedure and is therefore widely used. Well known search engines have become very powerful as a result, and often form the foundations of the marketing strategies for many businesses and organisations.
They are, however, difficult for the layman to fathom, with perceived value difficult to establish, and much suspicion persisting about their effectiveness and overall integrity. That said, they'll play an ever more important role in the future, as general understanding improves, internet use grows, and search technology is refined to produce better and more relevant sets of results.
As mentioned in previous articles in this series, the internet (and search engines) inhabit "real-time", constantly changing and improving on a minute by minute, hour by hour basis. It's therefore quite unlike something like a telephone directory which is "fixed" at the time of publishing . As a result, phone books are much easier to understand and comprehend - you sign up to be included in the section of your choice for a contracted period of time and that's it – simple. However, on the web, a search conducted in the morning may yield some different results from the same search conducted in the afternoon. It's a constantly changing picture, like shifting sands.
So, what's the best way to navigate the ever changing "real time" scenery of search engines and the internet?
I once had search engine optimisation described to me by a colleague as " …a black art. It’'s one of the most difficult areas to understand. Search engines are constantly being refined and improved, as there's no point in a search that can't find what the surfer is looking for. The big areas of importance are website construction and keywords."
These days, most new websites are "text based". This doesn't mean that they contain only text, rather that the text is not contained within graphics and can thus be detected by search engines. In contrast, "graphic" based sites suffer badly in modern day searches. The reason is that much text is contained "within" the graphics and thus cannot be detected in a search. It's therefore important that your designer understands and considers search engine optimisation as an important part of the overall site concept and construction.
Keywords are essential to being found on the web. Many domain registration and web hosting companies offer their clients the ability to submit keywords to major search engines as part of a package which is quite useful. If not, you can submit them yourself. Choose your keywords carefully.
The ideal scenario is for a website to be found on the first two pages of a search result. This is easier to achieve if the search criteria is obscure. Search for "Jeremy Cuff" on BT Yahoo and (at the time of writing) my site is found on the first page of results. When I searched for "Underwater Photography", my site performed less well, not being found until page seven. The reasons (although probably very complicated to describe technically) can be simply put: that more websites have "Underwater Photography" as part of its keywords than "Jeremy Cuff".
Some specialist companies offer web optimisation services but it's a very hit and miss field. There are a lot of dubious individuals out there with the sole intent of getting their hands on your money, so you should proceed with caution. It's important to work with a reputable company and make sure that you understand exactly what you're going to get and how much it costs. If you're paying for a service, check it regularly yourself and make sure it's working. Ask your web designer for a recommendation, as good web design companies often form alliances with good web optimisation companies. Also, beware of signing up to those "spam" type emails that promise to generate huge amounts of web traffic to your site. Site traffic isn't just about quantity. Of what use is florist in London for Valentines Day in Australia?
For a fee, you can pay search engines such as Google to become a sponsored link based on certain keyword and search criteria. If your search criteria are widely used, like "House Insurance", expect to pay more to appear at the top than if using something less "mainstream", as you'll be competing with others trying to attract the same people or customers to their websites.
Now, let's consider some other marketing ideas that can work in conjunction with search engine optimisation…
In terms of the wider world of marketing, there's a lot that can be done. The key is to work smart, and not spend huge amounts of money, unless of course, it can be justified. Try to display your web address at all opportunities. Here's a few thoughts to get things going…
We live in an age of branding, and regardless of whether you're an underwater photojournalist or multi-national corporation, the same basic rules apply. It's all about a coherent approach built around the "open 24/7" hub of a website. It's important to ensure that your website is continuous in terms of design style with your other presentational materials such as business cards, invoices, letterheads, compliment slips and leaflets.
I'm a great believer in lots of little things adding up to bigger things, and by achieving progress in small increments – "the man who moved the mountain began by carrying away small stones" is a good expression to remember. I take business cards carrying my name, address and website details on dive trips, so that I can give them to anyone I meet that might be interested. If people like your site, they might go back regularly to see what you've been up to, and show their family and friends, thus spreading the word.
If you win an award or a competition, issue a press release. The term "press release" is somewhat misleading in today's multi-media age in that you have a lot more choices than your local newspaper as a means of publicising your good news. Whilst it's a good idea to start with your local and regional newspaper titles, you can also send your release to generalist or specialist magazines (diving, photography, travel etc), your camera club or photographic society, news websites, online forums and other social networking sites. An inclusion of your website address in the release details may result in the address being published with the story, leading to more potential site visitors.
Building a database of email addresses can allow you to send regular bulletins to interested individuals. For example, if you've published some new galleries from a recent dive trip, an "email update" can direct people to your website where the new work is displayed. Even when emailing friends and family, always remember to put in your web link, so that they've always got the option to go straight to your site. But don't forget, in this age of data protection, it's a good idea to make sure that you're only sending emails to those who want to receive them.
Getting linked to other sites is another good idea to increase web traffic. The BSOUP website is a great place to be linked to, as it's visited by people interested in underwater photography. Trading reciprocal links, particularly with non competing sites is also worth pursuing where appropriate. Linking also has the added bonus of helping to improve search results in some instances.
Lastly, you might consider placing your website on an online directory, of which there are many, but they can be expensive and not necessarily useful. For example, a web link from Yell.com (the online version of Yellow Pages) might be fruitful if you're a wedding or portrait photographer, but would anyone be looking for an underwater photographer? Apply the common sense test before parting with lots of hard earned cash.
To sum up these four articles, the internet is a huge subject and we've only scratched the surface. It seems apt to return to the opening statement in Part One of this series….
"The internet is vast. So much is already there. Much more is yet to come. We depend on it, shop on it, run our businesses on it, seek entertainment from it and do our research on it."
And it's here to stay.
September 2007
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