Getting Noticed...

Lake & Field Photography

Hi all,

I'm new to all of this. This is a hobby for me at this point. I do mainly nature, wildlife and landscape photography, so I do not have clients that actually book my services... I just want to sell prints to make enough money to grow the hobby, and maybe eventually (as I get better) go pro. Hoping this might be a good retirement career.

I've been posting all over social media, but it seems the only place I am getting any kind of notice at all is Instagram, and even there the majority of my followers are fellow photographers. Not exactly my customer. Short of shelling out all kinds of money to "boost" and "promote" my posts (effectively just filling the coffers of these media giants), what else can I do to find those people who might be interested in what I offer,... and make myself known to them.

If anyone else in this type of business would be willing to share some secrets about keywords, hashtags or other SEO stuff... I would be very appreciative! I doubt I'd be able to take a bite out of anyone's business.... I just want to buy some new toys!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Myra Hencher Photography

Hello! A few things you might like to try: (1) Contact your local department of tourism. Show them a few of your pictures and ask if they are contracting out any work for upcoming brochures, maps etc. (2) Create a calendar and sell it locally at craft fairs or ask to have some put in local shops. A 2019 calendar should likely be ready for sales by September (3) Frame or mount some of your photos and see if you can have them sold in local shops or galleries. You might also contact hotel chains, ask to speak with whoever is in charge of their art purchases and see if they are interested in any of your photos. (4) You can try micro stock, but at .25 a picture for many and a flooded market...

I don't find I have much luck with anything SEO related. You can be noticed in the local market via Google if you apply for a code number to verify your location. Go to htpps://business.google.com I have just done that, so not sure how effective it will be. Basically, if you have the "code" and are verified, when someone looks for a photographer in your area, your business will pop up on the google map with your listing underneath (Along with all the others in the area that have signed on to this service.) Just keeping posting to Instagram and Facebook and let people know that you are looking for a market.

Good luck!

Kevin Krows

First, I've never sold anything to an SEO "Stuff" so don't worry about it. Second, when someone is willing to pay you for your work, that's when you become a professional so that's the only rule for "going pro". Finally, focus on your creative skills and try to show people something more than a pretty landscape pic. Remember that everyone these days is a photographer so you have to be different. For example https://www.22northphotography.com/ ... they knock my socks off every time.

Lake & Field Photography

Well, it's been over a year and I've had less than one visitor per day on average, and made a total of $0. For some insane reason I re-upped my subscription. It's either me or this site.

Pennington_Photography_88

It is probably a little bit of both.

Zenfolio is really bad at SEO. I am starting to rank for my keywords but I have overhauled SEO on my site aggressively. There are sooo many features I want to use on my site like customization of rich snippets and schema markup but I haven't heard whether this is possible (unlikely).

If it wasn't for their nice image galleries and front end, I would be on Wordpress yesterday.

My best advice to you is to focus on image optimization.

-filenames should be descriptive of the picture and use hyphens like this: To describe a beach sunset in Destin, FL, we could say beach-sunset-destin-fl.jpg

-Use Alt text. This is the text that shows on an image in search results or on page when your image doesn't load. Use keywords for your site but don't stuff them. They have to be natural and descriptive of the picture.

-Zenfolio compresses images by default when you upload them so that is good. Make sure your website isn't slowed down from large images. Use GTMetrix for to test site speed, for example.



Bonus tips:

Make sure your homepage has text on it. Specifically, text you want to rank with. Like "Landscape photographer in Columbia, SC." Make sure your homepage title is set correctly in your Zenfolio account. Webmaster>Search Engine Optimization. Title tag and meta description should include your main keyword you want to rank for. Example: Landscape Photographer in Columbia, SC | Landscape Photography Company


SEO is only one way to get your work seen. In my opinion, it can be the best if done right.