Archive for May, 2012
A Website: What is most important?
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
I received a call from a web designer the other day. He had looked at our website at http://weshoot.com and decided it was too “plain” and that it needed his touch to make it work. I responded that I am quite happy with our website, and that it does already work. It is easy to navigate, with no delays in loading. It doesn’t have much flash, so much of it is viewable on almost all mobile devices. Yeah, maybe it’s not as fancy as some other photographers’ websites, but you can view all of our sample images at your leisure without waiting for the slideshow to bring around the image you want to see. And above all, it is visible and we get calls and emails from all over the country inquiring about our photography services. Visibility matters. The best website ever made will not get many visitors if it is on page 65 of a Google search.
What makes it visible? It is called SEO or search engine optimization. You have all heard it before. If you have a business website on the web, you have undoubtedly received a multitude of emails and phone calls, all touting services that can get you to the top of the first page of Google and other search engines. It doesn’t matter to these people if you are already there. What it basically comes out to is that most people type in a three-word phrase to find what they are looking for. Something like “seattle product photography.” As you would see, we come up somewhere on page one.
It takes a lot of work to get there. I have a professional help make this a reality. I help with my knowledge of some website development and making sure to post to social sites to help boost our SEO. My SEO pro and I communicate often when changes to the website are needed and when they have been completed. Even having a blog helps SEO.
So, the bottom line is: If you need to budget for your website, go with a little less fanciness and spend instead on real SEO. Make sure you get a pro to do your SEO. If someone guarantees you that you will be at the top of page one, you’d better be in a business with no competition, because no great SEO pro will make that claim.
If you need a great SEO professional, drop me a line via our contact page on our website at http://weshoot.com.
– Gary Silverstein
