Website frustration

cakencamera

After spending countless hours in front of the screen (much to the dismay of my wife) trying to get my site to the top of Google, I have eventually managed it. Great you think, what are you complaining at your saying? Well, it hasn't got me very far, I spent weeks learning about how to build a website as I wasn't very techy on that side, then spent further weeks learning about SEO and how I HAD to have my site on page 1 and at least in the first top 3. Now either I'm doing something wrong, my site is rubbish or my photography is rubbish, but I'm not getting any work from it, I'm not getting a lot of hits, its just not working. I am in the process of trying to display my portfolio better (as I type in fact!), but I seriously doubt this will have any effect. I've looked at some other togs sites in my area, seriously some of them are pretty bad. My main income is from Facebook, this isn't something I want to rely on for the future, its good that I get work from Facebook, but, how can I put this diplomatically.... they aren't the Brides I'm looking for. What am I doing wrong?
http://www.chesterphotography.co.uk

Neil vN

Your website looks fine. Great job doing this from scratch.
And getting up in the ranks on Google is constant hard work.

Now, about getting jobs via Google searches.
You have to have it there for the main search phrases,
example:
Big Town wedding photographers
Regional Area wedding photography
... and so on.

Also, for any of the venues where you'd like to work at and ... here's the key ... where you think your brides would be searching on Google for.

You have to hit the important / main search phrases. Google has tools to show you which search phrases are most often searched for.

For example, I bought a bunch of boudoir photography domains a few years back:
New York boudoir photographers (this was one of them)
but also variations of
Manhattan boudoir photographers ..
until some research showed me that pretty much no one searches for weddings and boudoir, using "Manhattan" as the search phrase. They all search for New York or New York City.

So make sure you are hitting the popular search phrases.

THEN .... also make sure you hit the "long tail" search phrases. Those more obscure search phrases that aren't hotly contested ... but once in a while will get you #1 hit on Google when a bride searches for it.

(Do some research on "long tail" searches.)


Finally ... the brides who find you on Google, are mostly brides who are looking for a bargain.
The very best way to book new clients will always be word-of-mouth referrals.

So while getting on Google is important, it can't be your only way of creating business.

cakencamera

Thanks Neil, I appreciate the advice. I have used Chester plus my other closest town Wrexham a lot in my site. Once you've bought up these domains, what do you do with them?

Neil vN

How do you mean "what do I do with them?"

cakencamera

Once you have bought the domain names do you turn them into a website? Have them link back to your main site?

cakencamera

I am sorting through it with the help of some wordpress experts on linkedin. I thought I was quite a techie person until I delved into wordpress, its mind boggling to say the least. But I'll get there, im not one for giving up.

penndragonn2001

Neil vN said: How do you mean "what do I do with them?"

I think he means, once those domains are purchased, how do I use them? Link them to your Main Photography Web site I think. This would generate more hits. I could be wrong. Not a web site Techie by any stretch of the imagination.

Neil vN

I am a bit of a domain whore. I have about 200 domain names. A few of those I bought for intended future use. Some of them I bought to protect existing domain names.

For example: if you own retrobride.com .. but don't own the .net (etc) sites, you're losing out on much of the worth of your domain name. Any upstart can ride on the benefits of the similar domain name. Same for hyphenated names.

Another example: I own variations of my main domains:
http://planetneil.com
http://planetniel.com
http://planetneal.com
http://planet-neil.com etc
And yes, these variations do show up in my Google analytics.

Same for:
http://neilvn.com
http://nielvn.com

Then there are domain names that I want to develop, or just keep for future possibilities.

And sometimes, I just buy a domain on a whim.
For example, I own http://fukkemall.com

cakencamera

Love the last one! So each has a landing page or is a microsite and you have it link back to your main site?

Neil vN

Nope .. the variations are all re-directs. Same with the last one.