Susan Shek | SEO & Blogging for Photographers. Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them | FloInsider Ep #12

We’re happy to see you on episode #12 of FloInsider – a podcast for photographers and creative business owners who seek inspiration and a fresh perspective on how to run their business, navigate this weird time that we all live in, find meaning and happiness in their daily routines. 

SEO seems to be one of the most popular buzzwords of the last decade. Everyone knows that it’s important and helps your business get discovered online. Yet not many dig deep enough to understand how SEO actually works, what it entails, and which methods have a higher impact on the end result. 

Well, if you’re new to SEO, if you’re overwhelmed and need some simple, yet practical advice on how to help your photography website perform better in organic Google search results – we’ve got your back! 

Today, we are chatting with the brilliant Susan Shek.
Susan is an NYC wedding photographer slash SEO expert. She has dedicated her Covid lockdown to becoming so good at SEO that she’s now running a second business and helping photographers from all around the world level up their own SEO strategy. 

In this interview, Susan shares her top tips for photographers who want to win at SEO – from finding the right keywords for your business (and the tools that can help you do that), to choosing the right hosting, naming your images the right way before uploading them into your blog posts, and so much more!

Tune in and take notes, because there’s so much you can learn from this discussion!

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A few cliff notes from our chat with Susan Shek:

• Photographers believe that simply the act of blogging will make them rank on Google. That is a myth: the size and name of your photos, your hosting, and the keywords you use – all those need to be in place for you to actually rank.

• Do your research. Use Google Trends, which is a free tool, to find the right keywords for your business. See how many people are searching for different variations of those keywords, and choose the ones that would work best for you. Also, choose the right website platform and hosting provider (i.e. Cloudways or Flywheel) for your type of business, to get the best speed and site performance. 

• Use Ubersuggest, a keyword tool by the SEO expert, Neil Patel. You can put your website in and see what it can rank for. The first 3 searches are free per day. 

• Google Trends is more to compare keywords, while Ubersuggests can show you what your competition is ranking for, and based on that allow you to create a strong strategy and beat their results. 

• You’re not blogging for your customers, you’re blogging for Google, because Google has to be able to find and ‘read’ the content on your site, for you to actually be visible for your possible clients. You may be creating the most beautiful pictures in the world, but if nobody sees them on the internet, then there’s no point. 

The main takeaway from this interview? Blogging can be a huge asset for your business and SEO game. Yet remember that your blog posts are created for Google, rather than for your clients. This means that as a priority, before creating a new blog post, you need to do your research. Choose the topic and relevant keywords that you want to rank for. Optimize, resize and name your images with the appropriate titles (that include your keywords). Write out a few paragraphs that support the images that you’re about to share inside the article. And only then upload everything and publish. It may sound like tedious work. You may think that your clients don’t need this, but remember – we live in an online world. If you’re struggling with getting new client inquiries and have already taken the decision to learn SEO – do it the smart way, not the hard way. 

If you want to connect with Susan Shek, learn more SEO tips or hire her as a consultant, you can find all details on her website shekseo.com. Follow her on Instagram instagram.com/susanshekphotography

A big thank you to our lovely host – Nadia Meli. You can connect with her via her website: nadiameli.com or follow her on Instagram: instagram.com/nadiameli

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