5 Ways to Boost Your Online Visibility as a Photographer

As a photographer or other creative service provider, your website likely isn’t the thing that’s always top of mind for you.

And I totally get that! You’re focused on the services you provide and mastering your craft – as you absolutely should be. 

But one major mistake that I see creative business owners making is neglecting their website – more specifically their online presence as a whole – until they absolutely need it. 

For example, right now you might be smack dab in the middle of busy season and your business is booming!

You’re serving clients left and right, struggling to get back to inquiries, and can barely catch your breath long enough to eat a snack. 

If that’s you, first: CONGRATS! That’s a big deal and a great spot to be in in business. 👏🏼

But with that, let me ask you: what happens when business is slow?

You likely have had your fair share of those seasons too… right? I think we all have!

It’s the time when your audience seems like crickets, no leads are in sight, and you know that something’s gotta give. 

That’s not the most fun spot to be in (trust me – I know from experience), but what if I told you that you could take action NOW to prepare for that season and potentially avoid it altogether?

It’s so possible my friend and it starts with prioritizing your online presence before you really *need* to.

Now, when I say “online presence” I don’t just mean your website!

While your website is of course one of the major ways to do that, I want to share 4 additional ways you can work to boost your online visibility as a photographer.

5 Ways to Boost Your Online Visibility as a Photographer

1) Update Your Website

Having a website is indeed the first step, but you know what’s better than simply having a website?! Having an updated one!

Your website doesn’t do your audience much good if it isn’t updated with relevant information about your business, such as who you serve, how you can serve them, and where you can serve them (if applicable).

For photographers specifically, I encourage you to audit your existing website and make sure you aren’t making these common mistakes!

*If you are, I promise they’re easy fixes – and if you need further help with them, you know I’m your girl!

2) Infuse Your Location In Your Website Copy

Speaking of common mistakes, a HUGE missed opportunity for photographers specifically (or any service provider that’s location based) is not including your location in your website copy.

Just like people generally want to know your prices, they also want to know where you’re located, what additional areas (if any) that you serve, and what your niche is.

I call this the positioning statement in your copy, because it literally communicates your position in the market!

For example, if you’re a photographer that’s located in Southern California, but you willingly travel to Arizona and Nevada for your clients, make sure that is clearly identified on your website!

Without doing this, you’re taking the chance on someone skipping over you because they think you don’t serve their location AND you’re missing the opportunity to show up in potential Google search results. 

Making this one simple change in your website copy can increase your online visibility like never before!

This same idea applies when it comes to your niche, as well. It can be clear that you do photography, but what type of photography?!

A new mom looking for someone to snap newborn photos of her precious baby wants to find the photographer in her area that is skilled in that, not the one that is top rated for engagements and weddings.

And if she can’t clearly identify who you serve, she probably won’t hire you.

You can help that new mom and lots of other potential clients avoid confusion simply by being clear about who you specifically serve and where you can serve them. 

3) Optimize Your SEO

And all of that leads me to your SEO – aka search engine optimization. 

If you’re unfamiliar, SEO is a set of practices and strategies that aims to improve your online visibility and ranking of your website or a single web page in search engine results pages.

The primary goal of SEO is to increase your organic (meaning unpaid) traffic to your website!

You can optimize your website SEO by:

• using relevant and appropriate keywords in your copy, such as your niche, industry and location
• posting consistent and quality content to your website, through blogging for example
• building your backlinks, which includes getting your website featured on other websites
• improving your website user experience by ensuring that your website is easy to navigate and is optimized for mobile devices

If you need more assistance with improving your website SEO, I highly encourage learning from Duo Collective – they are true SEO queens that can walk you through each of the practices listed above much more clearly than I can!

4) Set Up Google My Business

This is one that I don’t personally hear a ton of people talk about, but if you’re a location based business, such as a photographer for example, you could really benefit from utilizing Google My Business!

Google My Business is a free online platform provided by Google that allows businesses and organizations to manage their online presence on Google by creating an official business listing to display your key business information. 

Here’s what these business listings look like in search ⬇️

Typically businesses that have this setup will populate higher in search results, which means that without having a Google My Business listing, you miss out on the chance to populate in a list like this, thus missing out on potential business!

5) Utilize Pinterest

Lastly, if you are consistently posting new content to your website, through blog posts for example, make sure you are optimizing that content by also using Pinterest!

While it might seem like Pinterest is just a platform that people use to search for aesthetic inspiration for their fall decor or to find their next trendy outfit, it’s actually an amazing lead generation tool that can get more eyes on your website. 

The key to seeing results on Pinterest, however, is that you have quality content to drive people to that’s NOT hosted on another social media platform. 

That’s because Pinterest is designed to push people off the platform, which means that every single pin has to link back to somewhere else – and the best place for that is your website!

My favorite person to learn from about all things Pinterest is Sarah Burk, so if you’re ready to utilize this platform to increase your online visibility as a photographer, I recommend learning from her!

Ways We Can Work Together To Boost Your Online Visibility

Overall, increasing your online visibility as a photographer isn’t all that difficult, it simply takes intention. 

If you can get ahead of this BEFORE you find yourself in a slow season, you’ll thank yourself for doing the work now!

If you aren’t sure where to start on this list or if you need more help with your website specifically, I’d love to be your guide. 💛

Here’s a few ways we can work together:

• Storysale – a three-month group coaching program for photographers and creatives to market their magic ✨

In Storysale, you’ll receive:

✔️ Three months of weekly, 60-minute group coaching calls with me and guest experts

✔️ Weekly 1:1 Voxer access to ask any questions you have about marketing your services, creating offers that your clients will love, brand messaging, and more

✔️ 1:1 Intensives – every month of our program, students will schedule 1:1 intensives with me to put your website copy, SEO page titles and meta descriptions, and email copy to work for YOUR business and your ideal client

• Copywriter on Call – for the photographer who wants custom website copy…fast!

What You Get:

✔️ 1:1 kickoff call, where we talk strategy and define your project to-do list

✔️ Up to 6 pages of done-for-you website copywriting, with two speedy rounds of revisions to ensure we get it right

✔️ Custom website copy, delivered in Google Docs or implemented on your website

After our strategy session wraps up, I ride off into the proverbial sunset (or, as copywriters often do, into my Airpods-muffled world) to do what I do best: write. ✍🏼

During this time, you get to hang out in your zone of genius or serve your people. In other words, you do you, friend. I’ve got this!

At the end of your project, I’ll send over all of your deliverables or place your copy on your website, and thank you kindly for trusting me with your brand and your business!

Click here to connect, and let’s work together to create your very own word magic in your business. ✨