Marketing Consultation with Photographer Heather Corbin: The Three Most Effective Ways to Improve Your Small Business's SEO

Do you want to increase your online visibility and attract more customers? Then join us for an insightful marketing consultation episode that’s sure to give you the boost you need to get your business more traffic and customers.

We're excited to have Heather Corbin, a talented photographer from Indiana, joining us for today's discussion. Like many entrepreneurs, Heather is eager to learn how to improve her website's SEO and reduce her dependence on social media. That's why we're excited to share with her (and all of you listening) the three most effective ways to improve your website's ranking on search engines.

But don't worry; this won't be a stuffy episode filled with technical jargon. We'll keep it light and engaging as we provide simple, actionable steps to help boost your website's visibility on Google. So let's dive into some practical tips to help your small business stand out online.

Specifically, this episode highlights the following themes:

• How SEO and social media work together
• Why SEO is such a valuable marketing tactic for small businesses
• The quickest way to get your website in front of your ideal customers

Other Mentioned Links & Resources

Learn more about Heather Corbin:
​​https://www.heathercorbinphotography.com

Email me your marketing questions for a FREE one-hour consultation with Kelly
vrayburn@treefrogmarketing.com

Get additional consulting assistance from Kelly:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/marketing-consulting-coaching

Register for SEO coaching
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/seocoachingforphotographers

Learn more about Treefrog services:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com

Save $20 on your first order from InstaCart
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/instacart-coupon-code

Receive 50% Off Your First Order with Photographer’s Edit
http://victoriarayburnphotography.com/pe

Learn how to write your Marketing Guiding Statements:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/marketingguidingstatements

Join the Priority Pursuit Podcast Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/179106264013426

Follow Treefrog on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/treefroggers

Follow or DM Victoria on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/victorialrayburn

Transcript

Kelly Rice  0:00  
If you're not doing messaging and your website correctly, your SEO is going to fall short of your expectations. And we don't want to see anybody worked out hard to have it fall short.

Victoria Rayburn  0:14  
Hey there, you're listening to the Priority Pursuit podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners to find, maintain and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses that they love. We're your host

Kelly Rice  0:27  
Kelly rice and Victoria Rayburn. And today we are very excited to have Heather of Heather Corbin photography, which she's an Indiana photography all her clothes, you know in Indiana, on the show for our first business marketing consulting episode,

Victoria Rayburn  0:42  
while Kelly is going to be hosting most of these marketing consultation episodes moving forward, which by the way, you guys are more than welcome to apply for by emailing me your most pressing marketing questions at the Rayburn at tree for a marketing.com. Today, I do have the pleasure of joining her on the show, because Heather has some SEO specific questions. And if you've been listening to priori pursuit for long, you know that I am crazy passionate about SEO, because I firmly believe that it is why I'm able to be a full time wedding photographer, and that I am also an SEO coach. So today, Kelly and I are going to address Heather's question, how can I improve my SEO so that I don't have to be so dependent on social media?

Kelly Rice  1:26  
So Heather, welcome to the show. Yeah. Hey,

Victoria Rayburn  1:29  
bud for so glad to have you. I'm

Heather Corbin  1:31  
excited to be here.

Kelly Rice  1:33  
I'm so glad that you reached out. And we're really excited to talk about one of the most effective marketing strategies for small business and which is SEO. So But before we dive in, we would just love for you to kind of tell everybody listening, because you know, because we know and love you. We want them to do the same thing. Just kind of tell them a little bit about your business, maybe your business goals and why you have chosen to prioritize your SEO.

Heather Corbin  1:59  
Yes, like you said, my name is Heather Corbin and I run Heather Corbin photography, I am a family senior and wedding photographer in the Lafayette, Indiana area. I am really excited to grow my business using SEO and website. Because primarily for the last six years, I have just utilized word of mouth for my business. And while that's great, it's been perfect for where I've been. But now I'm ready to take my business to the next level. And I also don't particularly love social media all that much like you know, I participate in social media. But I would really like people to find me through Google searches and find me through my website and be able to learn more about the services that I offer that way. But I'm brand new at this whole website thing. And so I'm just ready to learn how to optimize my business so that people can find me, you're my website.

Victoria Rayburn  3:01  
Man, I can't tell you how much I love that. And this is guys, if you are listening, this is not to say you shouldn't give up on social media altogether. We're going to talk about that and just kind of the role that social media does play within marketing. But SEO is just this really powerful thing, in that when people are looking for a service, the first thing that they're going to do is go to Google means studies show when somebody is looking for a local business or a local service, 97% of people go to Google. And so as a result, Google is this magical place where you can get your information in front of people who are actually looking for your services. And more often than not, they're ready to book or invest or work with this small business. Social media. On the other hand, again, it does have its place within marketing. But Heather, I love your mindset on this because social media is wonderful. And it's this free tool. And you know, I'm again, I'm not saying get rid of social media, but with social media algorithms constantly changing. With social media, all you can really do is produce content, follow best practices, and really just hope and pray that the right people find your content and based on how the algorithm is working. Again, I feel like I need to say this 15 times I'm not saying stop using social media to anybody like please, please, please do not take this away from this conversation. But SEO is particularly powerful. Now guys, there are a lot of moving parts to a successful SEO strategy. And today, Heather, we want to break down the three most effective ways that you and other small business owners can improve your Google rankings. But before we do that, we quickly want to address first of all what social media is into the role it should play in your marketing strategy. So Kelly, I'm gonna let you break down the definitions for us if that's cool,

Kelly Rice  4:45  
and what Victoria really means is not social media, but SEO. I'm sorry,

Victoria Rayburn  4:49  
yes. Gosh, dang it. Sorry, guys.

Kelly Rice  4:54  
It's all good. And before you talked about Google being magical and it is absolutely be magical. But we also know how frustrating and intimidating and scary and all of the other words that it can be. Because you listen to some one person, they say SEO is this and the other person says this, and then you need to do this. And then it starts talking about all of these words and all the back end and all this craziness, which is why we broken it down into the three things that are the really most important to be able to do that, because you can go down that rabbit hole really far. So

Victoria Rayburn  5:26  
yes, I guess. Sorry. Real quick, before you were Smoot do have into definitions, kind of with that in mind. Like, I think it's really important to note that there are a lot of moving parts to an SEO strategy. But more often than not, in order to rank well on Google, you just need to be crossing off more of the tactics on the list than your competitors are. So yes, you could get like super nitty gritty and like, do like weird coding things. And I mean, the list could go on and on and on. But for the most part, as long as you're serving people with good content, Google's goal is, of course, to provide people with the content that they want as quickly as effectively as possible. So that way, they can answer questions. And Google exists to help people find information. So basically, with SEO and keys, anybody is listening, and they are panicking. You one need to be doing more than your competitors. And we mean that with love, and to your biggest focus should be on providing great content, and we're gonna talk about that today. But anyway, so yes, as you can tell, I'm really excited about this topic. So I'm gonna Hush now and let Kelly actually give some definitions, and all the things. And it's all good.

Kelly Rice  6:28  
But we also hear the term SEO and half the time people are like, what does that mean? I don't know, like all of that. So really, it's, it's a fairly simple term, it just is search engine optimization. So it's a process of getting traffic to your website, for free, normally, from organic things, from social media, that your postings on natural content, or if you're writing, writing things, being able to have the things that you're doing, have Google find it and say, oh, this person is looking for this, let's go ahead and serve this up for them. So it's basically a free process that helps your website rank well on Google or other search engines like Bing, or you know, all the all the other ones. But I think Google is a 900 pound elephant in the room that everybody worries about. It's a way for weather when users conduct searches related to your products or services, they get the content that they want. So let's say for example, we'll kind of use Victoria. So if you're a wedding photographer in Indianapolis, and a bride goes to Google and searches for wedding photographer in Indianapolis, the whole SEO process is to help your website appear in that search result. So that the prospective future or the prospective bride or your your prospective client has the ability to find you, and then go to your website. And then once they land on your website, it's your website's job to convince them that you are the right fit

Victoria Rayburn  8:04  
for them. So now that we know you already know what SEO is, because you've clearly decided to prioritize it this year, but just in case anybody else was listening in to like what the heck are we talking about today. And other we did already start to talk about this a little bit, because we wanted to make it clear that we're not going to give up on social media altogether. SEO is going to allow you to probably do less of it. But we do want to take a moment to explain how both SEO and social media work together and what we call the flywheel marketing method. And Kelly, I'm gonna let you break that one too, down too, because I know that this is you don't want to jump for easy passion,

Kelly Rice  8:43  
you don't want to jump into that one. Okay, so

Victoria Rayburn  8:45  
more than happy to but it makes you so happy to talk about. So.

Kelly Rice  8:49  
I do because I love it. Because with small businesses, we're always so busy. And we have so many things going on and we're wearing so many hats and all of that marketing should be your marketing systems should be somewhat easy. Now, I'm not saying that marketing is easy all the time. But your system should should create a path that it's constantly working for you even when you're not. So we call it the flywheel marketing method. It's basically when all of your marketing efforts are in sync. And they work as a flywheel to continually produce results, even when you're not working or you're not paying much attention to it. And it's kind of broken down. We break it down into four areas. So understanding your audience and creating a clear messaging is the first thing that we always have to do. And, guys, we have a whole free mini series on that, that you can go to I think it's true for all marketing.com Ford slash marketing guiding statements, if you want to learn how to the link in the show notes. Okay, yeah, well, you can understand your audience and create your messaging, but that's the first thing that needs to happen within the flywheel marketing. But then you have to develop a strong foundation by creating a strategic website that helps people do the thing that you want them to do and helps convince them that you You're a right fit for, what they're looking for what problem that they're wanting to solve. And then you're going to create. The third thing is creating content, such as blogs, and guides, and downloads and videos and all of these things that serves your clients really well. And remember, when we're creating client, when we're creating content, we want to make sure that our, our customers are the heroes of that content. So the content is serving them well. It's not just talking about how great we are, and all the things that we do. And then fourth is getting your ideal clients to your website by using tactics, like SEO, social media, Google ads, in strategic emails. So utilizing these four steps, you're building this foundation. And then when you're the whole goal is to build a website that strategically helps solve problems for your customers. So then when you create content that does the same thing, and then you use SEO tactics, or social media or paid media somehow, that paid media is saying, Hey, we have this really great content that's going to make your life better. Hey, it's on our website, go back to our website. And you constantly create that that flywheel approach. Does that. Does that make sense? Other of how that, once you create that foundation, you just keep it moving?

Heather Corbin  11:11  
through it. Yep. So like, basically just a little plug here for the master class. It's really good. I've listened to it. Enjoyed it learned a lot. Good.

Victoria Rayburn  11:21  
I'll hear the best things. But yeah, so with the flywheel method, pretty much any interesting, good mindset to be using every marketing tactic you use should help drive potential customers back to your website. Because your website, you know, when built strategically, will be where you convert most of your potential customers into paying clients, you're able to walk them through that whole buyers journey, as opposed to like social media, where it's, you know, they see a post, and maybe they decide to work with you, but like, they usually can't get enough information from a single post or even scrolling through all of Instagram. That said, first of all businesses, we've mentioned this already, SEO is particularly a particularly valuable marketing tactic. Because when people want to intentionally look for a service, such as your photography and your case, they use Google, again, 97% of people use Google when they are in need of a local service, a local business. And as a result, if you do the work to get your website to the first page of Google, you can consistently get your website in front of people who are one actively looking for your services, which is incredible. And then to like they're likely ready to invest are likely already conducting these searches, because they want a family photographer, they want a wedding photographer, or this is on my radar. And I want to get this done, right, because SEO

Kelly Rice  12:39  
has the power to do really big things for your birth business. And it's really not as complicated. As a lot of people think I mean, it can be don't get me wrong, you can like I said, you can go down those rabbit holes. But there are there's a lot of moving parts to it. However, there are three things that you can do to help get your page ranking well on Google. And it really just requires performing a handful of tasks one time that make the powers of Google really happy. And that's, that's really our whole goal. And then to if you need to make sure that you're serving your audience while by creating regular helpful content, kind of like the content that we talked before in the flywheel marketing. And then having a website that makes your ideal customers want to work with you. Because anybody now can go to Wix or go wherever and they can build a website. But just building a website isn't going to get people to do the thing that you want them to do with may not present your company well, like so there's a whole website strategy that needs to be part of your SEO strategy. So I know that we can't cover all things SEO in this podcast. But Heather, we want to walk you through the most three, or we want to walk through the three most effective things that you can do to improve your SEO, because we know that if you do these things, you are going to be in a much better position. And then also anyone listening they can apply these tactics as well.

Heather Corbin  14:08  
So I'm gonna learn,

Kelly Rice  14:10  
I know, and I'm just gonna kind of like sit back down because I'm always in all when Victoria starts her coaching phase of this, and she's so passionate about this. So I'm gonna be like you Heather, and just kind of sit here and just listen and take it all in because I get excited when she gets passionate about all of these things. Oh, thank

Victoria Rayburn  14:27  
you for letting me nerd out for a while guys, this is one of my favorite topics and only because I know how effective it can be for small business owners. And because it's not nearly as hard as people think. But Heather, the first thing that we want to encourage you to do is to optimize the main pages of your website for location based keywords. So when you choose keywords for a web page or blog post, the most important factor is always to consider search intent. So in other words, if potential customers want to find services like yours, what are they going to Google Now more often than not, people looking for photographers are going to search by location. So they're going to search for things like Indianapolis wedding photographer, Lafayette, Indiana family photographer, newborn photographers in Lincoln Park. So just kind of as a result, for most photographers, it's strategic and super beneficial to optimize the main pages of your website like so like your homepage, your about page or any of your service pages for location specific keywords. Because optimizing your website with this with location based keywords, helps Google understand where you serve your customers. And then it also mirrors what your ideal customers are likely searching for. This makes your website just much more likely to rank on the first page of Google and helps Google understand like, oh, like, okay, like somebody's looking for, you know, the only photographers in Lafayette, Indiana, Heather's website, it's really relevant based on the keywords and some other factors that we can see, this is the content that we should push this is the website, we should push in rank well, because it wouldn't be helpful to users. Now this sounds easy enough. But I do think it's important to like walk through how to choose which locations to optimize for. And Heather like for people who don't know that you and I go way back, we're like, from the same area. I've known you for years, we've gotten to like, second shoot for each other work together. And so yes, I'm going to pretend for a second like, I don't know, you just in case, you know, I don't know, maybe you and Chris someday will decide to pack up and live in downtown Chicago, and you're going to need to redo your SEO, knowing you know, that's not going to happen. But

Kelly Rice  16:28  
you know, maybe I need to get some more likely that Heather and I move out to Wyoming together. So yes, yes, Chicago.

Heather Corbin  16:35  
Sounds great. Kelly, move in with you. Well, anyway, sorry, I know your city girl. But I gotta go with Kelly out. It's in the middle of nowhere.

Victoria Rayburn  16:49  
Yeah, I'll come visit you guys. But yes, we do want to talk about you know, which location to optimize for how to choose what location to optimize for. Now, like one of the many, many beautiful things about being a photographer is just the fact that you have an opportunity to work and shoot anywhere, people need photographers all over the place. And you know, like, in the last few years, you know, becoming a destination photographer that's become like the epitome of what a lot of people want to do. However, when it comes to your SEO, you are much more likely to rank well on Google, when you get specific, and you keep your keywords specific to one location. So at one city. Now at this in mind, I would recommend optimizing the main pages of your website for either like the area you live, or the area you want to work most often. And we're going to dive into that a little bit more in just a minute when I talk about, like the differences between liberal keywords that you can choose if you live in a small town, versus if you live in a city, because that's going to look a little bit different than everything. But like that said, again, it's very important to think about your ideal clients search intent. So in other words, what would they Google if they want to find services like yours, because every ideal client, everybody's ideal client, it's going to be different. But again, there are a few general rules of thumb or just some advice and want to make sure everybody has, but if you first of all, if you like, we work in a large city, it can be very difficult to rank on page one of Google as a photographer and a large city, simply because there are so many photographers in that area. As a result, you're going to need to get more specific than for example, like photographer in Chicago, like, there are probably I mean, there are probably at least 100,000 photographers in Chicago alone. So as a result, it can be really hard to rank for a keyword that's as like arguably as vague as that. So to determine how to get more specific, you want to think about your ideal clients search intent. So as they searched the Internet for the perfect photographer that for them, what are they typing? Maybe they're looking by neighborhoods, so like family photographers, and Linkin Park, maybe they want to live in Linkin Park? And they're like, Yeah, we just want to find a photographer near us. We don't have to, like, do the stressful thing of going across the city somewhere else. Or maybe they're looking by style. So like film inspired wedding photographers in Chicago. Maybe your ideal client has a really specific photo style in mind. There's no right or wrong answer. But you want to think about like, Okay, this is what my client is searching for. So essentially, if you live or work in a large city, it can be difficult to get to the first page of Google for more general searches. As a result, to get your website in front of your ideal customers. You want to choose more niche keywords that are specific to whatever it is your ideal clients are searching. Now I do want to talk about that if you live in a small town and Heather This definitely is going to resonate with you more. And again, guys like there's nothing wrong with Small Town Living. I'm very happy to be in Indianapolis now. However, you know, I grew up in Irvington, Indiana with a population of 1300. So

Kelly Rice  19:51  
hey, that beats the autorun population of 600

Victoria Rayburn  19:55  
Oh my goodness. Okay. If you are not from Indiana and listen for like what the heck like I Thanks, I swear like a lot of things do happen in DNS. Oh, but if you do live in a small town in Indiana or elsewhere, with like limited people in small towns to serve view to know, Google searches, usually like most people are not searching you know, for photographers in Irvington, Indiana. And then like also, in the case of photographers para likely, like very few locations you want to shoot in a small town. You know, I'm sure there is some beautiful little tiny town somewhere in some photographer couldn't make it work, you know. And Remington I think they're like a total of two places that I took people for photos. So anyway, if you do live in a small town, just kind of with because of these factors, you are likely going to be better off optimizing your website for keywords for like the closest city where you regularly work. So for example, when I lived in a small town, I optimize my website for Lafayette, Indiana and Heather, I know this is something that's already on your radar, because you've already said like you want to optimize for Lafayette, I'm not going to tell the rest of the world on the podcast where you actually live. But Latvia is where you want to be photography wise. So that said yet choose a specific city, optimize your website by state like I showed you, I'll talk about this for just a second. You want to choose a specific area, but I would never recommend optimizing by state. So unless I mean, if that truly is what your ideal client is looking for, but optimizing your website by state, so like wedding photographers in Indiana, this likely isn't going to serve you well, because one, your state likely includes a lot of photographers, and to your ideal clients are probably being more specific with their searches, meaning they are searching by city neighborhood or just for something more niched. So I know how to That's not a question you specifically had today, but like just throwing it out there because a lot of people think things like oh, like, it'd be great if I could rank above like all of the family photographers in Indiana like, yes, but that's probably not what your ideal clients are shooting. Now, in case anybody is listening to this. And Heather, I know like with conversation, you you're like, Yep, I want to shoot in Lafayette. And I'm so glad that like you've already decided that, and that works well for you and your family and your business. But if anybody is listening and thinking, like that's nice, but I don't want to shoot in one single area. Like friends, I get it when again, like one of the many magical things about being a photographer is the opportunity to travel and shoot new locations. But here's the thing, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get the main pages of your website to rank for multiple locations. As a result, I highly recommend creating your SEO keyword strategy around a single area. And this area should just be like your bread and butter city or area where you want to work most consistently. Then from there, you can use your blog, social media, and referrals to book to book shoots, and weddings in other areas. So we are by no means like shutting it down. Like we're not saying like you can never leave the city that you pick. Just in order to rank well. You are going to have like your results are going to be so much better if you focus on one area. Okay, so Heather, let's talk about your SEO keyword strategy for minutes. We already know that you mentioned that you want to rank well for Lafayette, just so like people have a point of reference, would you mind telling us like why? And do you have any? Do you have any questions about keywords.

Heather Corbin  23:26  
So I want to rank in Lafayette, Indiana because again, that is the closest large town to my little bitty rural town. So that's a you know, a good place to go for a client base. And there are also lots of locations to have photo sessions great locations in Lafayette area, whether you want an urban look or you want a rural look. And then there's Purdue University that's there in West Lafayette. So there's that whole portion of it too. So the Lafayette area is definitely where I want to focus on and then I also just know that it's convenient for me. You know, it's a lot more convenient for me to shoot a wedding in Lafayette than it is for me to drive to Indianapolis. Right now I do a lot of driving to Indianapolis to when I second shoot weddings, which is fine and I don't mind it but sticking a little closer to home makes life a little easier, especially the drive home at the end of wedding day.

Victoria Rayburn  24:25  
Yes. Oh, I feel that and you know, hence why we literally moved to Indianapolis and it was very tired of making the trip so it's each their own and yes, I love that you really want to target Lafayette and so Heather I know that we kind of just talked about like, this is your overarching keyword strategy and keywords like we could cover so many things and we could have a whole episode if not like 10 episodes on keywords alone. But in case you would like to dive a little bit deeper in life, we just don't we just don't have enough time today and all Honestly, but we do have some resources that we want to point people to. So Heather, for you or for any photographer listening, I want to point you back to Episode 55 of the priority pursuit podcast, which is all about how to identify keywords for SEO that will help you book more clients as a photographer walks you through exactly how to identify keywords, where it, put them on your website, all things, keywords, we'll include that link in the show notes. And guys, we don't just love photographers over here. So if you go to Episode Nine, you can listen to how to identify new strategic keywords to improve your SEO. And this episode is for all small business owners, we have some photography, specific content really just in that like one, I am a photographer. So that's just kind of where my brain lives a lot of the time, but then to photography just has a slightly different SEO strategy just because it's based upon a very specific buyers journey. So resources for everybody, nobody needs to feel left out. Okay, it's Helly. I'm gonna let you walk through the second thing we identified if that's if that's okay, so the second most

Kelly Rice  25:57  
zoo, okay, I can do that. And this is actually one of the things that I really like Victoria, and I kind of sat down and talked about this, before the show started is using online directories. And I don't know whether if you're familiar with those, or you've heard that before, it's one of the SEO tools that I think is a very much overlooked, but it's, it's one of the easiest things you can do. So I think, when we opened up, we kind of talked about how there are just a few things that you can do one time, and this is that. So online directories are basically websites that sit out there that have business information listing on them, like Yelp, Google business, those types of things. It's basically for us Gen Xers, it's the yellow pages, but online, right, it's, we no longer have to go the yellow pages, which I think the Yellow Pages even has an online directory now. So I don't know if anybody uses it. But it's, so it's important to take the time to create consistent online directory listings. Because Google sees that if your name, your phone number, or you like your business name, your phone number, your hours, your email, and all the other information is consistent across all of these directories, it will be more certain that you do the thing that you say that you're going to do in the location and service area in which you say that you're going to do it, so they're gonna have more confidence in that. But then they're going to also have more confidence, because in SEO language, we call all of these listings, um, citations. So the more citations that are out there that are all the same, it gives Google or other search engines, that brand trust with you to say, Oh, your business must be legit. This searcher is looking for this thing, you say that you offer that in the area in which they do it. So we're gonna go ahead and serve up your website as a solution to what they're looking for. So the more times that that happens, the more consistent the consistency that you have, especially with your online directories, your website will actually start to rank better, because Google has more trust in you. So when it comes to creating these online listings, it's actually fairly simple. You can either do it manually, which kind of does take a it does take time. So for photographers that don't have a ton of time, the other option might be to invest in a service called a Moz. Local, it's the one that we use treefrog. And I think it's around $20 A month maybe. And basically, what it does is that you put your information in your business name, your hours, like there's a whole ton of information that you can put in there, descriptions, services, payment options, like all that all of the things you can put in there. But then what happens is Moz is kind of like I don't want to say it's an aggregator, but it's kind of like a pusher outter of information. So you have all of this information in there. And once you hit submit Moz then pushes your information out to all of these online directories. So it's a quicker way to be able to get consistent online directories. But the downfall to like niche services like photography is is that they don't have specific like wedding photographers things or photography based online directories in their system. So you're still need to go in and actually create your listings in that. I think Victoria and I were talking and I know that you use like Wedding Wire, I think the knot is one of them. So like all these different specific photography online directories, they will actually try to sell you, Hey, pay a lot of money to go in and optimize your directory. But I don't think that's something that especially for photographers that we would suggest doing Other than paying for Moz to get all of your information out there, but these very directory specific type of online directories may not be worth the investment. Because the whole goal of your SEO is to get free traffic to your website, not have to pay a ton of money to sit in a directory. So now some of these may have like free versions of the directory. So go in and fill out your profiles as much as you can. But again, I think it's going to have to be a business choice whether you would want to invest in these photography specific type of directories. And Victoria, do you have anything to add to that? I

Victoria Rayburn  30:35  
mean, from a photographer yourself, oh, goodness, that you're just giving me an opportunity to get on a soapbox for just a minute. And I'm just gonna be blunt and honest about it. So yes, Moz Local is going to handle all the big directories for you. And then in terms of other ones to check out, you know, just depending on your niche in your area, you know, first like, there are, you know, bigger wedding websites, and yes, like, they have started like Wedding Wire and the knot that kind of started phasing out having free options. Sometimes, if you ask nicely, they will just give one to you. So like, seriously, like, just email, the people, sometimes they will literally just give you on it, like I know, it's an extra step in it's a little extra work. And then also, I would recommend if you live in a city or a town that has local directories, sometimes they'll have you know, like a, like a local Chamber of Commerce will allow you to add your business information like for usually, a lot of times for free, just like this nice little service they do. Or maybe there's a local blog or something like that. It take advantages of take advantage of those opportunities. Anytime your information is seen online, that's only going to help build Google's Trust, which is a wonderful thing. That being said, and I know this sounds a little harsh, and unless like that, okay, the night is the thing that like makes me want to get up on a soapbox, but the knight is going to charge you like $2,500 a year. It's very, it's honestly, it's very expensive. And I know a lot of photographers who have gone that route, and they do not see the return on their investment. And so I think the knot doesn't treat very people very nicely. So I would not recommend investing in these big online listings unless you know that your ideal client is directly checking these things out, do not pay $2,500 for the sake of your SEO, only invest in these things if you know like, okay, my ideal client is on this website. My ideal client is on this directory. Therefore I'm going to invest in this. And even things like Yelp like yes, there are free versions of Yelp and there are paid versions of Yelp. I would say only you know, spend money with Yelp, if you know your ideal client is looking for their photographer on Yelp. Photographers, would you love to spend less time behind your computer and more time shooting with your loved ones or doing literally anything else than editing? If so it's time to outsource your editing. Now I know what you're going to say, I can't outsource my editing an editor won't be able to match my style. But friend, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. I've been working with photographers edit for years and their team of experienced editors match my editing style perfectly, because they one took the time to get familiar with my preferences and brand. Two, they look at the sample edits I include in each Lightroom catalog. And three they allow me to submit feedback after every project so that the next project we work on together is even better. Outsourcing my editing to photographers edit has drastically streamline my workflow. I mean, after I shoot a wedding or session, I simply call the images and Mark photos I want to blog using image and AI. Then I create a Lightroom catalog and only edit the photos I plan to walk and share on social media. I add a green label to the photos I edit share the catalog with photographers edit and they use the photos I mark in green as samples to finish editing the remaining images from their photographers edit sends me the catalog back within just a few days. I review the images, export them and share my clients galleries with them. Outsourcing my editing has given me the freedom to spend more time with Zach and Hattie go to bed at a reasonable time that are served my clients and work on projects I'm excited about like this podcast. Right now editing is likely taking up most of your time, but I can tell you from experience that it doesn't have to. To receive 50% off your first order from photographers edit, go to tree frog marketing.com/p e or use code B Rayburn at checkout. Again, that's tree frog marketing.com/p e or use code V Rayburn at checkout. As a small business owner, you probably have a seemingly endless to do list. But I can almost promise that there are things on your list that can be outsourced, like grocery shopping. I mean as a wedding photographer. The last thing I wanted to do after shooting a wedding on a Saturday was to spend by Sunday in a grocery store. So I am forever thankful that a friend told me about Instacart Instacart is a grocery delivery service. Basically you use the Instacart app to make your shopping list Then a personal shopper goes to your preferred store for Lexus groceries for you and delivers them to you. Typically all within just a few hours, you can also schedule your delivery time, which is wonderful. Personally, I will sing Instacart praises forever because one has saved me from countless hours and to Instacart employs local personal shoppers, meaning with every Instacart purchase, you're putting money back directly into your local economy. Well, Instacart does charge delivery fee when you upgrade to Instacart. Plus for just $99 a year, you'll receive free unlimited deliveries for all orders over $35. Considering the time and frustration you'll save, that's $99 well invested. If you'd like to avoid going to the grocery store and save $20 On your first order from Instacart of $35 or more, visit treefrogmarketing.com/instacart. Again, if you'd like $20 off your first Instacart order of $35 or more visit treefrogmarketing.com/instacart.

Kelly Rice  36:04  
Now Heather, have you heard about online directories before? Is this kind of a new concept?

Heather Corbin  36:09  
I know I've heard about them in the past, but I kind of forgot to be really honest. So

Kelly Rice  36:15  
the stuff that we kind of that we've just gone over? Do you have any questions about what we said? Or is it just a I need to jump in and dig in and kind of figure this out?

Heather Corbin  36:24  
Yeah, I agree. I think I need to jump in and figure it out and get on them.

Kelly Rice  36:28  
Yeah, and it's really not it's, it's really that do at one time and you're done thing. So it's worth the time and the investment to be able to do that. It's not an ongoing thing, unless you would happen to change locations, or your business location would move or something like that, you're really not gonna have to go back and update these directories, once you get that initial information in there.

Victoria Rayburn  36:50  
Yes. And I guess I'll also throw in there really quick, Heather that, you know, we talked about, like, okay, like do the mind local auction, but then also look for other local options. So few photographers are taking the time to do online directories in the first place. So if we go back to the conversation of like, you just have to be doing more than your competitors, just investing in Moz. Local is a won't, is going to do huge things for your SEO.

Kelly Rice  37:13  
And it's a minimal investment that will make your life a lot easier than trying to find you know, all the 300 directories or 500 directories, whatever it is, and then creating all of this free directories,

Victoria Rayburn  37:23  
yourself. Yep. Before Moz. Local was a thing I am 100% Did this manually once because at the time, it was like Yext was the other option. And so it was like $500 A month or do this on your own site very much did this on my own. But I'm glad my saw this need in filled the business. So that's super exciting to me. Yes. You know, speaking of things I like to nerd out about, but okay, Heather, if we're feeling good on online directories, let's start talking about content development, if that's all right, just in that, you know, as your minor, you know, Google does exist to serve people great content. And so when you're producing great content, your website as a whole and your content are much more likely to rank quickly. Arguably, the quickest way to get your website in front of your ideal customers is to create niche, location specific content that can be consumed on your website. So such as blog posts, or videos, we're going to stick with blogs today, just in that for most people, that is the easiest thing to produce. Like, you literally just need to be able to you literally just need a website, and words. And you know, photos are definitely helpful. But outside of trying to find a photographer in a specific area, your ideal clients likely have like throwing like googling other questions related to or adjacent to your service and location. So as a result, if you create content, like for example, Mulligan blog posts that answer your potential clients questions, then your ideal clients will likely find your content when they Google their questions, which will then encourage them to check out the rest of your website. Again, it's much easier and much faster to get niche content like this to work well than it is to get your entire website to rank well. So basically, like if they can just find you know, one blog post, then like, oh, they'll be encouraged, check out the rest. And then also, when you have this niche, location specific content ranking well, your website as a whole is likely going to rank better slowly but surely, because your location specific content is going to help Google further associate you with the area that you are targeting. So just so we can go through a couple examples here that I thought would be specific to you some blog posts that you could write about blog posts that you could create, be like best places to take engagement photos in Lafayette, Indiana, wedding venues in Lafayette, Indiana, where to take your wedding photos in Lafayette, Indiana, or to take your family photos in Lafayette, Indiana, best places to take family photos at Purdue University. So as you can see, like just going through these topics like these are things that your ideal clients like they may already be searching for. So this is a really great way to get your website in front of them. But then again, this is also going to be super helpful because it's going to help Google further associate you with these locations. And then therefore, when Google, you know, somebody goes to Google, they type in Lafayette, Indiana family photographer, Google's going to look at your website as a whole and be like, Oh, Heather really knows what she's doing. She's like, has all these Lafayette resources, they're all related to family photos? Like, yes, she is the expert, and we want to make sure our users can find her information. Okay, so Heather, do you have any questions about creating like niche content like this?

Heather Corbin  40:34  
I guess my main question would be I, I totally understand the benefits of titling, you know, the best places for answering the questions and things like that. Is it still recommended to log sessions? Or are we just focused on answering questions?

Victoria Rayburn  40:51  
Oh, that's a great question. And yes, I for photographers, yes, very, very much still recommend blogging, sessions, blogging, weddings, blogging, your work. And this is really for one reason and one well, okay, one big reason, there are a lot of reasons to log your work, yo, it's great customer service. From an SEO perspective, I highly recommend doing this. Because a lot of times, whether it's people are looking to take family photos, engagement photos, or they're looking at or they're planning their wedding, they're looking for their wedding photographer, a lot of times one of the first things that they're going to search for are like photos at a specific location that they have in mind. So just as a for instance, every year, I end up booking a couple of weddings just as a result that I have blog posts that rank well for engagement photos at Purdue. In this situation, a lot of times couples that get engaged, and they don't necessarily realize that their wedding photographer will do their engagement photos for them. They're new at this whole engaged thing. They don't know how it works. And so a lot of times, they're a little start Googling, like, Oh, I just want it like we met at Purdue. I wonder what what engagement photos at Purdue could look like. And then they find one of my posts. And that shows like, oh, like, this girl has done this before. Like, she knows where we should take photos. We really like this style, like, oh, like she's shot here. But then if I look at her wedding photography packages, I can see that if we book her, then we are, we can also take our engagement photos at Purdue. And that's already like built into the price like, this is great wedding photographer done. So yes, I highly recommend blogging your sessions, logging your weddings, and then optimizing them by the location where you shot them. Because again, people are very likely to look for family photos at Purdue or engagement photos in Lafayette, because they're looking for that inspiration. And they're trying to figure out what their own photos could look like. Does that make sense?

Heather Corbin  42:41  
Yeah, it does a lot. And then the other question I had about blogging is, is there a amount or what consistency is the most optimal for creating blog content that helps with SEO? The most?

Victoria Rayburn  42:56  
Me and you were full of great questions. And yes, I could sit here and talk about this all this is so much fun to me. But that is a great question. And it's hard to give a heart like a hard and fast rule, just in that it really does go back to how much are your competitors, blogging, how and so what if you like want to be on page one of Google in terms of how much content you should be producing, I would encourage you to look at your market and see how often other people in your market are blogging, Google is always going to prioritize websites that are giving the most helpful content. And a lot of times people are giving most helpful content or also providing regular content. So there isn't a hard and fast rule, I would recommend looking at competitors. So that way, you can kind of decide what that looks like for you. But in general, if you can get a blog post up once a week, as a photographer, that can be really powerful. And I say once a week just in that, like once you start thinking about this, it's not going to be nearly as hard as you think. If just as a for instance, you know, if you are like I'm wedding photographer, so I just kind of like live in that realm. But if you are a wedding photographer, and you're shooting a 20 weddings a year, and that means you're also doing 20 engagement sessions a year, that's 40 blog posts, right there. And then if you can fill that gap with 12 other blog posts that are educational or location specific, that is one blog a week and family sessions, you know, kind of same thing, even if you have you know, Heather, maybe you do have, I mean, one or two family sessions a week. And obviously we live in the Midwest. So you have this like period of time where it is just too nasty to take children outside and then it's just goes, but even though if you have let's say you have 26 weeks out of the year where you're shooting two sessions a week, that alone is 52 blog posts right there. Now, I guess I would say well, we are talking about this. I whilst you know, we don't even need to get into the whole curation of blog posts. But walking is is really great thing to do for your customers. It's really it's really, really great for customer service. But I don't want anybody listening to be like, oh my goodness, I have to blog absolutely absolutely everything. If you Make it part of your normal buyers journey and people know they're getting a blog post. Yes, you need to blog. Absolutely absolutely everything. If you don't let people know that a blog is coming, you can be a little more choosy, you can be a little more picky. But you just have to have to keep in the back of your mind. Like, you don't want your customers feel less than because you decided to blog everybody's stuff. But there's no other you know how this goes more often than not, whether it's like a family shoot or a wedding, you can always treat something to get some kind of a blog post up, but okay, sorry, I'm getting down a rabbit hole for it a different thing. But does that answer the initial question that you had?

Heather Corbin  45:34  
Yes, it did. Thank you very much.

Victoria Rayburn  45:37  
Yeah, no problem. So again, ya know, like, hard, fast, you must blog this many times. But I just think, at least for photographers, because you're producing so much work and you have the visualizations to put online, you actually have an advantage. A lot of small businesses don't have it or because like, even at treefrog, for instance, it's know what we are. Our blog is all about, like marketing topics and things, but we have to like write pretty intensively. But with sessions, you can simply write about the session. And it's this magical thing, because your ideal clients are already looking for similar content.

Kelly Rice  46:10  
Which, if do you have any more questions about blogging? Heather, because I'm getting really excited to talk about something that Victoria brought up?

Heather Corbin  46:18  
I do have one more question, if you don't mind. Yeah. Is there? Is there an optimal length that blog posts need to be like, words, pictures? I mean, is there an optimal of those? Or is it kind of flexible?

Victoria Rayburn  46:33  
Also a great question. So back in the day, it used to be a hard like, you must have at least 300 words in order to rank well on Google, with Google's helpful content update. Google is basically now better able to understand all kinds of content. So both photo video, all of the things and so now Google no longer says like your block was needs to be this long in order to rank well. Instead, it is looking at specifically how well you're serving your customers. That being said, while our blog posts do tend to rank better, but there isn't a hard and fast rule. And I know that like for rule followers, that's really, really hard to hear. But at the end of the day, your goal should just be to make sure you are producing content that is helpful to your ideal client.

Heather Corbin  47:19  
Okay, thank you.

Victoria Rayburn  47:20  
I feel like that does not answer your question. But that is what Google says.

Kelly Rice  47:23  
It's yeah,

Heather Corbin  47:24  
it answers my question. Just be helpful. Don't just write a random blog post that is just keyword focused, write a blog post that has useful content that people are looking for. Because then whether it's short or long, if they find the answers to their questions, then that's helping you track lines, but it's also helping with the Google Analytics.

Victoria Rayburn  47:43  
Yes, that was so much more eloquently put than the way I did it. So Heather, I'll just be quiet. And then you can do the rest of this. This is great. I just

Heather Corbin  47:50  
summarized what you said, yeah.

Victoria Rayburn  47:53  
It was perfect.

Kelly Rice  47:55  
Which is a great segue for me to kind of jump into my passion area. So I heard Victoria say something about how she ranked well for engagement photos at Purdue. And then people went to her website. And then they saw that, Oh, I get my engagement photos in there. And it was really easy. And they made she made their lives better, because she was helping solve a problem and all of that. And then again, Heather, you referenced how if your content is helpful, that's exactly what Google wants. So knowing that there are three things that we need to do for SEO, right, SEO, there's a lot of moving parts. But the three things that we've talked about today, optimizing your main pages for like location based keywords, I'm creating consistent helpful content. I think we talked about next was, Oh, I think online directories. And those types of things will help you rank better in there more tactical types of things. But you can do all of the SEO things you want. But if your website is not set up to meet the needs of your customers, or help them find the information, they will under Help them feel comfortable. Or move them along a buying path. You're literally going to waste your time and effort doing SEO things if your website is not created the way that it should be strategically. So I know this is this episodes about SEO. But in reality, the thing that I'm really passionate about is messaging and websites, because they're the foundation of everything that you do moving forward for marketing, and SEO as part of your overall marketing plan. So if you're, if you're not doing messaging and your website correctly, your SEO is going to fall short of your expectations. And we don't want to see anybody work that hard to have it fall short. So if you'll kind of bear with me, I just want to go over maybe some of the most important things that a website should have on the homepage and maybe that will help set the foundation for when people do do the SEO work that this will this will kind of create a nice steady flow. So are you in with me? You've got a few more minutes. So you're good to go?

Heather Corbin  50:07  
Yes, I'm excited to learn. Okay.

Kelly Rice  50:09  
So the first thing that we've kind of talked about that, I think I alluded to multiple times is clear messaging. So all marketing efforts and tactics, in my opinion, are an absolute waste of time, money and resources if your messaging is not clear, because messaging for in the way that we define messaging is communication that your ideal clients can understand quickly and easily. And it is literally the key to successful marketing, because we know that small businesses can't really succeed without clear messaging. Because there's so many, there's so many other opportunities for people to get their problem solved or a product out there, what happens is, let's say that I go to a website, and the messaging is really confusing, and it's using all this language that I don't understand, I'm just gonna go ahead and click away from that, and I'm gonna find something that's easier for me to understand, I'm gonna buy that product, even though that the first product may have been superior, I couldn't understand it, and I'm not going to buy it. So the reason that we're so passionate about the messaging is that all of your other tactics are basically a waste of time if your messaging isn't clear. And because of that, I think I alluded to the beginning of the episode, we have a free mini course. And Heather, you said that you downloaded that, and you started that. So you are ahead of a lot of people in this. But you can go to treefrogmarketing.com, forward slash marketing, guided statements, that's all one word. And you can start to clarify your message. So when you do that, the you'll be able to write better copy for your website. And the first thing that you need to have on your website is a clear header. Basically, it's at the top of your page. And this header tells people exactly what you offer, how you help them and what they need to do next. However, all of this has to be done within like two or three seconds. So somebody needs to look at the header of your website and be able to understand all of those things, in order for their brains to go, oh, this makes sense to me, I'm going to scroll down on your website, and I'm going to learn more or get if it's too complicated. They're just going to switch away. So but also for your case, how they're the location based keyword is really important. So that kind of that needs to be in your header as well. You know, what do you do I, family photographer, a wedding and family photographer in Lafayette, Indiana, you know, creating some of those more boring headlines are beneficial, because you can back up that content with clear messaging as like a sub header or something. But people literally need to understand who you are, what you do, how you make their lives better, and what they need to do next, in two to three seconds. So you have to be extremely clear. And if after this episode, if you kind of want to walk through some examples of that, we're happy to do that for you. Because I know we're gonna throw in all of this stuff at you. So, you know, first thing is clarifying your message. Second is using that clarified message in creating your marketing guiding statements by utilizing what we call the one liner, which you can learn about in that in that course, in your header. Because again, you need to tell people who you are, what you do, how you make their lives better, and what they need to do next in the first two or three seconds. Next, we need to make sure that there's a value proposition on your website. So you just need a clear way of telling people what they will receive if they invest in your services. So like Victoria said, people were led through SEO because of an engagement piece of content at Purdue. But then she had a value proposition aspect on the homepage of our website that said, Hey, this is what you're gonna get if you work with me, and oh, your engagement photos are included in our package. So you're providing them value of if they choose to work with you what they're going to get out of it. And that that lowers some of that uncertainty about oh my gosh, I don't know, what am I going to get which I expect all of that. So having a value proposition is going to be extremely important. And then also having a three step plan. And why three steps you might ask? Because the brain likes three steps. Like if we think about it, like if your husband says, I need this, this and this at the grocery, you're like, Okay, got it. But if he adds that fourth thing, and you're like, I gotta write that down, right, because four is too many I can maintain three and this is same thing in terms of a website. We want to be able to create three steps. We want to tell people if you do this, and you do this, this is the benefit that you're going to get out of it because we know that there may be a million things behind the scenes that have to happen. But we want to make the customer experience so easy for them that it's a no brainer for them to want to work with you. So like for Example treefrogs steps on our website look like. First one is scheduled 30 minute consultation second, finally, cross marketing off your to do list. And three, enjoy marketing strategy that works as hard as you do. Right. If you schedule a 30 minute consultation, you can finally save time and you can take the guesswork out of your marketing, you don't have to worry about marketing anymore for number two. And then number three is that you are just going to enjoy having all of this free time and marketing that's working. So those are the types of steps that we're considering. And again, we've kind of outlined the strategy in those in that mini course, that you'll eventually get to if you haven't made it to that yet. And then we also need a direct call to action. Because we know especially having children that if we put information out there, and we don't tell them what to do, they're not going to do it, we don't want to give our customers an opportunity to go to one of our competitors. So we want to make sure that they understand that they need to do these three steps. And in order to do those three steps, here's the call to action, we need you to schedule something, we need you to book a coffee chat, we, we need you to take that next step in order to solve the problem that you have, which is I want family pictures, before all of my kids are out of the house the last time we had them done. My oldest was six months old, and now they're 17. So they're there everybody has that problem that we need to solve. And that direct calls the action just moves them into actually committing and doing that in removing the uncertainty of oh my gosh, what do I do next? Do I do a contact form? Do I do this, do that. So we just need to tell them, Hey, do this thing. And you need to tell them, Hey, do this thing multiple times on your website, because people don't read your website from top to bottom, they scan it, and then when they hit a headline that they like, we need to make sure that there's a call to action in that section to let to tell them, hey, you need to do this thing, because they may not get to the bottom of the page, or they may not have paid attention to two sections above that. Does that make sense? How that kind of

Heather Corbin  57:04  
works? Yes. Okay, really important.

Kelly Rice  57:07  
And then we've talked a lot about making sure that you have a good customer experience giving, like serving your clients well. And we do that a lot naturally, just by showing empathy, hey, we know that you have this problem, we get that you have this problem. We know it's a struggle to get everybody together for pictures, or we know that you want to create these memories or especially for like wedding photographers, right? Like you don't get a chance to do this over. So understanding what those those problems are, we always show empathy by saying, Hey, we understand this. But in order for someone to feel comfortable that we know how to solve their problem, we have to show authority. But most of the traditional marketing messages out there, and especially on websites, we initially start with, Hey, we're the best this product is great. We have all these awards, you should buy this from us, it's a great price. But what that does is it shuts down the the human aspect of sales, and we're just like it, we feel like we're being sold to so I'm moving on. So we want to be able to use authority in the right position on your website. And you want to use it in ways of having other people say how great your work is or how easy it is to work with you. So testimonials and reviews are a tremendous way to show authority. Another way to show authority is literally just showcasing your portfolio, if you do phenomenal work, that's going to be authoritative enough for somebody to say, Oh, here's the things that I get in the value proposition, I need to do this thing in order to get started. Look at this beautiful work, I want my wedding to look like that I want my family to look like that. So you can use your craft as part of authority as well. But I always suggest having testimonials in there as well. And you can talk to people about giving testimonies, you can ask specific questions to make sure that those testimonials are answering the questions or solving the problems that other prospects might have. It was really easy to work with Heather because she laid out the entire plan and we had everything that we needed. Um, she sent us an email that helped us pick out family coordinating outfits, or, you know, she gave us, um, some information about the pitfalls of how to prepare, like, all of that stuff is going to be beneficial and you can use it as authority,

Victoria Rayburn  59:23  
though. Kelly, do you mind if I throw in here really quick? Yeah, talked about how you can use write your own photos. In order to show authority I would just throw in and I mean, this note is really for photographers listening, but I mean it can be applied to any business really. But with photography, you know, it's a you are essentially competing against other photographers who also have amazing work. And then kind of on top of that, unless you're a photographer or a designer or you have some kind of art background. A lot of times people don't necessarily know what makes a great photo, but making sure that your website does all of these things. It's Kelly's walking, like walking us through and making sure that your website is easy for people to understand. And, you know, just connect with quickly by having a clear message that can do wonders for your business like it is actually kind of crazy. And like my photographer heart dies a little bit, but sometimes, you know, because there are photographers out there, maybe they maybe they don't even like practice with their camera very often. But because they have a clear message, they have these thriving businesses, and they're just kind of shooting on auto. And I'm not judging, like, Please don't take it as judgment. But you could be a fantastic photographer. And if your messaging isn't clear, if your website isn't like doesn't include these things that Kelly's talking about, you miss out on business, not because you're a talented photographer, simply because people can't understand what you're offering, and they can't understand it fast enough. And as a result, they end up going with a product or service that isn't as high in quality, simply because that was easier to understand. So sorry, photographer ran for just a second, I'm done.

Kelly Rice  1:00:53  
No, and you want to use your photography at you want to use your portfolio as kind of a backup, authoritative message, if you will, the written message where you're solving problems and you're showing empathy, and you're giving a gut, you're being the guide, and you're doing all of these things, is what is going to drive your customer to want to learn more, and then to inspect your work, and then be able to to book from there. So we just have a couple more things that every website should have. And the next one really is pricing. I and I know that some businesses go back and forth with us, especially maybe service based ones. But having starting app prices, is going to be very important. Because we know that maybe even with like custom packages, there has to be a baseline there. So you want to be able to say, you know, if my starting package is $500, or family pictures, or whatever it is, you're going to help clarify, you're gonna help quantify people that are looking for the level of service that you offer based on that price as well. So those that are like, Oh, my gosh, I thought it was only going to be $100, you're not going to have to spend your time with them, you might have other resources or other something else that you can help them with. But pricing is going to help it do it that way. But then also, if you don't put pricing on your website, at least starting that prices, it kind of comes across as a little sketchy of like, are you going to nickel and dime me is every like, if it's a minute over Are you going to add another $100 to it or whatever it is, and all of that it just gives people that confidence in knowing what to expect and they can make stronger buying decisions based on that. And then really, the last thing is just the ease of use in the navigation. So messaging is always important. But your your website also has to be user friendly, people have to be able to find the information that they need quickly. It doesn't need to be hidden in like 42 Different clicks on 17 different pages. Just be smart with how you're putting your information out there and what you're asking people to do, because we want to make sure that they're getting the information that they want to help create an easy buying journey and customer experience for them as quickly and as easily as possible. So you want to make sure that your website is cohesive with your brand, you know, make sure that your website designed, does it distract users from looking at your photos and engaging with your copy, kind of like what Victoria was kind of alluding to with the words on your website. So you don't want like all these animation things going on and things coming in and out. And like all these popups happening when somebody's trying to focus, you want them to focus and read on your website. And then it doesn't require users to do a bunch of detective work to get the information they need. So just again, making it easy for them to find what they need. If you're gonna have a pricing page, don't bury it, 14 pages in or have them read, you know, 16 paragraphs before they get to the pricing. So I know we kind of went through a lot of that. And I'm happy to send you an email after the show to kind of summarize those types of things. But my whole passion and drive about this is that creating messaging first is going to give you the tools and the structure that you need in order to create a clear website. And if you follow a specific layout for your website, and you have the things in there that we talked about, it's going to help all of the work that you're doing from an SEO side. It's going to make it more beneficial. Because once people land on your website, they're going to want to do the thing that you want them to do then they're going to want to work with you, as opposed to sending a ton of traffic to your site from all your SEO work, and then going on. I don't know, I don't know what they have. I'm confused and they just go to your competitor. So does that make sense?

Heather Corbin  1:04:57  
Absolutely. Because both of those come ponents are so important, but they're not mutually exclusive to each other. Right? It takes good SEO to get people to your website. But it takes a good website to get people to understand your product, and then actually a client. So absolutely two components that work together.

Kelly Rice  1:05:13  
Yes. Did you have any questions from all of the stuff that I just threw at you about how to develop your website or the things that need to be on there?

Heather Corbin  1:05:22  
I probably do. It was the last I

Kelly Rice  1:05:25  
was the last. And I get so excited, because I mean, it's once you understand it, and there's a flow to it, you're like, Oh, that makes so much sense. Because it calms down the brain, it gives the brain the information it needs in order to make easy buying decisions. Because your messaging is clear, the layout is clear. You're helping me walk through strategically what I need to do and all of that. So like I said, we can do a summary after this. And then I think that's probably Victoria, one of the next. useful pieces of content that we probably should create is here. These are all the things that you should have on your website. So thanks for that. Well, we'll get we'll work on that one, too. We're

Victoria Rayburn  1:06:01  
on it, we have lots of exciting things coming up. We just can't wait to share them. There. Thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been so great to chat with you this morning. And you'll like we said SEO is one of our favorite marketing tactics, because we know it can do big things for small businesses. Now, before we sign off, we do want to tell our photographer friends about two other resources just really quick that we have for them. And guys, we promised we have more SEO resources for other small business owners coming very soon. Please don't feel left out. I am so sorry. But oh, well, we discussed the three most effective things that you can do to improve your SEO and this episode, photographers, if you go to include this in the link in the show notes, but if you go to tree frog marketing.com, you are going to be able to find a guide that walks you through the five most effective things that you can do to improve your SEO as a photographer. So we will include that link in the show notes I meant, and I'll honestly admit to memorize exactly what the URL was. And now it's escaping me and I'm panicking a little bit. So I'll include that in the show notes. But I promise we do have that available. And if you are a longtime listener of prairie pursuit, I am so excited to share that thanks to my new partnership with treefrog. I finally have the capacity to offer virtual group SEO coaching for photographers, photographers. I've been a wedding photographer since 2016. And as a result, I truly understand how incredibly hard you work to shoot and it serve your clients and manage and market your business. And because of this, I believe your website and your work deserve to be found where your clients are already looking for your services, the first page of Google every year 40% of my couples find me on Google meaning SEO is responsible for nearly half of my income. SEO has done huge things for my small business. And if you are willing to put in the work to understand SEO, which likely isn't nearly as complicated as you might think, and make SEO part of your workflow. It can do big things for your business too. So if you are ready for your website to appear on page one of Google so your ideal customers can easily find you visit tree frog marketing.com/seo coaching for photographers, that's all one word again, that's tree frog marketing.com/seo coaching for photographers. SEO coaching will include three days of virtual coaching, or you're going to learn how to optimize your website for search engines. What Your website must include even more in depth than what we've discussed today to convert website visitors into paying customers, and then how to create a content marketing plan to improve your Google rankings. You are also going to receive step by step instructions with time and help to implement every step access to me via Google meet during office hours for the next six months access to a Facebook group where you're going to be able to ask questions and stay up to date with SEO trends independently indefinitely. And then a six month group check in so we can just see how everything is working for your business. That if you are ready to help your business grow by getting your website to the first page of Google and we will encourage you to register for group SEO coaching for photographers again by visiting treefrogmarketing.com/seocoachingforphotographers. Heather, thank you so much for being here and everybody listening. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Priority Pursuit. And as always, please know that we are rooting for you your small business and your priorities and we can't wait to chat with you again next week.