It can be challenging for many photographers to get qualified leads, but there are steps you can take today to enhance your online exposure and lead generation.
While there are no guaranteed ways of gathering leads, doing more and not less will undoubtedly yield better results.
Here are some methods that have proven successful in our photography businesses:
- Create a great website with only your best-quality images displayed. Be careful about backgrounds, and be sure any people in your photos have given you explicit permission to use those photos of them.
- Be sure to maximize your website's SEO and outsource it if you are not highly experienced in website marketing and SEO techniques.
- Be sure to provide alternate text for each and every image that you display.
- Create an index-able video on the home page of your website as either a video "About Section" explaining why you are the best option for your potential client or use it to show a BTS (behind-the-scenes) video of a studio or event session. Use a pro to make the video if needed.
- Be sure to have a way for potential clients to reach you. A contact form is nice, but many people would rather email you directly. So, consider using a secondary email address so prospects can contact you using regular email — most people don't like those contact forms!
- Consider using alternate and additional means of marketing and lead generation. The more times you simultaneously appear in a Google search, the better. To accomplish this, you'll need multiple URLs that ultimately lead to your website via derivatives linked to your business (and ultimately your website).
- The Global Photographer Directory is an example of a derivative whereby sophisticated SEO techniques and expedited Google indexing can significantly expand your online reach. It creates alternate methods of reaching your business and website. You've probably seen other businesses in Google search results that have multiple and different links back to their website or other landing pages. This is a common method for gaining search authority.
- If you choose to do it on your own, be sure to get your website indexed not only on Google but also Bing and many of the smaller and local search engines as well. Utilizing the IndexNow protocol will assist with much of the indexing on these other search engines.
- Finally, and maybe most importantly, don't get bogged down with spending all of your time managing your website's SEO. Outsource what you can, and spend most of your time being a photographer!
As I mentioned above and is worth mentioning again, there's no quick road to gaining more leads or clicks. It's a repetitive and calculated strategy that takes time and patience. Partnering with websites and directories with strong SEO strategies and authoritative domains will typically yield faster (but not "fast") results. Be patient, stick with it, and most of all, don't give up. Don't ever give up!
A couple of videos and a more detailed explanation are available on The Global Photographer Directory website.
