STOP THROWING THE TERM SEO AROUND LIKE IT'S EVERYTHING ... IT'S NOT.

Sep 18

SEO … this term is frequently misused … frequently made to be the holy grail … and frequently is the one thing that you aren’t even missing! Here are 2 ways SEO is used when applied to your website:

RANDOS FINDING YOU

people who find your website on Google or some other search engine and type in something like: Miami Florida wedding photographer are random people ... these people, IMO, are probably *not* your target market!!! They may find you and click, but they aren't your client. And when I say they are not ‘your client’ I am speaking to my typical client who is after the more luxury, higher end market bride and groom, groom and groom, or bride and bride …

TO GROW INTEREST WITH GOOGLE

when clients come to your website they typically have a great time or a sh*tty time … if they have a great time they are clicking around like it’s a party … visiting multiple pages and then, preferably, they contact you via your website … if they have a sh*t time they come into one page, hate your website, and then leave from the same page they came in on which creates a bounce rate … and this is a bad thing. If people are loving your website and clicking multiple pages then they are having a strong user experience which creates a positive UEO reading from Google about your website … which means when people search online your website may be more likely to pop up.

BUT, HEATHER, I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT THE RANDOS AREN’T FOR ME???

Correct!!!! Randos searching general terms to find their photographers, planners, invitation designers, etc are probably not your target market … however: most brides will search for their venue … they want to see pretty pretty photos of how their venue was dressed up to inspire them … and if you have a positive reading on your UEO from Google and also have an optimized website using the “right” stuff … then it’s possible you will be found via a search.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

YOUR WEBSITE CAN’T BE SH*TTY. PERIOD.

There are a lot of SEO companies out there who will charge you thousands of dollars promising you the world … but fail to tell you: uhhh, your website is a piece of crap, so none of this will actually work! So, it’s important to know if your website is hideous! You have to be your own critic. If you spend all that money on SEO and then your bounce rate is ridiculously high …. well, you’ve just spoiled your entire investment to make your SEO ‘rate’ even worse than it was before!

SO WHAT TO DO??

Hire a GREAT GREAT website design who knows their sht when it comes to UEO and creating a user experience optimization strategy and then make sure they optimize ALL OF YOUR IMAGES with the right stuff, baby … and make sure that when people visit your website, it’s BEYOND BEAUTIFUL … SO YOU in all the ways you’ve always wanted so that you have all the confidence to go out there are create the YUMMY kind of traffic filled with your target market.

YUMMY TRAFFIC? WTF IS THAT?

Yummy traffic is traffic that is filled with all your dream clients … yummy traffic finds you on Instagram, via other websites like wedding blogs or other local vendors who have blogged the weddings or styled shoots you’ve created together, they find you in local or national wedding magazines … they hear about you word of mouth from other clients you’ve had that were your target market clients … they hear about you from the venues you frequent … and then guess what happens when your website is a dream!!??

THEY COME TO YOUR WEBSITE AND STAY A WHILE CUZ IT’S OH-SO PRETTY!

In closing, some of the most important parts of a website that creates more page views are:

mobile friendliness and ease
call to action buttons that make ‘clicking’ into a new page easy and desirable
not having ugly photos or dated material on your website, especially on the homepage
having a CLEAN online space that doesn’t create chaos (or immediate headaches)
having a current logo and branding that is consistent
is there more?? YES

People WILL JUDGE you based on your website and how it looks! This is a thing where it is truly is ALL ABOUT LOOKS and it’s ok to judge! SEO is not the holy grail …

not if you are a service provider in the wedding industry who is after a very specific client!

Get your traffic from other sources that are leading your target market client to you … and then KEEP them with all the prettiness on your website.

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