Considerations when posting

You are now probably aware of the benefits within your post of back links to your main website. I would like to take this one step further by asking you to consider other members, who do not work in the same area as yourself. My ultimate goal is to get this blog on the top of page 1 of all photography related search queries. This is turn will benefit each and every member as your own website will be behind it at No 2 for the relevant keywords.

In order to do this we must give some consideration as to how we post our copy. I'm sure that your all aware of the meaning of "NY Glam Tog" but this is not what end user's will search for. It is far better to include the term New York Fashion Photographer, as this will account for the majority of search queries for this keyword term.

If, on every post you would be so kind as to include a search term that is out of your scope, it will assist all of us in the long term. Please do not spam the post by including the keyword term more than once. You also need to give the keyword term a strong emphasis by formatting the text in bold. It also helps if you include the term within your post labels.

If we can assist each other in any way, we will all reap rewards in the future.

Edit Your Profile

Down the left hand side of the page there is a heading titled "The Photographers". Under this heading are links to each members profile as they appear on the site. As your profile may be the first thing visitor's click on, I would urge you all to give some consideration as to how your profile reads. This "first impression" of you and your business should come across in a positive and professional manner.

This should be your "shop window" and inform any readers of the service's that you offer and a little about your business in general. I would also request that all profile page copy is written in English. The website can be translated in to other languages as required by the end user.

Please also ensure that you include a valid email address within your profile so as potential clients can contact you.

Equipment For Sale/Wanted Section

You are most welcome to advertise any equipment you have for sale or is wanted free of charge. Please click the menu tab at the top of the page to read about how you should configure your advertisement.

To post your advertisement, click on "New Post" and then click on "Edit Pages". Edit the "Equipment For Sale/Wanted page in include you advertisement. Please ensure you click save after adding your content!

Please do not delete or amend any other advertisement in this section other than your own.

Example Post 3

In Example Post 2 I demonstrated how you can write a short article about your business and link it back to you website. In this example we will look at  image files.

The image above was taken during a photography workshop in India Kent, UK. You can post an image to illustrate your content and back link it to your main website.

This lets you show off your work and provides a different back link from just text (which Google likes).

Example Post 2

How You Can Benefit From Photography Tuition.

The camera is one gadget which has helped people preserve their precious memories throughout many generations. If cameras were not available on the face of the earth, then how would we know what our late grandparents looked like? Photographs have helped us remember our family history, especially when we are unable keep in contact. Ever since the inception of the modern camera, the gadget has helped photographers, tour guides, movie makers, engineers, doctors, journalists and others get a brief idea of what past events or people looked like. Today if you are passionate about photography, you can perfect your photography skills by enrolling on a photography for beginner’s course where professional photographers train people to learn the art of photography by conducting photography workshops. 

There is a growing trend for aspiring photography students and hobbyists to participate in the social and learning environment arranged by Photography holidays. Photography tutors teach students at stunning and interesting locations where students get a chance to take photos of some of the most beautiful scenic sites of the earth’s landscape. When you go on a photography holiday, you are not just limited to one aspect of photography. As a photographer, you not only get enjoy the experience of travelling to a beautiful location, but you are also able to capture it in your camera and store it as memorable experience. When you decide to pursue a Photography for Beginners course, you need to ensure that you get plenty of practical experience.

Photography workshops cater for beginners through to intermediate and senior photographers.  These workshops teach students the basics of handling a camera and its usage, with expert guidance and tuition from a professional photographer. When taking photographs, the student needs to decide and focus upon on a particular aspect of the final photograph.  In turn, the photograph should tell its own story so that someone is able to explain and openly discuss their own views about it.

An experienced photography tutor is able to inform their students about the finer details of the cameras terminology and give examples of why there are various levels of photography equipment available. The main aim of a tutor during these photography tuition workshops is to train their students and convert them into professional photographers.  Photography students can then venture into careers with the fashion industry, print and electronic media and showbiz where their photography skills are recognised professionally. 

Photography is an ever increasing art form where photographers can express themselves in an artistic and flamboyant manner. An experienced and professionally trained photographer can earn a very good living and make an excellent career out of something that they enjoy. Today, high quality digital cameras are readily available, which allows everyday people, skilled or not, to take and share high definition photographs by uploading them to the Internet. Thus, if you wish to be a professional photographer or enhance you photography skills to a whole new level, then it is strongly recommended to visit an experienced photography tutor and participate in photography workshops or travel to stunning destinations and take beautiful photography during one or many photography holidays.

Example Post 1

The object of this post is to show users who may not be familiar with blogger, how to post your copy, images and links.

I have 3 websites of which 2 are already top of page one of the search engines. If you use Google webmaster tools, you can see at a glance how your keywords are performing. When I looked at the data just before writing this post, I can see that on my one site, 3 main keyword phrases are down between 1 & 3 points. Because I want to keep my site as the first entry on page 1, I need to address this issue.

The site in question is Oneworld Images. I would therefore write a blog post that lets people know what we do and I would include and link the keywords I need to push in the post copy;

Oneworld Images provides professional Photography Tuition via 1 Day workshops within the UK and European Photography Holidays. We teach fundamental Photography Skills to hobbyists and aspiring professional photographers alike.

Just by posting that short paragraph above, including my keywords and linking them, it will push them back up the ratings. Now before we go on further, this site is not about DIY seo practices. The above is posted as an example of how you can indulge in a little self help.

Another thing to bear in mind and is one that most website owners neglect until it's too late is content. The search engine spiders will in general crawl the blog sites 2 to 3 times a day. Your main website (unless you provide new content daily) will be crawled once every 2 to 4 weeks. Go ahead and search for your site and see the last time it was cached. Providing the above back links will help your site, but if it ain't already at the top, it's not going to get there on back links alone.

Again, if we take Oneworld Images as an example. My home page is split in to 3 columns, the middle and right hand side column contains copy that I can change in minutes every week. The Photography Workshops page is split in to 2 columns. When a workshop reaches it's go date or is sold out, the image banner is removed and gets replaced with a new one. The same applies to the Photography Holidays page, although this page is set up in a different format. By spending 20 minutes a week changing the content of my website pages, I can get the search spiders to index it more regular than they otherwise would.

In summary, your blog links send the search spiders to you site, they then find new content, which in turn pushes you up the search engines.

Thinking of Joining? - Read This First.

Welcome to the Photographers Blog. By joining and regularly contributing to the content of this blog you will raise awareness of the services you have to offer. As I write there are 99 openings left (Google limits this to 100 users at present) and I would like to see a good mix of professionals from around the globe. With this in mind, openings will be restricted at first to just 5 photographers per country.

What you can do on this blog

• Post news and press releases.
• Post backlinks to your own or another member's website.
• Include your keywords within the post copy and backlink them to your website.
• Post images and videos that are relevant to your or another members services and business.
• Network with other members.
• Advertise for any photography related equipment that you have for sale or is wanted.
• Add a marketing linked banner in the page margins (for a small monthly fee).
• Add contact information and enclosure links to your posts.
• Add keywords (labels) to your posts to reflect those on your website.
• Advertise your workshops, holidays and photography services.
• Add your details to the directory (for a small monthly fee).

What you must do.

• All posts and other related text must be written in English.
• Use the default font on all posts to keep the site looking uniform.

What you cannot do.

• Post or link to adult material of any description. This includes posting images, links, references to and the like. If you choose to ignore this, you will be removed from the blog and all posts and links will be deleted.
• You cannot link to external sites that are not relevant to the content. Sure that You Tube video of the guy with his head in the washing machine is funny - but it's not relevant. The same goes for suppliers of photographic equipment. You can mention in you post that such and such a store is selling a lens 30% cheaper than anyone else, but you cannot link to the web page. Any links of this type will be removed without notice.
• Email me requesting help on how to put html code in to your posts - I'm sorry I just do not have time to deal with this. You are more that welcome to post your issue though, and someone may be able to help you.

I will be searching the web and inviting professionals whom I think will benefit the blog to start with, so we get some good people on board quickly.

If your happy with the above terms, please Email me and request to join. I will try to respond to all requests within 24 hours.

Simon