Previously, we discussed the development of your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan. In this post, we are diving deeper into the process of defining and researching SEO keywords for photographers.

 

 

Have you missed any of the previous posts? Here’s a quick recap.

 

• Understanding the value of marketing your business and identifying your online marketing goals
• Marketing your online photography store on your website
• How to launch your photography blog, create content to post online, and share content through your email marketing efforts
• Learning the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and some tips to get started

 

 

Importance of SEO keywords for photographers

 

To recap, according to Moz, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. Most readers rely on information that is provided to them on the first search results page. This means that it is important for you to determine keywords that will make your content stand out and show up on that first page.

 

 

Your time is valuable and when you take time to create blog posts as part of your online photography marketing plan, using thoughtfully defined keywords ensures that your content is SEO-friendly and speaks to your potential customers.

 

 

The following steps will help you determine if your keywords are relevant and if you can compete in the crowded world of online photography information. This will be the basis of your content plan.

 

 

Steps for SEO keyword research

 

The steps below describe the process for keyword research that will help develop your content.

 

 

1. Define your keywords

 

In our recent post on SEO, we explained how to develop your initial list of keywords. These can be developed from your areas of expertise, locales that you are associated with, and frequently asked questions that you received from customers.

 

 

Your initial keyword list provides the basis for your research and refinement using the tools listed below.

 

 

2. SEO keywords: Tools

 

Fortunately, there are a number of free tools that make it easy to research and refine your keywords. We listed some in our last post and below you will find how to use them.

 

• Download the Moz SEO toolbar. This tool helps with your keywords and allows you to see your Domain Authority (DA) and those of other websites. This DA information will assist in determining which keywords you should choose so your content can help you rank on Google’s first search results page.

 

• Next, sign up for a Google AdWords account. You won’t use the AdWords account, but you must have an account to use the Keyword Planner. You will need to enter your credit card information. But be sure to pause the ad campaign, so you aren’t charged. If you’re not comfortable setting up an AdWords account or are concerned that this tool won’t be free in the long run, here are some additional free keyword research tools:

 

• • Answer the Public
  • Keyhole
  • SEO Book
  • Übersuggest
  • Keyword Tool

 

• Finally, you will need to set up and have access to your website’s Google Analytics. This allows you to see valuable information about your website visitors and their activities while they are on your site. Additionally, you can see what keywords or phrases visitors used to search your website and how they found it. This information will indicate whether you’re on the right track or if you need to fine-tune your keywords.

 

 

3. SEO keyword research

 

It’s time to take your list of keywords and research them.

 

 

Let’s get started with an example:

 

For this post, we defined our keyword/phrase and followed the process below to research this keyword and whether we could compete with it on Google’s first page.

 

 

Here’s how it’s done:

 

First, we turned on the Moz SEO Toolbar and determined that our website DA is 50. This means we can compete with sites that have a DA of 70 or below. The graphic below, courtesy of SEO expert, Andy Crestodina, can help determine your competitiveness.

 

 

 

 

Next, we opened Keyword Planner and searched the phrase SEO keywords for photographers.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this phrase has approximately 10-100 searches per month and medium competition. There are searches for the keyword phrase and potential competition.

 

 

Notice that the Keyword Planner also provides information about similar keywords and phrases. Jot down any relevant ones for additional keywords and content ideas to research.

 

 

Now that we know this keyword phrase has potential, we searched Google for our keyword phrase.

 

 

 

 

These are the top five results from our search. With four of the five articles with DAs below 70, we can compete for this keyword phrase.

 

 

Now we’re ready to write content around our keyword phrase! In our example, we wrote this post with the title – Build Your Photography Business: SEO Keywords for Photographers. In the future, we can create more content around this keyword phrase with sub-topics. For example, Top Five Keywords for Photographers or Best Practices for Photography Keywords.

 

 

Boost your SEO by guest blogging

 

What about those websites that have DAs above 70?

 

 

Keep track of these in a spreadsheet and include the organization, their website, and their DA. This list is your database of websites where you can pitch guest blog posts. Since they already have articles on your topic, you know they are interested in sharing similar information with their readers. When you publish guest posts on higher ranking websites, it provides another way to indicate your expertise and improve your SEO.

 

 

What’s next?

 

By taking a few minutes to follow the steps above, you’ll be ready to create content that will improve your rankings. And most importantly, these steps will help you to target potential customers by writing relevant content on the subjects that they are interested in and searching for on the web.

 

 

Finally, apply this process to the remainder of your keyword list. This research will determine which keywords are worthwhile for blog posts and which may need to be refined or discarded.

 

 

Now that you have these great content ideas, the next step is to develop your content plan. In a future post, we’ll focus on building your content plan with these topics.

 

 

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