Photography on the Web

Metatags Aint SEO

2005-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

There was a discussion I was involved with recently with a designer who creates totally Flash websites. He was unhappy with my statements that Flash will not allow crawlers and search engine tools to read the site. I thought it would be a good post to explain to you why this is.

His statement to me was "If you type in "bobthephotographer" in Google he comes up on the first page. Noticing that the URL for the site was "bobthephotographer.com" this of course doesn't surprise me. If I dial your phone number will you answer?

Duh.

He pointed to his design company's built in meta tag tool. So I tried a few of the metatags in his photographer's site to see what would happen.
Entered:
Chicago food photography - 0 out of 250 returns
Editorial food photography - 0 out of 250 returns
Chicago Still Life Photography - 0 out of 250 returns

And so forth. This is because even though the page had the meta tags, it didn't have the rest of what is needed. The page should have content that the SE's can 'read'. It should have links they can follow... to pages with more readable content. The pages should have descriptive names that will help the SE's understand what is on the page.

When you view the source of a web page you will see lots of "code" but the most important thing is that when you look at a total Flash site you will see code that looks like this:
(embed="movie_photographer.swf")

That's it. That is a Flash file.

The text and images in a Flash file hae been converted to SWF - graphics, not readable by a SE that is looking for text to read. So it goes right on by the site. Since there is little of interest to the SE, it will eventually conclude that the site is 'dead' and rank it so.

Question: can you make a site be not considered dead if it is totally Flash?

Sure. Constant effort toward marketing including the traditional (magazine ads, radio, tv... all the really expensive stuff.) If that is your appetite, cool. If not... well.

Isn't it better to make a site that helps promote you free when someone looks for stuff that you do? Isn't it better to be found when an AD in Alaska is looking for a food shooter in Chicago?

Yep, we think so too.

More on using a 'hybrid' approach (Flash and html) to produce a site that can answer both challenges.

Apogee Photo Magazine: The Write Way to Sell Photos

2004-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Great article on writing and shooting... and selling. Read it all.

Apogee Photo Magazine: The Write Way to Sell Photos: "I'm firmly convinced that the very best way to break into professional nature photography is to write an article to accompany your photographs. In other words, create a vehicle to carry the pictures," advises John Shaw in his book, John Shaw's Business of Nature Photography. The acclaimed photographer knows what he's talking about: Shaw's gross income doubled within a year once he began using writing as a serious marketing tool to promote his photos. "

Dan Heller's Photography Business Series: Good Stuff

2004-09-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Read this for some great insight into selling your images online. We think you should do that. We also think you are doing it right with the PHOTOtool.

Dan Heller's Photography Business Series: Chapter 8: The Stock Photography Business

Very Fine Books for Brides

2004-09-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

These are really fine books. They will even do the design / layout for you. If you shoot weddings you owe it to yourself to at least check them out.

Graphistudio - Libro del matrimonio

Fred Miranda releases New 10D CSpro II

2004-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

If you are like me and enjoy Fred Miranda's plug-ins and actions, and shoot a 10D, you will want to check out the new CSpro II Plug in.
Intellisharpen II interface

Slow weekend for Wedding Shooters

2004-09-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Just heard an interesting news report on this coming Saturday being very, very slow for weddings. Most caterers contacted were not working this weekend. Reason? September 11. It took nearly 40 years for couples to start getting married on December 7th. That is 2 generations.

This is our Blog for Photographers on the Web

2004-09-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hi,
This is Don and Daniel, the PHOTOtool guys with our new blog to keep all of you phototool users informed and ahead of the curve when it comes to photography and business on the web.

We will post as often as we can.

What will you find here?

Websites, tech info, new equipment reviews, marketing ideas, tidbits and just interesting things we find that may be of interest to photographers who are using the Net to advance their business.

What you wont find here: Politics, Religion and discussions of which camera/computer/software is better.

Check in often, we will be adding to this often.