SEO for photography websites is crucial for promoting your business online.
Local clients are loving the added benefit of seeing a photographer's portfolio and getting a feel for them before contacting the photographer and are using the internet more to find a photographer.
If you market to tourists visiting your area, your online presence is especially crucial to help potential clients find you.
Search engine optimization can be quite daunting if you have little or no experience in this area.
It doesn't have to be that hard, though.
The biggest obstacle is learning how.
That takes time - time that you need to put into running your business.
These 12 steps are written especially for photographers and break it down so that you can take a little time each day to work on it without having to spend hours researching before you can get started.

1. Buy your domain name as soon as possible.
   Older domain names tend to rank better than newer domain names especially for the first few months.
   
2. Place your website on as many photography related and networking sites as possible.
   It also helps to purchase top placement or additional advertising on these sites if it is an option.
   Some places specialize in search engine optimization and can help get you noticed.
   
3. Use an HTML site over a flash site, or at least have an HTML splash to use for SEO.
   The splash page acts as an introduction to your site and gives clients the options of entering your site, blog, or perhaps even another site.
   It is also used to give you a place to put solid content using good keywords to help search engines know what you have on your site.
   Simple splash pages can be designed quite easily with a little html knowledge.
   As we said, it is just an entry into your flash site.
   
4. Keep in mind when you are placing your link on the internet, quality is more important than quantity.
   Placing your your website information and link on more established sites with good page ranking are better than ones with many brand new sites with low ranking websites.
   
5. Fill your site with good, solid content using keywords for your business.
   Use words describing the many different types of photography you do (i.
   e.
   children's, senior portraits, weddings, etc.
   ).
   Also use words telling clients what cities you work.
   Place this content in paragraph form on your splash page if you have a website.
   
6. Do not just stuff keywords on your site with no rhyme, purpose or reason.
   Also, do not do this in a color that will be hidden on your site.
   This is frowned upon with the major search engines, and you could risk being penalized for doing it.
   
7. Blog, blog, blog! Blogs are highly searchable and search engines like when they are updated regularly.
   Use really great words in your blog titles and text.
   For added SEO, use a blog such as WordPress and place it on your own domain for your photography site.
   
8. Add a sitemap to your photography website and blog.
   This makes sure that search engines do not overlook any important pages.
   
9. Sign up for Google tools and submit your sitemap.
   It is free and will give you a little insight into your site and its ranking.
   It also will make you aware of broken links which can hurt your search engine ranking.
   
10. Update your site and blog regularly.
    It tells search engines that it is an active site with new information.
    The more you update it, the more often search engines will visit your site for new updates.
    
11. When you add your site link to someone's page, choose your link words and titles carefully.
    For instance, this would be better "Alexandria, Virginia Portrait Photographer - Jane Doe Photography" than this "Jane Doe Photography.
    Omit the quotations.
    To see what I mean, do a search for these two phrases: 1.
    Alexandria Virginia photographer 2.
    Virginia photographer
12. When listing your site on a directory, always think about good solid keywords.
    If you list your website in a directory, use keywords in a paragraph that will help clients find you in the search engines.
    Think of all the words that someone may use...
    description and cities...
    and include those in a good solid paragraph.
    Just write this out once and copy and past it wherever you list.
    

Remember, SEO does not happen overnight.
It will take time, patience and perseverance.
These are the secrets that are taking the top ranking photographers to the top.
Take 1-2 items and work on this list every day.