Interview with Website and SEO Specialist, Jessica Shepard

Listen to my interview with website builder and SEO wiz, Jessica Shepard. Jessica is sharing her best tips for maintaining a great photography website.

Here are our main takeaways from Jessica:

- Make sure your website is easy to navigate
- Functional on phones and tablets
- Clearly state where you are located
- Include calls to action
- Have a newsletter signup form even if you are not yet sending newsletters

“Getting their email address is the first sale.”

SEO tips:
- Make sure each page of your site has a SEO title and description
- Make sure they are the right length/character count (50-60 characters for page titles and 160 characters for page descriptions)
- Create new content monthly

Some of the advice Jessica offered may sound more like language that a retail photographer would use, but I believe her advice still applies to commercial and editorial photographers.

For example, when she talks about giving away something in exchange for a newsletter signup, can you think of something that an art buyer or photo editor might like to to have? Maybe a photo shoot check list, or your top 5 favorite places to shoot in your city? Maybe best places to visit while in your city, local resources, rental places, studios, etc. You don’t have to give it all away, but this can be another opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your area with an air of generosity.

If you have any additional questions this month about how to communicate with your clients, updating your website, SEO or calls to action, you know how to reach me.