Photo Galleries and a Blog and Why You Need Both For Your Website
Did you make it through Monday?? I barely did ... I got some sort of 'flu bug' and had both of my kids home all day ... it was a very torturous day for me ... I am excited to attack Tuesday feeling refreshed and alive!!!
I have lots of amazing website design projects on my calendar right now ... all of these websites are unique and designed specifically for my particular client. While all of them will be different there are two things that each one will have:
>> Photo Galleries and Blog Posts <<
Why both?? Both have their own uses for SEO and for your browsing potential clients. Let's start by talking about galleries.
I think of galleries as permanent pages of your website. Galleries can be used to showcase your BEST work - your favorite shoots and weddings. If you are a photographer then the galleries can be sectioned into 'type of photography' or 'photography style' - if you are a wedding designer or coordinator you can use photo galleries to separate your real weddings and your editorial shoots.
Right now I am designing a website for Michelle Leo Events and we have created a landing page where her galleries will be showcased (keep in mind this is ROUGH still):
I still need to do image selecting and add the venue under each image ... so you are seeing this while I am still in the 'layout' phase of the project ... but once this landing page is finished you will hit the 'view gallery' button and see this for each individual wedding:
These galleries are being designed for a bride TODAY - a bride who wants everything in her face all at once ... a Pinterest adoring - mobile device using - show me as many ideas as you can - bride.
Within each gallery I design for my clients we search engine optimize each gallery for my client. For example: where the wedding took place, crediting the photographer in the alt text, naming the landing page after the city or venue - basically anything I think will help my client be found on a Google or Pinterest search. These galleries can be huge tools for your business as long as you build them right ;)
Your blog has a different purpose. I think of a blog as a more casual 'voice' for your company ... your blog is a place that should be actively updated to remind Google you are there. It's a place where you can TALK to your audience ... you can get down and real with your visitors ... it's a place where you can celebrate being featured, share sneak peeks of something you are working on ... it's a spot where you can educate or talk about a favorite new wedding venue in your city ... and because of Google's new algorithm roll out: a blog is hugely important for your CONTENT.
Below is a screenshot of a blog post I created for my client Green Apple Event Co:
We created this blog post to celebrate a new wedding venue HOWL and we 'search engine optimized it' up like crazy ... we also created a photo gallery of this shoot that had different 'search terms' applied to it ... so regardless of how someone searches they can find one or the other ... or maybe even both!!
Below is what happens when people 'pin' from the gallery on Green Apple Event Co's website ... lots of delicious YUMMIES to help clients find them:
Now, are there situations where I don't create a blog for my clients?? Yep!! If my clients tells me that they will NEVER blog once the site goes live: we don't add one. Reason being: there is one thing worse than not having a blog: having a blog that never posts. If you know you won't blog then don't have one! But: if you are curious about blogging and want to learn from a pro, here is a blog post I wrote about creating a blog post using Squarespace.
XO~ Heather