Top Ten Action Plans for 2006

Starting today - and for the next ten days - I will make a post per day with the top ten things I think photographers / small businesses need to think about for the coming year. Think of it as Don’s Action Plan for 2006. I will make the final post on January 1, 2006, and I hope you will take a few moments to peruse the list and think of ways to make it work for you.

Originally I had thought of naming it Web 2.0 for photographers, but since I really do not like that term (too nebulous, and we are really about Web 3.0, or 3.4.5 beta-build 117… but let’s not quibble), I decided on Don’s Action Plan. DAP for short.

The first DAP item is:
Be Found on the Search Engines. (DAP 1)

I will start by saying that being found on a search engine will probably not result in an instant 25K account, nor will it be followed by instant fame. It is, however, one of the best and cheapest forms of marketing you will ever find. And it really isn’t that hard to do. It takes three things: Research, Planning and Commitment.

Research:
Find out what search engines expect by visiting sites that explain how they work, and what you can do to increase your exposure. Stay away from companies that promise “Search Engine Optimization”. For the most part, they use tricks and gimmicks and sometimes unethical tactics. You don’t like being tricked when you are marketed to, don’t think your clients would enjoy it when you do it. (NOTE: Some SEO companies are ethical and focus on rebuilding the site to make it more attractive to SE’s, and that is fine.)

Do a few searches on Keywords you think would be used by those looking to find you. See who comes up. Are they competitors? Are their sites ranked highly? (You should have a Google Tool Bar installed). Visit www.alexa.com and see where their sites place on visitor ranking. Look at their meta tags (View / Source) found at the top of the html. It is ok to look for research, but copying someone else’s meta tags is neither wise nor really ethical. Learn how to correctly apply Keywords, Content and other important Meta information to your site.

Planning
A well designed, well programmed and SE friendly site is “optimized’. Make sure you have the following:

• meta tags
• descriptive page names
• html text that can be indexed (read) by the SE’s
• content that can be changed quickly and easily
• content that changes at least once per month (news, ‘what’s new’, new projects…)
• no frames on home page or important directory pages (fine in portfolios)
• flash ‘embedded’ in html with html text is fine
• no ‘total’ flash home page
• no ‘cover page’, ‘splash page’ or other old web intro
  

In addition, you should make sure you or your web designer use CSS as much as possible. The more CSS you use, the faster the page loads and the easier it is for SE’s to index your site.

Download the Google Tool Bar for your browser (FireFox is the browser I use most) and take a look at your Page Ranking. You should aim for a 4 or better. There are many things to use the Toolbar for, and checking your ranking is one of the most important. You can also see the last time Google visited your site, what the page looked like and how many pages link to your site. Increasing links in from popular web sites should be a priority.

Commitment
If you are thinking about a redesign, or an enhancement to help with indexing and Page Rank (PR), make sure you make decisions based on the inherent qualities and functions of the web. Remember: the web is not a brochure, magazine, poster, multimedia presentation, or book. It is a medium that must be understood well by the designer. Far too many sites are designed like they were CD ROM presentations or showpieces for the designers. The web, for now, is about quickly finding, viewing and disseminating information.

Make your homepage informative and relevant with content that changes and keeps the visitor coming back for more. There is nothing more disappointing for me than visiting a site that had great stuff two months ago and visiting again to find nothing has changed. Suggested items may be News of what is happening in your studio this week/month, new jobs or projects you are working on, maybe an outtake of two of that job, new employees, models you have worked with, a ‘thank you’ or ‘shout out’ to an AD or editor you have worked with, new equipment that will help set you apart from your competition, awards won, favorite image from the week, upcoming travel… there are so many things that you can use to keep it fresh.

Make a schedule to update your dynamic content at least every two weeks. That will keep the SE spiders coming back and definitely increase your ranking. Make it a priority to find sites that will link to you. NOTE: Do not use link farms, link exchanges or any silly, untargeted link pages. Think clients, models you have worked with, agencies, organizations and resource pages. Keep to the schedule, even if it means only 20 minutes every update session.

Tomorrow:
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