Your Photo Promo

One of the most successful ways to build your brand as a photographer online is to do guest posts on other photography blogs.

Guest posting will benefit your promotional strategy by:

1. Building incoming links to your blog or website
2. Increase your authority as a photographer in the online community

This is a good time to remind you that Google places weight on related links from related websites inside a niche.  Basically, when photography blogs point to photography websites or other photography blogs Google counts them as highly relevant.  This pushes your website or blog higher up the Google ranks.

Build Links

Almost every blog that accepts guest posts allows you to put in author’s bio and many will also allow you to links inside the body of the post.  If they don’t allow any links at all don’t bother.

Control Links

It’s nice to get incoming links from photography blogs but they’re most likely pointing to your homepage and may not be using the contextual anchor text that you would prefer.  Now, you get to control this.  You get to point to where you want readers and web surfers to land.

Good Neighborhood

There’s a term in SEO called “good neighborhood”.  It’s complicated so here’s my attempt to put it simply.  Google divides the web into many different types of websites and communities.  Two of those classifications are “good neighborhoods” and “spammers/bad neighborhoods”.  This helps Google keep spam communities at bay and allows real or natural content to eventually surface to the top.  You want to avoid getting links from spammy websites and you want to avoid linking to spammy websites in order to avoid being seen as a spammy website yourself.  It’s guilt by association.  So doing guest posts on authority and trusted blogs helps keep you out of “bad neighborhoods” by ensuring you’re getting links from the good guys.  Make sense?

Traffic

This should go without saying, but you’ll get traffic to your website or blog by doing guest posts.  This comes from the inbound links that readers of that blog will click as well as the higher rankings you’ll get in search results.

Build Relationships

Every time you do a guest post for another photography blog you’re building relationships.  You’re building relationships with their readers and you’re building relationships with the blogger as well.  While there is no “rule of thumb” I find that most bloggers are more willing to refer to other photographers online that they have built relationships with in one form or another.  This could lead to more links down the road.

Bonus Tip:

If you’re a photographer who doesn’t yet have a blog, or thinks they don’t have time to regularly keep up a blog, then guest posting on photography blogs is even more important.  If you don’t have a blog you have nothing for Google or Bing to regularly index.  You’re website or gallery is only as relevant to them as you’re latest update.  But if you have incoming links then they’ll treat those links as a renewed and increased interest in your website and it will push it higher in search results.

Next week I’ll be putting together a post listing out photography blogs that accept guest posts.

If you have a photography blog and accept guest posts email me or use the contact form to ensure that your site doesn’t get left out.  Also, if you know of a photography blog that accepts guest posts let me know.

You’re weekly Promo Opportunity

Every week I’ll search the Internet for you and find a promo opportunity that may peak your interest.

New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery has a call for entries for the show  FOUR by FIVE with juror Steve Simmons from View Camera Magazine

Entry open from December 15- February 1st
Exhibit opens April 3, 2010

NOPA Gallery seeks contemporary imagery from photographers using large format view cameras. For this exhibit, juror will choose four images each from five photographers; images will also be published in a future edition of View Camera Magazine.

For more details click here.

Until next week.  Keep shooting and keep promoting your photography!

Your Photo Promo recommends
"I'd Rather Be in the Studio"
by Alyson Stanfeild
as one of the most comprehensive
self-promotion books for artists
of any genre.