Call Me Ed

I put the finishing touches on a new template this week. Sunriver (sample) has a very minimalistic design and images that fill the browser edge-to-edge.

We haven't uncorked the marketing blitz yet, but Sunriver and many of our new site designs include video support right out of the box.

The video you see on the sample site was shot with my $100 Flip video camera.

I think we're quietly changing the rules here. Photographers want to stand out. People's attention spans are short. What better (or cheaper) way to answer this and more than with video.

I'm working on a new personal site for '08. It will be based on Sunriver and will have NO TEXT. Images and videos ONLY.

Anyone else game?

I must get philosophical when it rains. I was browsing some blogs this weekend and got to thinking about the words picture, image, and photograph.

Some photographers tend to use only one term while others seem to use them interchangeably.

And that got me thinking. In both perception and reality, is there a difference?

What do you think? Is there a difference? Do you use one word in certain situations? Does one term sound more professional, artistic, or expensive?

C'mon, you're done shooting weddings for the year, right? Here's some links to help kill those 8 extra hours.

• It's exactly one week until the greatest day of the year. Prepare yourself here. (I'll be at Best Buy)
• I guess beating USC this year wasn't enough. Those nerds at Stanford have created one of the best bitmap to vector conversion tools I have seen. And it works in a browser. If you need to create a vector logo for your site, give this a try. (I tried it with the BF logo and it worked great)
• Interview with Diana Walker. Walker was Time's White House photographer and has a new book with 30 years worth of portraits.
• Wait, you still have a wedding to shoot this year? Maybe you're shooting Google co-founder Larry Page's upcoming wedding. Rumor is that it will take place at Necker Island on December 8. If anyone out there is shooting the wedding and needs an assistant, let me know ;)
• For Google shareholders' sake, I hope Larry doesn't enter the ceremony like this.

We field questions about SEO almost daily. I see optimization questions in photography forums every week (it would probably be daily if I looked harder). There are some misconceptions and some half-truths. Most of all, I think there is just a general lack of knowledge. Optimizing a photography website isn't much different than optimizing any other type of site. Once you have that knowledge, the key then becomes putting it into action.

In the larger business world, smart companies make online marketing part of their overall strategy-it is no longer simply an after-thought. Photographers would be wise to follow suit. If you're purchasing a new website, getting ready to update your site, or simply frustrated by poor search engine placement, its time to arm yourself with some knowledge and then take action. Put specific optimization tasks near the top of your to-do list.

In this article, I'm going to outline 5 of the most common SEO mistakes I see in photography sites. When a photographer asks her favorite forum "why don't I show up in Google?" its a sure bet they're hitting at least 3 of these items.

Because I don't want you to feel like a total nincompoop, I'm going to pick on some of the great photographers out there today. Rest assured I'm not trying to slight these people. They are some of my favorite working photographers today and I don't feel qualified to carry their camera bag. My point is that we all fall short in the SEO arena. With a little knowledge and hard work, even you can get an edge on the big guys (and girls).

1. A hip browser title

Let me put this bluntly: your browser title is extremely important. It's head and shoulders above your meta tags in terms of importance. Yet, time and time again, I see photographers simply using their business name and/or a hip slogan (think "I shoot people").

For this, I'll pick on the extremely talented Jasmine Star. Her browser title is currently :: jasminestarphotography - index ::. While the colons and lower-case text look cool, I'd want any edge I could find in a market as competitive as Orange County. Hip titles are for movies :)

2. Using object/embed tags for your Flash

Object and embed tags are so 1990s. They're fine for embedding YouTube videos, but if you're using them to embed your Flash website, you're missing out. Javascript embed tools like swfobject and UFO provide two big benefits: (1) they provide an easy way of detecting the Flash player and, most importantly, (2) gives you an easy way to provide alternate content.

If I had to pick 5 favorite wedding photographers, UK's Jeff Ascough would definitely be on the list. Unfortunately, Google isn't as complementary. He only ranks 88th when searching for manchester wedding photographer. I'm guessing he doesn't need the help, but replacing those object and embed tags with swfobject and some alternate content would really catapult him up the rankings.

3. Not providing alternate content

Using javascript tools like swfobject is a start. In fact, most new sites I see are using them. However, I rarely see photographers taking advantage of their ability to fill the page with alternate content.

I could pick on just about anyone here, as this is a common mistake. Even the great Denis Reggie is guilty.

4. Only opening your site in a new window

When you have an entry page, but your site only opens in a javascript window, search crawlers aren't going to find the rest of your site. Alternate content doesn't even matter.

Besides his stunning images, Mike Colon was one of the first to launch a Flash site with really big images. Unfortunately, his site only opens in a new window.

5. Not blogging

I could go on and on about the benefits of blogging. Besides continually filling your site with keyword-laden pages, there are numerous other benefits. Some might say "I don't have time to blog." To that I would say, "can you afford not to?"

If Joe Buissink launched a blog tomorrow, I'm confident it would instantly have hundreds of readers. It would also boost his search engine rankings, workshop and dvd sales, and wedding inquiries.

Updated:I'd like to conclude by clarifying my purpose and calling you to action. As a photographer, I want to see you improve your rankings, traffic, and bookings. I've outlined some common mistakes that even the best photographers (or their webmasters) make. If you took the time to address just these 5 things, I'm confident your rankings and traffic will increase. So, what are you waiting for? Go edit your site.

I know its a big job for one man, but I've taken on the challenge of helping you waste your time every weekend through the use of fun and interesting links. Most are photography or wedding related.

Would you eat a slice of this wedding cake? (Hmmm ... I'll have a slice of shoulder, please).

LA Times photographer talks about some of her moving images of the Southern California wildfires.

How long until even pros are editing images online? Josh Catone thinks it will be 10 years-possibly more.

Check out this 16 gigapixel (with a "g") image of Da Vinci's Last Supper. The specs: 1677 images shot with a D2X and Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens.

psdtuts.com shows how to create a poster with an old collage effect in Photoshop.