Another New Year’s Blogging Resolution, details details details

Marc — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:32:35 +0000

Be more explicit! Totally explicit!

As I look back through my search engine referrals and the terms that brought them, I repeatedly find that it is the details and specifics that are very important. So put all the details in the blog post.

In the “old days” (circa 1996) we used to use very general search terms because there was so little on the ‘net. If you didn’t, often there would be almost no results. But, today’s internet is so content rich that savvy search engine users have learned to be more specfic. As we all have experienced the more specfic your search terms are, the more relevant the search results.

What do I mean? Well I was looking at a photographer’s blog who has a very good habit of regular posts, but I could not figure out the place where she was taking a set of photographs. They were beautiful photographs in a beautiful outdoor setting, but the location was only described as “Rochester”. Rochester what? Where? I wanted to know … was Rochester a town, in what state, or perhaps a local park or a Country Club or… . If someone was looking for a photo or wedding location in/at “Rochester”, they would include most include at least the state. But because that detail was missing in the blog post, it would be doubtful that her blog would show high enough in related organic search results to be seen.

So go ahead, put it all down in your blog. There is no additional cost other than a few more moments. You never know what locations, landmarks, colors, materials or other details (even the time of day) might be important. If you are a event planner or decorator share the material and equipment. Mies van der Rohe once said “God is in the details“, it is as true now for blogging as it was for his architecture.

And, remember a very sizeable percentage of weddings are planned (at least in part) by people who have limited familarity with the general area where the wedding and reception will take place. Your added details will be very helpful.

Share all the details and specifics in your blog posts for ’09 and benefit from more traffic.

“Google kicked off my Bludomain site”

Marc — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:24:34 +0000

Recently while exploring some discussion boards I came across a few threads like this one on Photo.net having to do with Google dropping Bludomain websites from their search results index. I came across similar threads on Flickr and the FM forum. Unfortunately the problem is not Bludomain’s, it can be any other similarly developed Flash site regardless of provider. The problem is based in the usage of Flash for an entire website.

A picture may be worth a 1,000 words, but not to a search engine. Google and other search engines only work with words. A Flash based site, like Bludomain, is basically just animated pictures. Take a look at the splash page “page source” of most Flash sites, even the most visually appealing. What you will commonly see, besides the page parameters, image calls and scripts, are the Meta tags related to title, description and keywords (a particularly useless tag) and a little text like “Skip intro”, “Website”, “Blog” (terms that very few brides-to-be will use in the wedding planning) and a note that Flash is needed to view the site. This lack of meaningful text content combined with scripts to launch your main site, which Google will not follow, is what leads to poor search ranking and being “kicked off Google”. I have written more in depth previously regarding the weakness of Flash sites’ search engine optimization.

Many photographers and other wedding professionals have discovered the internet marketing power of a blog, and added a blog to gain some internet recognition. A few, like Jessica Claire, have maximized that “blog power” for use as their entire website by creating a blogsite. And this is why I have spent the last few months developing a low priced blogsite for photographers and other wedding professionals (www.ProPhotoBlogsite.com) that can be easily managed by the site owner.

The important take away here is don’t be upset with Google or Bludomain or Flash, they are what they are are, don’t expect them to be different. By recognizing their nature and strengths it becomes easy to see how to use them combined with other options to dramatically improve internet results. As a New England sailor once told me, “don’t argue with the wind, just adjust your sail”.

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Another New Year’s Blogging Resolution, details details details

“Google kicked off my Bludomain site”