Consider the following statistics about online searches.

• More than 97% of people search for local businesses online
• More than 50% of online searches end with the customer giving you a call or approaching you in person

What does this convey? It underlines the importance of having a strong internet presence. Where do you think a person residing in Dallas will search for? Do you expect him to search in Charlotte or Dallas? Naturally, your choice will be the latter one. Hence, it becomes important to have a strong local SEO campaign instead of having a global SEO strategy.

We shall break your strategy into two principal categories, On-page SEO and Off-page SEO. Both these strategies should run concurrently. The basic difference between the two strategies is that on-page SEO refers to optimizing page code elements whereas off-page SEO concentrates on promoting value. 

Have a close look at the following image. This is what you see on the first page of your Google search when you type the words ‘best photographer in Dallas TX. 

What message does this image covey? This is nothing but the Google My Business listing. Who can have this listing? Any business enterprise can have this listing. It is not at all difficult to claim your listing.

Access the official webpage of Google My Business and submit the information sought for by Google. Ensure to provide accurate details. Do not use shortcuts. Review the information twice before transmitting the same to Google. Remember your zip code and accurate address is important. Google sends you a verification postcard. This is just to confirm that the business address provided by you is genuine. Confirm the code at the appropriate place and claim your listing. It is available free of cost.  

Ensure that you furnish consistent personal information on all your directory listing. Any inconsistency can affect your ranking on the SEO. Your address and phone numbers are very important. In case you change them. It is always advisable to make the changes on this page as well. Your customers deserve to have this knowledge. Ensure that you submit a genuine landline number and not an 800 number.

Enter the right kind of category. You will see a lot of categories and sub-categories in your niche. Ensure to select the right one. The wrong one can confuse the search engines and take your customers to the wrong address. For example, there are different categories like Portrait Photographer and Wedding Photographer. Both are different procedures. Ensure you have your listing on the right category.

The other information includes hours of work, information about holidays, privacy times, etc. You do not wish your customers to disturb you at odd hours. Hence, providing the information upfront is advisable. If you have some quality images of your business location, upload the same on the GMB listing. Add a couple of landmark information as well. This helps customers to locate your business better. This can also help you in securing quality backlinks.

Customer reviews have great importance under the present circumstances. Google places a lot of emphasis on customer reviews. Notice the image that we have listed above. You will see that the first two photography websites have positive reviews while the third one does not. Seeking customer reviews should not be any problem at all. You provide good service to your customers and they will be happy to post positive reviews. A lot depends on customer service alone.

Announce your presence to the world at large. Your customers will not know your existence unless you choose to tell them. Have a presence in all local directories. Include your name in the allied industry niches as well. This makes you popular in different niches whereby you end up having a larger reach.

You have seen some of the off-page SEO tactics that can help your ranking take the upward route on the local SEO. Will this be enough for you to achieve your objective? Unfortunately, the answer is a big ‘NO’. You need to complement these off-page SEO tactics with some effective on-page SEO techniques. Let us look at them in brief.

You want customers to browse your website and do business with you online. Hence, it becomes important to let them have an enjoyable and unforgettable experience. How can you do so? Having an attractive website is the first step towards ensuring the same.

This is how an attractive photography business website should look like.

The first impression is usually the last one. Try to strike gold the first time itself. Your customer does not have enough time or patience to go through any website. Hence, you must grab his/her attention in the limited time that you have. An enticing homepage can draw your customer towards your website. Half your job is over when you make your customer reach the home page of your website. Let us see how to cater to the other half.

How do you manage to hold the attention of your customers? You need to have compelling content that provide the information he is looking for. Optimize your keywords and include them at the right places. Maintain the right density (around 1 to 3%) as Google is very particular about such matters. Hence, it is better to use variants of your keywords like ‘best photographer Dallas, Dallas photography, wedding photographer Dallas’, and so on. Utilize the services of tools like Keyword Planner to arrive at the best keywords in your niche.
Your Services page is an important one in your website. Have a separate page for each of the services you provide. This will help your search engine to rank your individual pages on the search engine. This provides you with a bigger probability to rank high on the SERPs. Your FAQ page should have intelligent questions that you expect your customers to ask. Do not miss the chance to link up to your services pages from the FAQ page.

One of the most important aspects of a successful photography website is to have quality linking. When we use the word linking, we refer to internal linking, external linking, and effective backlinking. Internal links help your customer to browse different aspects of your services without any difficulty. External links helps him to procure quality and genuine information. An effective backlinking strategy can help attract more traffic to your website.

Seek backlinks from authority websites. They are the ones that matter. Be careful of black hat SEO tactics. You might end up getting penalized heavily

Allow your customers to voice their opinions about your services and other happenings in the industry through interactive blogs. This allows other customers to offer their responses and comments. A healthy interaction can work wonders for your website. You have the option to chip in and clarify matters when needed. You can provide valuable information about the business and industry through these blogs. An interactive blog helps you to remain in touch with the trends in the industry.

An overwhelming majority of people browse the internet through mobiles instead of the desktops and laptops. Therefore, it is in the fitness of things that you have a website exclusively for mobile use.
In the past, a mobile-friendly website was the norm. Today, the norm has changed to having a computer-friendly website. Moving with the trend is a sign of smartness. As a top photography service provider, working smart should be your motto in place of working hard.

Local SEO is important to photographers because that is the only way to attract your local clientele. They have a great variety to choose from. Therefore, you should concentrate on building up an effective SEO marketing strategy to remain ahead of the competition. You can use effective off-page SEO tactics like providing attractive discounts as a means of promoting the value of your business. Effective SEO content can help you get web traffic. A combination of both these tactics is necessary for building an effective local SEO for photographers .