A 5 part series on "Web Marketing Workflow"...

I recently had the pleasure of reading (and reviewing) “55 Smart Web Ideas for Photographers” and was so impressed I asked both authors if they would contribute to Weekly Photo Tips.

Zack Prez wrote a post about how photographers can best use Pinterest, and today Wendy Roe is starting a 5 part series on "Web Marketing Workflow" for photographers.

Before we get to Wendy's first post "Naming and Branding Your Images", let me tell you a bit about her.

Wendy Roe has spent the last 10 years ingrained in all things web marketing – from design/development to search/social media. In May 2010, she decided to quit the corporate life and join forces with her husband, Byron Roe, to shoot full-time one of life’s ultimate highs – weddings! She now focuses on business development and her role as a second shooter for wedding photographers, Byron Roe Photography, based in Bend, Oregon.

She is the co-author of "55 Smart Web Ideas for Photographers” e-book, a 2-time speaker at WPPI Photographer’s Ignite, and has traveled through west coast speaking and consulting with photographers on web marketing. She’s known as an "interpreter", changing technical language into easy to understand information. Above all, she’s an educator at heart and believes: “Web marketing and wedding photography are two passions that drive bringing the best out of beauty and brands.”

And now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Wendy Roe.

First off, thank you Scott for inviting me to partake in Weekly Photo Tips blog as guest poster. I'm excited to share some of my web marketing workflow strategies with you over a five part series.

These are NOT going to be conceptual (off in Neverland, out there) tips, they are going to be action oriented, important tasks to include in your regular workflow to maintain and continue to grow your exposure online. Web marketing encompasses so many industries: Design, Development, Social Media, SEO, Usability, Link Building, Analytics, Google Places (Local) and more - so it can be absolutely overwhelming, I get it.

So, here's an outline of what I'm going to cover in the five part series (just so you can't wait in suspense!) for the posts to arrive!

And I'm excited to finish it off with a podcast with Scott to wrap up the entire series. If you have questions, don't hesitate to leave comments on the post or contact me directly and I'll be sure to get back to you!

Web Marketing Workflow Series Outline:

Step 1: Naming and Branding Your Images

Step 2: Web Marketing Workflow Guide to An Individual WordPress Blog Post

Step 3: The Protocol To Announcing and Releasing on Facebook

Step 4: Adopt and Promote Pinterest Pinning

Step 5: Link Building Through Directories and Local Search Engines

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Step 1: Naming and Branding Your Images

Welcome to part one of the five part series on the web marketing workflow. We're going to jump right in with the first step by talking about naming and branding your session images with a purpose.

Branding your images (each and every ONE) is one of the most important things in your workflow. Whether you watermark them in Photoshop, Lightroom, or use a third-party tool like Mogrify for Lightroom (my personal favorite) or any other app, it's imperative that your images are branded by a watermark or border (again, my personal favorite).

Why spend the time you ask? Because one of the first things that clients do when they see a preview image or their blog post for the first time, or Google grabs the images for Google image search - whatever or whomever grabs the images needs to see your branding as a professional studio.

This is becoming all the more important with the onset of the Pinterest CRAZE. (EXAMPLE 1) Without the branding, your images can be easily tossed around without you getting the credit due. You are loosing new potential work if you are not branding your images because of the sheer likelihood that every image you share will be re-shared and indexed. It's just the way of world today and we have to adapt, get used to it, and work within those parameters.

If you are interested in Mogrify (donation ware), which is what we use, it's super easy to add the Lightroom plugin and customize the export to wrap a border around your image and place your logo on it. We have a separate collection for our blog/Facebook images and export those with the border to a blog/Facebook folder under each client. Easy, Peasy.

The next super important thing is to name your images with both your prospective client and Google in mind.

When we export from Lightroom, we have a preset to fill out for naming our blog/Facebook images that includes, 'Custom Name - Sequence', with the field default to: venue-city-state-wedding-photography-byronroephotography-1.jpg. (EXAMPLE 2)

For each client, we update the field with dashes so for example our images are named, 'sunriver-resort-bend-oregon-wedding-photography-byronroephotography-1.jpg.

Naming the image is so vital because Google is scouring the web for relevant images to place inside of a search result page when your future client is looking for Sun river Resort, Bend Oregon Wedding Photos.

Adding naming and branding to your Lightroom or Photoshop workflow before publishing online will help set everything in motion and that's why it's the first step to the web marketing workflow for photographers. Besides, who knows when your next fabulous wedding image will go VIRAL!?

So that wraps "Naming and Branding", stay tuned for part two that builds on this post: Web Marketing Workflow Guide to An Individual WordPress Blog Post.

Happy commenting,

Wendy Roe

(EXAMPLE 1) Who's using your images on Pinterest? Use the URL: http://pinterest.com/source/yourcompany.com to find out!



(EXAMPLE 2) Lightroom Export Preset:

(click on either image to view larger and in a new window)

See you all next week for part 2 "Web Marketing Workflow Guide to An Individual WordPress Blog Post"

You can contact WendY for a 1on 1 coaching session, purchase her e-book or just stop by and say hi on Facebook!!