Digital Marketing Strategy and SEO for Local Wedding Photographer

Pretty much every local business has the same major problem — a lack of requests/visits from potential customers. We faced the exact same problem while promoting the wedding photographer website.

Goal: Attract Dominican Republic and USA customers to a website for a wedding photoshoot service.

To achieve this goal, it was required to implement an effective strategy for promoting the website online. The Livepage team managed to create and implement such a strategy for Denis Boyko — a photographer from Punta Cana.

Read further to find out all the details of this case.

What was at the beginning?

We focused on the main page of the website which consisted of a welcome text and a CTA to check out the portfolio.

When we just started working together, the number of visitors at that time was 100 people per month.

What We Suggested

After carefully reading and reviewing this case study, you can use similar techniques for your website.

Promotion of a wedding photographer’s website has several key features that should be considered when creating a digital marketing strategy:

• Geolocation linking (if the photographer works in one place);
• High requirements for the website design, delivering messages to the target audience;
• Presence of a ‘wow’ portfolio;
• Easy and quick communication access.

Competitors Analysis

Before making any promotional decisions, you need to make a list of competitor websites. This is essential to understand:

• Who is on the top list;
• How competitive the niche is;
• How many real photographers you have to compete with (in search);
• What marketing strategies similar businesses use.

In our case, competitors had to “work & live” in Punta Cana and the Dominican Republic. To make a competitor list, several methods could be used.

Using Search Engines to Find Information

One of the best ways to find out real competitors is to simulate a natural Google search. To perform a search correctly, you need two things:

• Choose a relevant search query;
• Search from the corresponding region.

In our case, the search query looked like:

The region from where the search has to be made is the United States.

Why we did not do that from the Dominican Republic? It’s simple! The target audience that we were interested in consisted mainly of Americans who wanted to go to the Dominican Republic to organize a wedding within a photoshoot.

Searching for Competitors In Ahrefs

You can find competitors using the Ahrefs service. To do so, you have to:

1. Insert the website’s domain name.
2. Start a search.
3. Go to the “Competitive Domains” tab.

Based on that, all websites in the Top 20 position in search engines and Ahrefs results were analyzed, which resulted in a final list of real competitors.

1. http://katyanova.com/
2. https://photobykarina.com/
3. https://puntacanaphotographer.com/
4. http://www.hdcphoto.com/
5. https://weddingphotographypuntacana.com/
6. https://photobykarina.com/

What Did This Analysis Give Us?

The analysis helped us understand:

1. Where competitors get their customers;
2. What solutions they use to attract customers to their websites;
3. How to turn visitors into customers.

It also gave us the opportunity to collect all the necessary metrics for SEO and promotion in general.

Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy

To create the final strategy for promoting a wedding photographer website, the Livepage team deeply studied the client’s business and analyzed various pitfalls of this niche.

We made a detailed profile of the target audience, researched the location and the specific requirements of promotion in that area. Close communication with the client helped us to highlight and set milestones for growth.

Based on a huge case with the latest data and analytics, we decided to:

• Get the website design in order and improve the overall appearance of the website design;
• Improve the landing page’s overall performance (not only SEO);
• Get the top position in micro-targeted requests by creating quality content;
• Connect additional Internet marketing tools (Google My Business);
• Work on improving profile link building.

Home Page Optimization

The main goal of the home page is to acquaint visitors with the photographer and to convince them that Denis Boyko can easily make a great photoshoot if potential customers decide to make a wedding in the Dominican Republic.

The first impression of the entire website and service depends on the home page, as well as the user’s desire to send a request for a photoshoot or leave the website.

So why do we have to do that?

Since there was nothing at the website from the start, our task was to give recommendations on what should be included on the main page and how to improve the design to better meet customer’s needs.

Adding a Phone Number

We decided to show the photographer’s phone number on the website header.

This step instantly increased the number of phone calls.

Website Optimization for Mobile Devices [+ Tech Optimization]

According to Google Analytics, more than 45% of all visitors view the website on their mobile devices.

We recommended to optimize the website for different mobile devices. The mobile version made it more user-friendly and suitable for communication via smartphones.

Additionally, we identified and deleted the basic technical errors that affected the ranking of the website in the Google search engine.

Meta Title and Description Optimization

To increase the website’s visibility in Google search results by keywords, we optimized the metadata.

We created a Title, Description, and H1 using relevant keyword phrases which allowed us to improve positions and increase CTR.

Updating Homepage Content

Bringing the target audience to your website is only 30% of a success.

Another 70% consists of providing visitors with the right information that answers their questions and solves their problems, making them want to choose you over your competitors.

We added as much useful information as possible to answer the following questions:

• Who the photographer is and what he specializes in;
• Where you can use his services;
• Why you should choose his services;
• Where you can see his portfolio.

Description and Statistics Block

We added a welcome block where in addition to basic information about the website owner, we visualized the photographer’s experience in numbers.

Persuasion Block

Review Block

New Sources of Attracting Customers

At first sight, the mission would be accomplished when we bring the website to the top of search results for basic keywords. But, we wanted to achieve more; therefore, we began to look for additional ways to help the business grow.

Thanks to the close communication of our team with the client, we quickly determined the audience’s demand in specific and rare requests/needs. We explained to the client what we could do with that and he gave us a green light.

We decided to create content for search queries of hotels and restaurants, where the wedding ceremonies are often held in Punta Cana.

As a result, we wrote several dozen articles and the website took the first position in search results. Entering the top-ranking position increased the audience coverage and the number of requests.

Brand and Link Building

An analysis of the main competitors showed that the BoykoPhotography.com website is less often referred to on the Internet. It became obvious that it was necessary to increase visibility in online newspapers and websites, taking into account the specifics of the wedding photography niche.

We’ve developed a strategy to build quality mass-produced references, improve link-building tactics, taking into account all of the above data.

During the period of our collaboration with the client, we managed to beat competitor rankings in a number of provided links on the photographer’s market in Punta Cana.

Adding the Website to Google My Business

Learn more about Google My Business (GMB) here.

Adding a company to Google My Business allowed us to:

• Provide Google with more information about the photographer;
• Show more data to users directly in the search results and on the maps;
• Convince users that the company is reliable.

Adding the company to Google My Business helped potential customers find the photographer faster through the Google Maps, search results, and other services.

The Results

The website managed to take a leading position for many search queries both in the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Thanks to the creation and implementation of an effective promotional strategy, we can significantly increase the amount of customers.

A deep study of the niche and competitors allowed us to develop and implement flexible strategies for the effective growth of our client’s business.

Want to grow your business or startup in the USA or any other English-speaking country by getting customers from Google? Contact our team to get a digital marketing strategy for your business. We will gladly apply our expertise to your project!