Does technology move my photography business forward? Ask the Amish.

I don’t know about you, but I really starting to dig deep and question how much social media is helping my business. I mean REALLY moving the needle forward into building a thriving, highly profitable photography business.

Anyone else starting to think this way?

The dizzying array of available social media options and new technologies can send professional photographers like you into a tailspin. What to embrace to move the needle forward and what to avoid? How is a photographer to know? 

Well, the Amish might have a clue.

That’s right. The "horse-buggy-driving-power-grid-avoiding-bonnet-wearing" Amish have some killer advice for your photography business.

I learned recently from Cal Newport that the Amish people in America have a thoughtful and elegant approach to technology that has allowed the their culture, communities and traditions to thrive despite the encroaching outside world and all it’s noise and distractions.

The elders in the Amish community try out the new technology and then decide to adapt it or shun it based on one critical question: 

Does this new technology move us as a people toward goal of family & community bonding? 

If yes, then they adopt it. 

But If answer is no - then they shun it forever.

Having no cars is one example he cites. The Amish tried it out and found that people would drive away from the community when they had free time instead of visiting each other and patronizing each others’ shops.

The questions they don’t ask are even more interesting than the one they do. They don’t, for instance, ask:

1. "will this technology make my life more convenient?”

2. “will this technology make make my business more profitable?”

3. “will this technology make my life or business easier?”

4. “is everyone else using this?”

5. “will I have more fun using this?”

Because the answer to all these could be a re-sounding “YES” and still the new technology could be hurting your business in the long (and short) term. 

Ask the bigger questions:

• Is this technology serving your guiding principles, big goals, and mission?

• Or is it just instead creating busy work and distraction?

• Do you know the difference? Can you measure it?

Have you taken the time to articulate and write down your big goals and guiding principles like the Amish have done? 

Here are some examples of possible Guiding Principles for a photography business:

• Spending more time with clients

• Delighting clients

• Creating community

• Making lives of customers & staff better

So let’s look at a technology like Social Media. Specifically Facebook for example.

Does advertising on Facebook to your friends move your business forward? 

Are you friends your clients? 

Should you NOT use Facebook for this very reason? 

Should you even be on Facebook at all?

If you do, how? In a group that is specific to your actual customers?

Does the time you spend on it serve your Guiding Principles? Or would you better serve it by hitting the pavement in your own community and getting to know your potential clients? If the answer is no, it’s time to question that technology and potentially kick it the curb. 

I’m not saying to cast off all technology, buy a large black brimmed hat and live in the cabin in the woods. I’m just saying, it might be time to question and track how much time you might be spending with all these shiny apps on your iphone and ask yourself it really, measurably moving your photography business substantially forward toward your big goals?

Just because everyone else is doing something, doesn't mean you should. In fact, when everyone is doing something might be just the time to start thinking different (link to think different?). 

Time to go Amish on your business. Tell me some of your guiding principles, and let's explore what you could be doing to move your business toward them.

5 Ways Solid Business Systems Help You Stand Out from the Pack

Being an expert (one of our mantras here at 16 Hoops) requires some forethought and design. You aren’t going to naturally wake up one day and find you have the expert position in your market or with your customers.

Expertise is built. It is earned.

We will add this: it is also repeatable. 

It can’t be random, either. Take this wisdom from E-Myth Revisited:

Definition of deal-breaking customer service = creating a delightful experience, then taking it away.

How do we earn customer trust and delight, and then replicate those experiences? With systems. Formal, written, AKA not "in your head" systems.

Systems are the backbone of any thriving customer-oriented business. Let’s explore five ways that repeatable, designed systems hold everything in elegant balance.

1. Systems get you three steps ahead of your customer

Ever wondered why restaurants give bread or chips and salsa for free? It seems counterintuitive--won't it leave us full and we won't order as much?

Gordon Ramsay explains why good restaurants do this, and it totally makes sense. It buys the restaurant time with the customer for when they will inevitably get in the weeds. It's "baked in" to the system. It's the old "under-promise and over-deliver" adage.

2. Systems allow you to repeatedly delight and surprise your customer

Yours truly hired one of her favorite photographers, Davina Fear, for one of Fear's famous "Familyness" sessions.

There were many cool things about this entire process with Davina--but the one our family still talks about to this day was the Summer Bucket List package that arrived 6 months later. It was simple, just a box with confetti & fun family bonding game ideas. 

But - it was totally out of the blue, long after we had paid our balance and moved on with our busy lives. We felt so special! But to Davina, it was just another awesome day at the office because of her systems that were designed to surprise and delight.

3. Systems allow you to be you and play to your strengths

The news is out about introverts vs. extroverts in the workplace. And it turns out that introverts and extroverts are going to have WILDLY different systems that work for them.

Case in point: We love Sarah Petty at Joy of Marketing to death. She is one of the most fun, outgoing, confident, interesting mentors out there. The systems that she sells probably ROCK a lot of photographers' worlds out there (more power to them).

But no matter how we tried, her bubbly phone scripts and motivational selling tools just never worked for our studied, introverted souls. And that's okay--because one size does not fit all when it comes to systems for your own business. What works for Joe Cool Photo down the street will most likely never work for you.

That is why we don't really believe in DIY programs--they are designed by very well-meaning people who are NOT YOU. At 16 Hoops, a huge part of our program is mining deep and figuring what is really going to work for you. Are you a procrastinator? Do you hate in-person sales? Do you like to think you should be networking, but really, deep in your soul, know that you won't do it? Do you love meeting new people more than anything? Do you want to dominate the global sphere with your TED talk someday? Do you never, no, not ever want to have employees? Do you know you want to hire a team to run your business someday?

Each of the people I've just described above is a sampling of who should have different systems.

4. Systems allow you to automate and streamline

A few years ago, in our household each night was a frantic open-up-the-fridge-and-pray game. We had no plan. Until...we discovered Taco Tuesdays. Then Pizza Friday.

Now we actually look forward to shopping day--we know exactly what to get and making dinner is (well, almost) a pleasure now.

Build a plan, get down to the molecular level (what "ingredients," or tasks, do you need to "buy," or do, every week?), and stick to it. It's as simple as that, and it will change the way you run your business.

5. Systems give you the option to sell your business someday

Here is the promised land of systems.

Take everything out of your head, and get it down onto paper. Literally: put it in a binder that anyone can step into practically seamlessly and run your business with. This is your payoff for the hard work of building custom systems. You now have a documented system that allows you the freedom to either step away from your business slowly, or sell it outright.

See a pattern here?

The best systems churn away all but unnoticed by your clients and your staff.

You won’t get any thank-yous. You won’t get anyone tweeting how awesome you are. But you will have is a strong, growing, admirable business with clients who come back again and again.

Do it better. Do it with your quiet, elegant, thoughtful systems. Rinse and repeat.

Do You Have an Exclusive System Yet?

Your exclusive system makes you smarter. 

Your exclusive system makes you think.

Your exclusive system allows you to enjoy the sales the process--even if you HATE sales.

Your exclusive system means you've got a repeatable, profitable, unique process that hooks clients and makes your life easier. 

Photographers don’t always think this way, but they should.

So let’s back up.

What is an "exclusive system" when it comes to your photography business?

Unofficially, it means transforming your creative knowledge into a unique selling tool (or tools) for your business.

Officially, it can also be legally protected. In this case, your system is known as "intellectual property," or "IP".

Today, we're talking about unofficial systems. (Note that the IP aspect is a natural Phase 2, especially if you want to sell your business, and/or if you've invested a large sum in researching and designing your proprietary system).

Mine what's yours

An exclusive system makes you dig deep into your experience as a pro photographer and find the one thing you do for your clients that no one else does.

You actually already know what your system contains, because at some point in your business you have done all these things naturally. The elements of your system are all right there in your own history and one-of-a-kind experiences. You just need to know where to look to dig them up.

Once you mine those golden nuggets (they're usually hiding in plain sight, but sometimes it takes some blasting), it is not enough to simply stop there. No, that would be like striking gold and then just leaving it there in the mountain to admire. 

You gotta do the work to write those systems down--so you can cash in on them and effect great change in your business.

Why MUST you write down your system? A written system isn't just a record of company policies and procedures for you and your employees or assistants (though that could be start of one).

The process of writing down your system shows you your weak spots--where you need to dig deeper. It also shows your strong spots--where you have been doing things differently and didn't even realize it. 

Polish that gold

Once you've got your system in writing, take the time to create a proprietary visual infographic (or even a video!) about your system. Guard this resource like Fort Knox--it’s meant for your staff and clients' eyes only.

Next, bolster your appealing, well-designed visual system with a few case studies from previous clients.

Share that puppy with prospective clients, and you've just bumped your business to the tippy-top of their shortlist. Not too many photographers are doing this in any kind of formal, repeatable way.

Photographers (and most business owners) might *think* they are taking these steps, but they are not. Not at all.

If you can’t create a proprietary visual and/or written statement from your system, then you essentially don’t have one. 

If you think that having a website, a contact form, an email response, and a pricing sheet is a system, then you have a lot of (doable! rewarding!) work ahead of you.

What DOES make you stand out? Taking these four steps:

1. Do the brave work of positioning your business around your unique expertise

2. Express that expertise in purposeful branding and website design

3. Have a precise, strategic marketing plan that drives inquiries and nurtures leads

4. Seal the deal with your exclusive SYSTEM--again, this is the process you've developed that sells clients on working with you

It’s pretty much an unbeatable combination to take your business to the next level, to repeatably and consistently land that premium-paying ideal client, and to stop competing on price. Forever. 

So what are you waiting for? Start designing your system today. 

How to Name Your Business Right the First Time (and Other Hard Decisions)

Some bells are hard to unring.

If we could only go back in time...there are so many things we'd say to our younger entrepreneurial selves. Right?

Decisions you make today will have far-reaching consequences, most of which you just can't see right now. And decisions you made back then, when you started your business, are still affecting it now.

Let's quickly explore one of those consequences now.

Think very, very carefully about the name you choose for your business

Yours truly's biggest mistake, by far, was naming my first business after myself.

Even way back in 1999, I instinctively knew not to call my photography business "Geneve Hoffman Photography." I was 99% sure I wanted to call it Blue Door Photography because of all the blue doors I photographed obsessively in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Blue Door was totally "me," and it sounded cool. It was evocative--all my gut instincts were saying yes.

But I was a newbie, and I had to pull the trigger, and I got very generic (almost bad) advice from someone from whom I had no business seeking business advice (ahem, my hairdresser). I think this person even said, “Everyone calls their business by their first name in your field.” That alone should have been my cue to run the other way.

Why your business name should not be the name on your birth certificate

The problem with naming your business after yourself is that the business--its reputation, its successes, its failures, its personality--are forever tied to you, the founder.

Even if you want to back away or take a different role. Even if you decide you want to sell the business. Especially if you get hit by a bus.

15+ years after taking my hairdresser's advice, I now am in the unfortunate situation of having a business from which it will be very hard to remove myself--much less sell. Can't unring that bell.

I only see it now as a mistake with my 20/20 hindsight. How I wish I'd invested a decent sum on a branding and strategic firm back then.

No joke--I would have saved myself hundreds of thousands of dollars by now, because in 2016, I would be lightyears closer to the business of my dreams. Specifically, the dream of being able to step away from or even sell the business I worked so hard to build. 

What I wouldn't give to have that conversation with my younger entrepreneurial self. Lesson learned, though--and I am doing it right with 16 Hoops. I really don't do things small and unassuming. I do them big.

So by all means, take 10-15 years to figure it out on your own, or do what I wish I had done:

Invest in trustworthy branding advice as early as you can.

If you do it right, the payoff is HUGE, both short- and long-term.

Best SEO Practices for Photographers on Squarespace - Part Three

Let's take this baby on the open road!

In parts one & two we talked about setting up the backend for success, and paying our pound of flesh to the Google Gods.

Now we are finally getting to the fun part of SEO: creating your own content with blogging.

Let’s quickly summarize what makes for best Blogging SEO Blogging practices for Photographers on Squarespace.

There are two keys that every blog post should try to have:

1. Quality, relevant content your viewers are going to want to read, share, and return for.

2. Links to/from your website to/from other quality websites related to your content.

These two go hand in hand though because, if you are truly creating great content, other websites will want to come to you as a resource. So if you are a portrait photographer, create great content and spread it all around!

The guides and tips below will help you make the most of Squarespace’s native SEO blogging capabilities. So why not hedge your bets and use everything at your disposal?

A reminder that we are not SEO specialists, but are pretty confident in the Squarespace department.  Also remember that not every Squarespace template is created equal. Some templates will surface blogging differently, so be sure to ask your designer about this.

Before You Begin.

Before you even begin blogging, as a photographer your should be making sure that your images are:

• sized correctly for SEO

• tagged correctly for SEO (and for copyright)

• named correctly for SEO

This is true for any image on your website.

We help all of our website clients do this right from the beginning. We recommend using a combination of Lightroom & Bridge to accomplish this, but no matter what your preferred workflow method, just naming your images to protect, copyright, and enhance SEO is really a whole different video series. So, for the purposes of this series, just read the very helpful Image links below before you start blogging. 

Sizing Images Correctly for SEO

Even though you can load images of almost any size onto Squarespace, we recommend that for all blog images and any images that won’t be headers:

1500 px across on long edge jpeg is a good standard for the average image upload

Any larger than that, your images could be loading slow and slowing down your SEO. Your ranking on search engines is higher the faster your site loads. Squarespace automatically resizes all your images depending on where and how it will be used. So don't overthink this too much. Squarespace has you covered.

Tagging Images Correctly for SEO

Yes it's true that metadata and metatags are not as important as they used to be in the world of SEO. But that doesn't mean as photographers that you shouldn't still be doing it. Being thoughtful about how you tag your images is still important to protect your images from copyright infringement online, and as a bonus it won't hurt your SEO either.

We highly recommend that you use Lightroom metadata presets for every image. If you have no idea what I just said there, then you will want to watch an online tutorial. If you search for "Lightroom metadata preset Lightroom CC 2015 tutorial" - any number of tutorials should come up. 

Once you have tagged your images correctly in Lightroom and/or Bridge, you can use the handy dandy Importing Image Metadata button in the backend of Squarespace. 

***Word of warning: Metadata Import button in Squarespace only works in Gallery Pages and Gallery Blocks. It does not work in Image Blocks. So if you import your images one at a time into your blog, you will still have to manually title your images. I know, "boo Squarespace." Boo.

Naming Images Correctly for SEO

Don't ever, no never, use the random string of numbers your camera assigns to an image. And don't just name all your images "16Hoops_0001.jpeg" either.  "stock image eco friendly lightbulb.jpg" is a lot more informative than "IMG00051.JPG." Be specific, read it like a human would, and don’t keyword stuff.

If anyone in the world is searching for "eco friendly light bulb stock image" your image will come up. So if you indeed do shoot stock images of lightbulbs, and a client is looking for that too - that is as good as SEO gets.

If you have a long string of "keywords," yet fail to mention the actual content of the particular image, that is an SEO fail. Get it?

Alt Tags

Alt Tags and captions in Squarespace are another SEO naming opportunity. They are a little complicated as each template may handle and display them differently, but a caption sometimes acts as the alternative tag, or "alt tag" that google bots read and rank. But again, our mantra, KEEP IT HUMAN. DO NOT KEYWORD LOAD - google will punish you.

If you do not assign an alt tag, the title of the images and/or the caption will act as the alt tag in it's absence. So again, naming images right in the first place always a good habit to start early and practice often.

Ok - Finally, Let's Start Blogging!

So far we have shown you the following SEO for photographers on Squarespace tips:

• How to set up your titles and descriptions on each page

• How to pay your pound of flesh to the Google gods

• That you need to have properly sized, tagged, and named your images.

Let's take your content out on the open road finally!

Here is our video tutorial walking you through the Best SEO Blogging Practices for Photographers on Squarespace. Yippee!

It's a Wrap.

We hope you enjoyed this series. All of these best practices are just very basic SEO made exclusively with photographers in mind. We have really only scratched the surface, but remember you don't need to be an SEO expert to rock your own SEO. 

Don't get too deep into this stuff. There are a lot of articles out there - and they are usually just way too long and detailed for the needs of the average busy photographer. We covered what you need right here - the rest is just SEO gravy.

If you want "further reading" I urge everyone to look no further than the super helpful Squarespace support articles & videos. You can click on any question mark link as you are in the backend, or you can just noodle around it if you are looking specific help. That is another reason Squarespace is our platform of choice. 

Our own 16 Hoops Team Support is always here to help too. If you get stuck send us an email for a Resources Page request - and if you are already a client, then you know you can set up a custom tutorial with our team on any given week as part of your membership. We are here to help. 

Stay tuned too! You might like what we have brewing next:

Google is always changing their ranking algorithms and they ain’t the only game in town, so be sure to be on our mailing list for our next video series coming later this Spring on The New SEO: Diversifying your Digital & Online Marketing where we pretend that GOOGLE--GASP!--disappears overnight. What are you to do? Well fear not - we have a plan so that all your eggs aren’t in one GOOGLE basket.

Here are some outside articles that we found helpful:

10 Image Optimization Tips

 Google Webmaster Info

Squarespace Image Best Practices

Squarespace & Alt Text Tutorials/Info

The Year of Purposeful Marketing

As we all wave a fond farewell to 2017, we should also be slamming the door on random marketing for good. 

If you forgot how to avoid random marketing in general, read our primer article on When Marketing Goes Very, Very Wrong.

Instead, let’s make 2019 the Year of Purposeful Marketing.

No more stabbing in the dark at random social media platforms hoping and praying someone will notice you. 

Instead an airtight marketing plan that will zero in on your ideal client like a heat seeking missile.

But first, we need to wipe the slate clean. New Year’s are built for this kind of delicious creative destruction. Get out a blank sheet of paper. 

Step One. 

Make sure you have ONE lucrative expertise that talks to ONE client in your market.  Shed that old 2018 “generalist” skin, and become a highly sought after 2019 “specialist.” This is called positioning.

Step Two.

Re-examine how and where you engage with your high paying premium clients (logo, website, copy etc). Are you speaking their language? This is called branding.

Step Three.

Set a goal and a budget, then build a campaign. Refine, repeat. Refine, repeat. I highly recommend enlisting the help of an expert marketing team to start. This is called marketing.

Step Four.

Make sure that once your ideal client finds you, you know exactly how to repeatedly land, engage and quietly delight them. This is called systems.

Step Five.

2019 = Best. Year. Ever.

Let’s take a closer look at some possible questions to be asking yourself for the marketing bit, or Step Three from above.

How do you reach clients? Pretty basic right?

Should you use email? twitter? facebook? instagram? print ads? posters? direct mail? video ads? youtube? networking? smoke signals?

It’s impossible to say "yes, yes, yes and yes” unless you know with unwavering certainty 100% who your high paying premium customer **actually** is.

Everyone is trying to find that millennial sweet spot - but it’s more than likely that your customer is actually NOT a millennial. Especially if you are a high end portrait photographer. 

Millennials spent a wad on their wedding recently, and are probably broke. The last thing they want to spend a ton of money on is an expensive portrait session. 

SO, it begs the question - are you wasting your time on instagram if it’s actually GenXer’s you should be trying to reach? Shouldn’t you rather be spending your entire marketing budget on a robust Facebook ad campaign or a large magazine print ad campaign then? Do you even have a budget? 

These are all questions you (or better yet, your marketing team) should be asking and answering before you even open up one social media account.

Start to ask yourself questions like these so you can tear down whatever was holding you back in 2018 and build something new and exciting for 2019.

So here is your first and best checklist re-cap as we dive into 2019 (your most amazing business year ever!):

1. What is your unique area of expertise? Figure this out, and your marketing will start to magically fall into place. Be tough on your business! Make the very, very, very hard decision to be a sole expert in one lucrative thing. It’s the most game changing business decision you will ever make.

2. How does your unique expertise walk and talk in the world to engage your ideal client?

3. Once you have positioning and branding nailed, write down your sales goals (monthly? yearly? quarterly?) and build a targeted sales campaign. Refine, repeat.

4. Spend the time to build your own signature system (simple is always better) to turn clients into raving fans.

5. Enjoy your work and have a reliable pipeline of high paying clients year round! Like I said, Best Year Ever!

This all sounds like a lot, huh?

Maybe 2019 should start with a gift to your business.

The gift of our 3 week Private Roadmapping session. At the end of it you will have the an actionable foundation for all the steps above. Whether you choose to move forward with our partner design team, or on your own - you will def be on the way to your best year ever.

Tell us your dreams for 2019! I know we can achieve them together.

---

Become a member. It's free!

Join for free here by signing up to be a member. You will receive the 8 day intro course “Am I ready for a re-brand?” right off the bat. Plus have access to our member’s only resources pages full of free advice, action items, and web tutorials and finally one helpful email a week in our member newsletter. Let me in!

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Best SEO Practices for Photographers on Squarespace - Part Two

GOOGLE is Still King...For Now

One land, one king, one Google

Or could it be a queen? hmmm….any thoughts on this?

Even as a free citizen of Squarespace you must pay your respects to the GOOGLE gods just to cross all of our SEO “t’s.”

Look at this entire section as the price we pay gladly to thrive in its fiefdom. Ok - I’ll stop the geeky kingdom metaphors now…you get it. Just grab a cup of coffee and hunker down. It will be over before you know it.

And one more reminder that we are not SEO experts by a long shot. Just some regular photographer joes who have tried these things and had pretty good luck.

There are three levels of SEO you can or should do with Google.

1. "Only-give-you-a-slight-headache-so-you-probably-should-do-them" STEPS:

• Remove any passwords on site (must be fully launched)
• Set up a google account (if you don’t already have one)
• Set up Google Search Console (used to be webmaster, or is it still webmaster?…make up your mind Google.)
  • Submit your Property (URL)
  • Submit your sitemap (yes, Squarespace already does this for you…remember King’s are fickle things…better safe than sorry.)
  • Use "Fetch as Google” to crawl your site

2. "Guaranteed-a-full-blown-headache-so-only-do-as-bonus" STEPS:

• Set up Google Plus account
• Set up a Google My Business account
• Manually enter your business to Google Business Maps using certain keywords (if not already there)
• Set up Google Analytics
• Try out Google AdSense 

3. "Get-your-google-freak-on-you-may-want-to-consider-another-line-of-work" STEP:

• Sign up for Google Webmaster Academy (yes, this is actually a thing…sigh)

Let’s break it down:

Set Up A Google Account

Sounds easy, and you probably already have one. One side note/tip: Try to avoid setting it up using a separate business email. Google doesn't like it when you have different accounts (there is that kingly decree thing again). But it’s not a big deal, because hopefully with all this google stuff you should mostly just be setting it and forgetting it.

Set up Google Search Console.

This may take some time if you have never done it before not because it’s hard, but because it’s just a lot of links, double checking & trying to acquaint yourself with the (yawn) google search console user interface.

Set aside an hour and try to avoid distractions so you can finish it in one setting. If link below has changed (again), just search for “Google Search Console” or “submit website content to google” and the info should come up immediately.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home
(Ahem. See? Even Google still calls it webmaster. Oh you Google King you).

Also - please follow the instructions in the Squarespace links below. They are a great resource and there is no point in us re-inventing a square wheel here again.

1. 1. add a “property” aka, URL - wait for verification email and click on…”add sitemap"
   2. "add sitemap” https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206543547
   3. verify & “crawl—>fetch as google" property - Squarespace recommends using the HTML tag method below - our website techs can do this for you or you can follow the instructions here: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205813918-Verifying-your-site-with-Google-Search-Console
   4. Don't worry if you get a "re-directed" "error" while crawling either. That means your site is being properly re-directed. Honestly - the whole Fetch As Google thing is a bit convoluted and overkillish. Don't lose too much sleep over this.
   5. Ignore the rest of the google gobbledy gook on the side bar of the search console. Really.

BONUS Headache Inducing SEO STEPS.

Haven’t had enough? If you want to take this to the next level, rubbing up against all the free business services that Google offers is never a bad idea to enhance your SEO.

1. Set up a basic Google Plus feed and use it to post relevant blog posts & images - unlike Facebook, you don’t have to keep checking this. Just post and walk away.
2. Check out "Google My Business" - it will walk you through some extra SEO success ideas. Pick and choose the ones you want to try out. Don't forget you have those Google Ad bucks credit under "marketing" in your main Squarespace console. (Watch our video in part 3 to see this part).
3. A lot of our clients have had luck with paid services like Google AdSense too.
4. Do a good old fashioned "google search" for your keywords and manually enter your business if it doesn’t show up on the business map for your area. This can be a bit of hit or miss and even frustrating as you search for your business and it doesn’t show up. But give it time - and keep posting and linking.
5. Last and least set up Google Analytics. I set mine up but don’t use it often (like never) - so don’t sweat this one too much. It’s one of those overhyped “things you should do.” The Squarespace analytics are fine for our purposes.

One more thing. You should set up the SSL on your site while you are in "sharpen the saw" mode on the back end. If you are collecting emails, and especially any payments on your site, it’s a must to enhance SEO.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205815898-Squarespace-and-SSL

Don't forget though, the point of all this GOOGLE worship is to just set it and forget it. Don’t linger too long on any one thing. Your time is much better spent creating awesome content on your site for your current and potential clients.

And again, I recommend referring to the awesome Squarespace Support Articles area and watching any videos in the SEO department too. Sometimes the content there is a tiny bit out of date, but the basics are very helpful.

Google should be appeased now. You get a gold star if you can count how many times we said GOOGLE in this post too. Can we PUH-LEASE move on. Next up: the actual fun part of SEO! Your own content!

Best SEO Practices for Photographers using Squarespace - Part One

What is SEO for Photographers, and Why Do I Care?

So this 3 Part series of articles was really fun.

We don’t claim to be SEO experts (in fact we’d rather avoid like the plague!), but we had a client ask us about it and this is what the 16 Hoops is all about. Ask and ye shall receive!

We scoured the internet and honestly just found articles either too dry or too detailed (like, "way-too-make-your-head-spin-detailed). So instead, we just pooled our own experiential resources. We hope you find it as fun and informative as we did. (PS - yeah, I shift from "I to we" a bunch. It’s complicated. I do all the writing, but hoops is most definitely a "we." So please forgive and bear with).

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, you have at least heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and know it’s important.

And if your website is listed on the coveted “page one” spot for your industry keywords - you may even think you have nailed it.

But don’t get too comfortable.

Less and less actual clients are relying solely on search engines to find their perfect photographer. 

Also - what you may not know is that best SEO practices even from just 2 years ago are practically obsolete and vastly different than today. What may have rewarded you a few years back (keyword loading, metatags, expensive back link services) may actually harm your SEO now with the famously ever changing google algorithms. 

Squarespace is a big part of this SEO Revolution with it’s simple, responsive, mobile friendly sites and elegant back end design. 

The new streamlined SEO practices made especially for photographers that we will go over will be especially noticeable if you are coming from the WordPress platform with all its complicated key-wording and red/orange/green reward systems. 

We got nada against WordPress and hey, Squarespace ain’t for everyone (especially if you need a TON of customization…which we think, you in fact, do not)--but love it or leave it, Squarespace is by far our platform of choice here at 16 Hoops for many reasons. Its clean SEO is just one of them.

What we have noticed is that it is actually the photographers that consistently create relevant content that rise to the top. You could be pinging green left and right on yoast, but if you are only posting 6 times a year - google will punish you. 

I know - huh? 

Turns out just running your business really well is the key to great SEO. Go figure.

So here is the other KEY to great SEO:

Create thoughtful content (a lot of it) that your target audience will want to view and share. 

That is the number one reason they will not just be hiring you, but will also keep coming back year and year and portrait after portrait.

Keep in mind, SEO is a marathon and not a sprint. There is no magic bullet. If you keep doing these practices in our series and blogging frequently, your services will rise to the top in your market.

The rest of the neat tricks and stuff we will be showing you is just insurance and homage to the google gods. But insurance and spirit help is good to have.

Here is our first of two video tutorials on making the most of everything Squarespace has to offer: Setting up your Titles & Descriptions in Squarespace for SEO Success. PS - I say Part Three in beginning - just ignore that. I decided to put this part here instead and didn't want to re-record the whole thing. :)

So let's open up the hood (crack knuckles) on the Squarespace interface.

Hope you find this useful!  Let’s look forward to part two in our handy behind the scenes tour of SEO practices for photographers on Squarespace: Google Is Still King...For Now.

5 Reasons Your Template Website Is Hurting Your Business

Here is the truth about photography template websites: whether you're a startup, or a seasoned pro who wants to level up your online presence, you might want to consider avoiding them altogether.

Why are photography templates potentially hurting your biz? Well, five reasons, for starters.

1. Templates make you look like a beginner. 

Every photographer out there remembers the very exciting moment when they launched their first website. It was probably a very adequate template site, in hindsight. You probably spent hundreds of hours DIYing the heck out of it, but it worked reasonably well back when you were:

• On a budget
• Underpricing and undervaluing your work
• Competing with all the other similar photographers in your area
• Still trying to figure out what your business stood for

But then, one day, you realized:

• You care about your business and want your website and brand to reflect that care
• You want your website and brand to stand out
• You can't transform your business while sticking to your old ways
• Your needs have grown--you are no longer a beginner

2. Templates are basically Pinterest boards.

We all dread that moment when a well-meaning client shows us a Pinterest board of "inspiration" for their photo shoot or wedding. We all know that, if it's on a board, it's been done ad nauseum already. Do you want your website to evoke something that's been "done" already?

I once saw a lovely little template that was used for 1,085 photographers' sites. One Thousand Eighty-Five. That company is out of business now for better or for worse.

Just like it's not possible to create authentic, original images based on a Pinterest board, it's not possible for that pretty little template to convert your niche, ideal, high-paying client. 

3. Templates are "one size fits all".

Whereas a custom site is designed and built with YOU and your business in mind, templates come with built-in issues and limitations.

This is especially true with home pages and blog pages. 

Templates are literally "one size fits all". They are like those insanely popular jeans that somehow never seem to fit you just right. As pretty and tempting as they might be, templates are never going to take your business where you want it to go (especially you reading this - I know you want something more).

4. Templates are unintelligent.

Templates don't know your customer.

They know "a customer". Who is this mystery customer? Who knows?!

That's why, even if it gives your business a boost at first--eventually, a template website won't work.

Our ENTIRE point here at 16 Hoops is to get you, talented photographer, thinking about your very unique area of expertise. A template undoes all this work entirely.

These days, clients quite literally cannot tell photographers apart--and part of the problem is that everyone is using the same templates. So the race to the bottom continues.

5. Templates emphasize bells and whistles over important functions.

Bells and whistles like 13 pages of "info," slideshows, client logins, and endless contact form fields are, by design, meant to distract.

They distract your client from the single job of hiring you. You do not need to pour the entire contents of your business into your website. Your ideal high-paying client doesn't care at this point (or ever, frankly) about all this stuff. Your website is meant to convert that visitor into a client. PERIOD.

Bells and whistles can also create a catch-22 of sorts--because not only do you not need the stuff on those site templates, but those very bells and whistles are taking up space where actual useful, delightful things, such as compelling, action-oriented copy, could live.

OK, now you know why you shouldn't use a template website.

But what does a custom site or brand really *REALLY* do for you and your bottom line?

It helps your visitors transform from a casual, "stumbling upon you" audience to your dedicated fans, to premium-paying clients willing to throw wads of cash at your business. A custom site and brand is not an expense--it's an investment. (DOH! There's that verboten word, "investment". In a business-to-business context (B2B), the word is perfectly justified. In a business-to-customer (B2C) context--like portrait and wedding photography--it's misused and has lost all meaning.)

Whether you are a super-duper savvy beginner (yay for you!!!!) or a seasoned pro ready to transform your existing business (exciting!), now is the time to stand out.

Actually, 12 months ago was the time. Don't wait. We have a 16-week business transformation program, designed specifically for togs in your position, starting in January of every year. 

Take the first step toward transforming your business. Stop tinkering and reserve your spot now.

I'm About to Give You a Million Dollars for Your Business

"What would you do if a patron client gave you a million dollars, and said you could do anything you wanted with your business?”

I play this theoretical game with all my clients at 16 Hoops.

There are a couple of caveats: You have to invest your million in your business. You can’t just pay yourself more. And you have to spend it all in one year.

What would you do? 

I've had clients tell me they would write a book, travel, or open up a gallery. Nothing wrong with those answers--they usually come from a gut reaction.

But I think I need to ask, instead: "What game-changing things would you do with that money?"

Your answer might be different.

I know exactly what I would do.  And it has almost nothing to do with buying a swanky new studio downtown, or traveling--because as fun as those things are, they aren't really game-changers.  

Instead, I would research and build a completely new way of doing business in the photography industry. I would hire think tanks and designers and emerge like a butterfly in a year with a revolutionary business model.

David Baker, one of my favorite thinkers, posed this very question on his blog the other day, and our answers were pretty much the same. 

You might not have a million dollars burning a hole in your business account, but what you can do right now (and it costs a lot less) is:

• Take the time to do a very deep dive into your own airtight positioning. Find that lucrative position that no one else can hold, and claim it.
• Build a signature system around that position.

The rest will fall into place.

You can start rolling the ball in the right direction. It’s hard work, but that is 100% why you should be doing it. If it was easy, everyone would have already done it, and we wouldn't be having this million-dollar conversation.

The Top 3 (Actually, 6) Reasons Your Business Must Have Systems

A signature system is a photographer's best friend.

Unique systems are critical. So critical, in fact, that we're going to say something that may surprise (even shock) you:

Systems play an equally—if not more—important role than even your own photography style in differentiating your business from all the others.

Why?

There are gobs of reasons, but here are the the top three: 

1. A signature system quietly delights every single client even while you are catching some Zs (it ensures your Zs, too)
2. A signature system makes sales and everyday operations easy-breezy for people who think they are not good at selling and business
3. Here’s the real kicker: A system will not only make success easier, it will practically ensure it

(Let’s have a quick yet honest side conversation on the selling thing. Photographers who actually like and excel at selling are either part Magical Unicorn, AKA extremely rare, or they ended up in the photography business by accident—an accident that they usually correct fairly quickly.

I’ve met many togs who occupy the latter niche, but I’ve only met one Magical Unicorn photographer worth her salt who also really enjoyed the sales process. She was a very rare diamond indeed. However, even she mostly lacked a formal system.)

But I’m not talking to her. I’m talking to you. 

You, the talented photographer who loves creating, and finds selling and systems awkward if not downright intimidating.

Without a signature, developed, documented (i.e. written-down) system that guides your business and every single client interaction, you will never make the leap from good to great. D'oh—there's reason #4.

Without your own unique system, you and your business are just another undifferentiated blip in the online universe. (Oops, that's reason #5…I'll stop now.)

It’s also very hard to retain and re-acquire raving client fans without a system. (Ack! There’s reason #6…somebody help me!)

Luckily, I've put together a quick quiz so you can see if you've got working systems--or if you need to buckle down and build some.

Ask yourself the following questions to see if you have a signature system in place

• Do all of your clients see you and your business as highly differentiated from other photographers? (Read: Are you doing things so drastically different from other photographers that World Photographer Magazine is planning to put you on the cover?)
   
• Are your ordering sessions easy-breezy and fun for you (and you alone), not to mention highly profitable?
   
• Do you know exactly what will happen when a prospect contacts you? Are you so comfortable in your knowledge of your clients that when a prospect contacts you, it’s an easy 1,2,3 and they hire you?
   
• Rather than just being in your head, are all your client workflows and processes documented in an easily accessible place that anyone can pick up and understand?
   
• When someone sees your image or your product with no logo attached, do they immediately know it’s yours? (That’s a sneaky one, isn’t it? But yes, systems can do this for you.)
   
• Do you have 1-3 key employees/associates who can refer to your manual and step in to run things for you on a dime?
   
• When a client returns to your studio for their next portrait, do they know exactly what will happen without being told?
   
• Do clients never ask you questions about your services, because they're all so readily laid out in plain English (and cool graphics), and the process is exactly the same every time?
   
• Do you command high premiums that your clients happily line up down the block to pay? (Again, this has almost nothing to do with your photos.)

If you answered "yes" (an honest yes) to all of these questions, congratulations to you on your storage unit full of neatly stacked $100 bills! Have a wonderful life. I'll see you on the cover of WPM next month.

If you answered "yes" to a few of these questions, you're most likely struggling and relying on luck or your amazing talent to get booked. Both of these options will eventually burn you out mentally and physically, if they haven’t already.

If you answered "no" to most of these questions…take heart. You're in good company. Most businesses (photography or otherwise) don’t have systems either. And that is why countless businesses wallow in mediocrity and struggle with low cash flow.

But there is a fix for this. Only the very best of best businesses are undertaking this fix.

You are here reading this, so you are one step closer to fixing your business, too.

In a word, the fix is: SYSTEMS.

So the final question is:

What are you waiting for?

I just told you the secret! 

Start building your systems and see how your business transforms (completely). We can help!