Has anyone been able to get a good rating in the search engines?

devbobo

Dean,

Perhaps you could share the url of this other smugmug site, so we can all get up to speed.

Also, I found a typo on your page...

<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay>/script>

should be...
<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay</script>

Additionally, you might want to lose that second meta-tags definition for a period as that might be adversely affecting your ranking.

Cheers,

David

Malaxos1

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me. I will fix the typo. I would love to share the other sites but I am worried that they may change them because they are supposed to say "powered by smugmug". I would hate for them to be mad at me...Dean

devbobo wrote:

Dean,

Perhaps you could share the url of this other smugmug site, so we can all get up to speed.

Also, I found a typo on your page...

<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay>/script>

should be...
<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay</script>

Additionally, you might want to lose that second meta-tags definition for a period as that might be adversely affecting your ranking.

Cheers,

David

Mike Lane

Malaxos1 wrote:

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me.

Dude, seriously. You've got to stop blaming everything on me or I'm going to quit helping you out.

rich56k

Dean,
i just googled you and got 439 results(!!??!!)
rich


(add photography and its still 122!)

gus

rich56k wrote:

Dean,
i just googled you and got 439 results(!!??!!)
rich

Yep....its all here

Andy

Malaxos1 wrote:

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me. I will fix the typo. I would love to share the other sites but I am worried that they may change them because they are supposed to say "powered by smugmug". I would hate for them to be mad at me...Dean

Do you mean, like My Site??

Notice the difference at the VERY top of the page of my site and yours. This has been discussed at great length here on the forum, we even publicize the way to do this, via a small bit of code that's freely available in my FAQ
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
and, here's the thread:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25861&highlight=document.title

Andy

Humungus wrote:

Yep....its all here

In fairness, Dean wants to be found when you type in

[url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;safe=off&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official_s&amp;q=lakeland+florida+wedding+photographer&amp;as_q=malaxos&amp;btnG=Search within results
]"lakeland florida wedding photographer"[/url] as your search terms. And whaddya know, look at the results?

Dean, it's getting so that every time you post now, I get a pit in my stomach because I feel like you just aren't listening to the great (and free) advice you are getting here. You are listening to mysterious "search consultants" and "other SmugMug" sites that you don't name. I feel like a broken record:

* Keywords
* Cross-links
* Blog
* Persistence
* Patience

This doesn't happen overnight, and we've told you that, too. Yet every time you post, it's a downer.

Instead of blaming Mike Lane (!!), use that energy to re-read every post you've made here, and look at all the great advice given to you, and follow it.

Finally (and I do mean, finally): Maybe, SmugMug isn't right for you after all. If you wish, you can email me this week at help@smugmug.com and I can close your account and issue you a full and complete refund of the subscription fee you paid. Please let me know - this is NOT something we normally do, but, in your case, we (all) seem to be unable to make you happy, so I'm willing to refund you your first year's fee in full so that you could be free to seek another alternative.

caseserve

Dean's problem---maybe
Dean,
When you use the bulk picture keywording tool, you need to enter keywords in a certain order. I had the same problem and I figured it out.

If you enter this all at once:
New Jersey Wedding Photographer

You will get this:
"New Jersey Wedding Photographer"

which is entered as 1 keyword

If you enter:
New Jersey

Hit preview

Enter:
Wedding Photographer

Hit preveiw

You'll end up with this as your keywords (2 keywords entered)

"new jersey" " wedding photographer"



Continue entering the keyword or keyword(s) that will be grouped together and hit preview. When you are finished click on save.

If you try to enter all keywords at once and hit preview and save you'll end up with your entire list of keywords entered as one keyword. You need to pay attention to the quotes (")

Therefore if I entered the following and click preview and save

This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum

It would look like this:
"This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum"

Notice the quotes, it is one keyword.

I hope you get it, if not post back and I'll try to explain further.

Malaxos1

Thanks John, that looks like the keyword problem I was having. Good thing that I have the keywords done already. When I shoot my next wedding in April I will make sure to do it like you suggested...Dean

caseserve wrote:

Dean,
When you use the bulk picture keywording tool, you need to enter keywords in a certain order. I had the same problem and I figured it out.

If you enter this all at once:
New Jersey Wedding Photographer

You will get this:
"New Jersey Wedding Photographer"

which is entered as 1 keyword

If you enter:
New Jersey

Hit preview

Enter:
Wedding Photographer

Hit preveiw

You'll end up with this as your keywords (2 keywords entered)

"new jersey" " wedding photographer"



Continue entering the keyword or keyword(s) that will be grouped together and hit preview. When you are finished click on save.

If you try to enter all keywords at once and hit preview and save you'll end up with your entire list of keywords entered as one keyword. You need to pay attention to the quotes (")

Therefore if I entered the following and click preview and save

This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum

It would look like this:
"This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum"

Notice the quotes, it is one keyword.

I hope you get it, if not post back and I'll try to explain further.

Andy

Malaxos1 wrote:

Thanks John, that looks like the keyword problem I was having. Good thing that I have the keywords done already. When I shoot my next wedding in April I will make sure to do it like you suggested...Dean

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25

Malaxos1

Hi Andy,
I just wanted to appologize if I am coming off like I don't appreciate the help you have been giving. I am just very illiterate when it comes to this stuff.

I did have a pro SEO guy look at the site and he did say that he cannot see what I have not done based on the suggestions. His oppinion is that I cannot accomplish what I want with Sm's keywords being a pririty and the powered by smugmug thing.

However he suggested that I host witha nother company. I told him that SM gives me unlimited storage, 16GB bandwidth, has a lab and shopping cart. I told him I am not doing it because some others have been able to get good ranking. Also, like I said in another post, I believe in SM.

He did compare my site with another SM user who beat all of this and showed my in a few screenshots that his HTML is different, however it is outside of the control of the user.

Anyway he emailed me back saying that he was not suggesting that I leave SM, he said that I setup another homepage and link it to my smugmug site. What do think about this?...Dean

Andy wrote:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25

Malaxos1

The guy just emailed me back here is what he is saying about the home page idea. Also he asked for a font After ereading it I think he may be asking for the one Mike Lane used to make my header. I'll have to ask him...Dean

"I should have been a bit more clear about the hosting idea...
I'm thinking you would use Siteflip to just host your home page and not any of
the photos or galleries that you already have set up on Smugmug. Why recreate
the wheel when Smugmug already has it and for a decent price? Only thing I'm
not sure of is what font they use, but I'll see what I can do. Hey, maybe you
could ask Smugmug what font they use since you have an account with them.
Chances are that I probably have it.

Okay, got the photo. I'll try to work on home page for you later tonight, but
since I never now what's going to come up at home, it could end up being later
this week. I'll keep you posted."

Mike Lane

Malaxos1 wrote:

Only thing I'm not sure of is what font they use, but I'll see what I can do. Hey, maybe you could ask Smugmug what font they use since you have an account with them.

Chances are that I probably have it.

That guy doesn't know much about webdesign. Tell him that all the fonts are declared in the various CSS files.

Malaxos1 wrote:

I am just very illiterate when it comes to this stuff.

Okay Dean, trust me on this one. You absolutely do not want to build your own homepage. You have a difficult enough time with creating hyperlinks so building your own page or having someone build it for you and then trying to maintain that page on your own would be a lesson in frustration for you. My suggestion is two-fold.

1) Forget about Google rankings. Let that drop off your radar scope. Just keyword your pages smartly and let Smugmug's great google integration work its magic for you. I'm telling you to ignore it. That's what I do and I've got great rankings that have resulted in sales.

2) Concentrate on shooting weddings. Get a few advertisements out there. Put an add in the local paper, get on craig's list, and if you can afford it pay for a google ad and maybe an ad in your local yellow pages. Get to be the best wedding photographer out there and don't drive yourself bananas trying to get to #1 on google. Word of mouth will beat out google any day of the week.

Andy

Malaxos1 wrote:

Hi Andy,
.
.
.
What do think about this?...Dean

I think, that you've got to SLOW down - in everything. Even your posts are somewhat indicative of not reading thoroughly and carefully what others are saying.

I fixed your TITLE on your page, just now for you. This was suggested numerous times -- yet you didn't do it.

I think you've STILL not captioned all your shots - why do 1/2 the job? For example, here:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/569388

I think that you've not entered ANYTHING in the descriptions for some of your galleries, and I wonder why? http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1218288

Google will crawl, and find, captions, descriptions, keywords. I've been saying this over and over and over, Dean.

I think you've got work to do.

Malaxos1

Thanks Mike, He works as a Pro SEO.

Anyway I agree about word of mouth, back in Portland it was all I had and it worked great. I also did do ads on craigslist while out there. It isn't big here in Florida. For example, when I was in Portland I would go to craigslist and look for Mustang parts. I would find five or more listings daily. In Tampa, all of the Mustang parts ever posted fit on half a page. So that is out (I still have done it, but don't see it helping out a lot).

My problem is that I have tapped out on all my rescourses and now will do something I have not done in five years; work for someone else. I tell you, I thought I was going to be doing great out here. I booked four weddings and a Bat Mizva in a week. I also got booked for four JR high school basketball teams. But nothing since then and that was over a month ago, that is why the frustration.

My problem is more than smugmug (I don't blame them). One guy with a smugmug site showed me that he was on top of the rankings in MSN, but I found he actually had a 0 rating on Alexa. I have a 232 rating. (still very low) So, how did it happen for him and not me

I have finally slepth last night after being up for four days straight trying to do this. So my frustration level should be less evident on the board :

Mike Lane wrote:

That guy doesn't know much about webdesign. Tell him that all the fonts are declared in the various CSS files.



Okay Dean, trust me on this one. You absolutely do not want to build your own homepage. You have a difficult enough time with creating hyperlinks so building your own page or having someone build it for you and then trying to maintain that page on your own would be a lesson in frustration for you. My suggestion is two-fold.

1) Forget about Google rankings. Let that drop off your radar scope. Just keyword your pages smartly and let Smugmug's great google integration work its magic for you. I'm telling you to ignore it. That's what I do and I've got great rankings that have resulted in sales.

2) Concentrate on shooting weddings. Get a few advertisements out there. Put an add in the local paper, get on craig's list, and if you can afford it pay for a google ad and maybe an ad in your local yellow pages. Get to be the best wedding photographer out there and don't drive yourself bananas trying to get to #1 on google. Word of mouth will beat out google any day of the week.

Malaxos1

Andy the first gallery is my prices gallery. There were packages listed there. I removed the recently and plan on revamping and putting them back. Also, I asked what should I do about the captions as the wedding were not taken in Florida (I do remember you answering that), I also wanted to know about multiple desriptions as I don't want to type something different for 3500 photos. Also, any idea on what to write? Mike will tell you from his time helping me with my site, I can look at the HTML stuff and not ever see the problem. Oh, I fixed a typo that was in my title, it said Dean Malaxos Photograhy. Thanks again...Dean

Andy wrote:

I think, that you've got to SLOW down - in everything. Even your posts are somewhat indicative of not reading thoroughly and carefully what others are saying.

I fixed your TITLE on your page, just now for you. This was suggested numerous times -- yet you didn't do it.

I think you've STILL not captioned all your shots - why do 1/2 the job? For example, here:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/569388

I think that you've not entered ANYTHING in the descriptions for some of your galleries, and I wonder why? http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1218288

Google will crawl, and find, captions, descriptions, keywords. I've been saying this over and over and over, Dean.

I think you've got work to do.

Mike Lane

Malaxos1 wrote:

Thanks Mike, He works as a Pro SEO.

If he doesn't know where to find the fonts used in a web page he needs to make sure he stays out of the webdesign business. And I would personally question his SEO capabilities since so much rides on the source of the page.

Andy

Keyword update
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=275493#post275493

Lyle C

Meta Tag help
I know its here somewhere, but if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. When I view my source code on my website, I notice that under my Title, there is no meta tags showing my keywords the owner etc. When I look at other pages source, they all seem to have that info. I know this is key to having search engines find you.

Any help will be appreciated.

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

Andy

Lyle C wrote:

I know its here somewhere, but if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. When I view my source code on my website, I notice that under my Title, there is no meta tags showing my keywords the owner etc. When I look at other pages source, they all seem to have that info. I know this is key to having search engines find you.

Any help will be appreciated.

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

The SmugMug meta tags will overpower any tags put in by you. But, you can change your title, and the "powered by smugmug" part and your name can be anything you like:

put this in your HEAD TAG box: (change as appropriate)

<script language="javascript">document.title="Moon River Photography - Andy Williams"</script>

You can even go crazy if you like

Lyle C

One More Question
Thanks Andy, I ahve added that to my customization. One more question regarding this. I did a search on Google for "country Roads photo by Lyle Canterbury". It did show up on Google, up at the top. I noticed when i clicked on the link that it took me to www.lylec.smugmug.com. Is there something I can add so it shows my website name?

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

Andy

Lyle C wrote:

Thanks Andy, I ahve added that to my customization. One more question regarding this. I did a search on Google for "country Roads photo by Lyle Canterbury". It did show up on Google, up at the top. I noticed when i clicked on the link that it took me to www.lylec.smugmug.com. Is there something I can add so it shows my website name?

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

Honestly, the things I know of are what I've linked above. I've done them, and I get linked mostly as www.moonriverphotography.com -- I think it just takes time, and consistency.

Lyle C

Ok, thanks Andy. I just thought there may have been something else missing. Thanks for all your help. Let the traffic start moving in!

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

vlherring

Head Tags and Customization Q
I am looking at my site [http://victoriajz.smugmug.com] and how to improve it, traffic, etc. I went into the customization area and there are no Head Tags but then I went into Themes area and the CSS style sheet is all set out nicely. I had that done by a web designing friend so that is fine. But if I go in and mess with Head Tags in Customization do I risk messing up her Theme? I want the Theme to control and think it's set for all my galleries, but also wanted to maximize searching and finding....I am adding keywords etc. as I find time...

thanks much for the usual good work here and elsewhere.

Andy

vlherring wrote:

I am looking at my site [http://victoriajz.smugmug.com] and how to improve it, traffic, etc. I went into the customization area and there are no Head Tags but then I went into Themes area and the CSS style sheet is all set out nicely. I had that done by a web designing friend so that is fine. But if I go in and mess with Head Tags in Customization do I risk messing up her Theme? I want the Theme to control and think it's set for all my galleries, but also wanted to maximize searching and finding....I am adding keywords etc. as I find time...

thanks much for the usual good work here and elsewhere.

Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com

My FAQ: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
#66

vlherring

Andy wrote:

Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com


I'll plow my way thru that FAQ list - = but I already have a custom page title [JourneyZing] but apparently what I might need to do is have it say Photography or something else that is searchable??? Is that what you are saying??? Thanks much

Andy

vlherring wrote:

I'll plow my way thru that FAQ list -

You don't need to plow, it's #66 and I gave it to you directly

vlherring

Andy wrote:

You don't need to plow, it's #66 and I gave it to you directly

Yes, I know...so I hit it and got the discussion of expose the moment - I had stopped on the messages on the top because they made no sense...then I went to the 'last' and voila...thanks...I'll check into it and see if I can figure it out.

vlherring

Okay, I went thru the 7 pages of posts and my eyes glazed over with all the code talk...I'm not a comptuer guru, I take photos. I had a friend create a Theme for my site and that works just fine other than I would like to perhaps change or add wording that says JourneyZing! Photography or some such...In her 'code' for the css style sheet I didn't find anything like a var or whatever...there are 'breadcrumbs' but that's just one of many oddities...she isn't around to continue to fix it ....I don't mind trying to learn but her Theme stylesheet is nothing close to the various codes in the 64 entries in this FAQ and i'm afraid of breaking JZ....not sure what to do, It's not a major issue I just thought it might be good to have the word Photography in the title.

Thanks much.

primedigital

custom page title

Andy wrote:

Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com

My FAQ: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
#66

What is a custom page title and (how and where) do I add it in the control panel? I followed the link to faq #66 and it has to do with removing mouse-over text. What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated.