ajax_andy

Cheers mate, I've registered with Yell, Thompson local andm Scooch but non have have been accepted yet so i dont have any meaningful back links... hopefully when these are confirmed it'll help. I'll also try and find some other places to get the site listed

Thanks mate that's all great advice I actually write for another blog already so will see if and how my site is listed on there, and ask for it to be if not. I'll have a think about how i can update my blog more with relevant content too. Does the whole link thing have to generate traffic for Google to pick it up, or is it just purely ok for me to have links as long as they are in the right place even if no-ones clicking on them? The main point in ranking well on Google is to get traffic, so if you can build links that automatically get you traffic that's best. You don't necessarily need people to click on them for Google to find them, they just need to be on pages/sites that Google will crawl. The better the site, the quicker it'll be seen and the more value it'll give your site. Having a load of links on crap sites might help as you start a site, but won't do much for you later on. Ahh ok, so say for example Yell will get a lot of hits, so even if no-one clicks on the link to my website, just them being on the page with my link will help? Or am I being very dumb here? (probably yes)

Do you mean like this: http://www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk/weddings i.e. a URL that is short and has the important word in it? Sorry I'm not particulary good with the web side of things

Gotta say i know it's not common and one of the reasons I do it because I think it's nice for the client and shows I will go the extra mile to make everything as good as possible for them. Someone who isn't interested in coming to meet you probably wont do anything other than the bare minimum IMO... now their bare minimum may still be fantastic, but still they could do so much better if they were willing to put the effort in. I would always expect a photographer to at least meet you at the venue a month or so before the wedding to get a feel for how your day will be, wher things will be and just try and understand how your day will work. If they don't do this I'd not book them

Haha well you did very well in that case!

I meet clients before anything is signed if that's what you mean? take for example I met a bride to be on Saturday, went through all the details of the day, what time they needed a photographer from, what time till, what they had planned for the day, any surprise things I should be aware of... then once I've written it all down I ask them if they have any questions... I answer any they do, once I'm satisfied they have no more I ask if they would like to go ahead and book me. I'm quite thorough and the meeting lasts at least an hour. I do this in their home or at the venue where they are getting married.

Yeah exactly... I need to look as good and as professional as everyone else of I'll stand no chance. By the end of this year I should have about 10 weddings under my belt so lots in my portfolio to show people

Suppressed homosexuality I'm afraid

Not yet but it's part of my plan for next year. It costs a few hundred to have a stand and I haven't been charging enough to justify the outlay tbh. A years more experience and a price hike, and I'll be hitting the shows though as it's a great way to meet potential clients

Good images as always mate The first 2 I like because they look quite old and could easily be from the 60's or earlier. I've seen a fair few pics like this from older times and you seem to have captured these in an interesting way which reminds me of those pics. Bottom two are good... the last one is definately my favourite, the one above is good but I think there's a bit of a smudge effect where you got water on your lens? Apart from that its a good pic tho

Thanks mate that's all great advice I actually write for another blog already so will see if and how my site is listed on there, and ask for it to be if not. I'll have a think about how i can update my blog more with relevant content too. Does the whole link thing have to generate traffic for Google to pick it up, or is it just purely ok for me to have links as long as they are in the right place even if no-ones clicking on them?

It's for this website / blog http://thenortheasthub.com/blog/ Someone else runs it and I just write for it... Gets up to 450 views a day which ain't bad but hoping to get more... It's only been going a short while so hopefully it'll take off a bit more soon

Just wondering how you feel these two linked up yesterday? Do they look like they might be able to form a formidable partnership? Does Ba drop a bit deeper and hold it up with Cisse playing off him and balls over the top? Thinking of writing my next blog article about these two and how finally you might have a terrific front 2 for the first time in ages Cheers Andy

Great advice, thanks for all that

yeah my site has big long waffling paragrahs using many key words and it's not helped (well not yet anyway). Adwords is a good suggestion for the future, anything expensive would have to be looked at next year I think as just spent a grand on a new camera so until my wedding bookings fully pay up I'm ridiculously skint

Thanks I'll have a look in to it. My mate did the site for me so I can't access it to paste the code on to the pages, but he's setting something up to give me access... hopefully I'll be able to do it then

My website has been up and running for about 8-9 months now (www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk) and shows up if I type "andy hudson photography" in to google. However it doesn't show up on any searches I do for 'photographer', 'wedding photographer' Newcastle etc etc. I was wondering how I could get it pushed up the rankings... or rather just have it appear in there? I've had someone check the SEO and the Meta data and they think it looks fine. I've just listed my website on Yell and also Thompson Local, I've also listed it on a wedding blog as a featured supplier. I've been doing plenty of promotion on twitter to drive traffic to the site, and also advertise on Gumtree to do the same. What else can I do? Is it just that not enough traffic is going to the site for google to pick it up in anything other than a direct search, or am I missing something else? Cheers Andy

Thanks I'm only supposed to write 500 words but this ended up being 600 so I was struggling a bit to include much more in the article tbh. Also I pretty much just stole all the great info people on here gave me so I can't take credit for the content... I just put together people's opinions on here and also one of the Sunderland forums. I also posted on a boro forum but it's a bit of a ghost town on there and hardly anyone posts anything... I will refrain from making any comparisons to the Riverside.

Aye but that's not really that important, it's just a pic that relates to the article. I dont have access to a large pool of photographic options, just some that people have kindly let me use their own personal snaps.

Yeah I have 5 booked in so far for this year and another 2 that have enquired so that should hopefully bring in a little bit of money... I'm not charging much at the moment though as just looking to build up my experience and portfolio. Next year should see my prices put up a bit to a more profitable leve l though. I've also been asked to do some edgy black and white portrait work for a British Superbike Rider, and also some behind the scenes documentary work on a race day... I'm hoping this will lead to more work like this in future, so that could be a decent money spinner and also pretty damn exciting I'm realistic in my expectations though and know its going to take years to become an established figure in the wedding and portrait scene, but I like having something postive to work towards and hopefully in the mean time I can just earn a little cahs doing something I love.

Thanks mate, I work in education placing students in employment to gain vocational experience. Or in other words finding work placements I recently set up my own photography business www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk which is what I hope to do full time at some point in the future, so am just ploughing all my efforts in to that and using the day job to pay the bills in the mean time. If I can grow the business enough to do it full time then I'll be a lot happier in my work life I think

So I ended up using a lot of the great info I got one here to write an article about re-introducing safe standing areas in our local clubs grounds. Cheers for everyone's help You can view it here and as always I welcome feedback and debate... and McFaul's sly digs about my own club http://thenortheasthub.com/blog/time-to-make-a-stand/ Cheers Andy

Oddly enough I've had similar dreams before myself, I just assumed they were down to a self confidence thing or something. If you met me in the work place you would know that self confidence isn't an issue In the simplest terms I can only think that it's because I think my job is utterly shit

Tek a boo son!