List of Free Directories All Wedding Photographers Should Join!
Those of you enrolled in The Photography Business Training by SLR Lounge know the importance of SEO and understand how it can be a consistent and sustainable lead generation machine. While we don’t think that you need to be a full fledged expert in the subject, we do believe that gaining basic knowledge and following a few simple practices will undoubtedly pay off in the long run. One such practice is listing in relevant directories such as websites that list local businesses, like Yelp and Foursquare, or websites that list wedding vendors, such as Weddingwire and Zola.
In particular, listing in directories assists with ranking in local search, i.e searches with local intent. While listing in these directories won’t automatically boost your organic search traffic, they will play a part, along with the many other factors such as having quality, relevant content and earning authoritative backlinks, in your overall local search rankings.
In addition to SEO benefits, these directories give you more control over your overall online presence. Think about it this way. When a client searches your business name, you want the first 1-2 pages of search results to show profiles that you control so that you can present accurate information and your best work.
To get you started, here are 12 directories to list in.
Before you get started, make sure you use a consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) for your business. Try to make it as exact as possible. For example, don’t mix “XYZ photography” and “XYZ wedding photography.” Consistent NAPs are critical to Local SEO rankings.
Note: These will apply primarily to US-based businesses, but some of these have international listings as well.
Get started with these directories:
- Google My Business (Most Important)
- Bing Places
- Facebook Pages
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- Zola
- Alignable
- Merchant Circle
- Manta
- Wedding Wire
- Party Slate
- 500px
All of the above directories should be free, however things may have changed since writing this resource. If they are charging a fee, simply ignore that directory and move on to the next.
Wedding Maps
Of course, we also recommend joining Wedding Maps to help build your online reputation. With wedding maps, we feature your images with link credit on our website as well as partner websites such as SLR Lounge and others to help build your authority, credibility, and reputation.
