Wildlife Ocean Photography

zan · #1 (**permalink**) 20-08-2008, 09:23 AM

Hiya,

I'm planning on adding a 'guides' section to my website to attract a bit more traffic through, but am not sure what people would find interesting. My website is basically focussed on marine wildlife (above and underwater), so I was thinking about writing short sections on:

Techniques: e.g. shooting from boats \ basic wildlife photography

Locations: e.g. rough guides to places I know are good for marine wildlife \ photography

Is there anything else that people think would be useful that I could add in, that they would look for in this regard? I'll be happy to share the finished 'guides' on WAB when I'm done with them too

Cheers
Zan

ron1863 · #2 (**permalink**) 20-08-2008, 12:41 PM

Hi Zan, you could add a link to your site as your signature, which would get you a lot of traffic, especially as all the members are interested in wildlife.

zan · #3 (**permalink**) 20-08-2008, 02:18 PM

I would, but I sell prints through my site, which I think makes it a commercial one, which in turn means I can't have it in my signature

A mod can probably advise better, but I don't feel like being kicked out of here - it's a nice forum

zan

SilverW0lf · #4 (**permalink**) 20-08-2008, 02:35 PM

I think a link to your website (stunning by the way) would be OK although you would need a link back to WAB...

Quote:

Originally Posted by WAB

Links in signatures can only be displayed by members who display an active link to Wild About Britain from their own website, or where members link to their WAB Gallery images or blog page.Once you have added a link in your signature we will check to make sure that you have linked back to Wild About Britain from your website, and then either activate or delete your signature link where appropriate.

Signatures must be no more than two lines of default-sized black text and cannot advertise organisations, products or services...

The rules say that advertising in your signature isn't allowed but as long as it doesn't say "Buy my photo's!!!" with a link to your site I'd have thought it would be fine.

However as said above checking with a mod might be best (although it does say above that if they don't like the link they will just delete it for you)

jennyb · #5 (**permalink**) 20-08-2008, 09:26 PM

Zan, your web site is great. You have some beautiful images but I really love the underwater ones.

I don't know how much control you have over the content of your site using Photium, but there are various search engine optimisation techniques that you can use on your current pages, if Photium allows you to do that. For example, Google uses the title tag to ascertain what is in a particular page (that is the title that appears at the top of your browser and not on the page itself). You have a good title tag on the home page but not on the other pages. If Photium allows you to edit the title tags and meta information, let me know and I can give you some suggestions to make it more search engine friendly.

Your guides idea is a good one and should make it more search engine friendly, but those pages should also be optimised.

I build web sites for a living so please let me know if you would like some help with this.

Jenny

zan · #6 (**permalink**) 21-08-2008, 09:35 AM

That's really good of you to offer JennyB, but unfotunately photium only allows you to edit the tags on the homepage at the moment. I emailed them about the other pages and they said it might be available in the near future, but for now I'm stuck with it as it is. I can tag the images though which is a start (or would be if google images ever updated)... That said, I will definately keep you in mind if I need a hand in the future if you don't mind?

So far I'm thinking of writing location tips for the Firth of Lorne, Farne Islands and (possibly) the Isle of May. The firth of Lorne probably isn't a very well-known place (which is a shame because there's more wildlife there than anywhere else I've been in this country), but I worked there and know it backwards, and the others because they are popular with photographers and birders and might be searched for more often.

If anyone knows of any other places around the Scottish coasts that would be worth checking out, please let me know. Any and all ideas are always welcome!

zan

Newbee · #7 (**permalink**) 21-08-2008, 02:44 PM

Hi, Zan,

You should consider using a Wordpress blog as a base for your site. It's free, totally optimised for search engines, tons of free themes and a plug in Gallery. The site content is 100% manageable from your control panel. You can get a load of traffic from other bloggers, too. I've set up loads of them. (I'm a PHP programmer)

Just Google Wordpress and have a look.

Bill

zan · #8 (**permalink**) 21-08-2008, 02:48 PM

thanks newbee,
I use wordpress to run the website for the dive club, and it's ace, but not good for photos. The photium site has an included online shopping option, and premade galleries, so it's better for me at the moment as I primarily want to advertise my photos rather than a blog.

Zan

Newbee · #9 (**permalink**) 21-08-2008, 02:51 PM

Ok, Have a look at Public Image Market - High Quality Images for Web and Print I designed and built it. If you want something like that, I can help.

Cheers,

Bill

jennyb · #10 (**permalink**) 21-08-2008, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zan

I will definately keep you in mind if I need a hand in the future if you don't mind?

No problem. Anytime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zan

If anyone knows of any other places around the Scottish coasts that would be worth checking out, please let me know. Any and all ideas are always welcome!
zan

Have you considered/been to St Abbs Head Nature and Marine Reserve? One of my favourite places in the UK.

Jenny