The SmugMug Blog

We know that it sounds a bit odd to write a blog post about this, but our Support Heroes get a surprising amount of email from friends, family and clients who can’t find their photographers’ websites. We thought you could use a hand, or at least a handy tip on how to ensure that your photos get seen for sure.

Don’t be vague!

You wouldn’t just tell someone, “Drive to New York, then look for the gray house,” would you?

Similarly, you should give visitors a specific address for the photos they’re expecting to see: Either a direct link to the gallery itself or, if you want to share several galleries, a link to the Category, Sharegroup or Event.

DO: Share a link that take your fans straight to the photos they can’t wait to see.

DON’T: Direct them to SmugMug.com‘s homepage and hope for the best.

This is particularly important if all of your galleries are Unlisted. (Lots of you do this!)

Can’t they just search?

Sure they can! Don’t get us wrong: SmugMug’s got great search engine-fu and Google juice, but searching has lots of moving parts. The more parts, the higher the risk. Here are a few potential trip-ups:

• You’ve forgotten to add keywords to your galleries or photos. Or you recently keyworded them and Google hasn’t had a chance to index them yet.

• Your friend spells your name wrong. This can happen to the best of us, especially if you were trading info quickly or in a noisy place.

• You have a popular name, like Smith or Jones, that turns up thousands of hits.

So what are those features you just mentioned?

Here’s our SmugMug Checklist to help you be absolutely sure your fans can find exactly what they’re looking for.

1) Add contact info to your Bio box so it’s easy to find. If you haven’t created that gallery yet, it’s even more important that you post contact information somewhere on your website. Pros should always have a Contact Email set up in the “Me” tab of their Account Settings.

2) Learn how to Get a Link and share them.

3) Share several galleries with a single link: Sharegroups to the rescue! Or if you’re a Pro, blow them away with Events and Favorites.

4) Add descriptive keywords to all of your galleries and photos, so that search engines can find them.

So consider this a brief, friendly reminder to err on the safe side and be specific when someone asks you about your photos. As always, our Support Heroes are always willing to help them find you, but it’s our mission to make it as easy as humanly possible.

Happy sharing!