Keywords and Keyword Phrases

<p>I've been working on my web page for several months, tweaking it. Except for adding prices and sizes to some of the new photographs, it is almost done. The old site had been online since 1999. My web guy and I keep discussing keywords. When he set up the site he used words like "photographer,Virginia Beach, art, photo,Norfolk, pictures,photos,skyline" All of those, in my mind, do little or no good to a photographer that has a specialty product. It's like the bing.com commercials where you get swamped with 7,685,679,321 results by googling "photographer". A single keyword works well for Canon, Nikon, Sony, but not for me.<br>

Keyword phrases that will bring more specific results seem to be the answer. Put Virginia Art Photo together, and you might find me. Search "Virginia Images Photography" and I pop right up. I think you can narrow results by using zip codes, I search that way a lot. "Photographer 34567" narrows results quickly to that area.<br>

My first question: Do people use keyword phrases, or do you search as my webmaster suggests, one word ?<br>

Secondly, I already mentioned I have a specialty product. I make my living by selling Virginia theme art photos, stock images and vintage photos of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's a niche market I set up ion 1993, and it works. There are several smaller websites with just a few photos, that consistently rank high in search results. One has a very logical name Virginia Photo and a few others that are portrait/wedding photogs that somehow, much to my dismay are able to rank higher even though they do not sell art photos, landscapes, stock or anything except portraits. To address my concerns, the webmaster placed keywords on the front page, the show up as the cursor moves over objects. In most cases, it says Virginia Beach Photo. This doesn't seem to improve my page ranking, and it is distracting.<br>

Second question: What tips can you offer on hiding keywords on the front page in this manner, and does this violate any google or other search engine rules (could they be working against me)?<br>

Other comments/suggestions on my website welcomed. \Please keep in mind this website is designed to sell photos - art-stock-media-murals-wallpaper-etc. It remains a work in progress. <a href="http://www.VirginiaImages.com">www.VirginiaImages.com</a></p>

<p>Tim, I've read that keywords are not the most important factor in determining the search results placement for a site. What does help a sites search ranking is apparently the number of other sites that link to it and the wording on the landing (Home) page of your site. Google has information for businesses at the link below if you sign-up and there's no charge to do so.<br>

So how do you get other sites to link to yours? I assume your prospects are primarily tourists so area resorts, the local Chamber of Commerce, etc. may be good prospects. In turn link to their sites from yours.</p>

<p>http://www.google.com/webmasters/#utm_medium=et&utm_source=us-en-et-bizsol-0-biz1-all&utm_campaign=en</p>

<p>Thanks Bill for the information, that link is a maze of links to more links. Maybe when I retire I'll have time to read it all. In the meantime I was hoping for some OPINIONS based on actual experiences photo.net members have had with their own website. I'm not a webmaster or even a creator, I'm trying to work with the designer to a common goal: a website that is easy to find. I haven't added backlinks on my site yet, but have registered with more than 50 web directories based on art, tourism, picture framing, stock etc.</p>

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<p>Tim:<br>

Care to list the web directories you've registered with? :-)</p>

<p>I downloaded a program called "Good Keywords" that's supposed to help you use <a href="https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal">Google's Keyword Tool</a> , but maybe I just don't get it.</p>

<p>My web rankings are abysmal. I wish Phott.net would let people set up a signature line in their profiles, and have it automatically be attached to every posting. Then, I wouldn't have to add <a href="http://WaltZPhotography.com">http://WaltZPhotography.com</a> to every post, just to get some linking going on.</p>