Google Analytics, kicking butt and taking names...

I can't tell you how much I love Google Analytics, the information it provides about the visitors to your site is phenomenal and it's a must have tool.

If you have not yet setup Google Analytics you can watch this step by step video tutorial to get the ball rolling.

One of the things I like to look at in analytics is the ability to check on post popularity, there are times I write a post that I think is going to be killer and it falls flat, other times a simple quick post will hit it out of the park. It's a good way to judge the interests of your visitors and match what you have to say with what they are looking for.

I was pretty surprised to learn that about one third of our readers are from outside of the United States.

You can also learn what days are good to post on and what days are not.

What you can learn is almost endless and amazing.

If you follow this link you'll find 50 resources that will help you get the most out of analytics.

Below is an 8 minute video (done by Google) that will walk you through the analytics interface showing you where to find what you are looking for.

Tomorrow I will wrap things up with my (general) rules for blogging, not that I am a whiz kid at it (or a whiz old man), but in the 5 years I have been doing Weekly Photo Tips I have learned a thing or two about blogging and I will share those lessons with you.

Speaking of image metadata...

What is metadata?

Metadata is a pretty broad term when it comes to web design but for todays post we are going to talk about how it applies to images and/or photographs that we post on websites or a blog.

It's descriptive information (data) in an image file that will identify what its about, who took it, copyright & contact information, camera & exposure information, and descriptive information like keywords.

Why is metadata important? It makes the image readable by Google (and other search engines) which in turns makes the image searchable on the internet and will help improve search engine rankings.

As photographers this is extremely important as our sites are a more image intense environment, so image metadata really is mission critical information.

But image metadata only gets there because we put it there, which is the purpose of this post, to give you the information that will make the process easier.

A very useful free tool (that I use) is ProStockMaster. ProStockMaster is designed to both simplify and optimize the metadata process for folks who sell stock photography and if it helps them to standout in the highly competitive field of stock photography it will certainly help us on on our websites.

ProStockMaster is available for both MAC's and PC's and you can download it right here.

Another option for adding metadata to images is through Lightroom, and you can find a written tutorial here or if you prefer, a video tutorial here and here.

These aren't the only two ways to ad metadata to your images, you can use other (free) programs like FastStone Image Viewer, IrfanView, or "pay" programs like ACDSee and Paintshp Pro (to name a few).

Below is the best video I've seen that explains what image keywords are and why they are important (here is the second best, ironically by the very same person), it's only 3 minutes long and worth every second.

And it comes directly from the horses mouth, Google, so if you don't see the video in your subscription PLEASE return to the blog to watch it.

VIVA LA FUSION!!

Everyone knows Barb Cameron the Wedding Photographer - Barbara Ann Studios offers couples a style that is fresh, romantic, sexy and fun. Not only have her images been featured in countless wedding magazines and on numerous blogs, Barb was recently acknowledged as one of Canada’s Top 30 Inspiring Wedding Photographers for 2011.

Not everyone knows Barb Cameron the Baby Photographer - Wee Bairn Photography was launched when Barb’s former wedding couples started reappearing requesting that she photograph the next stage in their life, their newborn baby.

For those of you that don’t already know, Viva recently welcomed a new bundle of joy into the world and couldn’t wait to have Barb capture her on film. We were even more ecstatic when Barb told us about “fusion”. Combining video with still images, the end result is simply fabulous. Being all about memories, Viva had to have this!

And here it is...



While on a personal level we’re excited to share this with you let’s face it, it’s Viva la wedding. So for all you brides-to-be out there, here's a little wedding fusion... That’s right, Barb does fusion for weddings too! Love!!

Another important (maybe very) first step...

Which maybe I should have posted first in this series, is make sure your site is ready for visitors.

An easy way to do that is to run a report on your website or blog using the Website Grader which is a free service from HubSpot.

The report grades a site using "0 - 100" scale checking things like your indexed pages, meta data, links, image tags, Twitter grade, RSS feed, and so much more. You can read a sample report here (or just run your own and find out what, if any, changes you need to make).

After you see the results you can go about fixing any deficiencies that may have been identified.

You can also run reports on your competition.

And yes, there's and app for that, you can find it here.

You wouldn't have company unless your house is ready (well, us guys would), so don't invite folks over to your site until it's ready to be seen.

It's not sexy... but it is important...

For the next few posts we are going to cover the things that anyone/everyone who has a website or blog needs to do to ensure that folks can find them. That is our intent isn't it, to attract visitors?

A presences on the web is not a "build it and they will come" scenario.

So in this post we are going to cover RSS (Real Simple Syndication).

RSS is a real time saver in that you don't need to keep checking your favorite sites to see if there is anything new since your last visit, instead what happens is when something new is posted you will get a notification email.

If you want folks to follow your website or blog for very long having RSS setup on your site is an absolute MUST.

I use FeedBurner, not only does it provide RSS for your site, it will also give you all kinds of useful statistical information about who is subscribing, where your readers are coming from, and (very important) will help you get the word out that your site exists.

If you follow this link you will see a detailed video tutorial on how to setup an RSS feed with Feedburner.

You can also feed your Facebook page using RSS Graffiti, it will read your feed and write it on your Facebook wall, a very useful tool.

One bad thing about feeds is that videos that are part of your post do not get "fed" through, so if you are one of my blog subscribers you'll need to return to the blog to watch the video below that is a great demonstration of what RSS is and how it works.

Happy Easter...

This is an Easter morning photo from MANY moons ago...

The great Maze of Lucknow

Photographer : Avinash Patra