EP 21: Mini Mentoring with Victoria Mendoza

00:00:00 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:00 [Melissa]
Welcome back to the Keep It Moving podcast.
00:00:02 [Melissa]
I’m Melissa, and my cohost Allison is here with me.
00:00:05 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:00:05 [Melissa]
Hey.

00:00:05 [Melissa]
So last week, we talked about blogging and tags and categories made easy.
00:00:10 [Melissa]
Hopefully, you guys were able to understand what you needed to do.
00:00:13 [Melissa]
Hopefully, you went in and created some categories and maybe some tags and are organizing your blog.
00:00:18 [Melissa]
This week, we are back with our second mini, which we’re super excited about.
00:00:22 [Melissa]
So before we dive into that, just keep in mind, if you wanna keep hearing us in your ears, please go out and rate and give us stars on the different podcast platforms.

00:00:30 [Melissa]
Right.
00:00:31 [Melissa]
And, also, if you are planning to move or have moved and are struggling or just not sure what you need to do next, Allison’s got a pre move checklist in the show notes.
00:00:40 [Melissa]
We’ll also put a link in the show notes for applying for a mini mentoring session.
00:00:44 [Melissa]
I think we’re gonna have some spots available in the fall to chat with more people and try and figure out getting you a little bit of a game plan on where to go in your business with your move.

00:00:55 [Alison]
Hey.
00:00:55 [Alison]
I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.

00:00:58 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:01:04 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:01:10 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:01:15 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.

00:01:22 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:01:23 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:01:23 [Alison]
We are here for mini mentoring number two.
00:01:26 [Alison]
We have with us Victoria Mendoza.
00:01:28 [Alison]
Victoria, thank you so much for being here with us.
00:01:31 [Alison]
Welcome.

00:01:31 [Victoria]
Thank you for having me.
00:01:32 [Victoria]
Thank you.
00:01:32 [Victoria]
Thank you.

00:01:33 [Alison]
Absolutely.
00:01:33 [Alison]
Okay.
00:01:34 [Alison]
So tell us a bit about yourself.
00:01:35 [Alison]
What you shoot, where you live, have you moved already, moving soon?

00:01:39 [Victoria]
We currently live in the South.
00:01:40 [Victoria]
We live in a small town in Mississippi.
00:01:42 [Victoria]
I’m a military spouse, so we have moved not that often, actually.
00:01:46 [Victoria]
We’ve got really lucky, and we were six and a half years at our last base, but we have But by choice, we actually really liked it.
00:01:55 [Victoria]
Yeah.

00:01:55 [Victoria]
Mom, there It is

00:01:56 [Alison]
a long time.
00:01:56 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:01:56 [Alison]
We loved it there.
00:01:57 [Alison]
But we had all of our

00:01:58 [Victoria]
kids there, and we have three moves coming up Oh, wow.
00:02:03 [Victoria]
In the next two or three years.
00:02:04 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:02:05 [Victoria]
Oh, lordy.
00:02:05 [Victoria]
We got solid.

00:02:06 [Victoria]
We didn’t move, and now all of a sudden, we’re moving a ton.

00:02:08 [Alison]
You’re making it

00:02:09 [Victoria]
for it.
00:02:10 [Victoria]
Okay.
00:02:10 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:02:10 [Victoria]
Exactly.
00:02:11 [Victoria]
Yes.

00:02:11 [Victoria]
So I do families and lifestyle newborn and maternity.

00:02:15 [Alison]
So what’s the upcoming move schedule then?

00:02:18 [Victoria]
We are moving around September, October.
00:02:22 [Victoria]
We are moving to we’ve known all the moves ahead of time.
00:02:24 [Victoria]
So we’re moving to Little Rock.
00:02:26 [Victoria]
And then we’re moving to Illinois.
00:02:28 [Victoria]
My husband is guard, so that’s the guard unit that acquired him.

00:02:31 [Victoria]
So we will be in Illinois, a little bit outside of Chicago, and that will be, next year.

00:02:38 [Alison]
So September and then September ’24.
00:02:41 [Alison]
And then when?

00:02:42 [Victoria]
That one, I’m not sure.

00:02:43 [Melissa]
It’ll be

00:02:44 [Victoria]
Okay.
00:02:44 [Victoria]
The same time

00:02:45 [Alison]
the year after 2025.
00:02:47 [Alison]
Rock then?

00:02:47 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:02:48 [Victoria]
Mhmm.

00:02:48 [Alison]
Okay.
00:02:49 [Alison]
Okay.
00:02:49 [Alison]
Cool.
00:02:49 [Alison]
Wow.

00:02:50 [Melissa]
Well, that’s tough.
00:02:51 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:02:51 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:02:52 [Alison]
And then

00:02:52 [Victoria]
we’ll probably move after that too.
00:02:53 [Victoria]
Yeah.

00:02:54 [Alison]
For sure.
00:02:55 [Alison]
For sure.
00:02:55 [Alison]
Okay.
00:02:56 [Alison]
Wow.
00:02:57 [Alison]
Okay.

00:02:57 [Alison]
What kind of changes are you making?
00:02:59 [Alison]
Are you planning to make any changes?
00:03:00 [Alison]
Are you services adding anything, dropping studio wise?

00:03:04 [Victoria]
I am going to be increasing my prices, and then I What?
00:03:08 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:03:08 [Victoria]
It’s time.
00:03:09 [Victoria]
Yay.
00:03:11 [Victoria]
It’s time.

00:03:12 [Victoria]
I would love I don’t think I’ll have the ability to have a studio, but I would love to see if there’s a studio that I can maybe rent out just because with the weather here in the South, it like, right now already, it’s intolerable.
00:03:25 [Victoria]
So Yeah.
00:03:26 [Victoria]
That unless the session’s, like, at 7PM or 7AM, it is just very miserable.
00:03:32 [Victoria]
And since I love newborns and sometimes you don’t wanna get the house ready for a newborn, I would love to offer a studio for my family.

00:03:39 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:40 [Alison]
And borns need to not get a heat stroke.

00:03:42 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:03:42 [Victoria]
We can’t let the babies suffer outside.

00:03:45 [Alison]
For sure.
00:03:45 [Alison]
For sure.
00:03:46 [Alison]
Okay.
00:03:47 [Alison]
What can are you willing to share your price point, like, your range?

00:03:50 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:03:50 [Victoria]
So I currently charge

00:03:52 [Alison]
where you’re gonna go?

00:03:53 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:03:53 [Victoria]
I currently charge $1.75 for thirty minutes, and that is I normally only do thirty minute sessions.
00:03:59 [Victoria]
I just feel like that’s a perfect amount of time for me.
00:04:03 [Victoria]
Sometimes they go up to forty five minutes, but that’s typically the time frame.
00:04:06 [Victoria]
And then that can be family and maternity.

00:04:08 [Victoria]
And then newborn sessions are $2.50.
00:04:09 [Victoria]
So the newborns, I’m thinking I like them.

00:04:12 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:04:13 [Melissa]
At least Yes.
00:04:14 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:04:14 [Melissa]
And then yes.

00:04:18 [Victoria]
And then the family sessions, I’m thinking it’ll probably be, like, 02:50 for thirty minutes.
00:04:24 [Victoria]
I’d like to focus more on the newborns.
00:04:27 [Victoria]
Mhmm.

00:04:27 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:04:28 [Alison]
And

00:04:28 [Victoria]
for me, like, my availability is not at all what everyone else’s is.
00:04:33 [Victoria]
So, like, for us here, I knew that I was only going to be taking on weekend sessions.
00:04:38 [Victoria]
The majority of people here don’t take time off.
00:04:40 [Victoria]
I just that was the reality for me.
00:04:42 [Victoria]
So for me, a month is, like, four newborns and a super max of four families.

00:04:49 [Victoria]
That’s about

00:04:50 [Alison]
Okay.
00:04:50 [Alison]
What is three working Saturdays and Sundays.

00:04:53 [Victoria]
Yep.
00:04:53 [Victoria]
I only do Saturdays and Sundays.
00:04:55 [Victoria]
And given the volatility of the southern weather, I do have to be able to make allowances for I got rained on my minis.
00:05:02 [Victoria]
I had minis two weeks ago and I got rained on.
00:05:04 [Victoria]
It just came out from nowhere.

00:05:05 [Victoria]
It was a fun surprise.
00:05:07 [Victoria]
I just have to be able to make those allowances and especially with so this here in particular is a training base.
00:05:13 [Victoria]
And so a lot of time and if I have newborns whose

00:05:17 [Melissa]
Mhmm.

00:05:17 [Victoria]
Service member, it’s usually the husband, is going through the training program, they really don’t get time off.
00:05:22 [Victoria]
They really only get, like, the one week for the baby.
00:05:24 [Victoria]
It’s not a lot of people here They’re

00:05:25 [Alison]
not getting their three months.

00:05:26 [Victoria]
They won’t get the three months.
00:05:27 [Victoria]
If they’re if they’re an instructor, yes.
00:05:29 [Victoria]
But if they’re a student, they don’t get the three months.
00:05:32 [Victoria]
I can’t be like, hey.
00:05:33 [Victoria]
Let’s do this next Wednesday in the afternoon because that’s what my sitter is available because they don’t they can’t always make that work.

00:05:40 [Victoria]
And for me, currently, with my three very little kids, they’re four, two, and just about to be one, and that’s just what works with our schedule.

00:05:48 [Alison]
Absolutely.
00:05:48 [Alison]
I did the same thing when my kids were young too, and I was homeschooling.
00:05:51 [Alison]
I only worked weekends, and I actually we didn’t quite have quite as much weather as the South in I don’t know.
00:05:57 [Alison]
Maybe we did.
00:05:58 [Alison]
I always left one weekend open, completely open, one for my sanity or two for weather backups, just like you’re talking about.

00:06:05 [Alison]
I just book up three and then have to leave one open.
00:06:08 [Alison]
So that was I found that was a really good rhythm.
00:06:10 [Alison]
So it’s really cool.
00:06:10 [Alison]
That’s really good of you to have that foresight and to accommodate where you are right now.
00:06:14 [Alison]
Is it going to be like that after you move in Little Rock?

00:06:17 [Victoria]
It’s be that it’s more convenient for me to do weekends.
00:06:22 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:06:22 [Victoria]
It could be that the afternoon is going to work for, like, during the week for some sessions.
00:06:27 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:06:27 [Victoria]
It won’t be a restriction on my end.

00:06:29 [Victoria]
And when the summers are long and things like that, I don’t mind doing weekdays.

00:06:32 [Alison]
But it won’t be, like, a training base so, like, your clients could be available to still

00:06:35 [Melissa]
a training base.

00:06:36 [Victoria]
It will still be a training base the next one.

00:06:38 [Alison]
Okay.
00:06:38 [Alison]
So the same things.
00:06:39 [Alison]
Same The same will still apply.
00:06:41 [Alison]
Okay.

00:06:41 [Victoria]
But the benefit is that it’s a much bigger area.

00:06:44 [Alison]
Hey.
00:06:45 [Alison]
Yes.
00:06:45 [Alison]
I’m talking to you.
00:06:47 [Alison]
How are you feeling about this move?
00:06:49 [Alison]
It’s us, but I’ve got something for you.

00:06:51 [Alison]
I want you to grab my pre move checklist to make things a little easier.
00:06:55 [Alison]
Even if you’re not sure where you’re going yet, it’s not too early to start.
00:06:58 [Alison]
But you could be losing time on that SEO juice if you dilly dally.
00:07:02 [Alison]
So head over to alisonbell.co, that’s alisonwith1l,bell,.co, to get your pre move checklist.
00:07:09 [Alison]
You got this.

00:07:10 [Victoria]
I knew that when we moved here, we knew that we were going

00:07:13 [Alison]
to move, and we knew

00:07:14 [Victoria]
it was one of three places, but I didn’t actually know until two months before.
00:07:17 [Victoria]
And it was it coincided with right when my so my daughter was this May, we found out in April that we were moving in July, like, April.
00:07:25 [Victoria]
And so Right.
00:07:26 [Victoria]
We knew like, we had known the year prior that we were going to be moving, but it was there was a lot of changes happening for our family, and I was not going to stress myself out doing all the SEO and everything.
00:07:36 [Victoria]
And so I just because I didn’t know what to put.

00:07:38 [Victoria]
I didn’t know I can’t market myself to an area that I don’t know where I’m moving to.

00:07:42 [Alison]
You’ve gotta have a location.

00:07:44 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:07:44 [Victoria]
And two months really isn’t that much time anyways, and I thought that would be a little much of me to take on having a newborn.
00:07:51 [Victoria]
So I had made the decision not worry about SEO.
00:07:54 [Victoria]
I turned off the blog portion of my website, but I redid my website.
00:07:58 [Victoria]
I did the bare minimum for here.

00:07:59 [Victoria]
Just like the picture tags, the I made sure that the images were resized, but I have not looked at I don’t even think it’s called Google Analytics anymore.

00:08:07 [Melissa]
I think it’s switched to something else.
00:08:08 [Melissa]
But,

00:08:09 [Alison]
oh, no.
00:08:09 [Alison]
It’s Google Analytics.
00:08:10 [Alison]
It’s the G 4 property, and then there’s

00:08:12 [Victoria]
search console.
00:08:13 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:08:13 [Victoria]
So it’s been a hot minute, but I did nothing of SEO, and I figured I’m just going to post in the Facebook group a few times and just see what comes of it.
00:08:21 [Victoria]
And it worked out well for me because everyone here is wonderful.
00:08:24 [Victoria]
I love it for them.

00:08:25 [Victoria]
Everyone’s having babies.
00:08:26 [Victoria]
And That’s

00:08:27 [Alison]
the a plus of a military town.

00:08:29 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:08:29 [Melissa]
And that probably is that price point.
00:08:32 [Melissa]
Price point.
00:08:32 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:08:32 [Alison]
Yes.
00:08:33 [Alison]
So I think you could work just full disclosure.
00:08:35 [Alison]
I think you could work half as much and make more money.

00:08:37 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:38 [Melissa]
I’ll see you took the words out of my mouth.
00:08:39 [Melissa]
I was like, I’m thinking you could probably double those prices again and have the amount of sessions that you

00:08:44 [Alison]
have especially in Little Rock when Yeah.
00:08:46 [Alison]
When you’re gonna have more than military people around you.

00:08:50 [Melissa]
And I would

00:08:50 [Victoria]
And it is a bigger place.
00:08:51 [Victoria]
Like, yes.
00:08:52 [Victoria]
So that’s plan number one for sure.

00:08:53 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:08:54 [Alison]
I would start with doubling or tripling or adding a zero to your prices.

00:08:59 [Victoria]
Like, that makes me nervous.

00:09:01 [Alison]
That’s what we’re here for.
00:09:03 [Alison]
We’re here to walk you through that.
00:09:04 [Alison]
I have this is coming from Victoria.
00:09:07 [Alison]
I swear up and down.
00:09:09 [Alison]
I’ve done all of that.

00:09:10 [Alison]
I have been at those price points.
00:09:11 [Alison]
I have done exactly what you’re doing with kids that age, and my average sale is $1,500.

00:09:17 [Victoria]
I love that for you, and I want that to be me, but I’m nervous about it.

00:09:21 [Alison]
You are your you are the only thing standing in your way.

00:09:23 [Victoria]
Just like

00:09:23 [Melissa]
you were there.
00:09:24 [Melissa]
You’re going to a new area, so you can completely establish yourself on the ground.

00:09:28 [Victoria]
That’s what I told myself.
00:09:29 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:09:29 [Victoria]
I told myself.
00:09:30 [Victoria]
I was like, no one knows.
00:09:31 [Victoria]
And so I the first thing I did was I just took I took the prices off of my website.

00:09:34 [Victoria]
Like, I I fixed a couple of things and I updated it.
00:09:36 [Victoria]
Awesome.
00:09:37 [Victoria]
And so I I so that when I do start working on everything for there, I can fix that and and change it once I gather the courage.

00:09:45 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:45 [Alison]
And it’s and it is it’s yourself.
00:09:47 [Alison]
It’s your limiting beliefs.
00:09:48 [Alison]
It’s all that stuff that’s getting in your way.
00:09:49 [Alison]
But I say that to say, it’s doable, and you’re looking at

00:09:53 [Victoria]
at it.
00:09:53 [Victoria]
I know.
00:09:54 [Victoria]
And I

00:09:54 [Alison]
love that.
00:09:54 [Alison]
I love your album.
00:09:55 [Alison]
Looking at each other.

00:09:56 [Victoria]
I know.
00:09:57 [Victoria]
I loved it.
00:09:57 [Victoria]
I saw your album.
00:09:58 [Victoria]
I was like, oh, I should do

00:10:00 [Melissa]
albums.
00:10:00 [Melissa]
I love albums.
00:10:01 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:10:01 [Melissa]
I’d say I would say a minimum of a thousand dollars for a newborn session is, like Mhmm.
00:10:06 [Melissa]
That’s

00:10:07 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:10:07 [Victoria]
Originally, I thought that was crazy.
00:10:09 [Victoria]
Then the more I do them and the more I spend time on them, I was telling my husband, I’m like, dang.
00:10:14 [Victoria]
I know it sounds like a lot to some people when you say $2.50 and maybe if it’s just one baby, there’s no siblings or anything, it’s forty five minutes.
00:10:20 [Victoria]
And you’re like, gosh.

00:10:20 [Victoria]
$2.50 for forty five minutes.

00:10:22 [Melissa]
But then

00:10:22 [Victoria]
You’re in the wrong time.

00:10:23 [Melissa]
That’s not the right client.

00:10:25 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:10:25 [Victoria]
And all the time that I spend, if I were to do how much I’m paying myself per hour, take away the taxes, the insurance, all the stuff, it really is so difficult to justify the time away from my family for

00:10:36 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:10:36 [Alison]
Depreciation

00:10:37 [Victoria]
on Yeah.

00:10:37 [Alison]
Apps, editing, computers, lenses.
00:10:41 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:10:41 [Alison]
There’s times when I feel like at my price point, I’m like, I’m not making enough to cover this.
00:10:45 [Alison]
Because it there’s so much that goes into business.

00:10:47 [Melissa]
Especially when you have

00:10:47 [Melissa]
to go

00:10:48 [Melissa]
buy a new camera and a new lens and you’re like, wait, they want $4,000 for lenses now it feels?
00:10:52 [Melissa]
Come on.
00:10:53 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:10:53 [Alison]
For sure.
00:10:54 [Alison]
For sure.
00:10:55 [Alison]
Cool.
00:10:55 [Alison]
So what so what have you done already to prep for this move coming up?

00:10:58 [Victoria]
I joined the spouse page just to see Okay.
00:11:01 [Victoria]
Are people having a lot of babies?
00:11:02 [Victoria]
Are we

00:11:03 [Melissa]
It’s the military.
00:11:04 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:11:04 [Melissa]
I know.
00:11:05 [Melissa]
With spouse be very careful with spouse pages.

00:11:08 [Victoria]
I’m a silent lurker.

00:11:10 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:11:10 [Melissa]
But do not let them dick through trouble.
00:11:12 [Melissa]
Because, honestly, when you get out to Little Rock, my goal would be that you’re not you’re not using the military to fill your books.
00:11:18 [Melissa]
Like, you’re in a big location.
00:11:20 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:11:21 [Melissa]
Because if you ask in that group, they’re gonna have a heart attack at $250.
00:11:24 [Melissa]
And at a thousand, they’ll tell you’re crazy.
00:11:26 [Melissa]
So Yeah.
00:11:26 [Melissa]
No offense to military spouses.
00:11:28 [Melissa]
Like, I am one.

00:11:28 [Melissa]
Like, I know

00:11:29 [Alison]
It is a microcosm of the entire world.
00:11:31 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:11:31 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:11:32 [Victoria]
I have been as booked as I can be here.
00:11:35 [Victoria]
And that’s been so fun for me because I didn’t think that was I really didn’t go into it with any expectations.
00:11:40 [Victoria]
I just decided that this would be a year where I would try new things, try and get some, try and better some things and improve.
00:11:46 [Victoria]
But what I would love is for I would love to have a steady amount of newborns every month coming in.

00:11:52 [Victoria]
Mhmm.
00:11:52 [Victoria]
I know I’m not terrible at SEO.
00:11:54 [Victoria]
I’ve listened to all of Melissa’s because I listened to so many things.
00:11:58 [Victoria]
And when I was doing it in Georgia, I was feeling a little dumb.
00:12:01 [Victoria]
And I thought, what the heck?

00:12:02 [Victoria]
I’m doing all the things.
00:12:04 [Victoria]
Why is this not I know I know I’m understanding what she’s saying.
00:12:06 [Victoria]
Why is it not working?
00:12:07 [Victoria]
And then ever since we’ve moved, all of a sudden, I’m getting all these inquiries from Google, and now I they always come from Georgia.
00:12:14 [Victoria]
I haven’t done anything.

00:12:15 [Victoria]
And I some last

00:12:15 [Alison]
time just finally baked in.

00:12:17 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:12:17 [Melissa]
This time.

00:12:17 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:12:18 [Victoria]
And so that that was nice because I thought I understood what she was saying.
00:12:21 [Victoria]
I just have to be able to do it again.
00:12:22 [Victoria]
So now I’ve got But now I’m now I’m worried that because I don’t know who I’m still popping up on there.
00:12:27 [Victoria]
I don’t wanna put in the effort and then keep popping up on there.

00:12:29 [Alison]
I know Georgia content, blog posts, or anything that has says Georgia?

00:12:33 [Victoria]
Nope.
00:12:33 [Victoria]
I pop up on the Google map.
00:12:35 [Victoria]
I don’t know how to fix that.

00:12:37 [Alison]
But I see your stuff.
00:12:38 [Alison]
You’re Google My Business.

00:12:39 [Victoria]
Something Could I switch to my business profile?
00:12:41 [Victoria]
All that jazz.

00:12:42 [Alison]
I don’t

00:12:43 [Victoria]
I know.
00:12:43 [Victoria]
So I need to figure out how to do the SEO so that I’m reaching the right audience in Little Rock and not force a little bit.

00:12:51 [Alison]
That end now.

00:12:52 [Victoria]
I used to ask for I from what I remember, because I haven’t like I said, I haven’t touched any SEO things in a year because I I didn’t really need to do it.
00:13:00 [Victoria]
But I did remember that Google likes it when you get reviews across multiple platforms.
00:13:06 [Victoria]
Am I remembering that right?

00:13:07 [Melissa]
Getting reviews in general, but honestly, I would focus my reviews on Google Business Profile.
00:13:12 [Melissa]
Hey, fellow photographers.
00:13:13 [Melissa]
Melissa Arlena here.
00:13:14 [Melissa]
Does SEO feel super overwhelming to you?
00:13:17 [Melissa]
I get it.

00:13:18 [Melissa]
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated.
00:13:20 [Melissa]
I’ve spent fifteen years in photography and ten years in IT before that, cracking the SEO code so that you don’t have to whether you’re eager to learn or you just want somebody to take care of it for you.
00:13:31 [Melissa]
I’ve got your back with my SEO coaching and done for you services.
00:13:34 [Melissa]
You’ll get noticed online, attract more of your ideal clients, and keep doing what you love most photography.
00:13:41 [Melissa]
Ready to boost your website’s visibility without the headache?

00:13:44 [Melissa]
Visit pictureperfectrankings.com.

00:14:44 [Melissa]
Let’s make SEO simple and effective for you.
00:14:47 [Melissa]
Let’s get your calendar booked.

00:14:49 [Victoria]
Because I thought I had to have both.
00:14:50 [Victoria]
So I’ve been having people put on Facebook.
00:14:53 [Victoria]
And then because people here, that’s what they use.
00:14:55 [Victoria]
They use Facebook, not so much Google.

00:14:57 [Melissa]
You can have both links out there.
00:14:58 [Melissa]
I would just put the Google business one first and then Facebook second.
00:15:01 [Melissa]
And then that way, like Okay.
00:15:02 [Melissa]
Because that’s your primary.

00:15:03 [Victoria]
The other thing I need to get back to doing is blogging.
00:15:05 [Victoria]
I used to be really diligent about blogging, and I would not blog because I listened to my podcast.

00:15:09 [Alison]
I listened to desktop.
00:15:11 [Alison]
I Googled you.

00:15:12 [Victoria]
Oh, yeah.

00:15:12 [Alison]
There I am.

00:15:12 [Victoria]
What does it say?
00:15:13 [Victoria]
Georgia?

00:15:14 [Alison]
Middle Georgia wedding and family photographer.
00:15:16 [Alison]
But I’ve been Top result.
00:15:17 [Alison]
But see blog, though.
00:15:18 [Alison]
It’s the journal, and it’s the blog, and it’s pulling that’s where it’s pulling I took

00:15:22 [Victoria]
all the pages.

00:15:23 [Melissa]
I’ll pay

00:15:24 [Victoria]
I don’t even know how to go back.
00:15:25 [Victoria]
I literally one.

00:15:26 [Melissa]
Have to go back.

00:15:27 [Alison]
It’s intense.
00:15:28 [Alison]
There’s a lot.

00:15:29 [Victoria]
There’s it’s like an onion.
00:15:30 [Victoria]
Like, every time I think I peeled back the light, I’m like, no.
00:15:32 [Victoria]
Dang it.
00:15:32 [Victoria]
So the page

00:15:33 [Alison]
is gonna

00:15:33 [Melissa]
go.
00:15:34 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:15:34 [Alison]
You’re absolutely right.
00:15:35 [Alison]
That’s why this is such a big headache.
00:15:36 [Alison]
That’s why it’s so I frantic for ten to twelve months.
00:15:41 [Alison]
Actually, right now, it’s been eighteen months.
00:15:43 [Alison]
I started in January ’23 moving to Hawaii, and I am just now here in April, May 2024 telling myself chill out.

00:15:52 [Alison]
Things are fine.

00:15:53 [Victoria]
Mhmm.

00:15:53 [Alison]
So okay.
00:15:54 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:55 [Alison]
I totally get it.
00:15:56 [Alison]
Okay.
00:15:56 [Alison]
So where alright, Melissa.

00:15:57 [Alison]
So where should she start?

00:15:59 [Melissa]
I would definitely start now with keyword research and figuring out what are the keywords for family for newborn?
00:16:04 [Melissa]
Something for your homepage post stuff like that because she has a short timeline That’s the only thing that worries me is that you and I both know that SEO takes time to bake in and if she’s only going to be there a year it’s, like, kind of the Georgia situation.
00:16:17 [Melissa]
Just as you’ve got it baked in, now, like, you’re having to pick up and go again and start over.

00:16:22 [Victoria]
Because you know what?
00:16:23 [Victoria]
I’m okay with doing that because that will give me I finally was able to pinpoint when it started going well in Georgia, like, what I was doing well.
00:16:32 [Victoria]
Because I first, I didn’t know if I was doing anything correctly.
00:16:34 [Victoria]
I thought I was doing the writing blog posts on different talking.
00:16:38 [Victoria]
Is this silly?

00:16:39 [Victoria]
Who’s reading this?
00:16:40 [Victoria]
How how do I know that this is what they’re searching for?
00:16:42 [Victoria]
Should I just be showing full sessions instead?
00:16:45 [Victoria]
And that’s good to know.

00:16:47 [Melissa]
I would focus when it comes to blogging.
00:16:49 [Melissa]
I would focus on general FAQs.
00:16:53 [Melissa]
Don’t worry about blogging for as much as the local stuff Because I do want you at some point to blog for some local stuff But I think just blogging some general FAQs when to book a newborn session how to prepare for a lifestyle newborn session What maternity like all those FAQs because those with you no matter what and those will be helpful so I would definitely have those and then I would the first thing I would work on is like home page and portfolio pages and getting keywords set for those.
00:17:23 [Melissa]
And then once you’ve got those keywords set and you’ve got some blog posts that are just the FAQ ones, then I’m trying to think I would probably look for What’s gonna be the best?
00:17:34 [Melissa]
Family blogs post to put out and and some of that’s gonna be getting to know your clients Maybe like Allison you had one of Christmas trees.

00:17:41 [Alison]
I just about I’m writing it right now So, yeah, so one of the things you I would do and you need to be very strategic about what timely seasonal and location specific Blogs you put together like Melissa said but one of the things that people love and will you’ll be there in time for what Christmas events are happening in Little Rock you need to make one solid detailed full of links with all the times dates and what’s happenings of Everything in chronological order in December and November from November to Christmas something like every parade every Christmas show every town something.
00:18:16 [Alison]
What are the lights?
00:18:17 [Alison]
We had trolley rides here.
00:18:19 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:19 [Alison]
Special movies if there’s Christmas movies, showings, parades, things like that.

00:18:23 [Alison]
Put it in one giant resource and don’t wait for Google.
00:18:26 [Alison]
That’s when you need to start sharing that mess everywhere.
00:18:29 [Alison]
Put it in all the spouse pages.
00:18:30 [Alison]
This is free information that you’ve done the work to compile for your own little family and you want to share with everybody else.
00:18:35 [Alison]
You think it’s gonna be useful.

00:18:37 [Alison]
You’re gonna put it in every Little Rock mom group.
00:18:39 [Alison]
You’re gonna put it in every spouse group.
00:18:40 [Alison]
You’re gonna put in the region.
00:18:42 [Alison]
Okay?
00:18:43 [Alison]
Not just, like, little bit, but, like, Little Rock proper, but, like, all the little outliers too that are the the country folk that are gonna be coming in because it’s useful.

00:18:50 [Alison]
It’s really useful information.
00:18:52 [Alison]
And I did that for Oahu Christmas events without Google even indexing it yet I had so many hits on my website that Google Analytics said this is weird.
00:19:02 [Alison]
We have an anomaly on your website and it was 500 clicks.

00:19:06 [Victoria]
Oh, wow

00:19:07 [Melissa]
Yeah, so 500

00:19:08 [Alison]
people clicked on my website from Oahu just to get the christmas events and found out that I was a photographer

00:19:14 [Melissa]
and the reason I say something versus doing like a doulas or a midwives post is that’s an easy one that like she’s saying you can share in those different groups to get some more traffic and stuff like that It’s local events that people are always looking for but there’s not a lot of times the information So if somebody wrote it last year, it’s out of date for this year because I know I look for that here in Charlottesville and I was like so mad because I was clicking on links and it was like, oh no that wreath maker last year was last year.

00:19:37 [Alison]
Yeah Same thing for summer camps.

00:19:39 [Melissa]
I was

00:19:39 [Victoria]
gonna say indoor activities to do with children in the summer coming right up.

00:19:42 [Alison]
I will literally

00:19:43 [Victoria]
ride it tonight.

00:19:44 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:19:45 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:19:45 [Melissa]
No.
00:19:45 [Melissa]
And in fact, we had a, like, an oracle come in and organize your house around here.
00:19:49 [Melissa]
She put together a spreadsheet of all the summer camps in the Charlottesville area and found out pricing and everything.

00:19:55 [Melissa]
And when I saw her drop that lead magnet basically in all the moms groups in Charlottesville, I wasn’t like, oh, that’s so cool.
00:20:00 [Melissa]
I was like, oh, that’s a genius marketing idea.
00:20:03 [Melissa]
Good job.
00:20:04 [Melissa]
Because now she’s got all of these people who went and downloaded it, who are now on her email list, and she’s an organizer like she hit her ideal client So that’s what I’m thinking about for you And I would actually I know Allison you did yours as a blog post, right?

00:20:17 [Alison]
I did it as a blog post and I just sent it out Yeah, I would say but

00:20:20 [Melissa]
it was a lead magnet And

00:20:21 [Alison]
Yes and no.
00:20:22 [Alison]
I’m because I’m targeting people traveling in from the Mainland to Hawaii, the folks that are here.
00:20:27 [Alison]
It was something I wanted.

00:20:28 [Alison]
And it

00:20:28 [Alison]
was the idea because my neighborhood group chat on WhatsApp blew up because somebody had all they’d been here forever, and they just laid us down with links.
00:20:37 [Alison]
Links.
00:20:37 [Alison]
And I was like, this is brilliant.

00:20:38 [Victoria]
And I was like, wait.

00:20:39 [Alison]
If I’m consuming this, this would be useful.
00:20:41 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:41 [Alison]
It was very useful.

00:20:42 [Melissa]
I might figure out a way to even share a little bit.
00:20:44 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:20:45 [Melissa]
Here’s the top three things.
00:20:46 [Melissa]
But I’ve got a list of 20.
00:20:48 [Melissa]
Go download the rest here kind of thing.

00:20:50 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:20:50 [Melissa]
But then that gets them now you’re getting you don’t have a problem with her of, like, there she is gets the travelers.
00:20:55 [Melissa]
You’re getting the locals.

00:20:57 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:20:57 [Melissa]
You’re getting them onto your list.
00:20:59 [Melissa]
And then having, at that point, using email marketing to warm them up and to get to know them and stuff.

00:21:03 [Alison]
And just

00:21:04 [Melissa]
Are you providing tips and advice.
00:21:06 [Melissa]
No.
00:21:07 [Melissa]
Email us.
00:21:08 [Melissa]
Now and it is hard because you’re leaving and Yeah.
00:21:11 [Melissa]
I know Allison’s got all kinds of segments for past places she’s been.

00:21:14 [Melissa]
I’ve got, like, Northern Virginia segment, Florida segment.
00:21:17 [Melissa]
Like, you are gonna be building up those segments and stuff.
00:21:19 [Melissa]
But I think that’s a good way to help There’s

00:21:21 [Alison]
another episode idea.
00:21:23 [Alison]
Oh, I would

00:21:24 [Victoria]
do it.
00:21:24 [Victoria]
I I’ll do it.
00:21:25 [Victoria]
I have no I’ll even start I enjoy writing blog posts like that because it’s the kind of thing that I look for and I feel like it takes me forever.
00:21:33 [Victoria]
And if you’re in a spouse group or, like, a mom’s group, the same question gets asked 50,000,000 times.
00:21:38 [Victoria]
But then it’s like you said, you go to search and, oh, that’s outdated.

00:21:41 [Victoria]
Oh, that was that passed.
00:21:42 [Victoria]
Oh, that passed.
00:21:43 [Victoria]
It would be much easier.
00:21:44 [Victoria]
But So when you don’t think it’s too soon, I can I’ll just log.
00:21:47 [Victoria]
I’ll write them tonight.

00:21:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:21:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:21:49 [Melissa]
Because you want to give it time to bake in and stuff and I know santa stuff starts getting searched honestly in like July kind of thing So like just having that stuff the problem you may run into is you just don’t have dates yet for a lot of the stuff But at least if you can look at past year’s list, you on there.
00:22:04 [Melissa]
And then as soon as they’re gonna release it, you can update that kind of thing.

00:22:07 [Victoria]
I’ve never used the function on the Google business profile where is it like a post?
00:22:12 [Victoria]
Like, you could share posts?

00:22:13 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:22:13 [Melissa]
I might absolutely use it.
00:22:14 [Melissa]
Anytime you blog to update.
00:22:16 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:22:16 [Melissa]
Think of them like a Facebook status, but for your business.

00:22:19 [Melissa]
So you can share a photo from a session, you can share blog post, but, yeah, having that updated with information.
00:22:26 [Melissa]
I always share blog post because it’s usually helpful information and stuff.
00:22:29 [Melissa]
But your Google business profile filling out the entire thing, cause that’s really gonna help with your local SEO.
00:22:35 [Melissa]
Cues in there, products, services.
00:22:37 [Melissa]
I was just telling a client today, I’m like, you don’t have to put pricing on there for the products and stuff.

00:22:42 [Melissa]
So you can just show, like, an album and you don’t have to have a price point on it.

00:22:46 [Alison]
And I would actually we’re talking about Christmas.
00:22:48 [Alison]
You could totally do Christmas in the summer.
00:22:49 [Alison]
But I think first before I would do that, I would do the indoor activities for kids in Little Rock now because people are gonna want that now.
00:22:56 [Alison]
They’re searching it now.
00:22:57 [Alison]
And that’s gonna serve you far longer two summer seasons instead of one if you do it.

00:23:02 [Alison]
Yeah, if you go ahead and jump on

00:23:03 [Victoria]
for sure.

00:23:04 [Melissa]
Yeah, so I would do that and then Instagram figuring out once you’ve got those keywords figure out the hashtags for Instagram for Little Rock that are gonna hit the mom’s stuff and start posting now and getting your images onto those feeds and stuff like that.
00:23:18 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:23:19 [Melissa]
Because you have such a short turnaround, that’s the hard part.
00:23:21 [Melissa]
If we dive, like, fully into all the SEO stuff, then you’re just turning around and doing it.
00:23:25 [Melissa]
And, obviously, we do this all the time.

00:23:26 [Melissa]
But when you’re turning around and doing it in the next six months again, that seems like it’s not long enough for things to bake in as much as you want.
00:23:34 [Melissa]
So I’m trying to think of what are the quick hits.
00:23:36 [Melissa]
Oh, and then Allison and I have been talking about this.
00:23:38 [Melissa]
Those lead magnets, and people are getting on your email list, and you’ve got people who are who are checking out those blog posts, run like a Facebook retargeting ad.

00:23:46 [Victoria]
Mhmm.
00:23:47 [Victoria]
And

00:23:47 [Melissa]
so that way, you’re just in you can run them for a dollar a day.
00:23:50 [Melissa]
And just basically anyone who’s been out to your website, now they’re getting an ad that’s just, hey, I am a photographer.

00:23:56 [Alison]
Check again.
00:23:57 [Alison]
Oh, I was just on her website.
00:23:59 [Alison]
What?
00:23:59 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:23:59 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:24:00 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:24:00 [Melissa]
So just running a quick retargeting ad on that,

00:24:03 [Victoria]
I think would be Yeah.

00:24:03 [Alison]
And literally $30 a month.
00:24:05 [Alison]
Mhmm.

00:24:05 [Melissa]
Dollar

00:24:05 [Victoria]
a day.
00:24:06 [Victoria]
Okay.

00:24:06 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:24:06 [Alison]
Or if you need to, put another dollar to it for a week.

00:24:09 [Victoria]
It’ll be interesting Instagram yields anything because this here and the town that we lived in before, that was not at all a place that people use at all.
00:24:17 [Victoria]
It’s always been Facebook and obviously Instagram.
00:24:20 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:24:20 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:24:20 [Victoria]
I share on Instagram.

00:24:21 [Victoria]
That’s so interesting.
00:24:22 [Victoria]
But

00:24:22 [Alison]
Because here in Hawaii, it’s the opposite.
00:24:24 [Alison]
Nobody’s on Facebook.
00:24:25 [Alison]
Locally, anyway.
00:24:26 [Alison]
It’s Instagram.
00:24:27 [Alison]
Even one of the baseball leagues was like, just search on Instagram.

00:24:30 [Alison]
And I was like, Instagram’s on a search box, sir.

00:24:32 [Victoria]
Like Thanks for that.
00:24:33 [Victoria]
It’s always been it’s always been either word-of-mouth or Facebook.
00:24:36 [Victoria]
And, actually, a while ago, Melissa, you did a website review.
00:24:41 [Victoria]
Am I is that right?
00:24:42 [Victoria]
Yeah.

00:24:42 [Victoria]
You were offering them, like, on the month of April.
00:24:44 [Victoria]
Five minute review.
00:24:45 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:24:46 [Victoria]
And I remember I think you asked what is something that you have a specific question on or something like that.
00:24:51 [Victoria]
And I had said, I don’t know if I’m using the right keywords.

00:24:53 [Victoria]
And I remember in your recording, you said something like, I tried to find the keywords, but I’m not finding anything that has more than 40 clicks in a month.
00:25:00 [Victoria]
So I don’t really know if if you need to expand to a bigger area.
00:25:03 [Victoria]
And I laughed when you said that because I thought this is how this area is.
00:25:07 [Victoria]
People don’t typically use Google and things like that.
00:25:10 [Victoria]
They use foot groups and they use word-of-mouth.

00:25:12 [Victoria]
And so I had to do it properly and be able to reach a bigger audience in a bigger area.
00:25:16 [Victoria]
It’s just gonna be new for me.

00:25:17 [Melissa]
No.
00:25:17 [Melissa]
And it is hard.
00:25:18 [Melissa]
When you are in a smaller town and stuff, there’s always gonna be people who say, oh, I have people who drive to me even though I live in a smaller town and they spend thousands of dollars.
00:25:26 [Melissa]
But on average, when you’re out in the middle of nowhere, you’re maybe not gonna do $3,000 sales.
00:25:30 [Melissa]
I do think for our newborn person, even in a military community, that you could definitely even get above 5 or $600.

00:25:36 [Melissa]
Allison and I have shared clients that they paid me twice as much as they paid her, and I was like, girl, that’s why you need to raise your prices.

00:25:41 [Alison]
People I knew in in Okinawa got stationed in Northern Virginia and did their newborns with her.
00:25:46 [Alison]
That was one of the key things that I keep reminding myself of cannot judge a book by its cover.

00:25:50 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:25:51 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:25:51 [Melissa]
Because I was like, girl, they paid me twice as much as they paid you.
00:25:54 [Melissa]
You need to read your worth it kind of thing.
00:25:56 [Melissa]
So keep that in mind.

00:25:57 [Melissa]
Even if you’ve got to do it slowly, I love the idea of double right now and then just have it in your head.
00:26:02 [Melissa]
Like, you could double that too, but you may need a little bit of time for that.

00:26:07 [Victoria]
Mhmm.

00:26:07 [Alison]
Okay.
00:26:07 [Alison]
So to recap, what you’re gonna do, you’re gonna figure out your prices.
00:26:11 [Alison]
Right?
00:26:11 [Alison]
That’s step number one because that’s what we want people to be booking you at the new prices.
00:26:15 [Alison]
And you’re gonna figure out how to get that on your website or starting prices.

00:26:18 [Alison]
Okay.
00:26:18 [Alison]
So then you’re going to do your keyword research for Little Rock.
00:26:22 [Alison]
Okay?
00:26:22 [Alison]
Then you need to start blogging.
00:26:23 [Alison]
And we talked about doing the blog for Little Rock like indoor so you could get two seasons out of that and then Christmas events.

00:26:29 [Alison]
And then also Melissa mentioned FAQs like the what to wear the things that was gonna come with you when to book what should the toddler wear what should mom wear what should dad wear

00:26:40 [Melissa]
and you can always update those if you need to at the next location if information changes Absolutely.

00:26:45 [Alison]
And then some of that generic stuff that’s not location specific.
00:26:49 [Alison]
And then you need to look at your homepage and your portfolio pages for on page SEO.
00:26:54 [Alison]
I wouldn’t even worry about a lot of other stuff we would normally talk.
00:26:58 [Alison]
You’re not gonna be there long enough.
00:26:59 [Alison]
And then Facebook retargeting ads because those can be a dollar or 2 a day and very minimal effort.

00:27:05 [Alison]
You can go in, turn them on, turn them off as you need.
00:27:08 [Alison]
So And Instagram.
00:27:09 [Alison]
Oh, and Instagram.
00:27:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:27:10 [Alison]
If Instagram is what your people are using.

00:27:12 [Alison]
So it’s really big here in Hawaii, but I think you mentioned that people aren’t very on Instagram very much there.
00:27:18 [Alison]
So what do you think about that?

00:27:19 [Victoria]
I love lands.
00:27:20 [Victoria]
So I love things that are laid out for me.
00:27:22 [Victoria]
I would start blogging today immediately.
00:27:25 [Victoria]
I can do that.
00:27:26 [Victoria]
I just needed a little bit of a direction because I with this I didn’t do anything.

00:27:30 [Victoria]
I I just let this SEO go, so I haven’t looked at anything.
00:27:33 [Victoria]
I used to do all the things.
00:27:34 [Victoria]
I used to do the keyword research.
00:27:35 [Victoria]
I used to pay for that one program.
00:27:37 [Victoria]
I forget what it’s called.

00:27:38 [Victoria]
But Neil Patel, he changed the name now.

00:27:40 [Melissa]
Suggest.
00:27:40 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:27:41 [Victoria]
That one.
00:27:41 [Victoria]
Yes.
00:27:41 [Victoria]
So I used to use that to track everything.
00:27:43 [Victoria]
I used to use the Google Analytics, and I was always on top of it.
00:27:45 [Victoria]
But now I have it.

00:27:46 [Victoria]
And so now I feel like I need to know where to start to get the right bang for my buck.
00:27:51 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:27:51 [Victoria]
It does.
00:27:52 [Victoria]
It’s

00:27:52 [Alison]
so much change.
00:27:53 [Alison]
Every move is different.
00:27:54 [Alison]
You’re gonna refine this more and more just just like I have.
00:27:57 [Alison]
It’ll all be different.

00:27:58 [Victoria]
Forward to it.

00:27:58 [Alison]
But yeah.
00:27:59 [Alison]
It but do be very strategic.
00:28:00 [Alison]
You only have there.
00:28:01 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:28:01 [Alison]
Be strategic about what you put your effort and energy into, especially a mom as a mom of young kids.

00:28:06 [Alison]
Like, it’s not worth it to chase every little option.
00:28:09 [Alison]
Maybe we should, like, have a redo and take two in six months, see how you’re doing.
00:28:13 [Alison]
That’d be fun.

00:28:14 [Victoria]
By Christmas.
00:28:15 [Victoria]
Yeah.
00:28:15 [Victoria]
Let’s do it.

00:28:16 [Alison]
You’ll have that Christmas block out by then.

00:28:17 [Victoria]
I sure will.
00:28:19 [Victoria]
Way before then, actually.

00:28:20 [Alison]
Awesome.
00:28:21 [Alison]
Well, Victoria, thank you so much.
00:28:23 [Alison]
You are such a dear to come on and share all your stuff with us.
00:28:26 [Alison]
So we’re really excited to see how this works for you and glad we could help.

00:28:30 [Victoria]
Yep.
00:28:30 [Victoria]
Thank you.
00:28:30 [Victoria]
I appreciate all your help.

00:28:33 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:28:34 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying this show, would you do two things for us?
00:28:37 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:28:39 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:28:40 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:28:45 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:28:48 [Melissa]
If you have any questions, reach out to Allison on Instagram at alisonbelle photog or Melissa in her Facebook group, Raise Your Ranking.
00:28:55 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links.