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Sam Hollis builds websites for photographers and is an SEO specialist who popped up on my radar when premium member Adrienne Angelo suggested I listen to an episode of the “Shoot To The Top” podcast, where the discussion was focussed on utilising Google Maps to generate leads for your photography business.
Sam is the podcast co-host and runs a web design business with a difference—you pay for your website monthly with no upfront fees and no long-term commitment. If the website isn't working, you don't pay.
In addition to sharing his expertise to help with your SEO, I'm keen to hear his take on the recent nightmares for photographers, mainly in the UK, who have had their Google Business Profile flagged by another photographer and subsequently taken down.
In this interview, Sam shares how to generate photography leads with Google Maps and increase your overall search rankings.
Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:
I select to service an area because the rules on Google are that if you have a pin, you've got to have a permanent signage and people have to come and see you. Effectively, it's like a shop or an office where somebody's always there in office hours and they can come in while the area is more people don't come and see you, you provide services to people within that area. – Sam Hollis

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Then you want move up the rankings and there's quite a lot you can do. One of the most important is getting reviews. Lots of reviews and regularly. Keep getting them. It might be that you spent six months working hard got ton of reviews and then you stop that still isn't great if a year down the line all your reviews are a year old. – Sam Hollis
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In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.
The only thing you have to be careful of is reciprocal links. So if you did the blog post, wrote about it and then she linked to your blog post, great. If you did the post and your post is also linking to her site and her sites linking to you, Google will go, “Hmmm, they’re just kind of scratching each other's backs,” and doesn't count it as powerfully as if she linked to you. – Sam Hollis

What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Sam shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let...

578: Sam Hollis – How to generate photography leads with Google Maps

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