How much of your business comes from internet searches?

I am just trying to get a website started, and while I am doing it I am learning about SEO issues (this is my first real experience with SEO issues).

As a part of working on this, I have been doing searches for other photographers in my area (suburb of St. Louis) who do similar type of work (natural, location type portrait photography, as opposed to studio work).

Here is my question--for those of you that have websites, what percentage of your business comes from internet searches? Times where someone has no idea who you are, until they start looking for a category of photos (e.g., senior pics) in your area (as opposed to people who have been referred to you and then search for your business based on that referral).

In looking at search engine results for my area, if I were a client starting from scratch, I think I would quickly become frustrated by trying to find anyone by a random internet search. Even in searching for particular categories (contemporary senior pics Arnold MO) I have been getting so many completely unrelated hits in the first few pages of search results that, if I were a client, I would throw in the towel. For my search example above, I am getting things like the senior portrait factory places that do 100 people a day in the most lame studio posings possible, or photographers in suburbs on the other side of St. Louis, 40 miles away. Just has me thinking, do people really see tangible results from random web searches?

EDIT: FWIW, if it makes any difference, I am not depending on photography being a full time job for me. I am just trying to transition my hobby, where I frequently take pics for friends and family, into a "side job" type of operation, to make a few bucks off it. I anticipate that 95%+ of my "business" will come from referrals. But, in looking at web search issues, I am just curious how many of you full-time photogs get meaningful business from random web searches.

I am by no means a full time photographer, but I probably get one out of ten shoots via folks just finding me on the internet.

Dave

plawren53202 wrote in post #14674139
Here is my question--for those of you that have websites, what percentage of your business comes from internet searches? Times where someone has no idea who you are, until they start looking for a category of photos (e.g., senior pics) in your area (as opposed to people who have been referred to you and then search for your business based on that referral).

Zero.

Yep. All of my work comes from referrals or people seeing it on display in three locations in town.

So far, zero. Not knocking websites but they are passive, rather like having a billboard tucked away down a maze of alleyways. A website doesn't go looking for clients. Promoting your business should involve as many channels as you can manage - word-of-mouth, networking, leveraging past clients, advertising, website......

50% website, 25% referrals, 25% advertising... but my business is not a photography business, so I doubt this post will help you at all, lol.

Steve of Cornubia wrote in post #14676168
So far, zero. Not knocking websites but they are passive, rather like having a billboard tucked away down a maze of alleyways. A website doesn't go looking for clients. Promoting your business should involve as many channels as you can manage - word-of-mouth, networking, leveraging past clients, advertising, website......

Not that I have any expertise in this at all, but it sure seems to me that this is how a website primarily operates. It is a place to point people to view your work, get a sense of your style, get details about hiring you, AFTER there has been a point of contact by other means (personal contact, referral from past client, FB, etc.).

plawren53202 wrote in post #14676953
Not that I have any expertise in this at all, but it sure seems to me that this is how a website primarily operates. It is a place to point people to view your work, get a sense of your style, get details about hiring you, AFTER there has been a point of contact by other means (personal contact, referral from past client, FB, etc.).

No. A website just sits there, waiting for potential clients to find it. It DOESN'T go looking for business - that's the Tog's job. You could argue that SEO provides some sort of 'seeking' function I suppose, but technically, it's the search engine that does the seeking, not the website.

I get about 5-10 inquiries a year from internet searches. I probably book 2-3 of those.

Wedding business only.

Steve of Cornubia wrote in post #14677035
No. A website just sits there, waiting for potential clients to find it. It DOESN'T go looking for business - that's the Tog's job. You could argue that SEO provides some sort of 'seeking' function I suppose, but technically, it's the search engine that does the seeking, not the website.

...I think you are both saying the same thing.

Zero from organic searches, most of my traffic is from direct searches. My SEO is currently useless though, that's my coming weekend, just researching and changing my website to be better for organic stuff (ALT tags etc).

I'd say a solid 25%.

plawren53202 wrote in post #14674139
I am just trying to get a website started, and while I am doing it I am learning about SEO issues (this is my first real experience with SEO issues).

As a part of working on this, I have been doing searches for other photographers in my area (suburb of St. Louis) who do similar type of work (natural, location type portrait photography, as opposed to studio work).

Here is my question--for those of you that have websites, what percentage of your business comes from internet searches? Times where someone has no idea who you are, until they start looking for a category of photos (e.g., senior pics) in your area (as opposed to people who have been referred to you and then search for your business based on that referral).

In looking at search engine results for my area, if I were a client starting from scratch, I think I would quickly become frustrated by trying to find anyone by a random internet search. Even in searching for particular categories (contemporary senior pics Arnold MO) I have been getting so many completely unrelated hits in the first few pages of search results that, if I were a client, I would throw in the towel. For my search example above, I am getting things like the senior portrait factory places that do 100 people a day in the most lame studio posings possible, or photographers in suburbs on the other side of St. Louis, 40 miles away. Just has me thinking, do people really see tangible results from random web searches?

EDIT: FWIW, if it makes any difference, I am not depending on photography being a full time job for me. I am just trying to transition my hobby, where I frequently take pics for friends and family, into a "side job" type of operation, to make a few bucks off it. I anticipate that 95%+ of my "business" will come from referrals. But, in looking at web search issues, I am just curious how many of you full-time photogs get meaningful business from random web searches.

If you search for related keywords in your area and the search engine are returning unrelated results it means the following:

1) There is not a lot of relevant sites for the selected keywords
2) It will be easier to rank for these keywords
3) Clients will be happier to find relevant results
4) You can get those clients

ZERO!!!

I get most of my out-of-town business through a Google search. Fortunately, if you Google 'food photography' or 'food photographer' in my city/state/region, I'll typically come up first or second on the list.

In addition to a sales rep, it's been invaluable.

dkizzle wrote in post #14680707
If you search for related keywords in your area and the search engine are returning unrelated results it means the following:

1) There is not a lot of relevant sites for the selected keywords
2) It will be easier to rank for these keywords
3) Clients will be happier to find relevant results
4) You can get those clients

This^
However, it's not 'Random' as the OP said, you should be looking at searches that customers would use, Google can help you with that too. both with search terms and potential traffic from them.

And just hope that those people who think a website is passive in finding customers keep thinking that