We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shelly Anderson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shelly below.
Shelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
One of the biggest trends I’ve been seeing in the wedding industry is the tool of SEO. As with most industries, Search Engine Optimization can really help your business be found to those that are looking for services that you may offer. When I first began photographing weddings, the most popular (and most successful) ways to search for wedding vendors was via magazine ads, or online wedding blogs that offered ad spaces and vendor highlights. All that needed to be done was pay a monthly subscription to these websites to have my website and bio listed, and many couples would reach out and book me for their wedding. Once Instagram started to really pick up steam, it soon replaced these online listings as the quickest and newest way that couples would find their wedding vendors. I quickly realized two things; first, there was always going to be a new social media or “thing” that was the new “it” tool that I needed to learn. The Instagram algorithm was constantly changing and it became a full time job to try to keep up with what needed to be done to be seen. Two, I didn’t want to be spending every day working to “go viral” for a few hours or to be seen. There had to be a better way. Once I devoted my time to learning SEO, everything changed for my business. The best part about working on your SEO is that it can be a ‘one-and-done’ game. I can make one blog post about a wedding venue, and that one post will be seen over and over again as it climbs it’s way to the first page on Google. So many couples have found my work from different blog posts and articles I’ve written about topics they might be searching. For wedding couples, one of the first things they do in their planning process is pick a wedding venue, so I have a LOT of information online that I’ve written on my site about different wedding venues in my area.
Shelly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Shelly, and I’m a Wedding Photographer that serves all of Colorado. I actually started my business in 2014 in San Diego, California, photographing weddings not only in Southern California, but up and down the West Coast and all over the country. I’ve photographed weddings in New Orleans, NY, Portland, Miami, Puerto Vallarta, Cayman Islands, and Scotland! In 2020, I moved to Colorado with my now husband and fell in love with this state. After years of traveling around for weddings, and now settling down and raising a family, I decided to narrow my focus to just the state of Colorado for future gigs. It’s been a fun transition for my career, and it has really forced me to prioritize local vendor relationships.
My photography is based on a few things; for couples portraits, I really try to make my couples feel comfortable in front of the camera and have the poses be “effortless”, natural, and candid. For the event part of weddings, I really focus on the connections and emotions of the invited guests and try to capture how that day authentically felt while being there.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I’ve had to pivot my business a few times! First being when I moved to Colorado from California. I started photographing weddings that were located on the beach and in the desert. Colorado couples were hesitant to book me for their mountain weddings at first! I had to put in a lot of work and fly out to Denver a few times the year prior to my move, just to drive around the mountains and get to know the area and local vendors. Another time was during Covid. Almost no weddings were being held in 2020. My wedding business sort of morphed into an elopement business during that year. It was actually a shift that I didn’t know I needed. It was so fun photographing more intimate gatherings and focusing more on the close relationships those couples had.
A third time would be when I found out my husband and I were expecting our first baby. Prior to getting married and starting a family, about a third of my weddings I photographed were “destination” weddings out of state or even out of the country. These days, I try to only book one or two weddings that are considered to be “destination” weddings. I’d much rather photograph weddings in my own state (even better in my own city!) than traveling around for gigs. While it was SO much fun to do so before, my priorities have shifted with having my family. It has also made me really focus on local vendor connections as well, which has only helped my business.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Next to SEO, my next most important marketing tool for my business has been networking. Meeting new vendors in my area, and actually befriending them on a personal level, and NOT on a business level, has been so beneficial to not only me, but to them as well. I’ve found that getting to know these vendors, and helping them out has truly helped my reputation in my market. I’ve offered my services for free for headshots that need updating, offered to put venues on my ‘best list’ blogs, and always give all vendors images after the events we work together on. None of these things hurt my business to offer, and it HELPS others. In return, it also helps me, as they all talk about how they love to work with me and send inquiring wedding couples my way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shellyandersonphotography.com
- Instagram: @shellbellanderson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shellyandersonphoto/
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shellbellanders/
Image Credits
Shelly Anderson Photography