The allure of elopement is the adventure. In fact, a majority of Pacific North West elopement photographer Brianna Parks’ clients come to her all the way from New York, Boston, and Rhode Island, and many of them are experiencing the PNW for the very first time. They are able to find her for an adventure elopement photoshoot because of her SEO (search engine optimization). In a recent edition of The Portrait System Podcast, Parks shared her SEO optimization tips with host Nikki Closser.  

You’ll find Parks’ key SEO tips here along with a story of a recent dream adventure elopement photoshoot she captured with a couple from Ohio. They traveled to the “Swiss Alps of America” in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to get married in the same place they got engaged. 

Romance and Adventure 

Parks’ photography style is deeply influenced by the landscapes around her and how those epic landscapes can become the setting for romance and adventure. The couple in this shoot built their romance around adventure. After meeting on their university’s swim team, they went on multiple hiking, backpacking, and camping trips – eventually getting engaged on top of a mountain in the North Cascades.  

The two wanted their elopement to feel like summer camp – adventurous, fun, and casual. Their four priorities were mountains, sandwiches, hiking, and homemade pasta. An intimate group of their family and a wedding planner helped make it happen with sandwich toasts and homemade pasta on a Pendelton picnic blanket-styled table top at the end of the day.  

Parks says, “My goal throughout the entire shoot was to capture what made them fall in love with the North Cascades in the first place — the mountains.” She planned to shoot documentary style for most of the day but also feature gorgeous, posed shots during golden hour. Mostly, she wanted them to remember the feeling of the day — the weather, the scenery, and the feelings between them and their guests. 

When shooting an adventure elopement, Parks’ personal rules are to almost always backlight, to infuse the couple into the landscape, and to pay attention to the rule of thirds.

Brianna Park’s SEO Optimization Tips 

Thanks to the work she’s put into her SEO, Brianna Parks averages 1.5 inquiries every day even though she’s only been in business a few years. Here are a few key tips she shared with The Portrait System Podcast for how you can do the same. 

1. Begin with keyword research. Google Keyword Planner is a great tool that is completely free that you can use to find out what people are searching for. Simply type in a keyword you think people are searching for, and it will show you the number of estimated monthly searches. Google Keyword Planner often will offer you similar keywords to the one you searched for with higher search rankings. 

2. Parks typically aims for keywords with 1000 or larger searches per month if the competition is low for those searches. However, she also will target search terms that are lower but are very specific to locations she wants to shoot in. For example, virtually no one searches for Lassen Volcanic National Park elopement, but Parks targeted it and got a client out of it. 

3. Write blogs on the topics your clients are searching for, covering all aspects they have questions about. For elopement photographers, these could include where are the best places to elope, what time of year is best, what to pack, and where to stay. Be the expert. Create a comprehensive guide on it with great pictures and personal recommendations.  

4. You only want one blog per search term, so if you want to showcase more images that are related to that term, make them photo blogs that link to the blog that holds the search term. 

5. Think of this as a marathon rather than a sprint. It can take six months to a year for you to rank in searches, so be patient and pace yourself. To get started, Parks recommends setting one day to look up keywords. Then, the next month, come up with a draft for one of them. Then, the following month, refine it and publish it. After that, write one a month or every other month.  

6. Also, consider building up your domain authority by getting backlinks to your website by guest writing for publications. 

Parks credits getting higher ranking on Google not just for getting more clients but also with helping her raise her prices. As demand for her services increased, she was able to raise her prices every six months, tripling her prices in just four years.