Over the next four days, I'll be covering the inaugural Better Together Conference hosted by The Equality Project. Better Together 2018 is a two-day national conference to be held at the Melbourne Town Hall in Victoria, Australia from 12 to 13 January 2018.

The conference will explore current issues facing the LGBTIQ movement, bringing together voices from women’s rights, indigenous rights, disability, the Deaf community, and multicultural and faith groups.The conference goal is to create a truly intersectional discussion about achieving meaningful social change to create a fairer, more equal and more just Australia.

A number of pre-conference training sessions are being planned to help develop the capacity and skills of emerging leaders in the Australian LGBTIQ community. These will be held on 10th and 11th January 2018.As part of Better Together 2018, the Australian Openpp is hosting an exclusive event on 12th January with tennis champion Billie Jean King

It's important to understand the message you want to deliver and to whom.

My personal branding photo shoots are so much more than having your photo taken and making sure you look fantastic - I work with you to understand where your personal brand is at and where you want to take it. Some of the questions we answer together include:

- what feeling and emotion do you want others to feel when they see your image?

- who your audience is, what expectations they have about you, your industry and offering - so your final image aligns to the one they have in their mind and is consistent with their expectations.

- your personality and values - no cheesy smiles or fake poses; your image is a true representation of your best qualities and what others love about you.

- your industry - what's expected of someone in your filed? Your personality will still shine through; I'll also align this with your business goals and positioning strategy.

- AUTHENTICITY: no amount of PhotoShop makes a staged photo look amazing; it's up to me to capture the real you by making the photo experience fun, relaxing and enjoyable.

I work with organisation and individuals to create amazing images to take their branding to the next level - if you'd like to find out more about The Imaginarium Experience and how I can help you, please get in touch.

Andy

You’ve created an awesome website – congrats! What you need to do now is bring people to it. For your website to come up high on search engines like Google and Bing, you need to understand a little bit about the world of “Search Engine Optimization” or SEO.

While many shy away from this topic, it’s actually not the scary monster many make it out to be. Start with my top suggestions outlined below that will take you step-by-step through the process of optimizing your website.

If you'd like me to take a look at your website and provide some SEO guidelines and assistance, I'm more than happy to help! Simply send me an email to info@imaginariumphotography.com.au and I'll personally respond straight away.

01. Choose the right URL

Before your website goes live, you need to select a URL. Also known as your domain name, it’s the address that visitors will type in to find your site. Like the giant sign above a storefront window, it’s one of the first things visitors see when they come to your site. That’s why it’s also the first place Google looks to understand what your site is about and decide how to rank it. It’s also important to make sure your URLs are clean and beautiful. This means no special characters, no hashbangs, no page ID. You get the point.

The ideal domain will include your business name and perhaps a keyword or two that are relevant to your business.

02. Create titles and descriptions for each page

Did you know that you can write a unique title and description for each page on your website? These are brief texts that accurately and clearly describe what your business does, ideally with a few keywords and phrases mixed in.

Ever hovered over a tab on your browser? That short phrase that pops up under your mouse is the title of the page. While the description is not visible, it too is very important for search engines! In fact, the title and description are among the first things Google uses to determine your site’s rank. Plus – once your site does show up in a search results page, web surfers will read your title and description to learn what your site is about and decide whether or not to check it out.

03. Utilize anchor text

As you write the text for your website, consider where you can use anchor text within your site. Anchor what? No, it has nothing to do with sailing. Anchor text is simply text that visitors can click on to be taken directly to another web page, either on your site or anywhere on the Internet.

Effective anchor text should be used to help users navigate your website and find what they are looking for. It should also include keywords and phrases related to what you do. If you own a shoe store, for example, the words, “Check out our selection of children’s shoes,” on your homepage can link via anchor text to your online store that is stocked full of – you guessed it – children’s shoes.

Anchor text is a great way to boost your SEO, but keep in mind that excessive linking or anchors that don’t really help your readers can raise red flags with Google.

04. Add alt text to all your images

Search engines are great at reading text on your website, but they still haven’t quite figured out how to look at the images on your site. To understand what’s displayed in a photo or graphic, search engines look for “alt text,” a concise written description (just a few words) about each image on a website. When writing alt text, be sure to accurately describe what is shown in the image, but also try to include the name of your business or a few keywords related to what you do.

Pro Tip: You don’t need to write alt text for images that are purely functional or design related, such as a background image that is just shapes. If the image doesn’t have anything to do with the topic of your site, you can skip the alt text.

05. Give your site structure with the right headers

Every page on your website should have a title, a subtitle and so on. When search engines scan your website, they’ll understand

your content better if you explain them the text hierarchy. The most relevant part is the title of your page and you should define it as H1 (in the Text’s Editor). The H1 should be descriptive the page’s content and you shouldn’t have more than one H1 per page. Choose carefully and don’t forget to include your keywords. Following your H1, is H2, H3 and so on. The clearer your text structure is, the easier search engines will digest your site’s content.

Personal branding is the process of identifying what makes you memorable to others and creating an authentic connection between you and your customers and colleagues. This is about showing your personality, your beautiful flaws and endearing characteristics - also known as authenticity! One of the main reasons why so many people don't like their photo taken is due to the unnatural, unrealistic pose they're asked to hold for the camera; even something as minute as "smile". You'll never catch me asking someone to pose awkwardly or fake a smile. Instead I'll take the time to make you feel relaxed in front of the camera so that it's an enjoyable experience - and trust me, this will make all the difference!

A local business was establishing a boutique dressmaking business and needed photos of her designs to sell online. She was also wanting to target the plus-sized market and had asked a friend to model for her. User Experience, as part of a planned business photo shoot, helps answer some customer concerns they might or might not know about when viewing the customer's website:

Instead of photographing against an indoor wall which the customer initially wanted, I suggested an outdoor setting. Customers are looking for visual cues on how they can imagine themselves using the product or service - in this case how they would look wearing the clothing in the photo.The girl was instructed by the owner NOT to smile as models never smile. Yes, it's rare to see a smiling Burberry or Gucci advert in a glamour shot, however for functional, local designs viewers are not expecting the same experience. In this image, a hint of a smile subconsciously conveys a positive experience with the clothing. The bright green background supports this by conveying the positive emotions and experiences we associate with the colour- nature, freshness and relaxation. The model should look like your intended audience - customer need visual prompts when using your website to imagine themselves using your product or service - if you're targeting or your customer base are generally over 40, then using a 20 year-old isn't advisable. Te first thing your customer do when they see the photo of the young model is automatically thin that whatever the picture is trying to sell does no apply to them and so you lose their interest and engagement.

One of the challenges was visitors thinking of going to see an Acupuncturist were deterred by the assumption it involved excessive pain, bleeding and needles. White needles are used, there is minimal pain, no bleeding and the majority of the consultation involves talking with the patient and consultation.

The website images were shot to placate the customer's fear of pain by showing the Doctor in a warm and caring manner. The image here is shot over the patient's shoulder as it allows someone to experience what a typical consultation might be like. As the website viewer is unlikely to know the Doctor, they view the image differently to the way a friend or family member would. When we look at photos of ourselves we're critiquing our dress and how we look. A stranger's photo is much different and we often make decisions subconsciously about brands and websites without realising it. For example"

He's leaning in, showing he's listening to the patientThe setting is naturally-lit, highlighting an emphasis on natural and holistic medicine and differentiating himself from a regular GP.I asked him not to smile - which we naturally do when someone takes our photo, however it's not always appropriate. It's a natural human behaviour to interpret things we don't understand, and without knowing the full context of this image a viewer tries to figure out what's happening on their own. The look of concentration suggests concern for and interest in the well-being of the faceless patient - whereas the same shot with the Doctor smiling would lead to an entirely different assumption being made that is highly unlikely to encourage the viewer to make a booking.