Bridget Schaefer
Bridget Schaefer is the talented photographer behind Meccay Photography, a wedding and lifestyle photography studio based in Buffalo and working worldwide.
Oops. Did I say “talented”? I meant “wildly talented.” When it comes to wedding photography, Bridget has an eye for capturing the tender little moments that go unnoticed and turning them into stunning photographs. Her lifestyle and brand photography is fresh and unexpected, and the end result is delightful.
When Bridget came to me hoping for a new website, it was because her old website wasn’t working for her any longer. It was difficult to update, and a cobbled-together portfolio system using a third-party site meant that her SEO was suffering.
Are those problems I can solve? Yes and yes. What a pleasure it was to shine a spotlight on all of Bridget’s talent!
Kind words
“Working with Kristen was an extremely positive experience. From the first meeting, Kristen outlined all expectations and content needs so there was zero confusion during the process. Not only did she hit every deadline we were aiming for, but she helped me understand much more about website development and SEO. Highly recommend!”
Bridget Schaefer, Owner
Meccay Photography
Her old website
Bridget’s old website used a black-and-white palette. While it allowed her photos to take the attention, it also tended to feel cold and stark. Worse, Bridget’s old website had almost no wording and her photos and portfolio items were hosted on a third-party site. That combination made it very difficult for Google to understand and contextualize her services. As a result, she was several pages back in search results—and we all know that almost nobody clicks past page two. Here’s a look at her old website:
The web design process
Bridget was ready right off the bat with a professionally designed brand, including a logo, fonts, and colors. She knew precisely what she wanted her website to say. And she knew exactly how she wanted it to look—clean lines, even grids, light on text, and her photos front-and-center.
Working with any photographer is a web designer’s dream. Working with someone as talented as Bridget? I was on Cloud Nine. Talk about an embarrassment of riches! Bridget had hundreds and hundreds of gorgeous photos to choose from. Glorious.
To help Bridget beef up her SEO, I created a wording outline for her. Then, I made sure to explain how Google uses wording, image names, alt tags, and more to determine how and where a website ranks in search results for a particular phrase. Armed with that knowledge, she was off to the races creating new written content for her site.
Bridget wanted an ultra-minimalist site with a clean, simple aesthetic. She wanted lots of white space, even grids, clean lines, and her photos to be front-and-center. I had a blast bringing her vision to life!
I used two different Squarespace photo galleries to flow her favorite photos into the grid designs she was looking for. Thanks to Squarespace’s new Fluid Engine builder, I was able to wrap her photo grids around text floated on a simple white background for contrast.
To fix her SEO issues, I made sure the right phrases appeared in headlines and paragraph text across the site. I also resized and renamed all of her photos, then uploaded them directly to her new site. No more pulling from third-party sites! Last but not least, I added a Portfolio to her site with enough wording per item to give Google good context for her services. Context is crucial in the world of search engine optimization, and without it Google wouldn’t know when to bring her up in search results.
Thanks to all of that hard work, Bridget’s website is now one of the first non-sponsored search results when you search Google (in an incognito browser window, of course) for “New York wedding and lifestyle photography.” Problem solved!
Take a look at Bridget’s new website home page!
