Promoting your Website is not that difficult but will take up some of your precious time. My advice for you is to set out a few hours per week for this.

If your Website is new the chances are that Google, Yahoo or any search engine won't index your site for a few months. And it may even take several months before they place it to appear when someone types in a search phrase that suits your site. So you need to give your photographs and business a reasonable chance of getting paying customers.

When a search engine index's your Website it looks to see how many links point to your site. The more links you can create the better your site will rank, but only if they are the right kind of links. Don't spend hours and hours online getting thousands of standard ordinary links. Get links that relate to your site. Get links from other photography sites.

Photography Directories are a great way of creating free advertisement for your site and also a great way of getting valuable links to your site that search engines will recognise.

Before you submit your Website to directories, research the correct keywords that best describe your site. If your photography site is Landscaped based you need to optimise your site correctly for the keywords Landscape photography.

Once you are happy with which keywords best describe your site start submitting your site to Photography Directories. Most photography directories require a return link so you should create a links page for this alone.

When you are submitting your website you need to use the correct keywords that best describe your site in the link title to your site. The link title will be the title on the submission form. You will also need to create a good definitive description for your site. This should be no more than twenty-five words and should start with the keywords that best describe your site. This is what people will read - this is where you sell your site - a good description will enable potential customers to enter your site.

Once you have completed the form click submit and move on to the next directory. There are many good photography directories online - some specialised in certain areas of photography, more cover all areas of photography. Once you fill out the submission form correctly you will start to see the rewards.

Some directories will charge you when creating a listing; my advice is to research such websites before you part with your hard earned cash. Stay away from link farms and link companies that offer you thousands of links - these sites don't rank well with search engines and may harm your site in the long run.

While photography directories are just one way of promoting your site; they are the easiest and quickest way to get started. Creating good quality inbound links to your site will help you achieve excellent search engine ranking for your site resulting in more and more traffic entering your photography site.

In part 2 of Promoting your photography site, read how to gain exposure from forums and photography competitions.