With the ever growing use of the Web for personal and business use, the need to be found via search engines and online directories is becoming ever more crucial to the success of your business.

If the mantra preached by Estate Agents is "Location, Location, Location", then for Web Users it is undoubtedly "Information, Information, Information". With more than 7 million Broadband lines already in use in the UK, and growing daily, the transfer of business from conventional to internet channels is changing at a phenomenal pace.

In the same way that digital technologies have overtaken film in photography, online search engines and directories are rapidly turning paper based directories into a thing of the past. How much longer will we be willing to clutter our homes and offices with large reams of paper which, by their very nature, are limited in what they can provide, when we can search quickly and effectively online and have access to information way beyond what was ever possible before.

We believe specialised directories will be an essential marketing tool in the coming years. This is especially true for photographers because the web offers their clients the ability to see and assess their photographic "products" online in a way that is impossible with paper listings.

For a customer looking for, say, a wedding photographer, the internet gives them the opportunity to view and assess the work of a variety of photographers during a single session on their PC or Mac. Previously, they would have had to spend considerable time and effort visiting different photographers, or by going to a wedding fair, to see even a small perc

The challenge now becomes to be found on the internet. A client is likely to make a general search, something like speciality-photographer-location. e.g. Wedding Photographers Windsor. Individual photographers will find it hard to get their site to the top of this search list. Competition is continuing to increase, and an increasing understanding of search engine strategies is needed to be successful.

Although it is still possible to get an individual site well seen on the search engines, this is becoming increasingly hard to do, particularly for competitive areas such as weddings, portraits and commercial photography, and in larger towns and cities. This means that the use of online directories to help direct potential customers to an individual site will become increasingly essential.