What Are The Advantages of Using a Google Trusted Photographer?

[Travis Van Slooten]

My client hired one of these photographers and while the pictures looked really nice, I don't know that they were $350 nice (which is what he paid). He said he contacted a handful of these photographers and most of the bids were between $600 - $900

What am I missing here? Why would a business owner spend that kind of money on pictures? Like I said, they are nice but $600 - $900 nice...I don't think so. Do your pictures get additional exposure on Google somehow if a Google Trusted Photographer is used?

It just seems to me you could hire a friend or family member that is "good with a camera" and take some nice photos for you for free or for a fraction of the price....unless there are some inherent advantages of using a trusted photographer that I don't know about.

Travis

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Travis,

"It just seems to me you could hire a friend or family member that is "good with a camera" and take some nice photos for you for free or for a fraction of the price"

But they can't make it panoramic walk-though and upload it to maps.

2 of my "Pros" are trusted photographers, so hopefully they'll see this and weigh in.

Here are some threads:

Google Business Photos May Correlate With Higher Local Search Ranking

Are Google Business Photos a Trust Factor for Your Local Rankings? | LocalVisibilitySystem.com

Killer, High End, Out-of-the-Box Ideas for Local Business Listings

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

So there are definite advantages to using a Trusted Photographer. I'm not familiar with the program at all so I was curious. Still, though, $900? That just seems high to me...which explains why my client was so thrilled to find someone who only charged $350.

Travis

 

[Linda Buquet]

Travis, we discussed a little on one of the PRO conference calls so there is a thread in the Private forum about it.

Prices vary based on the shoot. If someone is shooting a huge guitar center store that has 8 rooms and they want a certain type of walk through and super close-ups of every guitar, so you could actually walk through and shop that would be a more expensive shoot.

So the TP explained to us in the Private forum quotes are based on what the business owner wants, size of location, how many images are required for that specific shoot etc.

So could be on his initial quotes he explained in detail I want shots of this, this, this and can you also do this and this. Then when he got the high quotes back, the 3rd guy he said "what's the cheapest most basic shoot you can do for me?"

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Ya, I'm sure that's how it went down. Either way, he's thrilled with the money he spent so that's all that matters. I'm going to be keeping an eye on things to see if these photos have any impact on his rankings or otherwise. If they prove to be effective, I might start recommending the service to clients.

Travis

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Travis - Please keep up posted. I would be very interested to see the results from this.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ya like I said in one of the posts I linked to - I'm not sure there is a direct measurable ranking correlation.

BUT I think it can help boost location trust and show Google the business is real.

AND can help conversions (if it's the type of biz where it would help if folks could check it out remotely - like a restaurant)

AND if you do it right and it's compelling and exciting, can get press or viral LOCAL sharing and more activity and popularity WILL eventually boost rank.

AND if done right folks will stay on the page longer and engage more which also will eventually boost rank.

So if it's just a boring shoot of an office, then it is not going to help with the last 3 things I mentioned and those are the things over time that could help boost rank.

 

[Greg Schueler]

the virtual tour part is really nice. We hired someone to do one of our clients and we were able to embed the tour right on their contact page and now it also shows up on their G+ Local listing and maps page.

The extra images were just a nice bonus.

Good news though, we now have 2 of our employees that will be Trusted Photographers any day now (almost complete with their approval process).

Then all of our clients can have this wonderful tour ;-)