How to Give Credit To Your Photographer (as a Wedding Vendor)

Yay! You’ve just received an amazing gallery filled with your product or service and you’re so excited to share them across social media and your website. But you’re being asked to “back link” on your website…what the heck even is that? If you haven’t heard of back linking before (or maybe you have but are unsure how to do it properly), I’m here to guide you through if you choose to use the photos for marketing!

As someone that believes in the power of community among wedding vendors, I would love to create and solidify those relationships through mutually giving credit where credit is due!

As business owners, we are incredibly busy so I would never ask you to do something that didn’t matter. Ultimately, giving credit through back linking helps both of us grow online. Proper back linking (like what I’ll show you in here) helps build trust and credibility on Google. And that’s why a back link on your website would mean the world to me!

What is a backlink?

A “backlink” refers to a hyperlink that goes to another external website. In this case, a backlink would be a hyperlink on your website or blog that links to my website.

Why is a backlink important?

Back linking is so much more than hyperlinking to another website. While that’s the literal action, there are other BIG impacts linking makes from building trust and authority with Google, improving online visibility, sending each other amazing referrals, and truth be told, it makes me really happy to know that you love the photos enough to promote your product or service.

Builds trust with Google & improves online visibility

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method used by countless online businesses to improve their ranking on Google. There’s tons of ways to improve your ranking, but one of them is through back linking. When you provide a back link on your website, you’re telling Google that you have a relationship with this other website and it’s to be trusted. It’s kinda like you’re vouching for this other website and Google likes to see that.

It also provides context and authority. When you provide a backlink that adds value to the website visitor, Google feels like you’re an authority in whatever you’re offering.

The more backlinks you can collect, the more trustworthy you are to Google. Basically, you have a lot of friends vouching for you. Google will in turn boost your online visibility through SEO and increase your ranking.

Give and get amazing referrals

Have you ever been browsing online, see something you loved, and cannot for the life of you figure out where to buy it?! That’s how it feels to couples when they see a product or service they want for their website and there’s no backlink. That’s why before ever asking for a backlink, I’ll always provide one for your business. This helps not only you, but also a browsing couple. That way when they stumble on my website and see your service or product, they’ll know exactly how to find you (whether they hire me or not).

And when you link to my website, you’re telling the world that this photographer captured my services well. If that couple loves the photo vibe, they’re more likely to reach out to be through that link. Without a backlink, they’d have no idea how to find vendors. Buttt when we both link to our website, we are sending each other amazing referrals…because most of the time, they’re couples that want the same experience that my couple has already received from us!

Let’s be honest…The photos were free

As you know, photography can be expensive and it’s not cheap to hire a photographer to capture your product or services. Sending you the gallery and allowing you to use these images for marketing is my way of saying I loved your product or service and I want you to show it off to the world. And providing a backlink is honestly the best way that a fellow business owner can thank me for capturing their work. I don’t have to send galleries to vendors, but I want to promote your product or service and gain a friend in the process. There’s no better way to thank photographer for the photos than to properly credit their work. But when a vendor is excited to share your work with proper credit, it gives me such a sense of pride in my work and I’m energized to keep showing up for the wedding community.

How to properly credit

Providing proper credit to your photographer is easyyy and I’m here to walk you through all the scenarios on how to do just that.

Downloading photos

First and foremost, downloading photos the correct way is so important. There are two options: high resolution and low resolution (also known as web sized images). For your website, using low resolution will ensure that your website runs smoothly and doesn’t get bogged down with very large files. PLEASE do not ever screenshot or alter an image. This degrades the entire image resolution and looks…quite honestly…terrible. If you’re having downloading issues, please reach out and let me know!

Crediting on your website

Whenever you’re crediting on your website you can hyperlink my name. How to do this will vary depending on what website host you use, but generally you’re able to hyperlink by following these steps:

1. Write out “Photo Captured by Anna Holden Photo” underneath the photo
2. Select “Anna Holden Photo”
3. Right click (or look for a little linking icon)
4. Hyperlink to: https://www.annaholden.co/
5. When done correctly, it should look like this: (Photo Captured by Anna Holden Photo) and when you click on it, it should take you to my website. Always double check links to make sure they work! Google may penalize websites with broken links.

Here are some examples of how I will give backlink credit to you and other vendors inside my blogs:

Crediting on social media

Whenever you’re crediting on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) following these steps:

1. Under your caption (or where ever you want to put the tag), write out “@annaholdenphoto”.
2. Before continuing on, it should pull up my profile. Click on my profile to make sure it’s correctly tagged.
3. All of my social media profiles have the same name so you should be able to find me easily.
4. When done correctly, the link to my profile will be blue and viewer will be able to click on my name and be brought to my social media profile (as shown below).

Leaving a review

Want to take your appreciation a step further? Consider writing a review! Who says that reviews are only for couples? If I’ve had a great experience with a fellow wedding vendor, I’ll drop them a review on Google to show other couples how amazing they are all around! If you’re feeling extra generous, read through the how to leave a stellar review guide for tips!

Final Thoughts: Don’t use AI

These are words I never thought I would include in a guide, but here we are! Gallery images are prohibited from being used through Generative AI (think ChatGPT, Claude, Meta, or another AI platform). While these tools seem super convenient in today’s busy world, the use of AI has many drawbacks to the authenticity of a brand and the deleterious effect on the environment. As authenticity dwindles on the internet, it’s easy to spot when brands use AI. This type of marketing dilutes brand trustworthiness and some couples are opting to NOT work with brands that use AI.

As a business that is firmly anti-AI for the negative impacts on the environment (overconsumption of water usage and continuous land clearing/development) and local communities (rising electricity bills for families), please do not run my images through any AI generators. Companies that choose to ignore my request will lose access to the gallery, will not be added (or may be removed) to my vendor recommendations, and will not receive any future galleries.