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I love writing. I’ve written a ton of articles, am a columnist for the Denver Business Journal, and have a couple of books written and published. I guess I just love sharing what I do with as many people as I can.

Thanks to the Internet, there are more options than ever for getting your information out there.

If you know Mark Victor Hansen (yep, the Chicken Soup for the Soul author) you’ll want to know about his latest creation. Head on over to his newest site YouPublish  and find out how you can quickly get your stories, poetry and even photographs published quickly. In fact, you can publish books, music, photos, study courses, audio, video and presentation files with just a few clicks of your mouse.

If you’ve always wanted to get your photographs into a published work, now is your time. Get on at the start, and see how far you can take a new way at making money with your photography.

His site is still in beta, scheduled to open up sometime here in May, but it may be time to jumpstart your publishing career by signing up now. With Chicken Soup fame behind him, I’m sure this site will become golden in just a few months - why not go along for the ride?

One of my favorite album companies just announced a new album line. If you like the matted albums but hate filling out all of the forms, your day is here. With the new design system, you can enjoy all of the above and none of the hassle. Visit Zookbinders.com and see what an amazing album company can do for your digital photography studio. This is not a paid submission but an honest testament of a quality company that is the backbone of my studio.

The 60 million Kodak Gallery users will be able to put up their digital photos on their MySpace sites through a new service Eastman Kodak Co. and Slide Inc. announced today.

Using Slide’s Slideshow product, Kodak Gallery users starting today can create portable slide shows with music soundtracks and put them up on the Web, including on social network and blog sites such as Facebook and Blogger. The free service is available at www.slide.com/kodakgallery.

According to Rochester-based Kodak, the service is the first step in what will be a greater integration with Slideshow products through this year.

Slide Inc. is a social network software company based in San Francisco.  - take from http://www.democratandchronicle.com

Maybe you’ve built a blog and typed up a few posts. Maybe you’ve been working with your blog for several months. Or maybe you’re still trying to figure out what a blog is. Wherever you’re at, what if I told you businesses just like yours are making money right this very moment with their blogs – and you can too.

To get started, you blog must have 5 things in place to attract attention.

1. Focus your blog on one particular part of your niche.

2. Add quality content to your blog regularly.

3. Make your content visible throughout the Internet. Your blog is a feeder to other parts of the Internet – you must connect all the pieces to make it work.

4. Choose a quality blog to put your content on. Your own customized blog will offer your more freedom over the long haul.

5. Have your readers take an interest in what you do.

Once your blog is in place and you’ve been working at it, its time to make it work for you. Use these 5 tools to make your blog profitable.

1. Promote your own products. Just because your providing quality information doesn’t mean you can’t promote yourself once in awhile. Just don’t overdo it.

2. Promote other products. If you have a great recommendation, direct your readers to the website. Sign up for affiliate programs, when appropriate.

3. Use Google Adsense to deliver text and image ads along with your blog content.

4. Provide links to niche books you enjoy. Amazon has a great referral program that allows you to easily put links to book recommendations (and other products) right in your copy.

5. Allow others to advertise on your blog. When you build up your content, and gain popularity, people will begin contacting you.

 

Build your own blog now - it’s easy.

Found a really cool way that you can update your blog from your computer. Easy to add images and tags for your blog as well. Microsoft just released this program called window live writer. - http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/ it works with many types of blogs including wordpress blogs so you could access it and use it.

This program is free and easy to setup and run.

This post is being added using the software.

Providing new ideas to your photography business and information on how to start a photography business. Stay up to date with our photography newsletter which provides tips on your photography studio.

 

Marketing your business is something you work at every day. You send out mailings, you use your website, you advertise.

In many ways it’s the blast method. We blast out whatever marketing technique we’re currently using, and then wait for the response.

But have you ever stopped to think about your final results?

What are you trying to accomplish?

Let’s say you’re a wedding photographer, and your goal is to photograph 30 weddings per year. Why are you blasting information to hundreds - or even thousands of brides?
Think for a minute about your perfect wedding client. Where would the wedding be? What would the bride and groom be like? What services would you like to provide?
Now go after that client, and ignore the rest.

Maybe one of your dream reception sites is a local resort. Find out who the wedding coordinator is and start networking with her.

Mail her information.
Give her samples.
Show her what you can do.
Spend your money promoting to her!

She can send you weddings many times per year - if you become part of her referred network.

Isn’t that more valuable to you then gaining one new client through the blast method?

Now think about how many of these types of referral sources you’ll need. 10? 20?  If each of the 20 provided you with 2 weddings per year, that would be 40 weddings.
So, how are you going to promote to those 20? I guarantee you if you spend your time promoting effectively to those 20, your business will be booming during the coming year.

I found a social networking site that looks very interesting. I decided to create my first Hub.

Check it out - and let me know what you think of it.

Lori

7 Ways To Make Your Studio’s Website More Sellable

“I put up my website a few months ago,
and I’m still not at the top of the search engines.”

“Why isn’t my website working?
I’m still not making money online.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard these phrases! Unfortunately many people still believe putting up a website will be the answer to their marketing problems. If you’re having trouble getting people in to your business using traditional marketing methods, chances are you’re problems will carry through to your online marketing methods as well.

Thousands of websites are being added to the Internet everyday. By doing a recent search on Google I discovered:

66,900,000 pages exist with the word “photography”
9,270,000 pages exist with the words “photography studio”
1,450,000 pages exist with the words “wedding photography studio”
991,000 pages exist with the words “professional wedding photography studio”
196,000 pages exist with the words “California professional wedding photography studio”
And if you’re beyond the top 20-30 pages, chances are you’re never getting in front of your potential customer. So where do you go from here? How do you use your website to get in front of a good, qualifying potential customer?

A successful website is not something you build over night. It is a work in progress, something that you should work on week after week. To start you off, here are 7 ideas to help grow your website and the potential it has to market your business.

Create a professional site. This is probably the first thing you see in any list talking about how to build up an Internet presence. Yet it’s amazing how many sites are out there that still have a homemade appearance.Your website is an extension of your business. Not only should it be informative, it should be entertaining, and provide people with exactly what they are looking for. You are a photographer. Show people your work. Make them feel the emotion of your photography, and the service you provide to your customers. A gallery of a dozen images that each take seconds to load is not emotional. Professionalism comes from knowing what your customers want, and giving them more than they expect.
If you can’t create a professional website by yourself, hire it done. Because you earn your money through photography, don’t expect yourself to be good at all forms of creative graphics. Websites are a marketing tool, not a creative extension of your business. Foremost, your website is a sales tool that can bring in unimaginable profits to your business – but only if you use it as such.

Pricing on your website. The biggest debate on the Internet for photographers is whether to list pricing information. On one hand, listing your pricing will guarantee only truly motivated people will contact your studio. On the other hand, every customer you have will be calling you solely based on your pricing.I myself prefer to not list pricing, or do it in a very discreet way. I want my customers calling me because they love my work. I want them to feel the passion of my art, and call me because they can see themselves in my photographs. Price is secondary.
If you still feel pricing is something you have to list on your website, list it only once on your services page. After you describe what services you offer your customers, list a phrase like “starting from $3900”. This gives your potential customer a basis for your services, yet doesn’t make the main goal of your website price.

Creating a purpose. What is the overall purpose of your website? Is it to get a potential customer to contact you? Is it to drive your existing customers to a place to purchase your photographs? Before your website can be successful, you have to discover your number one purpose. Then use every page to motivate people towards your purpose.Again, your website is more than a brochure. It is a member of your sales team that ‘talks’ to your potential customer. When you talk with a person in person, or on the phone, your ultimate goal is to get them to make some type of commitment. Your website should have the same goal.

Showcase your work. You’re a photographer. Showing a dozen images doesn’t show a potential client what you do. Pull your customer in by providing them with a wealth of information on your website. Clients come to you for photographs; show them photographs! Photography is one of those rare industries in which you can’t have too many graphics on your website, providing they are small files that load quickly.

Use motivating text. Are you writing to your customer in a professional manner? Does your website use the same language you use when meeting with a person face to face? Your website is your sales tool. Treat it as if it were a 24/7 sales person, and let your website do the talking for you.On the Internet, the one thing you can’t do is hide. Depending on how a person searches, every website is a potential find. Because someone from New York, or California, or even India may pull up your site, how are you talking to him or her? Instead of writing your text from your perspective, write as if you are a person in a far away country that knows nothing about your industry. Her sole purpose is to find out more information on wedding photography. Are you educating her? Are you telling her what she wants to know AND what she cares about? (Most people don’t care what type of cameras you use; they only want to know how they benefit.)
Create links to other sites. Is your site a useful resource? Think of yourself as a mini-wedding coordinator or parent advisor. Depending on the type of photography you specialize in, provide your customer useful information to go beyond just hiring your services.A wedding photographer can provide links to caterers, florists, and reception halls. A family or children’s photographer can provide links to schools, clothing and sports stores, and community events.
Tip: When you’re linking to other websites, have them link back to you as well. This boosts up your ratings in the search engines!

Get your site listed on other sites. There are hundreds of ways of getting your site listed on other websites. Linking is one of the easiest methods. But beyond linking, you may try other means.Purchase banner ads. Many sites offer paid advertising, usually at very reasonable prices.
Purchase classified advertising. Many newspapers and magazines offer a deal where you purchase an ad in their print edition, and you get a website listing for free. For example, we have a Colorado Parent magazine in our community. By purchasing an ad in the classified section, you also get a listing on the website.

Find community directories to list your services in. Larger communities have at least one directory online that makes it easy to find resources within your area. Join at least one, and always be on the lookout for others that may benefit your business.

Keep your eyes open for opportunities to advertise your website, both online and in traditional marketing methods.

Want to wish all of our readers a Happy Holiday!

I have a promise to keep…

For months I’ve been talking to photographers, and sharing ideas on building a stronger business.

I’ve been writing about marketing techniques, and teaching business owners the importance of developing a strong marketing plan.

But now I’m giving you just a bit more.

I’m almost ready to release the next tool that will be the talk of the photography community. I know you want more than a marketing tool. I know you want more than a marketing plan. I know you want more than the ability to grow your business over months, or even year.

If you don’t make money today, you may not be in business a year from now.

Stay tuned… 

 

When was the last time you renewed your domain name?

It’s easy to forget to renew your domain name, but the consequences can be harsh. Maybe you’re too busy to take action on the email at the moment. Or maybe you’ve changed email addresses, and no longer receive the notifications.

But what will you do when your entire site shuts down? Or what if you lose all of your email because it has no place to go? It’s like losing your phone number - how will your prospects and clients contact you?

Keep a log of your domain names and the details including the expirations dates. It will help you maintain a good internal system, and ensure you never lose touch with your clients.

Technology is a great thing for digital photography. Just introduced there is a new data card named Eye-Fi that you can add it to your camera that will allow you to automatically download the images via WiFi directly to your computer into a selected file. Imagine being able to photograph and have those files directly add to your harddrive. This would allow a seamless integration of your photography. Taking your latest photo session in your studio and having it download directly to your laptop. That is fantastic.

These wifi cards will also hold the currently two gigs of information so if you want a little directly into the cards it is a great way.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

How much are you spending this year on marketing? Is it enough to build your business?

According to a recent survey, the answer is no. Up to 42% of companies surveyed stated they were budgeting less than 5% of revenue for their annual marketing strategies. And less than 30% were spending an adequate amount on marketing for their growth potential.

That’s not a good sign for photography businesses that intend to grow to a successful size. In fact, without a sufficient budget, your business will never make your marks, and will eventually fade from existence.

With that in mind, its time to take charge of your marketing strategy, and structure it for success in the coming year. Once you have goals and strategies in place, you’ll be much better prepared to budget a realistic figure.

Take a look at these three approaches to producing a usable marketing plan that fits within your budgetary means. 

1. Start with the end in mind. What dollar amount do you wish to make in the coming year? Once you have a realistic number in mind, use that to determine your marketing commitment level.

The average growing company typically will spend around 10 percent of their total revenue on marketing, with very aggressive companies moving towards the 15-20 percent level. Calculating your marketing costs is a simple matter of taking your desired revenue level multiplied by the marketing percentage you wish to apply. For example, if you expect to make $100,000 in the coming year, and you wish to take an aggressive approach to marketing, you may choose to spend 15 percent, or $15,000, of your budget on marketing costs.

2. Create your campaign calendar for the year, and realistically budget for each campaign. This approach can benefit you in a number of ways. Unlike the first approach, it provides you with an exact list of campaigns you will be offering in your studio, and put together a yearlong plan that will be easy to follow.

To get started, create your yearlong calendar of campaigns. Look at the specific activities you are planning to launch, and calculate the expected income and costs associated with each activity. Determine what type of marketing you will do with each campaign, and estimate appropriately.

3. Use this year’s numbers, and project the growth expected for the coming year.

Depending on how successful your studio was this year, you may wish to use this year’s numbers to project next years budget. This works well if you already have a high level of success, and you anticipate doing about the same level of business in the coming year.  Let’s say your total revenue for this year is $100,000, and you project a 20 percent growth rate for the coming year. Your projected revenue for the coming year is expected to be at $120,000. For a 10 to 15 percent marketing budget, you can expect to spend anywhere from $12,000 to $18,000 in the coming year on marketing.

The key to each of these strategies is to give you an idea of the total marketing expenses you can expect to pay to achieve the level of success you are planning for. It can also provide you with guidelines when making decisions as to they types of marketing you’re looking for. You may be able to easily rule out more expensive forms of marketing right away just by knowing your yearly budget marks ahead of time.

As a creative business owner, you may dread the budgetary process. But with a solid plan in place, your business will run much more effectively in the coming year. You and your business will thank you for it.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Email seems to be a common factor in every business. Yet some business owners still have trouble with email – it’s almost considered a hassle more than a contact. If you’ve been frustrated with email, or even it you haven’t, check out these email tips.

Check Email Everyday
If you have an email address, and list in on your marketing materials or website, check it every day. Nothing is more frustrating (or unprofessional) if a potential client emails you for more information, and never hears back from you. Create a time every day that’s convenient – I check email first thing in the morning, after lunch, and at the end of the day.

Have Low Setting Spam Filters
When you run a business, you have to allow a little more freedom for your clients to contact you. You wouldn’t use an unlisted phone number; why do you bury your email behind high spam filters? It might take a few extra minutes every day to weed through some of the junk, but its better than shutting out a potential customer.

Use A Professional Address
Did you know most hosting companies allow you have multiple email addresses connected with your domain name? Always use this service. Not only is it more professional to use an email address with your domain name associated with it, but it also allows you more flexibility. If you suddenly decide to stop using AOL or Comcast, you’ve just lost all the power of your email address. But if you continually use an email with you domain name, you can point it to whatever service you currently are using.

Have Emails Professionally Written
With first contacts with prospects, it’s so important to make a good impression. Don’t use short answers and quick phrases. Instead, have a professionally written email in place, modify it for each contact, and send it out as a sales letter. If someone calls you and says, “How much are your prices?”, you can spend several minutes telling them about yourself and your services in addition to your prices. Do the same in your email.

Follow Through
Sending a response back quickly through email is important. But sending a second email as a follow up is even more important. Use the second email to verify they received the first, and to provide a little more information. Ask if you can speak on the phone, or set up an appointment. Your ultimate goal is to create the sale.

A Gallery of Images
People visit a photographer’s website to see images. Don’t disappoint. Your gallery should show more than a dozen images. Let them spend hours on your site! At our high point, we had over 20,000 images online. And many people would spend hours going through every single one of them.

Contact Information
I spend a lot of time on other peoples’ sites. And I find a lot of business owners are so worried about spam, they leave off contact information in their fears. Guess what? People can’t contact you if they don’t know how. Fill out forms are great, and are the first step for contact. Give a phone number – some people prefer to call. Give an address - your prospects would love to know what city your in, and where your studio is. Give an email - you can make it a non-clickable graphic.

Content
A portfolio isn’t enough. It’s nice looking at a dozen images, but who are you? What’s your style? How did you decide to become a photographer? What’s the story behind your business? In person, you build a relationship with your prospect. The same thing has to occur online. Content is what sells your business.

Sales Techniques
Your website is more than a portfolio; it’s a sales tool. Think of how you sell in person, and use those same features online. Your website should be growing and changing all the time.

Proper Navigation
If you’ve ever been “stuck” in a website, you know navigation is so important. If you move to a page, it better be easy to move around and back out. Think like your customer. If that’s hard to do, bring a customer in and ask them what they think.

Ordering System
Professional labs and other online services have made it very easy to sell your images online. Connect to one of these services, and use this as an option for your clients. If you’re worried about upfront sales, use it as a bonus after the initial sale is complete.

Marketing
Your website is more than a portfolio; it’s a marketing tool. With over 6 billion web pages online, how will yours compete with the others? It takes marketing. Just like you wouldn’t sit at home without doing any marketing waiting for the phone to ring, you can’t sit at home without marketing your website waiting for the contacts. You have to use online marketing techniques to get noticed.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

After decades as the undisputed leader of the market for professional 35mm cameras, Nikon finds itself in an unfamiliar position in the digital age. Canon so dominates the professional market today, particularly when it comes to photojournalism, that it recently tweaked Nikon’s nose with an advertising campaign about its triumph. Now the companies are renewing the fight. On Thursday, Nikon is introducing two cameras that it hopes will help it regain its old position. And last week, Canon promoted a new camera with a 21-megapixel sensor, more than twice the resolution of typical digital single-lens reflex cameras for consumers. “It’s always been a competitive field, but digital stepped it up a notch,” said David C. Lee, senior vice president of Nikon USA.

The new Nikon D3 is the first camera from the company with a full-size sensor. Well, almost full-size. One side of the frame is 0.1mm short. The sensor has 12.7 megapixels, which is not exceptional. Its light sensitivity, however, is another matter. The camera’s maximum ISO setting is 25,600, about 64 times what was commonly regarded as high-speed film. Unlike Canon’s full-frame cameras, the D3 is intended mainly for photojournalists and can take 9 pictures a second. Indeed, Canon said that its new super-high-resolution EOS 1DS Mark III camera, which is full-frame format, is intended for photographers who formerly used larger-format film cameras like the Hasselblad. Lee said that professionals’ camera choices influence consumer tastes. Price is less of a concern for pros, making these cameras more profitable. The Nikon D3 will sell for $5,000, and the Canon Mark III will cost $8,000; both cameras ship in November. Neither camera comes with a lens.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Your website is an important piece of your business should have a very professional appearance. Many photographers are tech savvy with their ability to produce well-designed, well-navigated photography studio websites.

If you don’t have the capability or time for doing a website design for your own studio, looking at website templates may be an option for you. Website templates are ready-made professionally designed websites for the Internet that provide a high-quality web presence and easy to modify with your content. Templates are available in standard HTML language of design, as well as popular flash format to display your web content and photography portfolio. Templates will have the some limitations of the expansion, but for the cost, offer a great solution to many studios. These templates are fully customizable, and available for immediate download.

Designs usually have layered Photoshop files for easy customization, as well as HTML layouts, so that you can open them in your favorite Web program like Dreamweaver or FrontPage. You don’t have to wait for your web designer to start from scratch on your design.

As studio owners, we have many responsibilities to worry about and our specialty should be our photography. Here’s a resource that you can check out the latest in photography website designs and see the catalogue of professionally designed templates.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

When you own a photography business, it can be a very time-consuming task. With networking, creating advertising and brochures,  meeting with clients, sending orders to labs, or working with images in Photoshop, your day can jet by quickly. The last thing we really need to do is call someone and be put on terminal hold with an endless supply of voice prompts to get you to the people you really want to talk to. 

We found a great resource called get human.  It allows you to instantly get to a human voice to ask the questions that you need to be asking instead be prompted by all these voice prompts.  Press one for this too for that three for this do to the human and get on with your day.  There are hundreds of shortcuts to use in your everyday work schedule. From banking to insurance to airlines … Check them out.

http://www.gethuman.com/

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Digital photography can be a fantastic way to run a photography studio Digital cameras can be purchased for as little as $500 used on ebay.com, or you can go with the top-of-the-line pay upwards of over $20,000. Anyway you look at it, the digital revolution is here and has totally changed the way studios run today. Photographing your business or your images on Digital is just the first part of actually producing an image.

Workflow is one of the most important pieces to ensure that you have all the pieces to have. Once the images are taken from the camera. You need to download them to your computer or some other storage media. If your images need to be modified, manipulated or adjusted for color, exposure and sharpness or minor corrections, a good software programs such as Adobe Photoshop is essential. My recommendation is that you always work off of a copy of your original file and never the original. If you make a mistake, the original file is still intact, and much easier to go back to.

Many photographers, just download the specifically images to a computer or media source without backing up their original files. This can be a costly mistake if your media fails. My suggestion is to always back up a copy, whether it’s on a media such as a CD-ROM, DVD or to other storage device. Ensure that if your hard drive or storage media happens to fail do you still have a copy to go back to will give you extra insurance. Label and organize your DVD or storage backups for easy reference. The next step is storage of images on the web for your clients to view. Many labs have a variety of storage devices that will automatically categorize your images and allow your clients to purchase them directly from the website. Create an easy and convenient way for your client to see the images, as well as purchase the images will help your photography workflow. It also allows your lab, a way to print the images from the client’s orders, which is a great trade for the studio and a lab. Other sources would be that you supply your own web hosting, take orders and relay that information over to someone who can print your images for your clients, whether it’s a professional lab, a local photo shop or even places like a Costco. Many of these locations have the ability to upload the images directly to the Web and select to pick up the images directly at their location or have them shipped to your address to be an easy. There are many choices for you to run your studio efficiently using digital photography. But the most important thing to think about is your workflow. Make it easy for you and simple for your client, and everyone will be happy.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Who would have ever imagined a couple of years ago that a new wave of marketing was emerging on the professional photographer. When we were first introduced to the Internet, a world of possibilities opened up to us. The Internet has so much to offer for such a small price. We jumped on for the ride of our lives!

To begin creating your own home page, you must first choose your domain name. Domain names are your address - this will be how your clients find you. Your domain name should be short and concise and relate specifically to you and your business, such as http://www.xyzstudio.com/. Because a domain name is your address, you should use it like your address and post it everywhere: brochures, business cards, letters, advertisements. Don’t hide your Web address within the text of your letters or brochures. Post it as a stand alone similar to your phone number. Also, remember to give your Web address out to telephone inquiries. You give out your studio’s address and directions on how to find you. Why not tell them how to find you on the Web!

As you build your Web site, remember people use the Internet to research anything and everything, at a time that is convenient for them. Therefore, the most useful thing you can give them is information. Imagine your Web site from your clients perspective - what would you look for? Because photography is visual, your Web site can be a wonderful tool to show them what you do best - photograph. Prospective clients can view your portfolio at their leisure, and can contact you through e-mail when they are interested in talking with you more. You can also use your Web site for your current clients by putting together small portfolios from each wedding. This will allow your clients to view their photographs in a matter of days, and will build their excitement for when they come in to make their final selections. It will also build excitement with friends and family who may not have otherwise viewed your photography.

Once you begin marketing your Web address, you must be willing to maintain your Web site on a continual basis. People often browse Web sites over and over again if they know you change your site often. Change entices them to visit on a regular basis, and may help them to make the decision to contact you for more information. One important feature that you should build into your Web site is a link to ask for more information, either through your e-mail or a fill-in-the-blank form. This will allow potential clients to quickly ask for more information when they are interested in your services. Then check regularly to see if you have messages. The Internet provides information quickly. The quicker you respond to any inquiries, the more impressed your clients will be.

Finally, have fun with your Web site. If it’s fun to design, it will be fun to view. People enjoy being entertained as they gain the knowledge they are looking for. Imagine how easy your initial consultation will be if they are excited about you and your photographs before they have even met with you!

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

What is the easiest way to increase your sales/profits? Increasing your business boils down to three fundamentals.

Most traditional photography studios have known for years that there are three essential ways of growing your business:

1. Create fresh ways of bringing new clients into your business.

2. Increase the average dollar amount each customer spends.

3. Increase the frequency with which you do business with each customer.

If you are building a strong photography business, this translates into:

1. Create new marketing techniques to bring in more people for photography sessions.

2. Increase the amount of product your client is purchasing from you at each photo session. This may include packaging products together to create larger sales.

3. Increase the number of times each of your customers have a portrait session. Creativity is king here. You must focus on creating sessions that your clients want to be included.

Serving small niche markets is easier to grow your business. Create seasonal photo sessions that are limited items. Go beyond the traditional Santa Clause and Easter bunny scenes. Instead think of things that are unique and individual to you and your business. Offer quality products and services that people can’t find anywhere else, and they will create a bond that will last throughout the years.

For more information on how to grow a photography business or how to start a photography business, please visit our indepth website.

As with any new business venture, it takes more than desire to start a business. Here are three traits I’ve found among successful business owners.

1. Mentorship. A successful businessperson never goes it alone. She realizes the key to success is to join others that have achieved success, and follow in their footsteps. When trying to create a successful business, reinventing the wheel takes way too long. And with so many people out in the business world willing to share how they got where they are today, why reinvent the wheel!

How do you find a mentor? Look for industry leaders that have made it to the top of your chosen path. Want to photograph weddings? Who do you admire? Love commercial work? Find the best, and follow their patterns. Also find successful business people that can make the most of your time. Find marketing consultants, lawyers, accountants and business coaches that can cut your learning curve and the time you spend on menial tasks down to nothing.

2. Education. A successful businessperson always looks for educational opportunities. Have you ever heard the phrase:

When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe you rot.

This phrase speaks to all entrepreneurs very seriously. Over 60,000 books are published every year. Millions of articles are written every year in the thousands of magazines, newspapers and publications published. Information is constantly being updated, changed and reported. Hundreds of training classes are going on all around you every week. There is always an opportunity to take what you know today, and expand on it to create a stronger understanding for tomorrow.

3. Time. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Your road to becoming an overnight success may take you a year. Or three. Or ten. No matter how fast it comes, it comes when you are ready for it. You learn as things happen, and grow by taking action. Every day is a new opportunity.

Having a well designed website is important to attract potential clients but is it well linked? Links into your site are vital to ensure that search engines like google, yahoo and msn display your site under search criteria. By increasing quality link to a photography website, your ranks will increase and the site will list higher and higher in the results. Why is this important? Well, think about it in very simple terms. If your site is popular (many quality link pointed into your site) then search engines look at the website as a valid informational portal and present within the results. If you photography website has little to no linkage, search engines see no reason to display it.

Quality links are from reliable sources of similar content. If you are selling wedding photography then you would want links from other studios, wedding reception sites, wedding coordinators and wedding services.

VirtualPhotographyStudio.com allows studios to add their photography businesses to a directory of other studios. This in turn will add another quality link into your site.

The goal is to have your site show more when potential clients access searches. By working with a strategy that will enhance linkage of your studio’s site on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, you will start to see increase in how your photography website displays in the search engine results.

How often have you worked throughout the week, worked hard at everything you’ve done, and yet you still feel as if you haven’t accomplished anything within your photography business? It’s not that your unproductive, it’s a simple case of not having set the right priorities. Priorities determine what will bring success into your life, and what will keep you where you are today. In order to move in a new direction, you have to set the right priorities.

Success in your photography studio is achieved by having focus and concentration. You must have your target clearly in place. You must concentrate on aiming straight for the middle, have the proper follow through, and hit the target directly in the center. The ability to set clear priorities is what will help you achieve that photography business bull’s-eye time and time again. Anything else will just be wasted effort.

So as we move throughout our day, we often set priorities that might not be truly necessary for us to achieve success. We often prioritize by the way we feel, or what we’re comfortable with. Prioritizing based on achieving success is much more different than prioritizing based on comfort zones. When you begin setting up what it takes to achieve a goal, certain priorities will become apparent for a successful outcome. Your job is to learn to weed through your priorities, and only perform those tasks that will truly move you into a new direction. You need to learn to set your comfort levels aside, and perform the tasks that will move you towards your goal. Goals cannot be reached if you don’t take the action necessary to achieve them. And as you begin delving into new areas, your comfort levels will expand, and you will be willing to take on new responsibilities. You will begin setting priorities that do make a difference!
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Photo Competitions Photo Competitions - One way of building up your business is by competing in competitions, and using your awards for PR within your client and potential client target market.

Awards make your name more valuable. It proves you have the talent to bring in better clients and better profits through higher valued photographs. Begin by entering award competitions. Many different organizations offer photo competitions.

Start with these:

• WPPI
• PPA

As you win awards, make sure you create press releases, and send them to your PR list:

• Local newspapers
• Trade journal and publications
• Your venders and suppliers
• Post them on your website
• Send postcards or newsletters to your client database

Winning awards are important, but only if you use them to further the advancement of your business.