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Where A New Photographer Should Put Their Photographs Online

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I had a great email sent to me the other day. I started out giving her a quick response to her question, and quickly decided this would also make a great post.

“I’m just starting out as a photographer. I want to start showcasing some of my work, but just don’t have the money yet for a site. Is it okay if I put my work on Flickr and Facebook and build my business that way?”

One of the great things about the Internet is you can access a ton of different tools – and most of them are free. But in the end, you really do get what you paid for.

I love Flickr and have a Flickr account. I love Facebook and am very active there as well. And along with many other social sites, I’m spread out all over the Internet, and love how well I can market my business with these free tools. But when it comes down to it, I use all of my free tools to drive traffic back to the one thing I can control – my own site.

With your own site, you can control your:

  • Content
  • Photographs
  • Sales messages
  • Contact information
  • Lead generation
  • List building

And your site is what gives you your professional image. It shows your stability – if you’re willing to spend a little time and money developing your own marketing image, you must be willing to grow your business here and into the future. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Online Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Take Them By The Hand And Lead Them Through Your Website

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Websites in general are a very simple concept. You build a page, fill it with copy, and ask your readers to do something.

If they are on your home page, maybe you ask them to sign up for your newsletter or a free report.

If they are on your blog, maybe you invite them to learn more about your upcoming holiday promotion.

If they are on your contact form, maybe your goal is to get a variety of information from them about what type of services they are interested in.

No matter what the goal of each page, what’s the next step?

Sell your photography by using your website

With a website, pages are easy to produce, and use as lead-in’s to what comes next.

For example, if someone fills out a contact us form and submits it, instead of having a page that says thank you, create a thank you page that takes selling to the next level. If you are primarily a wedding photographer, fill the thank you page with wedding related links. “Now that we have your information, why not visit our photo gallery? We have over 10,000 images from 100 of our favorites clients – and we’d love to add you to our gallery in the future!” Hyper link it over to your photo gallery, and let people start surfing.
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Filed Under: Blog, Website Marketing Tagged With: , ,

The Secret To Getting Your Photo Business Up To Number One On Google

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My Monday mornings are filled with catching up on email from the weekend, and organizing my to-do lists for the week. I also spend some time brainstorming topics for my blog posts for the coming week.

My blog posts undoubtedly come from emails and conversations I had during the previous week. In today’s email was an email from David, and after answering something similar several times in the past week, I decided this would be the best way to start out this week. David asks:

“I’ve been reading this blog for the past couple of months, and am so glad to have it as a resource. I am already using quite a few of your tips. But one thing I’m having trouble with is understanding how to get Google to notice me. I know you’ve mentioned how quickly you can get Google to rank your posts. Please tell me what your secret weapon is for getting Google to notice you. I really want people to find me easily when they search Google.”

Well David, let me tell you the secret. The secret to getting ranked number one on being number one on googleGoogle is … understanding there is no secret weapon, easy system, or hidden tricks to getting ranked on Google.

So if you’ve been getting a ton of email promising you overnight results, hit the delete button. It’s not going to happen, and you shouldn’t be spending time or money investing in anything that promises you otherwise.

The only way to get the top of Google is with hard work and persistence.

My site ranks well because I’m dedicated to it. I write on it several times per week. And I’ve written posts over the course of the past five years, which means I have hundreds of pages of content within my blog.

Google ranks me well because I have shown I’m a leader in the photography field, and that I’m consistent with my content. It gives me the rank because I produce what it wants.

The only way for you to rank well is to give Google what it wants. If you’re a wedding photographer, write about weddings. If you’re a children’s photographer, write about children. Build up your content – a simple 5 page website won’t cut it anymore.

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Social Networking for Photographers – A New Market Reach

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This month I’ll be teaching six classes on social networking for small business owners. And the offers just keep coming in. With the current economy, I think people are really starting to understand that when you have more time than money, its important to do the best things to help grow your business.

According to a new study by Cone Business, sixty percent of Americans use social media. Of those, 1 inetworkingn 4 interacts more than once per week. And 56 percent feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in the social media.

All of this continues to motivate me to help you, the photographers, develop your business in the online world. If you’re not blogging and using social media, you’re missing THE most important marketing tool available to you today.

Want even more proof? I recently did a post on stats from the blogosphere. The wealthiest, most educated persons are online, and are using blogs and social media more than any other audience. If that is your market, what are you doing to reach out to them?

I love being online because I can reach out and communicate with prospects and customers 24/7. I don’t have to open my office on their time – I do it on mine. If I choose to work three hours in the middle of the night, and take the morning off – its my choice. And the best thing is everything I do online will remain online – and impact me for months and months to come.

Can you say the same about your strategy?

Want help with your own social networking strategy?

photo source clix

Filed Under: Blog, Social Networking Tagged With: ,