Cutting Your Costs: 11 Cheap Tools To Grow Your Photography Business

One of the most common questions people ask me is:

“I’m trying to grow a photography business on a very small shoestring budget. What should I do?”

As a small business owner, “shoestring” automatically becomes a word commonly used in your vocabulary. Times are tight and when you have a very limited budget, you attempt to do whatever you can at the lowest cost possible.

With a photography business, it takes more than a camera and a computer to run it. You need many different things to make it both functional and profitable. So if “fast” “easy” and “cheap” are now permanently ingrained in your vocabulary, take a look at some of these tools and tricks for running a business on a budget. You may find some new ideas that are perfect for you to move forward with this year.

Google Voice

A virtual phone center to run your business from anywhere in the world. Google Voice offers a wide array of services. Start by choosing your area code, then use the system to help you with everything from budgeting your time by setting up “do not call” hours, to sending multiple SMS messages at a time. Read my review to learn even more.

Gliffy

Gliffy is an easy to use processing system for graphics, diagrams and flow carts. With easy to use formatting, you can create dynamic presentations for your website or presentations. [Read more…]

Add a Little Style To Your Photography Blog With Animoto

Tired of just adding photo after photo to your blog? Looking for a way to add a little style?  Show your clients what you’ve got, and put together a dynamic presentation.

With some old photos I used to publish my first book, I created this video in about 2 minutes:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

They make it super easy to add photos, text, even video if you have it. You can rotate things and move them quickly until you have it just the way you want. Then pick out music and create. It really is that easy.

While the one I created above is a great 30 second demo, you have to leave the Animoto logo icon on the player, taking away from your look. Animoto thought of photographers, and offers a program where you can have your own branded player, linked back to your site, for less than $250 a year.

Use a quick slideshow to showcase each of your clients. Start up your own YouTube channel, and fill it up with client work. It also adds another level of protection as your images are embedded, and can’t be copied directly. Plus you build your presence on another social site. Don’t stop with YouTube. There are plenty of other video sites as well.