Virtual Photography Studio - Photography Business Resources for photographers
Virutual Photography Studio, Guide To Resources, Products and Information
Have you ever played with the Google maps concept? You can search out any address and with a few clicks have a street view of the surrounding area.
This works out really well when you’re unfamiliar with an area, and wish to have an idea of where you are going before you get there.
We used it the first time we went to Italy, and it was very helpful getting an idea of where our apartment was before we ever stepped off the plane. We “recognized” landmarks immediately, and found our location much quicker than we would have without it – something especially helpful when you take the train and walk there yourself without being able to speak Italian!
Now that Google has photographed almost everywhere street view, they are turning to other locations – inside the buildings themselves.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to “see” a restaurant in the city you’re hosting a retreat without having to visit in person? Or to be able to look inside a store to see if they truly have the products you want to look at?
Yes, there are all kinds of reasons to have the inside of your location photographed and placed in Google Maps’ que.
But in order for that to happen, you need to have photographs – the right kind of photographs.
No snapping a few images with your iPhone. If businesses want to take advantage of this technology, they need to have the right kind of photographs to present the virtual tour – which means they need the right kind of photographer.
In order to be a Google Trusted Photographer, you have to meet certain qualifications.
You have to be ready to run a high volume photography business – they say you’ll be working 30+ hours per week as a part of the program.
And you have to have business skills behind you – are you ready for door to door or tele-sales in order to reach out to your customers?
Your goal as a Google Trusted Photographer will be to connect with local businesses and educate them on the power of being included in Google Maps Business Profiles. Once you have a new customer, you will spend around two hours capturing the images needed to make the Google virtual tour possible. Then you will work behind the scenes to publish your work into the Google Maps platform.
That’s it.
You do have to apply for the position, but once accepted they provide all the training.
Right now Trusted Photographers are working with businesses in U.S., Canada, Spain, Italy, the UK, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. And of course a lot more to come.
Sound interesting? Apply now. It may be just the boost your business needs in this new economy.
“How do you know that?”
That’s a question I get asked all the time. If someone asks me a question, I know exactly how to spend 5 or 10 minutes researching it to make an informed decision about it, and then I can have an intelligent conversation on it.
But what I’ve realized over the years is a lot of people don’t understand how to do that. I guess you can say that researching is an art in itself.
So when I was talking to a “traditional” photographer who was having trouble with his business the other day, it didn’t surprise me that he really didn’t understand how to look at photography through the eyes of our modern day era.
“Yes, there really are a lot of ways to make money at photography. You just have to look at what your successful competitors are doing,” I told him.
“And how would I ever do that? Its not like they’re going to tell me what they are doing,” he said.
“Sure they will. Just watch.”
Let’s say we’ve decided we want to sell some of our photography online. We want the flexibility of being able to run the business from anywhere, and we like the idea of fine art photography. Etsy is just the place to go to find out what people are doing.
We’ll start by using a tool like Craftcount. Craftcount tracks Etsy top sellers by category. So if we look at photographers, here are the top 15 sellers on Etsy in the photography category:
Now that you have top sellers, you can dive in and find out what they are doing.
Let’s look at number one:
She photographs nature and travel, and sells fine art prints through Etsy. She also has sold her work through a variety of retail outlets like Target and Trader Joe’s.
She sells her fine art prints in all sizes. But I can also se she has a couple of niches that are very interesting – nursery wall art and iphone cases. Hmmm…
Think there is potential with turning your photographs into cases for smart technology? Yep, me too. That’s definitely something to pursue.
I also like niching, and the concept of using photographs to create nursery wall art is also an intriguing concept. How well could you do with soft images exclusively for moms looking to decorate their newborn’s rooms in a different way?
And if you did it right and started gaining a lot of exposure, you may even have a major company pick up your concept and bring it to the masses. Have you seen the way Target introduces new designers into their stores? Or Macy’s?
So with 5 minutes of time and looking quickly at one source, the ideas are already starting to whirl.
Yes, it really is that easy. You just have to look.
What can you find?
Skip the cutesy names or the bland and generic. If you know you want to be a destination photographer, say so in your name. It tells people exactly what you do, and it makes it memorable when you are networking online.
How do you talk about yourself when you post online or you network in your local community? Do you say “I’m a wedding photographer” or “I photography families”? Nope. If you truly want to be a destination photographer, say so. “I’m exclusively a destination photographer for some of the most spectacular weddings on the planet.” Yep, that’ll get their attention.
A recent search for “destination photography” on Google says it all. These people want to rank high for “destination photographer” and they do – these are the top four.
By using keywords built around destination photography, you get results.
A recent post on Huffington Post Weddings article says it all:
One of our favorite trends in destination weddings? When couples opt for the post-wedding “Trash the Dress” photo session.
If other destination photographers are doing something well, you can learn from their experiences and do it better. In this case, Huffington Post needed 12 trash the dress photos for its story – strive to make the next story.
When a bride and groom to be decide they are holding their wedding away from their local community, they don’t research things in their local community. Which means if you are advertising in your local wedding guide – you’ll never meet a destination bride.
They go to the resources that help them plan a destination event. Destination Weddings anyone?
Yes, some people may search for destination photography. Yet many, many more know exactly where they are going and start searching from there. If you want to shoot in Mexico, you better include Mexico in the way you talk. Pick your locations and start talking about them. That’s how you get known in those areas.
Photographers aren’t the only vendors that like to travel. Find a group that caters to the destination business and network with like-minded vendors and business owners. Try Destination Wedding and Honeymoon Specialists Association or the Association of Destination Wedding Professionals to get you started.
Every day newspapers, magazines and television shows have time/space to fill. They are always looking for fun and unique things to share with their audience. If you have a unique slant to your clientele and the way you do business, you’ll be at the forefront of gaining the attention of these sources. All you have to do is let them know what you are doing.
Lets say you really love a ski town. And your goal is to be in that location two months out of the year. Why not get involved with the local Chamber, or link up with the visitors center or in-town magazine? There are many ways you can get your name out to people that want to travel there in the future – you just have to look for the opportunities. Check out Steamboat Springs magazine for some ideas. What family wouldn’t love a unique portrait in a location that will always bring them happy memories?
The more you get to know people within an industry, the more opportunity will come up. If you love working corporate events, a hotel may be the perfect location to build a relationship with. If weddings are your thing, an event coordinator that travels the globe may be your best referral source. Instead of advertising exclusively in things that reach a potential customer (ie. a bride), don’t forget to spend just as much time reaching out to potential power partners. They can share unlimited opportunities over the coming years IF you find a way to connect and stay in their line of thinking from this point forward.
Remember, Destination Photographer doesn’t mean unlimited locations (though the opportunity is always there). Instead, Destination Photographer means you’re expanding your business potential outside of your local community. You can choose the locations. You can choose how and where to focus. The only thing left is connecting up with potential clients, which will be easy when you start thinking like a destination photographer.
Where do you look for new clients?
If you’re like most photographers these days, you’re heading online more and more. And why not? Facebook has over a billion people. Pull up any key term in Google and you’ll find millions of results just waiting for the person to search and find.
But just because there is a lot of potential doesn’t mean you’ll find it IF you aren’t approaching it in the right manner. To find clients, you have to have a dynamic web presence. And a dynamic web presence means the ability to take a potential client from one point to another, walking them from just finding out about you to signing up and becoming a happy and satisfied client.
If you don’t have a dynamic web presence, or any piece of the process isn’t in place, you’re missing out on HUGE potential.
Look through this list; do you see any offenders in your business? If so, clean them up today.
I worked with a photographer a couple of years ago who couldn’t figure out why no one ever contacted him through his website. So I agreed to spend some time going through it and give him some pointers on things to change.
It took me 30 seconds to find out what was wrong.
Nowhere on his website was a phone number, an email address, or any way of connecting with him. He didn’t even have what city he was located in and was willing to do business in. He had a fill-in-the-blank form – and that was it.
When I questioned him about it, his response was “I don’t want all that spam or people contacting me about anything other then doing business with me. This is my way of weeding out the spammers and the marketers so I only have to deal with potential customers.”
The problem with trying to make it difficult for spammers and marketers to get a hold of you is you are doing the same thing to your customers. And if things are that difficult for your potential customers, I guarantee you they are going somewhere else.
Never, never hold back on giving people ways to connect with you. In fact, the more ways they can connect, the better.
Your homework this week: Look through your site and see how easy it is to connect with you. Can a potential client connect with you in many different ways, and be able to find those connections the second they decide to move forward? [Read more…]
Do you have a little extra time this week?
Then maybe its time to make sure you are taking advantage of all the latest Facebook features.
Its easy to get caught up in the day to day “stuff” that happens within our businesses. So much so that we forget about going back and making sure we can do all we can with what we have.
And if you’ve been over to Facebook lately, you’ll likely see additional changes all the time – have you noticed the changes Facebook Graph has put into play?
Facebook has updated its guidelines, creating more space in your cover image and loosening the restrictions on what you can display in the space. This is your prime real estate – the first thing people see when they visit your page. Make sure you display things that instantly say who you are – your award winning photos, calls to action, web address, logo and/or branding, and more.
The key is that text cannot exceed 20 percent of the cover image area.
Your profile image is used every time you post on Facebook and it’s the first thing people see when glancing their posts in their newsfeed. If you become value in their minds, they are more likely to stop and read what you have to say. The key is becoming recognizable.
Also, make sure you upload an image at 180×180 pixels – Facebook will size it down to 160×160, but this ensures you have a clear, recognizable image that looks good wherever it goes. If you load a large, rectangular image, you might not create the impression you are looking for.
Your tab thumbnails appear below your cover image and lead to the main tools on your page you want your viewers to spend time with. Make sure they capture attention.
The best way to do this is to think about what course of action you want your visitors to take, and use simple fonts, images and words to direct them there. Why do they visit you? Why do they trust you? Make sure you know why you want them there and what you want them to do once they are.
Right below your profile picture is a section that can show a brief description of approximately 155 characters. This space is a great way to communicate your key ideas to your visitor.
While its important to define what you do in as short of space as possible, also consider putting your URL there as well – it’s a great way to connect people back to your site where they can get more information.
It’s easy to edit – use go to Edit Setting in your admin panel, then look for Short Description under Basic Information.
Many people head to their About section and type up a short description of their business without thinking much about it. This about section not only tells your viewers who you are and what you do, its also open and available to search results and can produce rankings for you as well. Focus in on your keywords and make sure you maximize them throughout the content areas. When it comes to the online world, whether its your blog, your Facebook account, or any other social site, remember to maximize information as much as possible. Your goal online is to be found, and it won’t happen unless you add as much information as possible.
Depending on how long you’ve had your account and how you originally set it up, you may still have a URL with “pages” and a set of numbers in it. You can update it to a custom name – and you should as soon as possible.
A customized page web address looks more professional and makes it easier for people to find your business on Facebook. If they know the name of your business and type it in to the Facebook search bar, do you come up? It also makes it easier to connect on all other online sites – and adds to your professional branding as well.
How did you originally sign up for your Facebook Page? Facebook offers a variety of category options, many of which are similar. As a new business owner, they may be a bit confusing, especially if you haven’t fully defined your business yet. Will you travel for business? Or do you primarily have clients come into your studio?
If you do have a brick and mortar studio, consider changing to a Local Business, which allows users to check into your location. Checking in raises awareness about your business to their circle of influence, and it also boosts up your search results as a part of Graph Search.
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day, and it said:
Men tend to start businesses to be the “boss,” and their aim is for their businesses to grow as big as possible. Women start businesses to be personally challenged and to integrate work and family, and they want to stay at a size where they personally can oversee all aspects of the business.
Right there you can start to see the difference in expectations and outcomes.
Men start businesses to see how big they can build them. Women build them more as an escape from the hectic life of a 9 to 5 job so that they can incorporate work and family into a more meaningful life.
And of course that leads to one more thing. Men will build the business to maximize income. Women will settle for enough income to be happy (however she defines it).
So it got me to thinking about photographers and whether it was true in the photography field as well.
I found this great editorial on the subject over at Fstoppers – Photography: Is It Still A Man’s World?
In the article, Lee states that according to the National Endowment for the Arts Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005 report put out in 2008, women make up 42.8% of all professional photographers. Not bad, right? But when you look a little closer, you’ll find that demographics show 60% of photographers under 35 are women. Meaning proportionately women haven’t come into the photography field until recently.
So from just those statistics, overall women are definitely penetrating the photography industry. But according to the WSJ, men will build more successful, higher income businesses than women. Does that hold true in photography?
Need help on the direction of your Photography Business?
According to the NEA’s report, the median income for male photographers is $35,500. The median income for a female photographer? $16,300.
Yep. It definitely holds true.
When it comes to shooting, men and women look at things differently. And that’s only to be expected. But the same holds true from person to person, man or woman. Photography is art. And art is created from within. How you look at a situation and how you choose to express it is all based on how you approach your art form.
Both men and women can be true artists in every sense of the word. Both can move to the top of the industry. Both can make successful careers. Both have the opportunity to take it as far as they can go.
But statistics show by far women “get stuck” more on the details than men.
So the question isn’t whether men or women are better at photography, the question becomes are men or women better at the business of photography?
Because without the business side of things, if all you do is make enough to barely survive, you’re much better off getting a job and skipping the “photography business” altogether.
What do you think? Need help on the direction of your Photography Business?
Guess what? The photography industry is changing. But I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.
In many ways, photography has changed because of our technology. Mobile, tablets, social media – its all played into the way we want our photography.
But another contributing factor is how we approach photography as a business – or lack there of as the case may be. There are only so many times a photographer can reduce their fees before they hit the $0 mark. And there are only so many days you can survive making the $0 mark.
How many of these traps have you fallen into this year with your own photography?
Take a look at your current packages. Do you offer to shoot 1,000 images, edit it down to a file of 100 fully Photoshopped, edited images in perfect shape. And of course you hand over the large digital files so they can print to their hearts content. All for $50? Yes, I see that all the time. Let the excuses fly. “I can’t charge any more than that, no one would pay for it.” Or “Not in my area, we’re hurting around here.” But the truth of the matter is if you aren’t charging what you’re worth, if you don’t find the value in what you do and what you offer, neither will your customer.
Have you ever explained to your customers the value of your work? Do they know about your expertise? Do they understand your education, what makes you professional over every other photographer? Do they understand balance, color composition and posing? Have you pointed out mistakes in other work, and showcase what value you have in the art world? Some clients prefer to work with professionals. But you have to prove your expertise in order for them to want to pay for it. Otherwise they will move on to your competition, looking at things solely through price.
No, I’m not talking about extraterrestrials here. What I mean is if you are a 40 something photographer expecting your 20 something clients to respect copyrights, you’re in for a world of shock. 20 somethings have grown up under different times. They expect different things, different rules. If they want a song, they copy it. If they want to watch a movie, they find it and watch it. If they want to read something, they find a way to do it for free. And if they want a photo, they copy it and use it. Yes, I know copyright issues are in place for a reason. But right now we are seeing a huge turn in the structure of a lot of industries, photography being one of them. If they don’t want to pay, they won’t pay. And they’ll find someone willing to give them what they want at the price they want. Which means we have to think of our business model in a different way that allows us to stay in business and give the customers what they truly want.
What do you do for your clients? Do you shoot their session, and head home to put all of the best work online for the world to see? You share it on your blog, on Facebook, you Tweet it, and share it on Instagram. And once they are online, the world can view them, share them, even “copy” them and put them into their own viewers for free. Why should they come back in and pay for an image when it already exists on their iPhones and iPads – it will be there forever. In order to get paid for what you do, you have to get paid first, share second. It’s the only way it will ever work in this technology-happy world.
You’ve been dreaming about photography “forever”. You’ve bought the perfect camera, you have all the accessories, you’ve even built up your portfolio with family and friends. But one thing is holding your back:
Your business name
Naming your photography business can be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for people just getting started. You want the perfect name, want it to be memorable, and be able to grow with you for years into the future. Yet that desire is what’s holding you back. Here’s why.
Everything associated with your name has to be put on hold until you make your final decision. You can’t get your tax license, register your business, or order business cards. So weeks, months, even years can go by waiting for the right name to “pop” into your brain. Funny thing is it rarely does. You’ll always have doubts. You’ll always have questions. And the longer you wait, the more your dreams of owning a photography business pass you by. The more you focus on your name, the more you focus on the wrong things. Clients want you – your photography – and the name is always secondary. If this is where you are stuck, make your decision today to start simple – Your Name Photography – if nothing else comes to you. You can always change the name or do a DBA (doing business as) later.
Have you ever found a company with a cute name that may have made you laugh. Then the more you thought about, the more you questioned the integrity of the business? Yep, we all have. The owner started out with good intentions, yet the name takes on hidden meanings, depending on your background and the way you interpret things. A clever name doesn’t win clients. And a clever name can come back and hurt you, especially if society changes. (For example, shooting was a popular word a couple of decades ago until “shooting” became engrained in our society as a horrible thing.)
So you’ve put a few words together that have a couple of meanings. You think its clever and people will love it. The problem arises when a potential client has no idea what it means, and they are left scratching their heads, wondering what kind of person came up with a name like that. Confusion should never be a part of your marketing plan. Sell them with your style, your branding, your colors and your look. Your name will always fall to the back of the “impact” if you have a tightly pulled together look that attracts people from the beginning.
For all of these reasons and more, I suggest to keep your naming process simple.
If you’ve been stuck for a while now, yes it can be as simple as going with your name – Your Name Photography – to start moving ahead in your goals and your dreams.
Another activity to get you moving in the right direction is to find a name that specifically says what you do. Take out a piece of paper and write down words associated with your business ideas. You may end up with words like:
In this case, you can start simple with Pet Portraits or Best Friends Photography. It gets straight to the point, especially when displayed with your work.
Stay focused on what really matters – getting clients and growing your business – not on something that can be easily changed and modified as you grow.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to build a successful business from the 
ground up, Six Figure Photographer is the perfect step by step system to help you get your business up and running and the clients flowing in. Six Figure Photographer gives you the most important things to do to set up a solid business plan today, followed by steps to do as you continue to grow and change in the months ahead. Easy. You can get it at SixFigurePhotographer.com
Fourth of July. Here in America, it’s a time of reflecting back to what life was like when America was first “discovered”, how an entire new world was put together, and how those concepts still apply today to not just use here, but to people all over the world as well.
I love reading pretty much any genre I can get my hands on. At any given time I’ll have a half dozen books or so started and in some location in my home. And occasionally I’ll pick up a biography – I love learning from people that have failed miserably and achieved high levels of success because of it. Who better to learn from?
Today I thought I’d reflect back on a few things our founding fathers did, and how their concepts still ring true today. You can definitely learn a lot just be “seeing” how they handled their own situations at very different times.
George Washington owned one of the largest plantations in the nation. He produced wheat, rye and barley. While he was doing very well with his commodities business, being a good business owner, he was always on the lookout for other opportunities. He decided to capitalize on his resources by furthering his potential with his grain stock. He tasked his slaves to build him a stone mill to produce flour to sell throughout Europe and the West Indies. With that task in process, he began to worry that his slaves were too lazy – a common worry back then. So he soon tasked his slave managers to build a distillery right next to the mill – a perfect way to keep an eye on the mill next door. This distillery opened as the largest in the US, and produced more than 1,000 gallons of whiskey.
George Washington was always looking for opportunity. When something worked well within his “empire”, he looked for ways to capitalize on it. As photographers, we need to do the same thing. Instead of looking at all the potential you have, focus in on one thing. Then do it well – better than anyone else. Find a way to capitalize on it as much as you can. Once that is running efficiently, determine what you can start or create to take your business to a whole new level. A wedding photographer may be making six figure a year, and be very efficient in their business model. Then they decide to start a wedding album app business to display albums on tablets – an idea they can sell to wedding photographers all over the world.
Ben Franklin was a spirited man, always finding a friend that would believe in his idea. At the age of 21, he had an idea to build a newspaper. So he purchased on in Philadelphia and hired apprentices to begin printing a variety of articles and funny stories about the community. He also turned towards the local businesses, and began offering a variety of things for them as well, including brochures for their own marketing purposes, and classified ads and advertisements within his newspaper. He became very wealthy and retired at age 42, all because he worked together with everyone in his community.
Small business works the same way today. Go it alone and it will be a hard, long road. Work with those around you and you’ll quickly shine in your community. One of the greatest things today is your community can be anywhere in the world, thanks to the Internet. You can join forums, social sites and portals, becoming an expert on whatever subject you choose. You can work with businesses in your local community and put on local events for your friends and neighbors. The sky is the limit – if you aren’t reaching out to other business owners and developing events together, you’re missing out on one of the biggest marketing “secrets” ever.
Thomas Jefferson was like many of the founding fathers, and owned a successful plantation. In order to make it more profitable, he started a nailery, which broke down pieces of iron and turned them into small nails. Nails were hard to come by in those days, so his little packets of nails were very popular. Because he saw opportunity, he invested in a nail making machine, which helped him increase his volume. He operated it until his death.
Within your business, there are things that will rise to the top and become more popular. Look for these things; then look for ways to increase the efficiency. Can you hire others to take on part of the responsibility? Can you find ways to bring it to a new market?
Want to see your name and your photography on Virtual Photography Studio? Our goal is to help the amateur photographer begin making money, and help the professional photographer grow into a Six Figure income level, all by becoming better at the business side of photography. Do you have … [Read More...]
