Five Photography Business Tips For Creating Success - Virtual Photography Studio - Resources For A Profitable Photography Studio

Would YOU Take The Easy Street To Success?

How much more time would you have available to you during your busy day if someone was there to help you market your business?

I'll show you how to do it in an easy, step by step way!

These programs help you build a business without having to think about what the next step is. Your steps are all right there in front of you. Stop sweating the difficult stuff - and make it as easy as turning on your computer!

Business is changing rapidly. Will you be one of the success stories?

1. You don't have to know everything. The important thing is to do something every day. Your business builds upon your successes - and your mistakes. Don't be afraid to take risks.

2. Set goals. Goals should be your stepping stones into the future. Set realistic goals; things that you can easily accomplish. Then work one after the other to reach success.

3. Visibility is paramount. In order to be a success, people have to find you. There are dozens of ways for you to get in front of your prospects and clients, and let them know you are available for business.

4. You can learn about your business from anyone. Have you ever had one of your customers sell you to one of their friends? Nothing shows your marketability more than listening in on someone else selling your business.

5. Build a relationship with your vendors. A young bride was searching online for an album to place her wedding images in. Her photographer had gone out of business, and left her with the negatives. She found a beautiful album company, but because they sold only to professionals, they couldn't help her. But they recommended a local photographer that they knew well. This photographer gladly helped her design her album. As a way of saying thank you, the young bride sent an additional two clients to this photographer.

"I Stumbled Upon One Of The Greatest Things I've Ever Done For My Business"

Photographers are often surprised to find that fancy Flash presentations on their websites are actually hurting their online business instead of helping it.

The fact is, there's a much better way to bring in sales with your website.

I'm sharing the secrets that have taken me over 13 years to figure out through trial and error, but only to a select number of VirtualPhotographyStudio readers.

I've been there through the development of every new buzzword on the Internet. From SEO, to podcasting, to social networking, I've tried (and studied) it all.

Some of it works, some of it doesn't. Usually what it all boils down to is the amount of time you wish to spend making it work. For everything that exists online has some guru whom has made millions doing it.

Today I thought I'd talk about one of my more favorite tools. It's called blogging.

A blog is an online journal; it's an easy way to post your thoughts and opinions without the need for learning code or programming. If you can type a word document, you can create a blog.

There are two ways to create a blog. The first is to head over to Blogger and sign up for you account. It's easy to set up, and easy to use. You can be blogging in a matter of minutes.

Keep in mind when you use Blogger, you are at the mercy of Google, because they own Blogger. If they don't like what you blog about, they can delete your account. They also will advertise on your page, providing a gateway out of your site. But I like Blogger, and it can have heavy impact on your rankings in Google if you use your account wisely.

The other way is to create your own personalized blog, custom designed to match your website (or in some cases, become your website). The good thing about having your own is you are in total control of your account. You can customize it, and don't have to advertise (unless you want to).

According to its latest survey, Technorati (a blog tracking firm) more than 100,000 new blogs are created every day. That's a lot of blogs to compete with.

My advice is to concentrate on filling up your blog with quality, valuable information, and getting it into the hands of your clients.

Let's say you photograph a wedding. The day after the event, you put up a selection of images on your blog. With one simple email, you can contact the bride and groom to let them know their images are online. And like wildfire, they can easily share that link with hundreds of other people - all around the world.

If you are promoting correctly (You are a Six Figure Photographer aren't you?) these contacts should be able to bring you in several new clients. The key is to working the contacts you have, and keeping your information fresh and up to date.

The other side of marketing involves getting your name out online. Just like you have to get your website noticed by the search engines, you have to get your blog noticed by the "blog engines". There are hundreds of different "blog engines", including Blog Catalog and Blog Hub.

When it comes down to it, marketing takes time and energy. The more time and energy you put into it, the more results you'll see.

"I've been struggling with my photography business for over two years now. At first I started it thinking it would be a way to escape from my 9 to 5. There are always rumors of cutbacks, and I wanted to have a business in place for when that rumor finally became reality. But now after two years, my photography is basically just a hobby. I photograph a few friends, but it really hasn't come around to be the answer I though it would be. Should I continue down this path, or close up shop?"

If you've decided that photography isn't an option for you and you really don't want to continue photographing for money, quit the business.

If you still love photography, and still have the desire to turn it into a successful career, than by all means keep going. But don't just keep doing what you've always done. Keep going and make some substantial changes.

By devoting yourself to becoming a Six Figure Photographer, you could easily turn your photography business into your full time career by the end of the year.

Here's what I'd recommend you should do this year, assuming you can devote 15-20 hours per week to photography.

1. Spend 30 minutes each day reading books, newsletters such as this one, websites and any other information you can find on business-building skills. Build solid principles into your business now to become more successful down the road.

2. Spend 1 hour each day photographing. If you have a client, concentrate on giving them the greatest images possible. If you don't have a client, give yourself an assignment: your child in the park, the flowers at the botanical garden, the animals in the zoo, etc.

3. Spend 2 hours per week planning and implementing your marketing. This means actively getting out there and finding new clients. You can do this in a lot of ways; check the VirtualPhotographyStudio article archives for ideas.

Whatever you do, the key is to taking action. Clients don't come to you without work. Make it a weekly goal to bring in new clients, and you'll soon be on your way to a full time career!