Photo Marketing 101: The Photographer's Website
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 10:00AM I’m back again, and glad to be here. In the last edition of Photo Marketing 101, we discussed the concept of branding, and how it relates to any photographer.
I was excited to see that not only did the post get a lot of traffic, but you were all quick to share your thoughts in the comments. That really helps create a dialogue around marketing for photographers, which I think is extremely important.
As artists, it can sometimes be difficult to think about your work from the “business” side of things. But from the comments on the last post, I can tell that you’re all sufficiently interested in learning more and trying new things.
Lesson 2: Create a website
Creating a website can be as simple as you need it to be. Today, there are hundreds of services out there to help you create a website on the cheap (and sometimes free). A simple Google search for "photography website" shows 258,000,000 results. Most of the results on the first page are options that you have for creating a website.
Of course, if you or someone you know is a strong programmer, creating your own website from scratch can offer more options. But a simple template that requires little to no “coding” knowledge is a good thing for most people, and will certainly do the trick.
It may take some time and money to get started, but every effort in online branding and marketing is worthwhile. A website will allow you to build on the brand that you defined in the last post, and will create a virtual outlet for your growing business. Even if you don’t know what to put on your website, start creating one.
There are a thousand reasons to hesitate, and put things off. But I can tell you now that the sooner you put “increasing my online presence” at the top of your priority list, the sooner you will start seeing real results ($$$$).
In part 3 of our Photography Marketing blog series, we will focus on specifics of your website. Catch you all next time around…
Homework: Your assignment, while simple for some, may take some time. Create a simple website and share the URL with us in the comments below. If you already have a website, simply share it!
Reader Comments (78)
its a free site, and am happy with it...
thinking of activating a pro account in the near future...
Template sites like Wix and Smugmug can be easy to use and create, and save you money, but they also limit your ability to edit the way your site looks and behaves. Building a site from scratch can be more expensive and more difficult, but it also means you have the freedom to make the site function exactly as you want it.
Both are acceptable options, and if you're just getting started a template approach seems to make the most sense. Just know that eventually you might outgrow it.
www.Stricklyentertainment.biz
I definitely agree a website does help especially with us doing just about every and anything on the web.
Hello my photo business is called Peaches Pix. I have a website, Flickr page & Face Book page. I haven't added a blog to my page but i would like to. I live in a small town, on an island in S.E Alaska. Because everybody knows me as "Peaches," I have "built in" brand. It helps that my name is both unusual & easy to remember. I originally used my given name for my business and it didn't work! It was called Naona Jade Photography. Although also unusual, I found this name was hard for people to remember. Nobody knows me by this name so they did not automatically associate me with it. For example, I had a photo published on the front page of our Newspaper. But nobody new it was me because hey didn't recognize the name.
I would also recommend not using any kind of unusual spelling i.e. Pix. People always thinks it is "pics." This simple misunderstanding has made it more difficult for people to find me on the web. When anyone mentions they couldn't find my website I explain it's "Pix" not "pics" & this is always the problem.
Although I'm not a programmer, I am the webmaster for my site. Mostly because it is the least expensive option. Since I am a novice to website design & function I would really appreciate feed back on how to improve my site.
Thanks:)
www.eaneproductions.com
A new venture! Mostly sports photography. I will do some portrait work, not brave enough to scew up someones wedding!
MomentsInMotion.zenfolio.com
Let me know what you think! :)
http://obserwatortorunski.blogspot.com/
Gerry
http://tracyegano.smugmug.com
www.wix.com/theadamrice/photog