Use the coming soon event!
Have a netbook with your website pulled up with that event. After people sign the guest book, they can enter their email to be notified when that event goes live! This happens when they are MOST EXCITED about seeing the photos.
Make it easy!
Many of you have already done all three, others have done one or two, and some (gasp) have done none. All are free (except for that precious thing called time), and all are effective.
1. Register with Google Places. http://places.google.com should get you there. This insures Google, the most popular search engine, has your up to date info, and you can submit photos, videos, and other info to help your company stand out.
2. Register with Yahoo Local. I found this to be a little more tricky, but still worth the effort. Start here: http://listings.local.yahoo.com and click on Sign Up. Because it is not as popular as Google, many of your competitors will not spend the time to register. You thus receive a larger piece of a smaller pie, very worth your time.
3. Get educated about being found on the web. Don’t pay someone tons of money for SEO, if you are a small business owner, it is worth having basic knowledge. I suggest http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php or if you are a MorePhotos.com client, then contact us up to get a SEO review by our in house expert: suzan@wdweb.com.
Photo Contests for Big Business are effective. Most of those contests are receiving 1000′s of photos, with 100,000′s of votes. That’s a lot of customer interaction for a relatively low investment of a photo contest.
However, my company, “Traverse City Video” isn’t exactly big business. We shoot about 8-10 weddings per summer and have been averaging 50 visitors per month to our site. Because photo contests through “PhotoScramble” are currently free, I purchased a $50 gift certificate to a local party store (for the prize) and created a contest. I was blown away by the 568% increase in traffic over the last month. Granted, I wasn’t getting thousands of hits to start with, but 568% is impressive non the less.
Photo Contest with PhotoScramble= 5 times more traffic to my site!
What can you do?
If you’ve been saying to yourself, “I’m going to start on my great idea when the economy picks up.” Your timing is off. Do it now.
MobilePhotoWall - Is taking advantage of the fact that most photographers leave a wedding when the party gets started. He rolls in with a photobooth on steroids. Without the restriction of walls, guests can be very creative as they click the remote to take their own AWESOME photos. Check it out at http://www.MobilePhotoWall.com
Shirk Photography is taking advantage of cheap real estate. “We enjoyed the low overhead of working out of our home, but my props were taking over the house.” said Shirk. He acquired the bank owned building for about 80% off market value. http://www.ShirkPhotography.com
Several photographers have called back about taking advantage of the light box idea sent out in our last newsletter: get a nice light box, and go door to door to small retail businesses and asking if they need any products shot for their marketing materials or website. As a reminder, the idea here is not to get rich from $10-$20 per product, but to get other business stirring, get your face and name in front of people in your town. Heck, you could even create your own lightbox relatively cheap with these instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive-Photography-Lightbox.
Bottom Line: Now is a great time to get out and make things happen!
Utilize the discount coupon!
If you want to end up selling your 8×10’s for $20, that is what you should post them for, and if you want, you could give your first clients a discount coupon for any percent off you wish. This way they know the real value of your service, and you mentally prepare them for the next visit they make, when you will be charging your standard pricing.
Post EVERY event online!
Even if it is a small job and your customer already ordered from you, post it online. They have the opportunity to show their friends, family, coworkers, etc, YOUR site with their photos. This type of word of mouth exposure is the most valuable marketing you can receive. Better than any phone book ad, billboard, etc.
Photograph your favorite venues and post them online!
People often search for the venue first. If you are a wedding/event photographer, create a page on your site for posting venues. You will be found by more people and provide valuable info for your clients.
You need a good camera and lens, not the most expensive.
It is important to have good equipment, but some of the most successful photographers have a unique ability to distinguish the difference between a good investment and a new toy. Ask yourself if your new equipment will be able to help you make more money, or are you just keeping up with the Jones? 160 MP? I’ll stick with 8, thanks.
