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The Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Pro Photography Website

Beginner's Guide to Creating a Professional Photography Website and Portfolio

Updated October 19, 2017

One of the first things you need to do when starting your business is to set up a photography website that shows off your work and gives your prospective clients the information they need to hire you.Your website is your virtual storefront. Not only is it a great way to get more clients, but it’s a really cheap photography marketing tool that you can control completely and find clients outside of the people you already know.

With all the options and technical language out there, it can be frustrating to know what kind of website you should create. Not only that, but prices vary significantly between the options, so in this post I’m going to make everything clear. I’ll discuss what kind of website you should create, what all those technical terms mean, and tell you exactly what I’d do if I was just starting out and needed a website (including sharing what my blogging strategy would be). Let’s dive right in!

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Quick Tip to Turn More Inquiries Into Clients

These days, everyone is busy.

There’s nothing more frustrating than finally setting aside some time to get something done, only to find out that you have to wait several hours (or even a few days) in order to be able to finish it.

This is what we are doing to our prospective clients when they start shopping for a photographer to hire.

They check out our websites, then they use our contact forms, and finally they have to wait for an email from us to get the information they really want in order to make an informed decision.

So if you can find a way to get that information to them more quickly (while still capturing their contact information so you can follow up with them), you’re going to be more likely to book them than if they have to wait to hear from you again.

So let’s talk about how to turn more inquiries into clients without having to have email open all the time.
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How to Sell Albums Successfully

I have a love-hate relationship with albums.

I love the money I make selling them. My first album sale was over $6000 (they ordered a huge album plus 3 large parent albums) and that was back when I was only charging around $2400 for a wedding. The income potential blew my mind.

I love how well they protect my clients’ images. The fact that they are gorgeous and can sit in a closet for decades just waiting for their grandkids to find it is fantastic.

And I love how beautiful our images look printed on big pages, and how well it markets our work when our clients show their album to all their friends and family.

But the process of creating and actually selling albums to clients can be difficult.

You have to clearly communicate the value of an album to your clients.

Designing and making revisions to albums can be a huge time suck.

Getting clients to send you their feedback and finalize the album design can take far longer than you dreamed and can be a communication nightmare.

And pricing albums can be tricky.

So in this post, we’re going to talk about how to successfully sell albums without all the stress. Then I’ll give you some additional free tools and bonus materials at the end that you can use in your business to make your album sales successful. Let’s dive right in. [Click to read more]

Top 10 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals for Photographers!

Click here now to check out the best photography deals in the industry, and get a free gift from The Modern Tog as well just as a thank you!

How to Create Facebook Ads that Get You Photography Clients

The majority of Facebook ads are a waste of money for photographers.

But not all.

Before you can create effective ads, you need to understand what makes them a waste of money so that you don’t keep throwing it away, hoping that somehow you’ll get a few clients somewhere.

So let’s talk about the mistakes photographers are making with Facebook ads and what makes an ad get good results. Then I’ll give you a step-by-step method that makes creating effective Facebook ads easy.

Let’s dive in. [Click to read more]

How to Make Money with a Black Friday Deal in Your Photography Business

Black Friday is just around the corner here in the US, and this is a GREAT time to make some extra cash for the holiday season (and not just spend it on all the awesome deals out there!)

This is one of the few days of the year when people are actually looking forward to spending their money and are happy to do it.

However, just creating a sale doesn’t mean you’re going to get people to buy. So this post is going to walk you through how to run a successful Black Friday sale as well as give you several ideas of what you could do.

Let’s dig right in. [Click to read more]

How to Move Your Photography Business to a New Location

Moving to a new location is hard enough, but when it comes to moving your photography business, it is especially challenging.

We just moved to a new state about 400 miles away from our old town, which means we get to completely re-start our photography business in a brand new place with no word-of-mouth or brand recognition.

In some ways, it feels a lot like starting from scratch. But instead of being discouraging, I’m really excited about it. This gives us a chance to re-define who we are and to do things “right” from the very beginning.

So I thought I’d share the process we’re going through as we move our business. So let’s jump in. [Click to read more]

Top 10 Blogs for Photographers of 2014

It’s incredible how many blogs for photographers there are now.

In the past year, I’ve seen tons of blogs start up, all promising to help you grow your photography business.

But which ones will actually help you grow your business most effectively? Who do I believe you should be following most closely?

I’ve narrowed down my list to my top 10 list of blogs for professional photographers (besides this one, of course) that I recommend following. There’s plenty more to be sure, but these are the best of the best that teach you how to run a more profitable and successful photography business.

So here’s the fourth annual list of Top Photography Business Blogs!

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How Much Does It Cost To Start a Photography Business?

Let’s face the facts: there are a lot of people “pretending” to be professional photographers without actually starting a legal photography business.

They get a camera, start a Facebook page, and start shooting their friends and family for little or nothing in the hopes that they can “test the waters” before actually getting legal.

Not only are they putting themselves at a great financial and legal risk by doing this, it’s simply not possible to “test the waters” and see if it’s really going to work.

This is because people are not going to take your business seriously until YOU take your business seriously.

So how much does it actually cost to start a photography business and do things right? What do you really need to start a photography business the right way and start getting real, paying clients through the door right away? That’s what I’m going to walk you through in this post.

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Take The Stress Out Of Working With Friends & Family

Stress-Free-Working-With-Friends-and-Family-The-Modern-Tog-Clean — Photo by Maureen Cassidy, Used with Permission

Think back to when you started your business. Who were your first “clients” (whether free or paid)?

Chances are you started by taking images of friends and family before getting outside clients to hire you.

While it’s important to be thankful for the people who helped you get started, things can quickly become awkward once you start raising your prices and are no longer just building your portfolio.

Friends & family might expect free or discounted rates. In addition, they might be some of your most difficult “clients” to work with.

So today I’m going to tell you why that happens and how to avoid sticky and difficult situations when working with friends and family. So let’s jump right in.

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Will Your Photography Business Survive In 2014? 13 Predictions For The New Year

The Photography Industry is in the midst of a huge change.

I’ve seen several well-established photography studios close while new, talented photographers rise up to replace them in non-conventional ways.

I’ve seen a shift in what clients are looking for and what’s important to them.

And more than anything, I’m seeing that marketing efforts that worked very well even 2-3 years ago are no longer giving people the results they once were getting.

So I wanted to share some of the trends I’ve noticed and what I think is going to be most important to focus on in 2014 and beyond in order to have a sustainable & profitable photography business in 2014. Let’s jump right in.

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