Using CraigsList to generate Photography Business

If not, you may be missing out on a potential lead generation tool.

People use the Internet for everything. In fact, I’ve recently learned of two people that have used places like CraigsList.com to not only look for work, but to also look for clients.

CraigsList.com is a directory that is broken down by location, and by industry/area of interest. Let me show you how it works.

First, start out by clicking on your location. CraigsList.com has USA and International options. Once you’re at your selected location, you’ll find a variety of categories. Click around and see what’s available. From my own research, I know most postings for photographers end up under the “services” section, and the category “creative”.

Find the services section, and click on the “creative” link. This will take you to postings made under this category.

Browse through some of the postings, and see what people are writing. As I’m writing this, there are offers for web design, writing and editing, and photography.

Keep in mind that anyone can post. You can create a post selling your photography services. Or you can create a post asking for bids on services.

Let me show you how it can work. A friend recently needed a business portrait, and posted a “Wanted” ad on CraigsList.com. Within one day, she had several contacts offering photography services. She chose one and had a professional portrait created near her office. She was very happy with the results.

This is a very simple system, yet the potential is amazing. CraigsList.com is the 7th most popular site online. With all of that traffic, shouldn’t you be giving it a try?

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Create A Photography Business Checklist To Help Start Your Dream Photography Business

Create A Photography Business Checklist To Help Start Your Dream Photography Business If you’ve been thinking of starting your own business for some time now, the easiest way to get started is to begin with a photography business checklist. This list will provide you with the details of what it takes to get started, and give you a something that makes the tasks seem more doable.

So, if you’re ready to move forward in photography, where do you start? What are the most important steps to consider when starting a photography business?

1. Start by defining the type of photography you choose to offer your clients. Everyone has a different reason for becoming involved in photography. Some love working with babies and children. Some prefer working on location with families and pets. Some love commercial work, and making products come alive. Some find passion in creating wedding photography.

While many photographers choose multiple specialties, keep in mind that any one of these can make a lucrative career. The more passion you have in your chosen line of photography, the easier it is to promote your work, and get known within your specialty.

2. Establish your business identity. Once you decide on your specialty, use that specialty to identify your name and your brand. While some photography studios are named after the business owner, others use a more generic name. A name is a personal choice. But above all, make sure your name speaks to your desired clientele.

3. Decide what resources you need for your business. Do you need a commercial location for a studio? Will you work out of your home? What type of camera equipment will you need? While a start-up business shouldn’t invest in extravagant equipment, you should purchase enough equipment to sufficiently do your job, and to have backup equipment available at all sessions.

4. Decide what vendors you will be using for your business. A photography studio needs a variety of services, including a professional photography lab, album companies, framing companies, office supplies, and production supplies.
An easy way to find many of these vendors is to attend a photography expo. There are many local, regional, national and international expos available to the professional photographer, including Professional Photographers of America, and Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. And sign up for newsletters at places like VirtualPhotographyStudio.com to stay on top of some of the newest and most exciting trends.

5. Join professional organizations to network with like-minded individuals. There are a variety of professional photographer organizations. It’s also important to join organizations in your community, such as entrepreneur groups, networking groups, and chamber of commerce’s. All can provide you with invaluable resources.

6. Market your business to prospective clients. Every business needs customers to survive. Top priority for any new business is to bring in new clients not only to establish yourself as a business, but also to begin making a profit for your business.

7. Add your own goals to your photography business checklist. Provide specific goals that will help you realize your dream. Add things like ‘quit full time job in October’ to help motivate you to take action on your ideas.

Helping your photography business, how to start a photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Photography Business – Tweak Your Way To Success

It’s not always about making massive change to your photography business. Sometimes it’s about tweaking the little things that can have a profound impact. Have you ever looked at someone else’s business, and wondered how they gained so much success? Did they find one key to unlock the magic door? Chances are they learned the art of tweaking.

Tweaking is the ability to look at what you have, and fine-tune it. It doesn’t involve colossal changes. It just takes the good in your business, and makes it better. If you’ve been failing in your marketing, or just can’t pull in the business like you use to, chances are its because you haven’t mastered the art of tweaking.

A person with a website carrying the same look and message for two years in a row is a great example. This business owner put up a site simply to have information out online, without realizing it could be pulling in business for him every day of the week. Find out what’s working, and making slight changes to make it better. It’s like a chef who keeps adding one new ingredient to perfect the recipe. Or the scientist who mixes different ratios of chemicals to produce a new reaction. They don’t start over from scratch. They change one tiny portion, and try it again. And again.

Marketing your photography business can be a lot more fun once you master the art of tweaking. Where does your business stand today? Are you brand new, starting with your first client? Or maybe you’ve been at it a year, but still can’t make it your full time venture. Or maybe you make a comfortable living with your photography, but you want to see how far you can go. All of these are perfect examples of businesses that can master tweaking, and go to the next level with their businesses.

Tweaking involves taking what you are already doing, and making minor adjustments to make it even better. If you suddenly make massive change, you won’t be able to determine what the impact is. Instead, change one portion of your business planning, and see what happens.

• If you send out 1,000 postcards a month, what would happen if you increased it to 2,000?
• What would happen if you changed your offer on those 1,000 postcards?
• What would happen if you targeted different people with those 1,000 postcards?
• What would happen if you changed the wording of those 1,000 postcards?

The list could go on and on. But the point is you make a small change, and see how it impacts your business. If business goes away, you know you made a bad change. If you increase your sales, you change was good.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

5 Steps Your Photography Business Needs To Make

What’s the difference between an average photography business and a highly successful one? It’s the way the photography business owner approaches their daily business tasks.

An average business owner will approach the day, and let things happen. She’ll react to email and phone messages, and let the day unfold before her.

A highly successful photography business owner will take charge of her day, and spend her time doing the right things for her business. Here’s five ways you can begin making a change in your business life, and create more success.

1. Create a plan. Every photography business needs to know the direction its heading. Create several types of plans to keep you on track: a lifetime plan to understand where your photography business is ultimately heading; a yearly plan to determine your action steps for the year; and a monthly plan to make sure you are reaching your goals.

2. Evaluate. Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean you can’t change. Evaluate continually what you’re doing, and how it will ultimately impact your long term goals. If you need to make changes, do it.

3. Create a plan. A yearly plan will keep you on track, but daily goals will ensure your success. Always ask yourself if you are doing the best possible thing to help you reach your goals.

4. Take action. Planning is important. But planning isn’t enough. You have to take action on your plans, and put them into place.

5. Follow through. Make sure your business is always in motion. Do you have the proper goals? Are you reaching them? Are you getting in new clients? Are you profitable?

Find your weaknesses, and put more action into place. You’ll soon discover that you’ve your goals quickly, and are ready to take on new challenges!

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Bringing In Sales Even During The Slow Times

Every business has it. It’s called the cyclical slow time. It may last for a month or even several months. But as a business owner, turning this time period into as short of a period as possible will help you become a stronger business.

As a business owner, you can either bring in new prospects and turn them into new clients, or you can sell to your existing client base and bring in repeat business. During your slow times, concentrate on getting repeat business from your existing client base. 

Some times of the year are just easier to sell to a new client. Lets take senior portraiture for a moment. The following years’ seniors start thinking about their final year of school and begin planning in May. Their schools hold fairs and begin giving them direction on everything there is to do. It’s natural to plan your own photography mailings around this time frame.

If you’re a studio specializing in portraits, particularly the senior market, you’re busy time is predictably May through December. Come January, things start slowing down, and by the springtime, you may be wondering how to pay the bills.

Instead of spending the early months of the year planning for the new senior market, concentrate on the seniors that are about to graduate, and on your other existing clients. Your current clients know you, have worked with you, and understand your business. Create special promotions just for them. Things like:

• Selling additional wallets for friends, family and graduation announcements
• Additional portrait packages
• Cap and gown images
• Family portrait before the senior goes off to college
• Family portraiture of past clients (if you’ve been doing seniors for a number of years, some of your clients may be getting married, or even having babies)
• Instead of trying to bring in new clients during your slow time, concentrate on building options for your existing client base. They know you and have worked with you before. They are a much easier sell – so sell to those that love what you do!

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Market you Photography Business in 2007

How much time do you spend on getting new clients?

How much time do you spend keeping your existing clients happy?

Most small businesses spend a great deal of their marketing efforts getting new clients. But that is the one area that takes the most effort. To get someone brand new to accept your company, and decide to purchase from you takes a huge amount of effort, both financially and physically.

But creating a referral source out of someone whom already has a relationship with you is a far easier way of using your marketing dollars.

They love you. They’re happy with your service. They know how you work and what type of service you provide. And they have friends.

Spend you marketing dollars wisely, and have your existing customers work for you.

Send newsletters.

Send customer appreciation promotions.

Ask for a referral.

Provide thank you gifts.

Network with them.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Increase photography studio sales with a quality website presence

Websites allow a photography studio an effortless solution to display sections of their work and present information to potential customers 24/7.

One item that we all face in our photography business is the need for an online presence. Having a website is very important for your clients to locate information pertaining to your services and viewing a portfolio of quality images. Too often, we find websites that are constructed by novice designers using a boxed website solution with very unpleasant results. Imagine if you viewed a website of poor quality, would you want your wedding photographed by the same studio? I know that I would not. Budgets are tight on most businesses just starting up and locating a great product and an affordable price can become unpleasantly difficult. For websites, a template solution could avail your situation and allow your studio to create a professional online presence without elimination of your entire bank account balance. Quality photography website templates are created as great starting solution and can help relay the proper message to entice larger events and increase your sales.

Don’t fall victim to accepting sub par website displays in relation to your photography studio, make it look pleasing and professional. Take a quick look at the many hundreds of photography business website template solutions.

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Networking Your Photography Studio

I used the past weekend to catch up on some of my reading. Yikes, was it out of control! I probably have 50 magazines sitting by my bedside (unfortunately, I’m not exaggerating!)Anyway, I found an interesting article that describe the queen of Thank You’s! She sends out a minimum of 3 thank you’s every day to:

people she meets in networking events

people she knows and sees quoted in the newspaper

former clients

current customers

friends and acquaintences

She sends thank you notes for everything. And she is definitely known

around the circles she networks with. People love hearing from her because they know she appreciates them – and she shows it.

Start your own Thank You campaign. If you send 3 thank you cards a day, 5 days a week, that’s still under $10 a week, and you’ll be making contact with 15 people a week!

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Use Adobe Photoshop To Create Collage Pages

Have you ever wanted to find an easy way to create collage pages in Adobe Photoshop. We put together an easy to follow movie tutorial to assist you in constructing your first masterpiece. Create a Collage Page Using Adobe Photoshop

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.

Photography Business – Adobe Keyboard Shortcuts

Every photographer wants to become faster and more efficient at handling digital files in Adobe Photoshop. From a seasoned wedding photographer to someone just opening his or her photography business, we all want to get it done quickly. Here is a list of Adobe Photoshop Keyboard shortcuts list:

Tools Shortcut
Rectangular Marquee Tool M
Elliptical Marquee Tool M
Single Row Marquee Tool
Single Column Marquee Tool
Move Tool V
Lasso Tool L
Polygonal Lasso Tool L
Magnetic Lasso Tool L
Magic Wand Tool W
Crop Tool C
Slice Tool K
Slice Select Tool K
Healing Brush Tool J
Patch Tool J
Color Replacement Tool J
Brush Tool B
Pencil Tool B
Clone Stamp Tool S
Pattern Stamp Tool S
History Brush Tool Y
Art History Brush Y
Eraser Tool E
Background Eraser Tool E
Magic Eraser Tool E
Gradient Tool G
Paint Bucket Tool G
Blur Tool R
Sharpen Tool R
Smudge Tool R
Dodge Tool O
Burn Tool O
Sponge Tool O
Path Selection Tool A
Direct Selection Tool A
Horizontal Type Tool T
Vertical Type Tool T
Horizontal Type Mask Tool T
Vertical Type Mask Tool T
Pen Tool P
Freeform Pen Tool P
Add Anchor Point Tool
Delete Anchor Point Tool
Convert Point Tool
Rectangle Tool U
Rounded Rectangle Tool U
Ellipse Tool U
Polygon Tool U
Line Tool U
Custom Shape Tool U
Notes Tool N
Audio Annotation Tool N
Eyedropper Tool I
Color Sampler Tool I
Measure Tool I
Hand Tool H
Zoom Tool Z
Default Foreground/Background Colors D
Switch Foreground/Background Colors X
Toggle Standard/Quick Mask Modes Q
Toggle Screen Modes F
Toggle Preserve Transparency /
Decrease Brush Size [
Increase Brush Size ]
Decrease Brush Hardness {
Increase Brush Hardness }
Previous Brush ,
Next Brush .
First Brush
Last Brush >
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter and receive your very own copy of our keyboard shortcuts layed out for easy reference