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How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Photo Business (Step-By-Step Guide)

02 Sep

The post How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Photo Business (Step-By-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

Do you use Pinterest to market your photography services?

You should.

Because here’s the thing: Millions of potential clients use Pinterest. In fact, 250 million people around the world use Pinterest every month, and this number continues to grow.

Most people think of Pinterest as a social media platform, but it’s actually a search engine that’s driven by search and discovery. Statistics show that nearly half of online users search in Pinterest before turning to Google. It has an incredible power to drive traffic to your site and grow brand awareness. Visitors from Pinterest convert into leads or sales faster than those from social media networks.

Why?

One reason is that Pinterest has a much longer shelf life than social media. Once an image is uploaded to an Instagram or Facebook feed, it gets buried quickly. With Pinterest, your pins will have staying power and benefit you more the longer they’re around.

Now that you know why Pinterest is so great…

…let me tell you how you can gain traction on Pinterest, fast.

Step 1: Get a business account

In order to use Pinterest effectively for your photography business, you’ll need to sign up for a free Business account. A Business account will allow you to monitor your analytics from within Pinterest. This will give you important information about the boards and pins that are most popular with your audience.

These insights can help you increase your engagement and pin more effectively.

Step 2: Create a succinct Pinterest profile

Your Pinterest profile needs to be short and to the point. It needs to let people know what you do. Are you a wedding shooter? Do you specialize in personal branding portraits? Include it in your profile.

For example, my main income comes from commercial and still-life photography, but I’m also a photography mentor. This third aspect of my business is the focus of my Pinterest account. Therefore, it’s the focus of my profile biography.

Step 3: Organize your board for your viewers

If you want to promote yourself as a photographer, you must always keep your target audience in mind. Your boards are not for you; they’re for your viewers, and so you need to speak to what they might be looking for when they log onto Pinterest.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have boards on crafting and cooking. It just means that you need to hide these non-business boards from public view.

Just remember, all of your visible boards must be relevant to potential clients.

Since I’m a food photographer, most of my boards feature beautiful images of food, organized into topical boards such as Salads, Desserts, Main Dishes, etc., as well as themes such as food photography lighting and styling.

And since I mentor food bloggers and emerging photographers, I also have boards such as Learn Food Photography as well as Blogging Tips. Use basic names for your boards that will be searchable and easy to find.

Your boards should be organized from most relevant to least relevant, not by alphabetical order. Have your first board feature your own photography only; you want to show potential clients what you can do. Clean up your own boards and create new ones.

You’ll quickly see a big difference in your Pinterest traffic.

Step 4: Use keywords in your descriptions

Pinterest works similarly to Google – users search for specific content they’re interested in by using keywords.

In fact, keywords are the number-one tool for content discovery.

That’s why each of your boards should have a description using keywords or using hashtags created from keywords. Also, use as many keywords as possible in your pin descriptions. General keywords make your content easier to discover.

You can also use keywords to attract potential clients in your region. If you live in Portland and want to attract brides in your area, use keywords like “Portland Bride” or “Portland Weddings.” Add them to all of your descriptions and alt tags. Local keywords are underused and undervalued, especially in small markets, so they can make a big difference.

Step 5: Brand your pins

When creating pins, you may want to add text (depending on your niche and your reason for pinning posts).

If you’re just trying to share your stunning images, then this may not be relevant. But if you can think of a way to add text that will advertise your services, it’ll work in your favor. Surprisingly, pins with text get more attention than those without text.

For example, the purpose of my Pinterest account is to attract people to my photography coaching services and products. I do this by driving traffic from Pinterest to my blog.

How?

I create pins for each blog post I write. The pins are simply designed, but they’re consistent. I use the same font and style for each pin, which creates a “brand” for my pin that is consistent and that viewers will easily recognize.

Consider creating some pins with text in Photoshop or using an easy app like Canva. Canva offers a variety of free templates already sized for use on Pinterest. Test a few different styles and fonts and see how they perform. You may see that one style of pin gets repinned more than another. If so, then stick with that style.

Examples of branded pins created on Canva.

The bottom line is that you should try to keep a strong brand identity, one that highlights specific services and remains visually consistent. It might be a bit of extra work at first, but it’ll pay off in the end.

Step 6: Join group boards selectively

Group boards are like regular boards, except that the board owner can invite collaborators to add pins of their own.

Group boards used to be a great way to generate traffic. Until Pinterest introduced the “Smart Feed,” which prioritizes and ranks pins based on their quality and engagement.

This led to a big decline in the value of group boards. You see, group board collaborators often rarely look at the board, and therefore rarely repin other members’ content. Because no one interacts with the boards, Pinterest assumes the pins are not popular. So they don’t show up in the Smart Feed.

How do you avoid this problem and use group boards to your advantage?

Choose active, niche boards that focus on one topic and have less than 100 contributors. Too many contributors can mean low-quality content.

The important thing to remember is that quality is much more important than quantity.

A board that encourages mutual sharing is also crucial. For example, a policy stating that you need to repin two pins for every post you make can make a big difference.

If you choose to join group boards, then keep these points in mind.

Step 7: Use boards to collaborate with clients

Visuals are a part of the communication that should take place between you and your clients before you start a job, especially if you’re in the commercial world. Pinterest can help you share images that serve as inspiration or a guideline for an upcoming shoot. If you work with commercial or editorial clients, you can collaborate on a mood board using Pinterest. This ensures that everyone involved in the shoot understands what the final results should be.

If you work in a retail niche like weddings or portraiture, you can use Pinterest to get a sense of the mood and color your client is drawn to. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Light green might mean one thing to you and another to your customer, so images that demonstrate the feel and color treatment that is sought can go a long way in helping you get the right look.

You can also use Pinterest boards to educate clients. If you do glamour or boudoir portraits, you can send your client a What to Wear board. This will provide inspiration and examples for choosing outfits for their shoot.

Step 8: Schedule pins with the Tailwind app

Tailwind is a Pinterest-approved scheduling tool. It’s a fantastic app to help you grow your audience like crazy.

You see, pinning consistently is important growth strategy, but most people don’t have time to be pinning throughout the day. With Tailwind, you can sit down once a week to schedule your pins. They’ll automatically upload throughout the week at optimal times. Or, if you prefer, you can customize your pin schedule.

Tailwind also offers powerful tools that analyze your pins and boards, as well as your Pinterest profile. You can see which pins are getting the most engagement and reschedule them right from the interface.

Conclusion

Pinterest is a great tool for generating visitors and leads.

And if you follow the steps I’ve given above, your Pinterest account will start expanding, fast.

So go set up your Pinterest account and start pinning!

Do you have any other tips for using Pinterest? Share with us in the comments section!

The post How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Photo Business (Step-By-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

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The Importance of Learning From Failure to Help You Grow as a Photographer

07 May

There’s a scene in the 1995 movie Apollo 13 when Gene Kranz, flight commander of the ill-fated moon mission, tells his team that, “Failure is not an option” as they struggle to find a way to bring three astronauts home from the depths of space. While that moment certainly makes for dramatic storytelling, it’s often far from the case when photography is concerned.

I would even go so far as to say failure is not only an option but necessary for you to grow as a photographer. There will be times in your photographic journey that things just don’t go as you had hoped despite how much you plan ahead. While some of these instances might slow you down the important part is learning from failure, growing from your mistakes, and becoming a better photographer as a result.

This picture turned out great, but there have been plenty over the years that didn’t.

I would like to share some things I’ve learned over the years from times that I have failed. Hopefully, this will help you benefit from my experiences.

Know your gear well

On some of my first sessions with clients, I had a very difficult time getting my camera to do what I wanted it to do, and many of my images were ruined because of it. A few were too bright, others were too dark, and some weren’t even in focus.

Luckily I shot in RAW so I could fix some of the issues in Lightroom. But things would have gone a lot smoother if I had just taken the time to understand my camera, learned how to use it, and knew what to do when shooting instead of spending hours adjusting images afterward.

The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer - DLSR camera

Your camera is loaded with buttons, dials, menus, and options. Do you know what they all do?

Example

To illustrate what I mean by this, take a look at the following image I shot almost five years ago. Thankfully I did this session as a favor for some friends of our family because looking back on it I would feel terrible if I charged them money for these pictures!

dark family photo (underexposed) - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

I remember being frustrated at seeing the LCD screen of my Nikon D7100 as I took these pictures because they were all coming out so dark! I didn’t know what was wrong, and I didn’t know what to change on my camera to fix the problem.

Looking back there was any number of remedies for this overly-dark photograph that I could have used. Had I only known how to actually work the knobs and dials on my camera, simple things like the follow could have solved it:

Adjust the exposure compensation (duh!).
Change to spot metering instead of matrix metering (of course!).
Locked exposure on a bright part of the scene and recomposed the shot (why not?).

Thankfully I used RAW and not JPG so the image wasn’t a total loss, but the skin tones are washed out and the picture is not nearly as vibrant and dynamic as if I had just gotten it right at the time of the shoot.

family portrait in the park - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

Clearly, I had a lot to learn about lighting, composition, and why having clients sit on a canvas drop-cloth with their feet out is not a good idea.

This advice is not just for newbies

This advice isn’t just for professional sessions with clients either. Something happens when you get new gear and want to put it through its paces. I attended a wedding recently as a guest, not as the official photographer, but I had my shiny new Fuji X100F with me and even though I thought I knew how to operate it, I made a crucial mistake that cost me a lot of good shots throughout the evening.

For a good 20 minutes I couldn’t figure out why my camera wasn’t focusing right and all my shots were coming out poorly exposed. Finally, I realized that I had accidentally activated the built-in ND filter. There was even an icon on the LCD screen indicating the ND filter was turned on, but I didn’t see it because I just wasn’t as familiar with the camera as I should have been.

people dancing at a party - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

Suffice it to say I felt like a complete amateur when I realized that a mistake I made had ruined so many good photo opportunities, but I quickly learned from it and hopefully now you can too!

Familiarize yourself with the location beforehand

Years ago, not too long after I got my Nikon D200 and 50mm lens, I thought I was a pretty big deal and knew everything there was to know about pictures. After all, I had a prime lens! What else was there to understand? (Spoiler alert: A lot. A whole lot!)

One of the biggest mistakes I made during this early period was to show up for photo sessions without ever having been to the location beforehand. This made it impossible, as any seasoned photographer would know, to plan out some of the basic essentials of a photo shoot and look for things like lighting, foreground and background elements, and even where to have my clients sit, stand, or walk.

Hard lesson to learn

The worst offender of the bunch was a session I did for a high school senior where most of the pictures turned out – well, let’s just say less than ideal because I failed to plan ahead in terms of the physical location. We agreed to meet at a cross-country track, with almost no natural shade, at 5 pm. This is what happened:

portrait in the shade - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

From one of my first high school senior sessions, and one I wish I could erase from existence altogether.

After searching for something, anything, to block the sun so he wasn’t squinting – I finally found this set of metal bleachers behind a tree. But because I didn’t understand how to operate my camera to get the exposure right (see failure tip #1) I got shots that were lit like some kind of circus act and were far too over or underexposed.

If I had taken some time to visit the location first I could have at least mentioned some alternative places at the track, or even suggested a different location entirely. Instead, I got out of my car and met the client and his mom with the kind of overconfident swagger that only a new wet-behind-the-ears photographer has, and ended up biffing most of the shots.

I did scrape by with enough competent shots to make it worth their while, but nonetheless, I walked away having learned something I will never forget.

senior portrait - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

This was from one of my more recent high school senior sessions. I think it’s just a bit better, don’t you?

A few more for good measure

There are a host of other times I have failed as a photographer but each time I have tried to engage in some self-reflection and understand where I went wrong, As well, I tried to talk with other photographer friends, so I don’t make the same mistakes in the future.

My work has grown, and so have I, as a result of these failures. I would almost go so far as to say that failure is downright essential if you want to refine your craft as a photographer.

dogwood flower - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

It took years of poor decisions and overlooking the obvious for me to learn enough about photography to take this simple picture of a dogwood flower.

Without going into too much detail, here are just a couple of other times I have swung and missed, photographically speaking, over the years along with a bit of caution for others thrown in for good measure.

When in doubt, take more photos

I was born in 1980 and grew up in the era of physical film, so when I got my first digital camera I carried that mentality with me. As a result, I missed out on a lot of good shots, especially with clients, because I thought I already had enough and didn’t want to fill up my memory card.

With the price of memory cards being so astronomically low, there is no excuse for not taking enough pictures, and you can just delete them later if you need to.

Control your depth of field

After I got my 85mm f/1.8 lens I took it out to a photo session with clients before thoroughly using and understanding it, which is always a big mistake. I also thought that I could shoot everything at f/1.8 because it gave me such a cool background blur!

What I didn’t realize at the time was the extra-large aperture was also causing half the people to be out of focus due to the insanely shallow depth of field. Just because your lens has a super wide aperture doesn’t mean you should always use it. When in doubt, stop it down a bit.

family portrait outdoors - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

I focused on the mother, front and center, and shot this with my 85mm lens at f/1.8 to get a blurry background. What I didn’t realize was that also meant the husband was out of focus as a result.

Know when enough is enough

This one is going to vary depending on the type of photography you do. But as someone who takes a lot of family and child photos, it’s important to know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.

Kids, and even parents, can be fickle and there were times early on when I would drag out photo sessions long after I should have called it quits. “Hey let’s get some more shots over there!” I would say. My clients would begrudgingly oblige while I scampered off ahead of them in a vain effort to capture authentic smiles and emotions.

Dragging out a photo session won’t help you get better pictures. But it will make your clients roll their eyes and think about booking someone else next time. Someone who will take a hint and pay attention to their needs!

family photo - The Importance of Learning From Failure and Your Growth as a Photographer

I learned over the years that kids just don’t last long at family photo sessions, so I took a ton of pictures and tried to keep things interesting by switching up the poses. 20 minutes later these kids were ready to be done, and I could have tried to stretch things out further but it would have only led to frustration.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the many lessons I have learned over the years that, while painful at the time, have served me well in the long run.

What are some of the ways in which you have failed, fell down, or otherwise came up short and what did you learn from it? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. Hopefully, we can all learn from each other’s mistakes.

The post The Importance of Learning From Failure to Help You Grow as a Photographer appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Why Volunteering is a Great Way to Grow as a Photographer

28 Nov

Many years ago as I was making a start freelancing, I saw an opportunity to give away my services and a selection of photos by volunteering to cover a community event. Our city administration was hosting a tree planting at our local park, so I went to down with my spade and my camera, to plant some trees and to record the event in pictures. The following day I visited the office of the event organizer and presented them with a selection of prints, (this was back in time when I was only using film.)

Silkworms feeding close up - Why Volunteering is a Great Way to Grow as a Photographer

Silkworms feeding on a leaf in northern Thailand.

I enjoyed planting trees. I enjoyed covering the event photographically. And I enjoyed the on-going business relationship that I developed with the city administration as a result of covering their community event and not charging them.

Volunteering has many benefits

If you are just starting out on your photography career, or even if you have no desire to work as a professional photographer, there are a number of benefits to be gained by volunteering your time and skills to the right people or organizations.

A woman prepares raw silk before she spins it in north Thailand.

Covering a community event was easy and enjoyable for me as I had had years of experience as a newspaper photographer. I knew the style of photos that would be useful and appreciated so it was not difficult to produce them.

Whether you are just starting out as a pro photographer or you just want to help out, producing a series of photos that will be useful for someone else is a great way to stretch you into new photography experiences and help you to develop new skills.

Spinning silk thread by hand.

Maybe you are not so confident when photographing strangers. Covering a community event will give you a good reason to go beyond your normal comfort zone, and you may even discover you like it.

Perhaps you have heard of a non-profit wanting some product shots, or a local service club that needs new photos of their executive members. Once you start to look, I am sure you will find plenty of opportunities to offer your services.

Adding red pigment to water for dying thread close up - Why Volunteering is a Great Way to Grow as a Photographer

Adding pigment to water for dying thread.

Treat it like a paid gig

Approach your volunteer work as though it is a paid job. Be professional. Clearly communicate your intentions. Listen carefully to the needs of those you are providing the photos for so you can ensure they will be happy with the results and be able to make practical use of the photos you take.

Ask them how they will be using the photos so you have a good idea of what they need. It is no good to give them a series of vertical headshots if they already have horizontal space designed for them on their web page.

Dyed silk thread.

Do your best work

Don’ be tempted to produce less than your best because you are not getting paid. It’s always good to do your best work possible. Your reputation is important, especially if you are interested in potential paid work that may come as a result of your volunteering. If you provide photos that are not up to standard you are not likely to be invited back or recommended to other potential clients.

Be pleasant to work with. No one wants a bad experience dealing with a volunteer. People like working with others who make their lives easier. Being professional in your manner and approach to the work, and those organizing it will be beneficial towards future relationships. But choose carefully who you give your time to because occasionally you may come cross someone who wants to exploit your generosity with no concern for you.

Hand winding silk thread in preparation for weaving.

Choose who you work with carefully

Some people may struggle to appreciate you are giving your skills and time for free and expect too much from you. If this happens, once you’ve fulfilled what you have said you would do, tactfully back out of a situation that you think is turning sour or if you feel you are being manipulated.

In these circumstances, it’s not likely to turn out well for anyone involved to persevere. Remember, it’s you who are working for free and it is important you have options so you can choose how much and to whom you want to give your work. Be generous, but be generous of your choosing.

Preparing silk thread fo weaving. Why Volunteering is a Great Way to Grow as a Photographer

Preparing silk thread for weaving.

Set your expectations reasonably

You will reap what you sow. If you don’t expect anything in return for your volunteered services and you might be pleasantly surprised when something comes back your way in the future.

It may be in the form of paid work for the same organization. It could be from a contact you made during the photography session. A paid job could come from someone who has seen the photos you’ve produced and appreciates your skills.

But to volunteer yourself and then expect something in return is only setting yourself up for disappointment. You will grow as a photographer when you take on situations you might not normally photograph and it’s a good feeling to see your photos being used productively.

Women weaving silk on a traditional loom in northern Thailand.

The best thing about giving your service and photos for free is seeing the benefit they receive from them. Giving of what you find enjoyment in is a great reward in itself.

I continue to offer photography and video services for free from time to time as I still enjoy being able to help non-profits and individuals who are helping others. The photos accompanying this article were produced for a non-profit organization here in Thailand who help facilitate a local silk weaving cooperative.

Thai woman working on a traditional loom weaving silk.

Have you given back with your photography services?

If you have had experiences, good or bad, in volunteering your photography services please share them in the comments below so others can be encouraged to share their skills too.

The post Why Volunteering is a Great Way to Grow as a Photographer by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

31 Aug

No photographer wants to get into the photography business with the aim of becoming a marketing expert. But the reality is that if you don’t focus on the marketing and business end of photography, your business will not be able to survive long enough to do the fun stuff. It stinks, but this is the truth.

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Luckily, the learning curve at the beginning is the toughest part, and as you get used to the business side, everything will come much more naturally to you. Eventually, you might even learn to enjoy it, or at least appreciate the work, after you see how powerful it can be in getting you where you want to go.

So here are 10 of the most important strategies you can start right away to make sure your photography business succeeds.

1. Use Your Personal Network

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Nobody wants to be that annoying marketer that always pushes their business on their friends and acquaintances. However, this fear can push photographers way too far in the opposite direction, never working with the people that have grown to trust them the most. Your personal network is your strongest asset and even more so at the beginning of your photography business. These are the people who will give you your first jobs and introduce you to your first clients.

Photography is unique in that no matter what genre you are involved in, people in your network will most likely need your services at some point, whether it’s wedding or event photography, business portraiture, family portraiture, or print selling. So let your network know what you do and how you can help them.

Create a mailing list and send out an announcement to your network. Show your best work, talk about your photography business, and make sure to explain how you can help people. How can your business benefit them? They will not know unless you tell them. In addition, make sure to ask for referrals.

2. Take Advantage of Local Marketing

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Whenever you say the word marketing these days, for some reason everyone immediately starts talking about social media. That is funny, because as important as social media is, it should be one of the last steps to think about for any marketing plan.

Your first step should be working within your local community. Similar to the last point, these are people who know you. You are just down the street from them. There are businesses of all types in your community that can probably use your work, so create a plan for how to get in front of them.

Make a good impression

Keep in mind that you only get one first impression, so be smart about how you reach out. First and foremost, figure out how you can benefit them. If you are going to reach out to someone, you need to know how their business or life will be better with your services and explain how you can help. Always be kind and courteous with their time, and if possible see if you can get an introduction before contacting someone cold. Does anyone in your personal network know the person you want to contact? That’s always a great first step, but if not, just reach out yourself.

The more you are seen, the more people in your community will notice you and start to think about working with you. Whether it’s local events, business events, fundraisers, you name it, you should make the point to be there, particularly at first. This is the way to create new relationships and to spread your reach.

Similarly, reach out to the other photographers in your area. Many photographers will assist others when they need help and vice versus, and this will help strengthen everyone as a whole. It can be easy for photographers to feel competitive with each other but avoid this. The ones that work together and refer each other will do much better in the long-run than the ones who try to do it all on their own.

3. Create a Mailing List

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Use a mailing list provider such as MailChimp or Aweber to keep up with your clients, personal network, and fans. Email lists have the highest engagement of any form of marketing, and it is the way for you to stay on people’s minds.

Ask people if you can add them to your list, and always have them opt into the subscription. Put signup forms or popups on your website that encourage people to join. Consider giving away something to encourage them to do so, such as free computer wallpapers of your photography.

When sending out emails, create content that your list will enjoy. Do not sell too often with it. The more benefit and interest that you provide for the people on your list, the more they will enjoy it and the more they will like you. Then when you sell, they will be primed to purchase your services or product. When it’s time to sell, sell.

4. Create a Personal Project

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

This image is part of a personal project I’ve been working on involving talking to and making portraits of people in my community.

Personal projects will not bring new clients to you right away, and they will take away time from building your business and making a living. This is the tougher side of doing projects, but they are immensely important for the long term growth of your business and for growing your voice as a photographer. A project can be done slowly over a long period of time, so you can build it into your weekly schedule.

Think of an idea that will resonate with both you and your community. This is a way of keeping your passion for photography alive. It will also help to set you apart from the other photographers in your community. It will show people that you are an interesting person. They will be more interested in working with you, even if the paid work you do is a completely different genre. It will be a way for you to gain press coverage and something for you to talk about to engage people. All in all, a personal project will make marketing yourself so much easier, and it will feel much more natural.

5. Respond Quickly

There is no point in building your photography business or marketing your work if you are not going to respond quickly to inquiries. Respond quickly at every step of the process throughout a job as well. Responding quickly does not have to mean within the hour, although sometimes that can help when getting a new inquiry. It can mean responding within 12 hours or a day, as long as you are consistent and prompt.

Fortunately for you, a lot of photographers are terrible at this, so this will quickly set you apart. It will show people that you are a responsible person, and it will make them more comfortable working with you.

6. Build Your Connections (Both Local and Online)

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Building your network is a lifetime process. As you go further and further in your career, you will begin to create connections with people who can do more and more for you (and who are tougher to get in contact with).

Whichever point in your career you are at, and whatever level your skill level as a photographer, start at that point and build connections there. Then over time, work your way up the ladder. Be patient, be smart, and don’t try to push too hard at first, particularly with people who don’t know you. First impressions are impossible to get back. Grow your network carefully and consistently.

7. Keep Your Existing Clients Coming Back

It can help to create a client management system. You can start off with an excel document at first and eventually grow to a more robust system, such as Sprout Studio. Keep in contact with your best clients, and even consider sending them holiday cards or a small gift to stay on their minds. A small gesture can go a long way, and it is much easier to get an existing client to come back than it is to reach a new one.

8. Makes Sure Your Website Sells

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Think about your website as your number one selling tool. Whatever your primary service is, your site should be developed for the specific purpose of leading people to hire you for that service or for purchasing one of your products.

Study the basics of copywriting, create specific sales pages for your offerings, and even consider creating sales funnels that lead people to an end goal. These can be very powerful ways of priming people to want to work with you.

9. Take Advantage of SEO

SEO, or ranking highly in search engines, is a long term strategy that takes some studying to understand how to do (beyond what we will be able to cover completely here). My belief is that you should always focus on local networking first, as that has the ability to get you very quick gains, whereas an SEO campaign can take years to truly get you where you want to be.

But that being said, SEO should not be ignored, because most people will use Google to find the right photographer for them. Always remember, the goal of Google is to serve up the most relevant websites for the query topic. If you want to rank for a specific term, make sure to create the best possible page that will answer that query. Without this, an SEO strategy will not work.

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

Listen to Google

Google runs on links, so you need to figure out how to get other related websites to link to yours. It’s interesting because while it may seem annoying to gain these links, Google is actually forcing you to do things you should be doing in the first place.

Network with websites that you would like to be featured on, and figure out how you can provide that site with some value before you contact them. You will get nowhere if you just ask for something, but if you contact them willing to help them out, it will help immensely. As you grow with your abilities and your marketing, your opportunities for getting covered will grow as well. Internet marketing gets much easier over time.

This is another area where a personal project can help grow your business. People want to share interesting topics, so even if you are not generating income from the project directly, you can use the project to get covered on websites and to make people more aware of you, which will ultimately help improve SEO and grow your network and mailing list.

10. Create a Daily Plan

The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business

All of this is way too much to do in a feverish month of working. Similarly, your marketing skills will grow gradually, so take your time and be strategic about how you work through your marketing plan. You do not want to spend a whole month contacting everyone you can only to burn out soon after.

Set aside a daily block of time to build your business. Contact a few people every day or every few days. Use the feedback from those to tweak your next pitch. Over time, you will figure out what works and what does not work. A small amount of work each day will eventually snowball into much bigger things.

Conclusion

The main theme throughout this article is that you need to put yourself out there. The work will not just come to you. Create an organized plan, stick to it, and go for it. Be both careful and relentless. That is what is needed.

It may seem like there is a huge wall in front of you that is impossible to cross. But if you chip away at it a little bit each day, within a few years you will find that you have opened up many paths through it.

For even more business help – join the Focus Summit 2017 Online Business and Marketing Conference for Photographers on Sept 26-28th 2017. We will cover marketing, business development, law, SEO, branding, blogging, and much more. Use the code “DPS” for a $ 50 discount.

The post The 10 Most Important Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Photography Business by James Maher appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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7 Tips to Help You Start and Grow a Photography Business

27 Jun

I have been a Digital Photography School writer for the past three years and I have to say, I absolutely love writing and sharing my photography experiences and knowledge. Every time one of my articles get published, my Facebook page and my website get a lot of visitors. I know this is because I use google analytics for my website which tracks visitors on any given day and shows where they spend most of their time (I highly recommend using Google Analytics for your website). I also get a ton of questions on my Facebook business page and the recurring theme of the questions is always something like this, “I love photography, but can you advise me on how to start my photography business and make money from it?”

So I decided to address that burning question in the hopes that it resonates with so many other photographers, who are thinking the same thing and are perhaps a little nervous to write in for the fear of showing their vulnerability. If you are, please don’t be, because everyone, including me, started somewhere and we all had similar thoughts.

#1 – Just Start

If you are thinking about starting a photography business to such a large extent that you cannot think about doing anything else, then just start. Go ahead and take that first step towards making your passion your career. Remember that “done” is so much better than “perfect”.

We, photographers, are always learning new things every day, be it in business, technology or photography skills. If you wait to be a perfect photographer, you will be waiting a long time. Now, I am not saying that you should not invest time and effort in understanding and practice. Skill is very important. But if you are considering learning the craft and the art of photography, then there is no better time than now!

7 Tips to Help You Start and Grow a Photography Business

My lovely friend and fellow photographer during a casual meet up where we exchanged headshots and talked shop over coffee and cupcakes!

# 2 – Use Social Media

Social media has exploded over the past few years in terms of the number of people who are using it for business, no matter what business they are in. Because so much of social media is both visual and text, photographers and writers have a slight advantage in terms of creating and sharing quality content.

So as a photographer, it behooves you to take advantage of the channel at your disposal. But be aware that the whole point of social media is to be social online, showcase your work, show who you are as a photographer and a person. Network, connect and interact online. It is one of the relatively inexpensive ways to make yourself know and recognized.

I love Instagram and think it is one of the best tools out there, especially for photographers. It is so visual and by engaging the right way, you can get a loyal following, new clients, and industry contacts. But like anything else it takes time and a concentrated, thoughtful approach.

# 3 – Practice, Learn and Practice Some More

Photography is an art form with many different nuances. Each aspect of photography has many different interpretations and to really excel in photography, you have to know and understand the basics.

Light, color, composition, emotion, and movement are all critical aspects of a good photograph. You have to learn them, practice them, and then put your own spin on them to make your own photographs go from good to great. There is no time limit for learning photography. The only way you can get better is to keep at it and photograph every chance you can get.

I carry my camera everywhere I go. I have been doing this for so long that it’s second nature now and I don’t think twice about it. Sometimes I will only shoot ten to twelve frames and sometimes I will shoot several hundred. But what I tell myself every time I bring the camera to my face is that this time I have to try something different and create something I have not created before.

I always give myself permission and time to play – sometimes it’s with florals from my neighbor’s backyard.

Whereas other times it is a quick click while hiking in the mountains around Boulder. The snow and the clear blue sky made for a pretty backdrop for this ranger outpost!

#4 – Market Your Work

Marketing is crucial to any business but so few of us really put much into it. Most of us have the mindset that if you produce quality work, then your photography will speak for itself and clients will line up outside your studio for all eternity.

But sadly, that is far from the truth. Like any good product or service, we have to take the time and the effort to educate our clients and our potential clients on why working with us is a great idea. The more you think about promoting your work on a daily basis, the more effort and heart you will put into your marketing. And remember, marketing takes a lot of time. Very rarely does a marketing effort pay off immediately.

One of my marketing pieces for a show that I am participating in – the show is aimed towards other businesses as well as creative women entrepreneurs!

#5 – Use Your Network

Unless you live in a personal bubble, you have a network. Networks can be social (i.e. friends and family), professional (peers or work colleagues), or industry related (other businesses that support photography).

So I challenge you to do a network analysis (sorry, I am a computer science major from my previous life so I love all this technical jargon!) and figure out who are all the people that you can reach out to and tap into for work. They might not be your direct clients but they may know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who is looking for a photographer. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth marketing.

Word-of-mouth and referrals are the best kind of marketing you can ever invest in and they are free (for the most part). Your only expenses – making genuine connections and friends among your networks!

#6 – Hustle

You have probably heard this adage before – there is no such thing as a free lunch. There are no shortcuts to anything in life, so what makes you think that there are shortcuts to photography?

Photography, like any other profession, is extremely competitive with a relatively low barrier to entry. This means you have to hustle that much harder and longer to make an impression and to have an impact on your business bottom line. If you are starting out, try many genres of photography.

If you are starting out, try many genres of photography. Use any opportunity you can to improve your skills. Make friends with others in the industry and share experiences. Give it your all and eventually, you will reap the benefits.

I met these two local creatives via social media. We really hit it off well and collaborated on a beautiful spring tablescape inspiration shoot.

7 Tips to Help You Start and Grow a Photography Business

I also routinely go out for shootouts with many other photographers. It is a chance to make friends in the industry and geek out on all things photography!

#7 – Share

Share your work, your knowledge, and your expertise. The more open and willing you are to share among your peers, your competitors, and your clients, the more satisfying the journey to photography business success will be.

People, especially clients, will understand that you are genuine in building professional and personal relationships and the next time they hear of any photography work, they will connect with you. Photography friends and peers will refer clients if they are booked, help you when you are in a pinch, and work with you on creative projects – all of which as so important for your personal growth and growth of your business.

Conclusion

If you have other tips on growing a photography business, feel free to share with the larger dPS community in the comments below. Remember it’s not what you know, but how good you are building a community.

The post 7 Tips to Help You Start and Grow a Photography Business by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Organically Grow Your Instagram Following

12 May

Instagram is unquestionably one of the biggest social networks today, and it’s undeniable that every photographer should have a presence here. But if you’re like me, you’ve probably struggled to amass a following beyond your existing friends and colleagues. So how do you truly (and organically) grow your Instagram following? Here are some tips.

Instagram followers

1. Keep your Instagram posts consistent

When I first started my personal Instagram account, my posts were all across the board. From pictures of my breakfast to photos of a recent vacation or cute dogs I met in my neighborhood, there was no consistency to my Instagram feed. My followers didn’t know what to expect when they looked at my feed, and thus there was no incentive to follow me. As a result, I decided to revamp my approach to Instagram.

My personal Instagram shifted to focus purely on food, restaurant, and event photos as an extension of my professional photography portfolio. Since making this shift, my personal account has seen a drastic jump in followers, as well as interaction with my individual posts. I’ve also built a community of food, restaurant, and event Instagrammers, many of whom I’ve even met in real life at InstaMeets (more on this below). As for my travel photos, those now live on a brand new Instagram account that I’m still growing from scratch. While overall followers for this account are still minimal, interaction with posts has steadily gone up using the rest of the tactics below.

How to Organically Grow Your Instagram Following

The lesson here is that keeping your posts consistent in either style or subject matter will give people a clear incentive to follow you. People will follow you when they’re interested in the photos that you post, so you must give them an idea of what to expect, and when to expect it. Make sure you post at least several times a week, or maybe even more often if you can come up with enough content or have a larger following. Also pick one or two themes to focus your photos on, for example, food photography or travel photography. This will help you pick out relevant hashtags to post.

Use Add Accounts if you have multiple accounts

Many Instagram users are electing to have at least two separate accounts; one for their personal posts, and one for their more professional, targeted posts. If you go this route, Instagram has made it easy to switch from viewing and posting from multiple accounts via Options > Add Accounts. You’ll have to sign in to your second account; afterward, a dropdown menu will appear under your profile name and you can flip between your accounts.

Instagram Add Account

2. Hashtags are key

In order to have your posts be seen on any social network, you have to understand how new content gets discovered. For Instagram, it’s all about hashtags. But don’t just invent hashtags out of thin air. Instead, you leverage existing hashtags that are both relevant to the photo you are posting, and hashtags that have been used by other people. Note that Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags per post, so add as many as you can!

So where do you find relevant hashtags to use? Here are some ideas.

Websta – Top 100 popular hashtags

Check out the Top 100 Popular Hashtags section on Websta. This will give you a sense of how popular certain hashtags are. The more photos or posts that are tagged with these popular hashtags, the more eyeballs are scanning them, meaning there’s a higher chance of gaining more likes for your content. However, you’re also more likely to get spam comments on your posts, which is why you should not only use super popular hashtags but also drill down into more niche hashtags, per the steps below.

Find hashtags on leading Instagram profiles

As mentioned above, it’s important to focus your Instagram posts around specific topics, such as food or travel. Not only does it help you figure out what types of photos to post, but it also gives you ideas of other Instagram profiles to emulate. For example, an account focusing on food photography might look up Instagram handles for leading food publications such as Bon Appetit and Food and Wine. Follow these handles and also study their Instagram posts. Do they use a bunch of hashtags? Consider using them too. And most importantly, check to see if they offer a hashtag that you can use for a chance to be featured on their account. If so, start using it! More details on leveraging Instagram hubs over in

For example, an account focusing on food photography might look up Instagram handles for leading food publications such as Bon Appetit and Food and Wine. Follow these handles and also study their Instagram posts. Do they use a bunch of hashtags? Consider using them too. Most importantly, check to see if they offer a hashtag that you can use for a chance to be featured on their account. If so, start using it! More details on leveraging Instagram hubs over in this article.

Instagram followers Instagram hashtags

Pro tip

It’s totally fine to reuse the same hashtags on your posts, as long as they are relevant to each photo. But instead of typing in your hashtags over and over, consider keeping them in your note-taking app (ie. Evernote) and simply copying and pasting them into your new Instagram posts. Yes, it’s time-consuming, but it is much more efficient than typing in your 30 hashtags to every new post.

3. It’s all about engagement

When it comes to Instagram, you have to give a little in order to receive. While experimenting with my brand new Instagram account, I noticed that simply adding hashtags to my photos simply wasn’t enough. My very first Instagram posts had a bunch of hashtags, but only gained 6 or 7 likes. Suddenly, my third post jumped up to 39 likes. What changed?

One of my first Instagram photos, posted before doing any interaction.

Immediately after I published that post, I spent five minutes scrolling through my Instagram feed and interacting with as many posts that caught my eye. The interaction was simple in the form of adding likes and a quick comment or emoji. This not only gave me new ideas of accounts to follow but also seemed to bring more people to my profile since the number of likes on my posts immediately skyrocketed. The bottom line; be an active Instagrammer, not only by adding new posts, but also interacting with your followers or new people you discover.

Another Instagram photo, posted the same week with many more likes thanks to interaction with other Instagrammers.

4. Attend InstaMeets and Meetups

The absolute best way to organically grow your Instagram followers is to meet them in real life. Thankfully, Instagram has picked up on this and has a section on their site where you can find local InstaMeets or even coordinate one for your area. Also, consider checking Meetup for local Instagram meetups or photography clubs that might hold an Instagram-specific meetup. Attend these events to connect with local photographers, and be sure to follow each other on Instagram and interact with each others’ posts.

5. Cross post on other platforms

One of the best ways to get more viewers (and hopefully follower) of your Instagram account is to put it in front of as many people as possible. There are many ways to do this. Here are a few ideas:

Cross publish to other social networks

When you make a new Instagram post, cross-publish it to other networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Flickr by selecting the respective icons when you create a new post.

Setting up linked accounts on Instagram.

Add an Instagram widget to your website or blog

If you have a website or blog, there’s a good chance that you attract brand new visitors via search engines on occasion. Make it easy for these website visitors to connect with you on social media platforms like Instagram by embedding your feed into your website. For websites hosted on WordPress, there are many free Instagram embed plugins that can do this for you.

Instagram

Add Instagram to your email signature

Whenever you send emails, there’s an opportunity to get your Instagram in front of the email recipient via your email signature. Use a service such as WiseStamp to include a link to your profile or even embed your feed into your email signature. Just make sure that your Instagram feed is full of images and content that you don’t mind being seen by people you email.

Instagram feed

6. Try out Instagram’s newest features

Like most other social networks, Instagram occasionally rolls out new features. While not all of these features may stick around or be worth your while, you could certainly experiment with them to see if they can work to your advantage. At the time of this writing, here are two brand new features worth trying out.

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is like Snapchat where you can post a photo or video that can only be viewed for a limited period of time before it is deleted. What’s the point? For professional photographers or brands, Instagram Stories can be great for posting behind-the-scenes shots from photo shoots. They’re also great for posting mediocre photos that might not be worth permanently adding to your Instagram portfolio but assist in building your brand’s personality.

Instagram stories

Multiple Photos

Finally, Instagram is allowing users to post up multiple photos at a time. If you’re thinking, “Wait, Instagram already lets me do this with the Layout By Instagram Collage app,” this is slightly different. Instead of displaying photos in a collage format, you can view up to ten photos in a slideshow This gives you greater flexibility in publishing longer form visual stories and not having to choose just one photo out of a batch.

Posting multiple photos via Layouts by Instagram Collage app.

Posting multiple photos via the multiple photos feature.

Bonus Tip: Enable your Instagram Business Profile

Another new feature Instagram recently rolled out is the ability to convert your personal account into a business profile. Currently, this feature is only enabled if you link your Facebook page to your Instagram account; after doing so, a button should appear at the top of your profile asking if you want to switch to a business profile.

Why switch to a business profile? Well, you’ll get some enhanced features that can help you craft a better Instagram strategy such as:

The ability to add custom buttons to your Instagram profile that allow visitors to go directly to your website, call you, or find directions to your location.

Get Insights or stats on your most popular Instagram posts, total impressions, and basic demographics about your followers.

In Conclusion

Organically growing your Instagram followers isn’t as difficult as it may seem. But don’t expect it to happen overnight. Craft a consistent, long-term approach that incorporates some of the tips above and your Instagram interaction will slowly but surely start to increase!

Do you have any tips for growing your Instagram following? Please share them in the comments below! Follow dPS on Instagram here too.

The post How to Organically Grow Your Instagram Following by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Timelapse Tour: Watch How Cities Grow Between 1984 to 2016

07 Jan

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

google-earth-timelapse-san-francisco

Human civilization has grown and expanded at an amazing rate – or alarming, depending on who you ask – and you can watch the last 32 years of it unfold via satellite imagery thanks to Google’s Timelapse feature. Originally released in 2013, Timelapse has been updated to add four more years of data and tons of new imagery data from two new satellites, offering clearer views with more detail than ever before. Choose any location in the world to see how it has changed – from cities to the shrinking ice caps.

google-timelapse-3

google-timelapse-gif-2

Some of the most dramatic changes have occurred in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dubai and Chongqing, China, but you can also watch the Aral Sea dry up and the Shirase Glacier of Antarctica melt into the sea.

Aral Sea

Miami, Florida

Beijing, China

Las Vegas, Nevada

Shirase Glacier

Hangzhou, China

Look for the location of your choice and create your own annual time lapse at Google’s Time Engine Tour Editor.

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Global digital photography market value to grow to $110.79 billion by 2021

28 Dec

The digital photography market, including cameras, software and processing equipment, is expected to grow to $ 110.79 billion by the year 2021, according to a new report from Zion Market Research. The research firm valued the digital photography market at $ 77.66B USD in 2015, and anticipates a 6.1-percent growth rate between 2016 and 2021. Asia Pacific is expected to represent the greatest regional market growth during this time frame.

According to the report, Asia Pacific is estimated to hold a ‘significant’ share of the digital photography market due to growing economies, with North America coming in second. The research firm anticipates an increased demand for replacement devices among consumers in Europe and North America, while Asia Pacific countries have seen digital photography market growth due to, among other things, ‘steady income’ in select countries. Also contributing to expected market growth in coming years is ‘strong product penetration’ throughout Latin America.

Social networks including Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr are helping drive digital photography market growth, as well as software including Photoshop and other photo editors. ‘Digital photography allows consumers to take professional quality photos themselves,’ the study notes as one driving force, as well as digital photography’s suitability for a variety of industries beyond the scope of traditional photography, including surveillance, science, machine vision, and more.

Via: Globalnewswire

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Get Outside Your Photography Comfort Zone to Learn and Grow as a Photographer

06 Sep

As photographers, we usually start out photographing everything and anything. All subjects are game as we explore our new found passion. When we grow and get more serious about our craft, we often try to find our unique place in the industry. Our niche, our comfort zone, where we can specialize and make a name for ourselves.

This is a good thing! A photographer that has a unique niche is more memorable than a photographer that covers every subject. It’s better to be the dog portrait guy, or the black and white waterfall girl, than to be forgettable.

Convict Lake California by Anne McKinnell

One of my favourite things to photograph: water scenes at twilight.

But just because you’ve specialized in a particular area of photography doesn’t mean you can’t continue to explore your craft. There is much to be learned from photographing other things, and applying any lessons learned to your niche. In fact, there is much you can learn from photographing things that you specifically don’t like to shoot.

Get out of your photography comfort zone

So I challenge you to come up with a short list of things you don’t like to photograph, and then give them a try. Remember, you don’t have to be good at it. Don’t worry about trying to create a masterpiece. You’re not going to show these photos to anyone. But, by getting outside of your comfort zone and giving yourself the permission to play, you’re bound to learn something along the way.

Elephant in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania by Anne McKinnell

Applying lessons learned about shadow and light in portrait photography to wildlife photography.

Afraid of portraits? Photograph one

For example, when I did this exercise, the thing on the top of my list was portraits. I’ve always been somewhat terrified of doing portraits! Also on my list was sports, cars, and architecture.

It was serendipitous when a friend of mine asked me to photograph her newborn. As the terror swept through me, I remembered my list and realized I should take the opportunity. Of course I advised her to hire a real newborn photographer since I had no experience in this area. But I still tried, and I made some images that were pretty good. But more importantly, I learned some things that I could apply to the areas of photography I was more interested in, like landscapes and wildlife.

Working inside was new to me and since I didn’t own any lights, I worked with natural light from the window. As I positioned my subjects around the room, I noticed how the light fell on their faces, and learned to pay very close attention to the direction of the light. I also noticed how important it was not to have any distracting things in the background, which also applies to many other areas of photography.

Using rim lighting and non-distracting backgrounds (learned doing portraits) in wildlife photography.

Try sports photography

The second thing on my list of things I wasn’t interested in photographing was sports. So I headed up to the local university where there is always something happening on a weekend, and found a rugby game to photograph.

I learned something very important that day. You see, I don’t know a thing about rugby, and it quickly became obvious that I couldn’t capture a special moment, because I had no idea when it was going to happen. I had to sit and watch, and try to figure out how the game worked, and only then did I have a chance.

I didn’t make any good images that day, but I sure learned a lesson that I apply to wildlife photography all the time. I sit and watch, and learn the behaviour of the animals before I try to photograph them. That way I can anticipate what is going to happen, and come away with a photograph that captures a special moment in time.

Lion and cub at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania by Anne McKinnell

Anticipating the special moments in wildlife photography.

How about architecture photography?

Another thing on my list at the time I did this exercise was architecture, but after playing with it for awhile I discovered a new passion. Now I love photographing architecture. One thing I learned is that most architectural subjects are inherently symmetrical, and while the rule of thirds works, symmetrical compositions work really well too. Now I apply this principle to other subjects that are inherently symmetrical as well.

Yucca at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico by Anne McKinnell

Using a symmetrical composition in landscape photography.

Challenge yourself! Give yourself time to play! Remember that this is an exercise just for you, to help you explore your craft and grow as a photographer.

Exploring subjects is just one way to accelerate your photography learning curve. (It’s a great way of finding your niche too!) For more ways to speed up the learning curve, check out my eBook “8 Ways to Accelerate Your Photography.”

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Floating Greenhouse: Mobile Barge to Grow Food & Cruise Danube

08 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

eco barge

Designed to float down the Danube river in Europe, the Eco Barge is a solar-powered floating greenhouse illustrating the possibilities of offshoring urban food production.

floating eco barge concept

floating greenhouse model

In addition to growing usable organic produce on the water, the barge has educational components, aiming to host presentations and workshops for citizens of European cities along the river, starting in Belgrade. Growing on the water allows food production to remain local without taking up valuable urban land.

floating solar greenhouse

floating greenhouse design

An indoor office and presentation space brackets one end of the barge while the greenhouse is situated at the other, an open space with solar panels sitting in between. Sun and wind power systems generate renewable energy used to power the vessel as well as its on-board irrigation system.

floating hotel concept

floatel

Salt & Water, the architectural and yacht design firm behind the Eco Barge, are known for their floating projects, including a floating hotel concept made up of private yachts. These independent boats share common docks and community spaces, but can detach for explorations as well.