Archive for February, 2011

TJ_McDowell – Twitter Noob

February 27th, 2011

So yesterday, I finally broke down and created my own Twitter account. It took me a while to create a Facebook account too, so I’m starting to see a trend. For being a tech guy, I’ve been pretty slow to adopt some of the newer technologies.

Why it took me so long to create a Twitter account It’s all about time – or really the lack thereof. I’m spending time on my photographer blog, other people’s blogs, Facebook, Linked In, plus a handful of other networking sites. I wasn’t about to create a Twitter account just to try to get followers to care about insignificant details in my life. How does that benefit them or me? So, while I would [...]

Posted in Marketing For Photographers | 4 Comments »

1 on 1 SEO Training For Photographers

February 24th, 2011

You’ve invested your time and money to make your photography website a business generating machine, but even the best website won’t help your business if nobody knows it exists. Smart marketers use SEO to bring new visitors to your website, so you can get your work in front of brides, seniors, and mothers who had previously never heard of your studio.

How SEO Grows Your Business Search Engine Optimization is about getting your website to show up in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Every day thousands of consumers look online to find a photographer. On our website, we get close to 40% of our traffic from search engines, and from that traffic, we convert customers to make up a[...]

Posted in Marketing For Photographers | 64 Comments »

SEO For Photographers – Forum Posting

February 18th, 2011

After you’ve done all your on-page and on-site SEO (search engine optimization), it’s on to the real work – link building. The easiest place to start is by posting on the blog here because it is a CommentLuv photography blog. While blog links are good, you may find that you’re wanting to do more with your SEO, and so it’s on to posting on forums.

Forum signature Before you can start building links on forums, you need to set up your forum signature to contain the links you’re wanting to promote. If you don’t know which pages and keywords you’re wanting to show up in search engines, take a step back and figure that stuff out first. [...]

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Posted in Marketing For Photographers | 45 Comments »

UPS – Stay Up When The Power Is Down

February 17th, 2011

If you hear UPS and you think about the guys wearing the brown uniforms, you need to be introduced to the wonderful world of un-interrupted power.

What a UPS does The purpose of a UPS is to provide power for a short time using a battery backup in times when the power at the outlet is not available. How long you have to work using the battery depends on the model of UPS you’re using as well as how much power you need based on the devices plugged in. As an extra bonus, a UPS is supposed to be an extremely reliable surge protector, so your equipment won’t get zapped in a storm.

Do photographers really need a UPS? Having a UPS won’t make a difference for pr[...]

Posted in Tips And Tutorials For Photographers | 11 Comments »

Photography Personality Profile Beta Testing

February 14th, 2011

We recently finished a photography personality profile tool on our website. Well, really it’s not finished – it’s in beta. Basically, we’re just at the testing phase. Looking at our Google Analytics, I can tell I’ve got about 1 person a day taking the test, and I haven’t gotten any feedback yet, so I was hoping you guys could help out.

What’s a photography personality? We made the test, so I guess we can make up a phrase, right? A photography personality for the sake of this test is just what kind of style preferences you have in photography. The idea is that everybody has a tendency to like a certain style of photography just like the[...]

Posted in Marketing For Photographers | 2 Comments »

ProShow Web / Producer Review

February 8th, 2011

With Animoto being such a big player now in the slideshow creation world, you may not be thinking about any other slideshow software at all. If you haven’t experienced any frustration with the lack of control with Animoto, that’s fine. Stick with it. I’m more of an idealist though, or at least that’s what Larissa calls me. She keeps telling me that I wear rose color glasses, but I honestly can’t remember picking up a pair to try them on. I digress. Animoto has done a good job for us, but I want more. ProShow Web along with the companion Producer have some pretty amazing features that the almighty Animoto hasn’t even attempted yet. Who knows? Maybe it&#[...]

Posted in Photography Product Reviews | 8 Comments »

Make Money With Photography By Cutting Costs

February 1st, 2011

If you want to make money with your photography business, the easiest way to start is by saving money on expenses. Cutting back on spending may not be glamorous (actually, it definitely isn’t), but saving money means a fat paycheck at the end of the day for you – the business owner, and that’s pretty fantastic in my book. So if you’re ready to start treating your photography business like an income producing machine, read on to find ways to minimize what comes out of your pocket.

Stay Out Of Debt Avoid debt like the plague. Both personal debt and business debt make interest work against you, when you should be using it to your benefit. If you can’t[...]

Posted in The Business Of Photography | 10 Comments »