Part TWENTY: Working For Yourself

Are you online?
...really?

We been into topics such as making a salary, and how to shoot certain types of images, and how use filters here and there, in Lightroom and Photoshop... but, what's next?

Frankly, no matter how good a photographer you are, if no one knows about you, then you most likely won't succeed.

....Let's talk about getting your work online.

steem Logo.jpg

The more people know about you, the better, right?
Well, the answer to that is, It Depends

Getting your work out in front of people, and the right people is important.
• Are you shooting work for hire? Such as a Wedding Photographer? Then, spend time advertising on Special Events, Catering, and Wedding Planning business and associations.

• Are you shooting Models?
Than, advertise on places like Model Mayhem is the place for you.

• Are you shooting Architectural Photography?
Find your local Design Center for Interior Decorators, and get posting flyers, dropping business cards, etc...

• Are you shooting your own images, and want to sell them?
Find one of the websites that cater specifically to Photographers. Not only will you get a website that looks great, but it may include a backend that prints and ships images, all to your customers' homes.

No matter what type of Photography you do, a website is a must.
There are thousands of low cost, free, etc, websites that will host your website. I'm not here for that. I am here to talk about choices for Photographers. A few of the more popular webhosting options for Photographers are:

• Zenfolio
• SmugMug
• 500pix EDITED: USE CAUTION WITH 500pix!!!
• Format
• Photoshelter
• SquareSpace
• Photodeck

Zenfolio
I'll cover Zenfolio first, because, frankly, that's what I use, and I know it best.
they offer great ways to display your portfolio, blogs, sales, marketing, a secure eCommerce website, and more.
I can upload my images, and clients can click, order, and have the images shipped as digital files, or as prints in any size, finish, and with frames of their choosing, on thousands of products. Not only do I offer prints, but, I sell my images on coasters, cutting aboards, coffee mugs, etc... and any one of hundreds of other items.

I have custom folders that only clients can log into, I have sales reports, and marketing campaigns I can use, to remind people of specials, discounts and where and when I will be showing live. I use my own Domain Name (BluefinStudios) and no branding of Zenfolio shows on my website.

The rest, in NO particular order:

SmugMug
SmugMug provides photographers with an easy to use webhosting site to share with a very broad audience. There are lots of Themes, Styles and Formatting, and definitely customizable.

500pix
CAVEAT EMPTOR: Buyer Beware! I did some research, seems recently 500pix has been sold and there are a LOT of customer complaints about not getting paid.

500pix is one of the most popular, with photographers. It is definitely getting the reputation for being the place to go for ‘serious photography’. It also has templates, and allows customizable pages with more control via geeky Web HTML, CSS and more.

SquareSpace
Very popular choice for individuals and businesses to create websites, fast. It has Collections of themes that are available for control, focusing on how to properly display image content. SquareSpace has integration with Google Analytics, Google Apps, and Getty Images.

Format
Format is awesome at Mobile, and also integrates with Adobe’s Creative Suite. Easy to design the site with point and click templates, or with custom HTML. Truly amazing integration with Adobe's suite.

Photoshelter
The company bills itself as the best choice to “showcase, organize, share, deliver, and sell” your creative work. Lot's of Templates, themes, etc allow you to control how your portfolio looks. Photoshelter has great integration with Some Sales and Marketing tools that the others do not.

Having discussed a bunch of options for Serious Photography, there are also a few places, such as the obvious, HERE on Steemit, and also Facebook. It gets a bad rap, and mostly deserved, but I still have a FB page for my photography, and post about once or twice a week, there, to market my main, zenfolio site.

No one solution works for everyone, and my thought is, a multi pronged approach works best. Use as many avenues of marketing and sales open to you, to get your name and brand in front of as many as you need, to be successful!