8 Ways To Make More Money with Your Photography Web Site

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If you want your photography Web site to be a moneymaking machine, then you must think of it as a sales and marketing tool first and as a place to display your photos second. This is the primary mistake of many photographers, who think they must merely show their work and present a career profile to generate a flood of customers. Try any or all of the following tips to transform your Web site into an active selling platform instead of a passive “portfolio.”

  1. In most cases, your Web site’s home page is the first page prospective customers will see. Although your site must tell people who you are and what services you offer, prospects are most interested in learning why they should do business with you. They want to know how they will benefit if they hire you to shoot their wedding, portraits of their family members, a major corporate event or a new fashion spread.

Your home page should have a strong headline that helps to answer the “why” question immediately. “Jim Jones Photography” or “Uptown Wedding Photography” doesn’t explain how you will help the prospect solve a problem. The headline should be in the form of a benefit statement:

  • Affordable Wedding Photography That Will Be the Envy of Your Friends

  • Preserving More of the Memories of Your Wedding Day in Great Photos

  • Helping to Make Your Wedding Day More Enjoyable and Hassle-Free…Uptown Wedding Photography

  • Generate More Interest in Your Corporate Events with the Services of Jim Jones Photography

  • Improve the Publicity of Your Corporate Events with Complete Coverage from Jim Jones Photography

  1. Customer testimonials are critical elements of a photographer’s Web site that makes money. No one can convince prospective customers about the quality of your photos and services better than satisfied customers. Testimonials are much more likely to be believed than whatever you can say to toot your own horn. Use customer testimonials on your home page and add one or two to all other pages.

  1. Initiate a regular series of communications with prospective customers via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and email, with links to specific pages on your site. It’s much more effective if these communications are in the form of information that will be perceived as beneficial by prospects, instead of sales messages. A newsletter format is friendlier and more likely to be read than simply text messages. For example, as a wedding photographer, you can distribute a series of general tips about planning for a wedding, some of which may have nothing to do with photography. The secondary purpose of these communications is to demonstrate your expertise in your field. People want to do business with photographers who they perceive as being experts.

  1. You can enhance this perception of your expertise by adding articles and/or writing a daily blog as part of your Web site. Web site visitors are much more likely to be “sold” by being provided information that will help them in their lives than be bombarded with sales pitches.

  1. Writing and distributing press releases, and then adding them to your Web site, is another method to keep prospects informed of your latest projects and other news about you and your business. The more opportunities prospects have to know you, the more likely they will want to do business with you.

NIKON Prime Lenses CANON Prime Lenses SIGMA Prime Lenses
Nikon 24mm f/1.4 Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM
Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Nikon 85mm f/1.4G Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Nikon 300mm f/2.8G AF-S ED Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS Sigma 300mm f/2.8 EX DG IF

  1. A limited time offer is a proven technique for driving more business through your Web site. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, then offer a 10 to 15% discount for couples that book you one year in advance of their wedding date. Shooting a corporate event? Offer a set of portraits of the company’s executives at no additional cost that you can shoot during the event.

  1. Another helpful way to improve your Web site’s sales and marketing power is to have it evaluated by the experts at Site Catapult, a service of the New York Institute of Photography. For a very nominal fee, you’ll receive a 16-page evaluation that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your site, and then what steps you can take to make it stronger and generate more traffic.

  1. Consider implementing a rewards program as a means to maximize repeat business. It’s also a good idea to implement a referral program; so current customers can refer you to everyone in their network of family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. In return for referrals, customers receive a discount on a future project or can order some free photos from a previous shoot.

 

 Check out: 5 SECRETS MOST PHOTOGRAPHERS WILL KEEP TO THEMSELVES

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