Blog site / Photo Contest Help

[sactown024]

weird title i know....

I am trying to work on my marketing as I know there is a lot to this business other than a rebel and 18-55mm lens. I have been reading a lot of articles on how to market via social networks, blogs, websites with google keywords, photo contest etc....

1. Is there a site out there that will allow me to blog about photography for free and publish it on social networks?
2. Where is the best place to find photo contest? I want to start submiting photos, although i know the chances of winning are slim to none, I want to really start getting my name out there.


thanks

 

[tirediron]

Blogspot has a free aspect to it, and could be considered social media, there are lots of tools out there that will let you take data from a blog post and push it to other social media outlets, but... WHY???? Search the term "photo blog". I just did, and on Google.ca got 1.8 BILLION (as in, nine freakin' zeros!) returns. It's an established fact that if you're not on the first page of search results, you may as well not exist. How long do you think it would take you to get your SEO optimized to the point where you'd be in the first ten returns? A day or three I'm guessing.

Likewise for contests. Search the term 'photo contest'. LOTS and lots of returns... most want money to enter and many of them are nothing more than advertising or rights grabs, requiring you to sign away all rights to entered images. As far as using that as a vehicle to get your name out there, IMO, you'd be FAR better off renting billboard space on the side of a highway. Who remembers the winners of even the largest contests? I certainly don't.

If you want to get your name out there, then start building a business. Get your paperwork, insurance, licensing etc done, and start advertising. Get a good, optimized website built, get high-quality, professional looking cards made, and hand them out at every opportunity. Have a solid portfolio which you take everywhere, invest in Google ads and talk to everyone you can. Getting your name out there is good, but yet another blog and a few contest entries ain't gonna do it.

 

[sactown024]

thanks tireiron,

I do agree with a lot of what your saying, I have full intensions of allt he marketing ideas you mentioned but I read on few other sites that blogging and contest are also a good way to get out there.

like here: How to Market your Photography
or here: How to Market a Portrait Photography Business | Chron.com

 

[sactown024]

I thought maybe if I started blogging and posting the blogs on facebook it would reach out to people that I am not friends with and gain more interest, I wasnt planning on being the top google search.

idk, maybe it is a bad idea.

 

[johncam]

1. blogger.com is one of free blog site, you may to post an articles about everything.
2. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d...2d5ba5f4eff1c4&bpcl=36601534&biw=1366&bih=613

 

[KmH]

You sure don't "start getting my name out there" by doing the same thing everyone else is doing.
Working photographers spend most of their time doing business tasks, like developing/refining their marketing plan, instead of doing photography.
The starting point is to research and write a business plan. You have to have a marketing target. A shotgun approach is a waste of time and resources.

Something like 200 to 300 MILLION photos are added to Facebook by both amateurs and pros EVERY DAY. And, that doesn't count what is added at Flickr, SmugMug, Zenfolio, 500px, and all the other photo sharing and social networking web sites.

So lets be conservative call it 500 MILLION new photos being added to the Internet every day. That's 3500 MILLION new photos posted on the Internet weekly, time 52 weeks a year.

There are just a ton, a torrent, a flood of photos being seen these days, on websites and blogs that have all been SEO'd to death.

How can you possibly stand out from all that noise? The supply of photographers in the social market greatly exceeds the demand.
If you run with the herd, it's highly likely your imagery will just get lost in the herd.

Right now, the 3 most important skills a working photographer needs to have are negotiating, marketing and salesmanship skills.

Here are a couple of free resources for expert business advice:
The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov
Free Small Business Advice | How-to Resources | Tools | Templates | SCORE

Books;
Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business
Profitable Photography in Digital Age: Strategies for Success
The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating
How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

 

[tirediron]

My take on web presence: Use it as a place to direct people to so that they can see your work, rates, etc, but don't expect people to stumble on it and call you up. If they do, that's great, but don't count on it as part of your marketing strategy.

 

[Tamgerine]

Also, in order to have a successful blog you need to have interesting things to blog about. If you look at successful blogs like Strobist they are all about something very specific, and the writers have a lot of experiences separate from blogging to write about. If your posts are average and get no attention, neither will your blog. Is your blog going to be unique or interesting? Are you going to be able to keep it unique and interesting for a long time, as in years?

 

[janineh]

I thought maybe if I started blogging and posting the blogs on facebook it would reach out to people that I am not friends with and gain more interest, I wasnt planning on being the top google search.

idk, maybe it is a bad idea.

Not a bad idea. Works great for me. Facebook gives me 90% of my business.

 

[MLeeK]

I thought maybe if I started blogging and posting the blogs on facebook it would reach out to people that I am not friends with and gain more interest, I wasnt planning on being the top google search.

idk, maybe it is a bad idea.

Not a bad idea. Works great for me. Facebook gives me 90% of my business.

How is that going for you with the new changes on facebook? Are you paying for any of your advertising on there now and if so how much (if you don't mind) and how are you feeling about it's return on your dollar?


Nathan-JMO and this one is worth VERY little because I use very little social marketing, but... With the changes to how facebook messes with professional pages and advertising, I personally believe that getting involved in google+ is very worthwhile. If you get into local circles you can get your images seen much more for free than facebook now.
Now if you are going to spend a few dollars for marketing? I understand the new facebook marketing for pages like ours is great.

 

[sactown024]

I guess I missed the memo about facebook changes, what did they change? I never used facebook advertising, does that actually work?

unfamiliar with google+ also

the idea of blogging wasn't to have people "stumble along my blog" it was to network my blog through Facebook. The thought is that if someone sees my FB page and says oh hes a decent photographer and then from there sees my blogs, websites etc... they may think, wow hes serious about this, he is probably worth talking to.

I am trying to market as much as possible not just networking... I have made flyers in photoshop, business cards, talking to local business about posting my framed work in bars, restaraunts, clothing stores etc...

 

[MLeeK]

I thought I had posted this article the day it came out, but I can't find the post:
Facebook Changes Trouble Business Page Owners | Fstoppers

 

[MLeeK]

View attachment 24592

I guess I missed the memo about facebook changes, what did they change? I never used facebook advertising, does that actually work?

unfamiliar with google+ also

the idea of blogging wasn't to have people "stumble along my blog" it was to network my blog through Facebook. The thought is that if someone sees my FB page and says oh hes a decent photographer and then from there sees my blogs, websites etc... they may think, wow hes serious about this, he is probably worth talking to.

I am trying to market as much as possible not just networking... I have made flyers in photoshop, business cards, talking to local business about posting my framed work in bars, restaraunts, clothing stores etc...

Wow, that's... um, well... Let me ask you a few questions:

Does a picture of an entry level DSLR say professional to you?
Does "cheapest rates in the area" say professional?
Facebook should NEVER be your professional site. It is a complimentary service, but REALLY screams AWAC/MWAC.
Portfoliositez has a $5 a month option that you can throw your own spin on in the matter of an hour. Buy a domain for under $10 and Spend the $5 until you feel the need or have the $ to have a site designed.
You show NO examples of what a potential client can expect and frankly, if I looked at that poster I'd expect something pretty cheesy. The flyer does NOT do justice to the images I saw of yours yesterday. That screams YouAreNotAPhotographer.com and you are better than that.

 

[Tamgerine]

View attachment 24592

I guess I missed the memo about facebook changes, what did they change? I never used facebook advertising, does that actually work?

unfamiliar with google+ also

the idea of blogging wasn't to have people "stumble along my blog" it was to network my blog through Facebook. The thought is that if someone sees my FB page and says oh hes a decent photographer and then from there sees my blogs, websites etc... they may think, wow hes serious about this, he is probably worth talking to.

I am trying to market as much as possible not just networking... I have made flyers in photoshop, business cards, talking to local business about posting my framed work in bars, restaraunts, clothing stores etc...

Does that say "Give the Gift that Last Forever"?

You need another S in there, buddy.

 

[sactown024]

Mleek- you are right in many ways and down the road I want to become a professional. Right now I cant advertise as one so I am doing cheap hour sessions, I think you know that I am not on your level yet, far from it, but I m trying to learn the right steps of getting there. I do have my own website now so the flyer would need to be updated. I never thought about the entry level dslr, I figured the clients I am shooting right now (christmas family photos) have no clue what the difference is between a Mark III ad a T2i.