Need some marketing help

ajcstudio · Sep 18, 2009

Well a friend of mine has started a wedding boutique/planner business. She has been using all the social networking sites to help promote we have had a couple clients but not as many hits as we want. The site is www.petiteelegance.com I am trying to find cheap/free ideas to give her to help the name get out there and draw traffic to the site. I know this isnt really directly related to photography but i know there are brilliant minds on here that have successful business's. So any idea is appreciated.
Thanks.

itsanaddiction · Sep 20, 2009

If you want to do seniors and portraits....get seniors from schools around you to come in and do a 15 min shoot. Then create business cards w/there pix but your info on it. I also think the site needs help. You need better shots in the gallery. Also, maybe do a gallery for each client. Brides today are looking for a lot out of the photo they choose.

ToddLange · Sep 20, 2009

itsanaddiction said:
If you want to do seniors and portraits....get seniors from schools around you to come in and do a 15 min shoot. Then create business cards w/there pix but your info on it. I also think the site needs help. You need better shots in the gallery. Also, maybe do a gallery for each client. Brides today are looking for a lot out of the photo they choose.

i agree, there was a few photos in the gallery that looked kinda bad.

ajcstudio · Sep 21, 2009

what shots did you not like...I will have her remove them and i will tell her about adding more shots like you suggested. I personally have not shot for them. I know one of the photographers she has and she seems pretty good.

Flash Harry · Sep 22, 2009

The gallery is a mess, focus is out on some shots and the rest don't portray a happy occasion to me, looks more like they're getting ready to go to war, no smiles etc, take the lot down. H

rub · Sep 22, 2009

Sorry, but I have to agree with the others. The gallery images need to be edited, and really, most of them need to go. I really only remeber seeing 3 photos I thought were okay. Also, the music when you enter the site is quite annoying. I saw a few typos, it switches from I will plan to WE will plan throughout the site.

For me, when I am hiring someone to do work for me, especially something that involves details, a website without mistakes is a must.

Im not trying to be rude, but if I saw that site, and those photos, I would never return, no matter what type of budget I was on.

I think a new design or layout is needed, as well as an expanded and revised gallery. Get rid of the typos, and you will at least keep the customer interested enough to look around and see what you are offering.

Good luck. I hope it works out and you can make it grow into a succesful business opportunity with your friend.

Anthonymickphoto · Feb 14, 2017

Marketing seems to be the most important part of running a photography business (a mediocre photographer can make much better business than a talented photographer with no marketing skills). I've tried many things including: facebook ads (found it to be very low return), Google ads (Some return), rebuilt my website from the ground up using squarespace (was previously with weebly and it was horrendous in terms of seo), blogging frequently, and local SEO using google+,Bing, Moz, YP and Yelp. I'm still finding difficulty ranking on search engines and would like to hear if you have any opinions. Would it be better to hire an SEO expert and focus on organic traffic or continue with paid advertising. I feel I've bled several thousand on useless social media and web advertising. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. My site is www.mickealphoto.com