The Great Business Round-up
First up, we get started by looking at the similarities between the Photography Business and other businesses, in this case Show Business.
I don’t do comedy anymore, but when I am shooting in Africa, surrounded by 300 villagers laughing at me wiggling my butt or butchering the swahili word for “smile” I’m right back where I started. Ain’t no business like show business, but the similarities, to me, are striking.
From there, we move over on how to help your business grow,
To succeed in the business of photography, you must employ a careful combination of observation skills. You must be an excellent observer of people AND business. To succeed, you must watch your business –- know it inside and out. As John D. Rockefeller said, “Everything that is watched improves.”
We can also look at things to do in the down time of your business
Then take the time to review and update your website and portfolio. Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua discusses these two core marketing tools in today’s video … (25 min)
by Updating your portfolio,
I’ve been watching Zack Arias’ series of critiques over at zarias.com, and even though he didn’t critique my site directly, I took a lot of the general points he made to heart [...] Less of “my own work that I like” and more of “who I am as a photographer”.
and Expanding your web presence,
create individual sites for each kind of photography you do because high-end clients want to think you eat, breath, and live the one kind of photography they need. The father-son photo duo now has 11 sites, including ones for their wedding, portrait, and commercial work, as well as ones for other family members. In his first post, Luke explains why they decided on multiple websites instead of subdividing one.
to Track where that web traffic is going and what it is doing for you.
In this part of our video series on Google Analytics, I show you how to improve the value of your traffic statistics by filtering your own visits to your site out of the results. (You can find the previous posts in this series here.)
Of course, no business mega-post would be complete with out at least mentioning John Harrington. I hope this helps at least as a starting point for growing or starting your business in this time of layoffs and downturn in advertising photography.
Lastly, I wish that all your assignments be Pulitzers, all of your subjects be engaging, all your editors understanding, and the next big client one phone call away.