I have been MIA this week. I missed my Tuesday update and here it is almost Tuesday again. A gang of sleepers from the land of Procrasti followed me out, cornered me on the side of the road, drugged me and dragged me back into town. I swear it was a trick!
A couple editorial notes are in order- I say "sleepers" because I dont know what else to say, not because I slept all week. And someone gave me "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkinson (I can already hear the collective groan) so I am forcing myself to read a cheesy allegory and thus writing a cheesy allegory. I read books that people give me.
I have been a little discouraged this week. I went to a bridal show last weekend and was really hoping to make some good connections with other professionals in the industry. I emailed about 20 people whose cards I collected and only had 1 person respond. I did get to meet with her though, so it will be totally worth it if I et even 1 wedding referral from her.
I also learned from the bridal show that I have a good blog and website, and am a good photographer compared to some others. I don't want to diss anyone, but it was good to see how far I have come because I am usually only looking at where I want to be.
I was stood up for a (free) photoshoot this week and am dissapointed with the lackluster response to my engagement shoot giveaway so I have been a bit discouraged. I can't even GIVE my photography away! WTF?
I toyed with the idea of jacking my prices way up to punish the poor souls of my future, but decded to sit pretty for now. I realize that if you are giving someone something for free then they don't always see value in it so you run a risk of being screwed. The problem is, I dont have any clients on the books and I really love taking pictures, so I want to be out there doing it!
As you already saw (thanks for the comments- I heart them more than you know) I have come up with a cool way to dress up my business cards. I also went to a store in The Camp in Costa Mesa that totally inspired my crafty side, so I may be launching my etsy site this week. Or at least getting some stock created for it.
So, that's me. I really like this blog and that I am becoming closer to each of you through it. Just saying.
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LOL i sniped you!!! hahahahaha
ReplyDeleteI just now realized that you have a professional site and a blog site. For some reason I only knew about the blog site! I have feedback, and I hope it's wanted and this is not pushy of me to make suggestions. But I remember you asking previously, so here it is.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are great and it's obvious from the portfolio pics that you have a natural eye for backgrounds and a talent for making people comfortable.
Have you thought of dividing the portfolio pics into categories for easier perusal, and so people who are at your site for a specific purpose can look at that category of pics? Also on the pricing page, the three titles "lifestyle, engaged, married," could be links to photos of each.
I still think it'd be cool to add pets to the lifestyle category bc people are nutty about their pets.
And maybe "engagement" and "wedding" would be more apt, since the event you're photographing is the wedding day, and not the marriage?
One thing I noticed when I was looking at photographers' websites when I was engaged was that they usually didn't put the price on the website... you had to call them to ask. I'm not sure why they did that, but it's maybe something to consider... like you entice the person with all your great photos, and then on the phone you're all friendly and charming, and then you've halfway got them already by the time they even hear the price.
I was just reading an e-book my friend wrote about marketing on etsy, and something she said that made intuitive sense to me was that people are more likely to buy from you if you charge a lot. I mean not a LOT a lot, but... like, if you're kind of expensive people think you're higher quality, more professional... they think you must be worth the high price if you have the confidence to charge it. So I would maybe take the prices off the site, and then when people call, charge them more than $1500 for a wedding shoot, or at least start higher and let them talk you down a little or something?
I might take off "all about the benjamins" from the pricing section and "talk to me baby" from the contact section, maybe? I think it chips away at the extremely professional look of the rest of the site. I also think that you could use the "about me" section to talk about your work as a photographer... what got you interested in it, how long you've been doing it, what your favorite things are to photograph, favorite locations, thing you like best about photographing people, etc... I think it's important to sell your qualifications and to stick to the subject of photography.
Also, if you could get reviews from people you've photographed, that would be pretty sweet to add in.
For the front page, I don't know that that's the best picture to use...? The girl is kind of hunched in it? It might be good to show one example of each type of photo you do... so a wedding picture with the people looking ecstatic, an engagement photo with the couple looking pensive, a cute baby photo, a girl looking really cool against a hip background. And maybe the wedding picture could be bigger than all the others, and in the middle? Since weddings are what you'd make the most money from, you could emphasize it?
Those are my feedbacks from looking at your site for the first time which I dufously didn't know about for I don't know how long now. I think it's only a matter of time and fine tuning before you're a professional photographer charging a living wage. You have a major talent for photographing people! and drive! and loads and loads of charm! The rest will follow!
oh and pregnancy photos! i was just re-scrolling thru your site and saw one. that is a great category to emphasize. all the facebook ppl who've been pregnant lately have had professional photos of their baby bump.
ReplyDeleteI like all these ideas, too!!! But I'm a sucker for knowing the price ahead of time... That's my only point of disagreement here! Though the photographer I used had a few package options available with pricing (and he made my wedding album, which was THE BEST THING EVER. It would still not be done if it was left up to me.). Just a suggestion since you are so artistic...! (He used Asuka books and had some other options, but I liked Asuka)
ReplyDeleteJust had to jump on the comment train to tell you what I liked about my wedding photographer!
I agree - knowing so many people who took years to create a wedding album. That is a great option. You might even want to offer a musical slide show option to make more $ & have fun! Or thank you / Christmas cards w/ key photos on them. =D
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