There's nothing like a set of pictures to lift a business piece so here is a selection of last nights street portraits I took in Cork with Liam Ramsell, my host for the previous two workshops. (workshop pictures coming soon).
I walked into a bookshop in Singapore back in August 2008 when I was returning from a holiday in Malaysia, and stumbled across a book called ‘Pro Blogger‘ with a sub title ‘blog your way to a six figure income’ I was not really sure what a blog is other than a time consumer and it was the six figure income bit that immediately drew my attention. (attention grabbing headlines do work) I had recently undergone a time management efficiency drive that had resulted in us being able to take a long family summer holiday in peak season for the first time in ten years. So the prospect of eventually spending more hours each week sat at a computer, writing a blog was not a high priority. So I had to cast aside any prejudices and with an open mind I read the book on the flight back to London. Within two weeks of touching down this blog was born and the rest as they say is history. This blog is just seven months old now and attracts between 500 and 600 visitors a day. That’s barely enough to break even let alone earn a six figure income but it does provide a secure platform for my writing.
Canon 5D mk2,ISO 1000, f/3.2 1/6th second on a monopod. The lighting was medium pressure sodium discharge street lights. These shots are straight from Lightroom with no Photoshop editing. I'll decide on the colour for the pictures when I come to print them.
I would say a readership of 500 visitors a day is about the tipping point where a blog can become a profit maker if the owner chooses to let it. The six figure income mentioned in the book is a result of vastly more visitors clicking through advertising. I have decided to keep my blog advert free for now and it earns it’s keep by driving new traffic to my main site and my other offerings. Before I list the key benefits of blogging and it’s pit falls I ought to mention forums. After all, before my blog existed, my only online publishing was in forum posts. I stopped writing on forums nearly two years ago now and here’s why…
• It is the forum owners that make the money, not the contributors.
• Forums are often full of rambling threads drifting on and off of topic with very few nuggets of information of any value per million words.
• Forums attract personality clashes and better serve social networkers than information seekers.
• If someone was to read every post on one of the major photographic forums it would take them a lifetime and they might still not know how to take a picture.
• Forums can have a tendency to dwell on peoples problems and the search for solutions.
• Forums consume time. Just one tiny contribution to a forum thread will see you feel the need to return every twenty minutes or so to see if anyone else has added to the conversation. When I contributed to forums, I felt looked down upon if I was not around to respond the instant another forum writer commented on my comment or post.
• Whole threads on forums and even forums themselves can disappear without trace causing distress and upset to contributors.
One of my favourite pictures of the night is also one of the simplest designs. ISO 2000, f/2.8 1/10th second on my monopod. Here I've chosen chocolate tones for this grey building. (Click the picture to download the 100% file if you want to see the 5D Mk2 at ISO 2000)
Publishing useful information in a blog beats contributing to a forum hands down. If you own your blog you own your writing. If you contribute to a forum, then someone else probably owns your writing. It’s all in the small print that very few people bother to read when they sign up. To make matters worse some forums charge you for the privilege of contributing to their empire. Thankfully, with more and more of the worlds leading photographers owning and writing blogs, it is far easier to learn from their wisdom for free than ever before. With blog ownership comes the responsibility to contribute information of value. It may be humorous or factual information, advice or guidance, whatever the writings, they must be regular and valuable to the readership for the blog to grow and flourish.
I love barrels. Candi, our model obliged with a pose. ISO 1000, 1/6th second, f/2.8. Lighting was by sodium as before.
Twitter or micro blogging This is likely to grow as a social networking trend taking market share from My Face and the like. Forums will loose out to this media too as the chit chat on a forum is better served by micro blogging. I never was any good at chit chat and so the micro blogging culture is never going to be for me. I’m not at my computer often enough either. I’m often out on location shooting or teaching.
I was loving the sensitivity of my new camera. Everywhere I looked we had a shot opportunity at night. I would normally use battery powered tungsten lighting but we went with what we had to hand.
So what are the plus points of a good blog?
• The information posted is easily filtered by the readers and stays on topic. So if you are not interested in blogging you wouldn’t bother reading this post for example, and you wouldn’t miss anything ‘in the thread’ by not reading it.
• The posts are regular, say two or three times a week. So it’s easy for a blog reader to stay up to date with a quick five minutes or so a week.
• The information is structured in well written essays that are searchable.
• The information in a good blog is far too valuable to disappear and it is more likely to end up in a book than be erased.
• All comments are filtered by the blog owner or moderators to ensure they are relevant. The comments usually add to the post without digression.
• The information is valuable and free, ensuring visitors return.
What about the bad bits?
• A blog is for life and not just for Christmas.
• It can feel like a mill stone around the writers neck.
• It is driven by the passion of the writers and as such has a vulnerability.
• Blogs, like so many other information sharing platforms will be superseded at some point.
It makes sense at some point to attract new writers and talent to contribute to a successful blog. In doing so it will cement the long term sustainability of the project and limit it’s risks of fizzling out. Prophotonut is still in it’s infancy and I’ve still got so much to write about that I am glad to say we are a long way off that stage yet. This article was inspired by Paul, one of the many commentators on this blog. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts on blogs and this post in paticular. If you would like to join me on a dusk and night fashion portrait session you may be interested in this workshop.
Hi Wedding Photographer Liverpool,
I rarely publish any of my client pictures here. My book ‘The Complete Guide To Professional Wedding Photography’ has over 300 wedding pictures complete with their captions. Signed copies are available here and unsigned copies are available from Amazon. You have given me an idea though so I thank you for that. Kindest regards, Damien.
Damien
I wish I had read your words about forums a year ago. Sometimes it takes someone to state the obvious and tell you what you’ve known for ages for you to admit it to yourself.
I have become totally addicted to forums over the years, checking my boards before my emails and often spending whole days on trivial arguments/discussions instead of working. I have lost literally ten’s of thousands of pounds worth of business with the lack of productivity that came with frequenting them. In honesty this dawning happened before reading your article but your words are encouragement during my cold turkey.
Initially forums were a great help, you have a question, you ask it and people give you instant answers. I really don’t think I would be in the good position I’m in now without my wedding groups on flickr, however the crossover point from it being helpful to harmful came all too quickly. Before you know it its you answering those same questions you asked yourself, I look on it as giving something back but in reality its already there from the last time it was asked.
I think I’ll spend more time writing to my blog than in forums. Although I can think of lots of things to write about I wonder if I should keep my blog 100% wedding which is my core business or should I include other material to keep it moving and to show I do commercial work too?
Thanks again
Rob
Rory,
You are in good hands with Marko and Damien. I attended a 2:1 Full Day Workshop with Marko on “post-processing” last year and it has more than paid for itself. My only advice is take a notebook and learn to write fast as there is so much to take in! This is no reflection of Marko’s teaching, he is excellent and goes through exactly what you need to know.
I wouldn’t want readers to think that this blog is populated by Lovegrove Consulting clients, but I don’t know of a blog that gives such pertinent, frank and honest advice about the business side of photography, hence me frequenting this blog on a regular basis.
Paul
I’m often tempted to write a comment to your blog articles Damien and this time can not hold myself back.
Suffice it to say, I read all the articles with enormous interest. I know that I am not alone when I say I am an enthusiast considering starting a photography business from modest beginnings with the hope of growing exponentially. This has been in the planning for months so is not an imopulsive decision.
Your book, DVD’s and blog are an enormous inspiration and provide plenty of confidence building. I am still lacking the practical experience (due to time constraints with my current employment) but hope that my upcoming courses with you will take me to the next level and provide the push that I need.
My planned website and blog creation to accompany it is giving me much thought at present. There is no point being ‘all mouth and no trousers’ if one can’t actually deliver on the service promised.
I believe that this article in particular is of enormous value and the accompanying comments from Paul (who’s own website is impressive), Kevin, Jodie etc all add enormous value to the process.
I’m not known for giving high praise, but credit where it’s due – your blog, perhaps more so than the website itself as Kevin points out, is unmissable for people in my position and no doubt many others.
I look forward to the upcoming course with you and Marko.
Hope I’m not gushing too much!
Rory.
Hi Damien – a great article again. Its refreshing to read these business snippets on your blog along with the image/technical side of things. Blogging is a great tool for any business that relies of the internet to drive traffic to their business. The SEO benefits alone can be priceless. I started a blog last September to “seed” the domain in Google et al before launching the wedding website just last week. The SEO aspect of the blog had worked wonders and the new site is already well situated for my chosen key words.
My “other” business is a web development firm and I’ve been explaining to people for years that a well structured, well edited blog can do wonders for business.
Advertising obviously is a great way of bringing in revenue if your blog is successful enough, but blogging is great business generally. It is often easier to keep a blog fresh and content rich than the main business site which may not change for months.
A blog, also, gives people a virtual face to the business and is often a much less formal avenue for people to keep up to speed with what you and your business are doing.
I think you have put all the right elements into your blog Damien, and the mix of business, technical, gallery and “humanness”, makes it a joy to read.
Kevin
Hi Paul,
By saying “500-600 visitors per day is barely enough to break even” I mean that if you had a variety of adverts targeted at your readership, that number of visitors would generate an income potentially equal to the set up, hosting and domain charges etc. Certainly not enough to take a salary. The pro blogger site has 15,000 visitors a day (30 times that number) and that would be enough to live comfortably and pay contributors to provide the content.
For a social photography blog to do well among potential readers it should have interesting articles on choosing wedding venues, parenting tips for easter holiday breaks with the family etc. You need to write about things your target audience want to read. Get some old copies of Junior and You and Your wedding and rewrite a few interesting stories bringing them bang up to date. It sounds obvious but so many photograhers blogs are centred on photography and are not of interest to their customers. They seem to be written as extended CV’s, or for the benefit of other photographers.
Adverts on a social photographers blog could include wedding planners, garden toy makers, maternity clothes shops etc. Obviously each tab should have adverts that are relevent etc.
I hope this helps. The Pro Blogger book is the best guide I know to getting it right.
Damien.
Hi Damien,
Thanks for yet another really interesting article and for the credit in me inspiring you to write it. Your photography and business savvy have been an inspiration to me for a couple of years now.
In your article, you mention that 500-600 visitors per day is barely enough to break even. I assume that the cost you are referring to is your time or is there additional costs in terms of Blog hosting once you break a particular threshoild of visitors?
I can see your audience is primarily photographers (both amateur and pro) with a sprinkling of potential photographic clients. As my business is both Lifestyle Portrait and Wedding Photography I want to specifically target potential clients without it being overly marketing focussed.
Finding interesting topics to write which brides-to-be or families will want to read can be limited, especially as most has been covered in the bridal mags. Any suggestions for getting the balance just right between being informative and marketing?
Hi Damien,
Greetings from Australia.
Enjoyed the article on blogging. Excellent points and well worth considering. I have had my own blog for only a couple of months, so I appreciate the points you have raised.
Regards and happy shooting!
Willie
Hi Jodie,
I always let my clients view their images prior to making any of them public. It gives them power of veto if they don’t like their look in any of them. It also doesn’t take the edge off the viewing session. If they have seen the best 6 pictures or so before their viewing then the rest of the shots may seem bland by comparison. After all it is at the viewing when purchase decisions take place and we want the customer experience to be perfect at that time.
You can still blog the images, just a few weeks after the wedding once the viewing is done is my advice. Why not record your clients reactions on a dictaphone (with their permission of course) and you can add a few quotes to the blog too.
Kindest regards,
Damien.
Hey Damien,
Great post with some useful information as always. I just wondered what your thoughts are about wedding blogs and posting images? Would you post images to the blog before clients come to see them at the studio for the first time?
Thanks
Jodie