Who wants to buy my photos? Websites Exposed!

Yes I eventually do want to actually make some decent money doing this...yes its a long shot.

One of the tips I picked up at last weeks Mary Virginia Swanson lecture was the need to identify what kind of market my photos belong in and then really try and gear my site for people in those markets.

Over the passed year I've made major progress in shooting more, purchasing some important equipment, taking some classes, and getting my site up and have had some successes in actually being paid for a bunch of jobs. But now the task remains... trying to carve a niche out for my work.

According to Mary Virginia Swanson, the photography marketing guru, there are a few things photographers must do in order to have their websites actually "work for them"

Here they are:

1. Clarify what you do best, even if its several things, and design your website to showcase those specific skills/styles

2. In your bio, describe what you do succinctly, using language and images that cast you in a specific light

3. Use the language and images on your site to communicate and suggest to viewers what you do or want to do

4. Don't have a contact link that goes straight to email, use this page to give a bit more info about yourself and give a variety of different ways to contact you for different kinds of work.

5. Change language appropriately in site if geared towards different viewers, (ie. if in stock section of site, gear towards editors, if in fine art prints section gear towards art dealers and gallery owners)

6. The homepage of your site should clearly explain either visually or with text what you do or can be hired to do

7. With regards to marketing and brand strategies, seek out help from experts and brand everything you do, including website, emails, business cards, etc with same brand (color, logo, style,etc)

8. Sequence images on site well and appropriately for audience

9. Show pictures of your work hanging in galleries if you wish to sell fine art, or show tear sheets from published magazines if hoping to sell stock or book commercial gigs.

10. Do your research, try and bait the people that would be interested in your kind of work and get them to view your website. Always be as personal as possible when sending emails or sending work samples. If possible, look into consulting services like portfolio reviews or agencies like Agency Access that can help market your photos and connect you to the right people.

11. One thing not mentioned that should be added: Google Analytics, I personally think this is very important in terms of determining who is looking at your work and how people are looking at your work

12. There are a variety of different ways now-a-days to see if people actually open links you send them in emails, so if you're sending a link to a gallery on your site to an editor, see if theres a way to check if they've actually viewed the gallery.

Wow this a lot.......need to reflect a bit....more later

All of these are great tips and I will be trying to re-vamp my site over the next month to hopefully integrate some of this advice. I am going to re-attempt to design some of my own webpages in Dreamweaver and integrate and link to different sections of my PhotoShelter site. I will probably start by redoing my homepage to show more of a "style" and create buttons to access different aspects of my work. Maybe sections like this on my homepage will help me gear parts of my site more appropriately to different people looking to purchase or license my work.

Any comments? Especially from some of my art bus. friends?