How important is a web presence to a commercial photographer?
- Thread starter Sion
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sinned79
Senior Member
its essential.
i am not a commercial photographer but speaking from the point of view as an IT person.
your web presense can help to reach out to more targeted audience or potential audience.
just imagine your works being viewed by someone from another part of the globe?
can u do this without a web presense?
without a web presense, you are just restricted to a tiny weeny Singapore and its not that. The area of targetted audience is even smaller then Singapore.
i am not a commercial photographer but speaking from the point of view as an IT person.
your web presense can help to reach out to more targeted audience or potential audience.
just imagine your works being viewed by someone from another part of the globe?
can u do this without a web presense?
without a web presense, you are just restricted to a tiny weeny Singapore and its not that. The area of targetted audience is even smaller then Singapore.
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snowspeeder
Senior Member
Web presence adds a whole new dimension of marketing for any form of business.
Web presence is very important in today's market if your target market is Internet savvy. In Singapore, it represent very high proportion. 50 years ago, it was a different case.
But equally as important on how you use the web presence to your benefit.
With google as no 1 search engine, your business is not what you say who you are but what according to google.
One observation that I made after reading "abt us" sections on most website, the word "award winning" has seems to be over-used and it seems that more than 70-80% make such case?
Unless you are on the search list of google (not the paid subcription), whatever claim one made would have a lot less bearing.
Another thing to worry about is the "over-selling" on web presence which lead to unsatisfied clients in the future.
Anyway, just my 2c so take it as grain of salt really.
Hart
But equally as important on how you use the web presence to your benefit.
With google as no 1 search engine, your business is not what you say who you are but what according to google.
One observation that I made after reading "abt us" sections on most website, the word "award winning" has seems to be over-used and it seems that more than 70-80% make such case?
Unless you are on the search list of google (not the paid subcription), whatever claim one made would have a lot less bearing.
Another thing to worry about is the "over-selling" on web presence which lead to unsatisfied clients in the future.
Anyway, just my 2c so take it as grain of salt really.
Hart
photoart
Senior Member
If i were the client, I will like to see an online presence.
Imagine I want to engage a photographer's service, and i will like to go thru a few portfolios before I narrow down to 1 or 2 to further discuss. Imagine if all photographers do not have an online presence, then I will have to make appointment to go visit every single one of them just to view a sample their work. Not only wasting my own time, but also wasting those rejected photographers' time
Imagine I want to engage a photographer's service, and i will like to go thru a few portfolios before I narrow down to 1 or 2 to further discuss. Imagine if all photographers do not have an online presence, then I will have to make appointment to go visit every single one of them just to view a sample their work. Not only wasting my own time, but also wasting those rejected photographers' time
ur album does not appear in search engine because its a sub domain of the main owner. Sub domain will never appear in search engine first because usually in this situation the META is set to nothing.
Crawlers pick up key words base on META. On another hand, if you own a server of your own. Even if you have not create your website. Your domain name is already on the top list of the search engine due to the fact that you paid to advertise in directly.
To put it simply, you pay you get the privileged/VIP to be on top of the search list. :devil:
It's indeed very cheap to maintain a website only if you were to manage it yourself. Local company charges over a hundred dollar a year just for hosting alone. There's also the cost of web design which costs at least a thousand while it's free if you were to run a Wordpress blog yourself.
Back to the question —I am no commercial photographer here but I think that having a website is really good considering the price of printing photographs. It's also very convenient compared to hard copy mean, as one doesn't need to be physically there to show it to one's client.
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Ones you get yourself a server. There is a whole list of application you can choose from and setup on your own.Things like Wordpress, BB Forum, Photo Slide Show or sth. and a lot more. all you have to do is just choose what you want and click on install. It is usually the case. Some more domain name is included together with it. If you think you won't be using all the spaces in the server, find a smaller one but link your photo from other site instead or you could share with somebody else.
Ones you get yourself a server. There is a whole list of application you can choose from and setup on your own.Things like Wordpress, BB Forum, Photo Slide Show or sth. and a lot more. all you have to do is just choose what you want and click on install. It is usually the case. Some more domain name is included together with it. If you think you won't be using all the spaces in the server, find a smaller one but link your photo from other site instead or you could share with somebody else.
Yes. Get hosting with cPanel and Fantastico.
If you need very little storage space or you are hosting your images else where, there's actually free hosting services (yes free). Head on to
http://freewebspace.net/
It's basically a directory to free hosting service, you are usually required to display a link to the provider or post at their forum in exchange for the service. They do not provide a domain name so you most probably have to get one yourself at registar such as Godaddy for about S$10 a year.
A website is the easiest and cheapest way to get approached and approach clients but it is just a media platform to advertise. The design is still crucial, packaging sells. I have browsed numerous photographers' website and many of them deliver great work but the personal identity kills everything.
For the downside of those "award winning" flash website, search engine cannot pick up results from flash.
Having a blog is also a good way to do the job of ice-breaking, its allows people to know more about you. And blog is almost free!!!
For the downside of those "award winning" flash website, search engine cannot pick up results from flash.
Having a blog is also a good way to do the job of ice-breaking, its allows people to know more about you. And blog is almost free!!!
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knpan
Senior Member
exactly, very true, sub domains will never apper. only the parent appear
Yutaka Go
Senior Member
There are pros and cons.
Pros is easier to reach out to more people so may result in more customers
Cons is people can easily compare you with other photographers
If they feel that your works/services are not so good, they will bad mouth you :angry:
There are pros and cons.
Pros is easier to reach out to more people so may result in more customers
Cons is people can easily compare you with other photographers
If they feel that your works/services are not so good, they will bad mouth you :angry:
As mentioned, Web presence is very important if your target market is internet savvy.
Comparison with other photographer's on the Website is a good and healthy... it encourage photographer to show case their best on the web.
Those who will bad mouth someone else generally felt threaten by other's presence. I have seen excellent and established photographer with high end clients bad mouth the up and coming talented photographer because of the new photographer's work is very much in demand...
There isn't a bad work, good or bad work only based on a very personal opinion but in terms of business, there are work that more in demand and there are work that are less in demand and there are work that don't have any demand.
Without a good website, it won't allow your potential client to even compare you with your peer.
As I have mentioned, Web presence give the potential client some idea about your final images but doesn't give them the whole pictures on the business.
Regards,
Hart
Yutaka Go
Senior Member
True.
For successful business, the photographer must deliver good results to their clients and continue to improve their style to keep up with other photographers.
However, photographer shouldn't post their services charges on their website as it will encourage unhealthy price cutting competition from rivals
However, photographer shouldn't post their services charges on their website as it will encourage unhealthy price cutting competition from rivals
I use to think that way... but my experiences tell me otherwise...
my price list is on my website and it works better for me.
First of all, before I put my price list, I generally receive up to 100 emails a week asking for pricing... and booking rate is about 5-10 for that amount, but after putting up pricing, I may get only about 5-10 emails a day asking something else other than pricing... normally I will book more than 90% of those.
I am not saying those asking for pricing isn't worth my time, but the way I see it is, if people already have a preset value that they want to spend, then it is nearly impossible to tip the scale so it is better that the client knows so they don't waste their time on something that they don't really want. (different from affordability, they may very well afford your price, but they just don't want to spend so much). Family portrait is something different from wedding... most of the time, people know what they want so they don't overspend as it is not so much of impulse buying.
In the sense, I would prefer to spend more of my time serving those client who is serious about finding out more about us and using our service.
Remember time is non-expandable so use it wisely.
Regards,
Hart
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You will be surprise that those established family will try to call photographers in yellow pages rather than look at the web. I am talking about grandpa in his 60-70s and wanted a whole family photos...
As I mention, if your target market is internet savvy, then it is probably better to concentrate on the web but if your target market is people who use to life without internet and no computer, the approach is a lot different.
Regards,
Hart
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