subject: Set Up Your Own Website To Help You Sell Photographs! [print this page] Set Up Your Own Website To Help You Sell Photographs!
A website can be one of your greatest assets, and if used correctly, both a deal closer and a source of customers. The aim of the website should be to get you plenty of work, and also showcase your talent. This is important, as an online portfolio can be extremely effective at selling photography services.Do not forget that many people, when they need a photographer, first look online, and thoroughly investigate the main photographers they find there. If your website has a really professional and extensive portfolio it is possible they will want to ask you questions and this gives you the chance to convert them from a potential client into a buying customer.Building your first website may not be as daunting as you first thought. However, some planning is essential to begin with. Decide what the aims of your site are. Hopefully, one of them will be to convert visitors into buying customers. But, what do you actually want to showcase on your site?Presuming you have decided which type of projects you will undertake when selling photography services, this will dictate the look and feel of your site. If you are going all out to capture the market for family portraits, for instance, you are going to need some pretty good examples of your work to convince people to choose you. Starting out, this can be difficult, so how do you build your initial portfolio?Looking around local model agencies, you can find models who are just starting out themselves, and are willing to let you photograph them, for no cost, in return for a set of prints for their own portfolio, or a disc with them on. You can also blatantly ask people on the street to pose for you, but in this case it's best to have a spouse or partner with you, as well as your business card.When it comes to putting a website together, there are many options for professional - looking sites that almost build themselves, with no requirement for any HTML knowledge. One option is to build a WordPress blog. Many amateur and even leading professional photographers use this convenient method of easy to build website. WordPress.com is where to go to find some example sites and to start your own.Alternatively, you can use one of the many software packages available. I have used a product called 90 Second Website builder to create various sites. The advantage of this is that you have a blank screen to start with and can be as creative and unique as you want to be. There are templates available in the software, but I tend to avoid these, as you can end up building a site that looks just like someone else's. You want to be as unique as you can when promoting and selling photography services.
