Lessons
Class Introduction
01:04 2Choosing a Genre
09:18 3Perception vs. Reality
10:20 4Supply and Demand
10:14 5How to Turn Pro
09:47 6What it Takes to Survive
05:28 7Marketing 101
04:56 8Consolidate Your Brand
04:38Lesson Info
Consolidate Your Brand
So consolidate your branding. I know this is all pretty high-level stuff. This is not necessarily nitty-gritty. The pricing was maybe a little more nitty-gritty, but one of the things in terms of branding, I'll just say, make sure it's consistent, it's on message, meaning don't have, if you shoot weddings, and then you shoot adventure sports, you don't want those on the same website 'cause a client that sees that you shoot, it's not like shooting weddings is bad or anything. It's just, I do this, I'm known for this, this is what I do. A client can look at that and really see immediately, okay, when I have an assignment that's for this, I'm hiring this person. We had a question here. Just a quick question. This is also kind of about legal stuff, but when you have two different, say, you do sports and you do portraiture, and they're very different, and you want to have two different websites, can you operate under one business name for tax purposes so you don't have to register a bunch...
of LLCs? That is a good question. Or do you have to do a different one 'cause I'm confused about that right now. You probably could. It's all under photography. It depends on how you're naming those businesses. Possibly. It might work better if they're separate businesses. It just depends on the situation. Since I don't have two separate businesses, I don't, I won't say I know exactly. I would talk to an accountant and find out would be the honest answer. I know if I shot weddings and this, and I have shot a few weddings, I don't have another website for that, and I just file it all underneath my business name, but if you're doing a lot of each and there's two completely different divisions, I know some photographers have motion work like video work and stills under two separate business. They have a whole production house they've created that its own business and then they shoot stills, and that's part of their other business. So it depends on how big they are and what the, if you have employees in one, that may change the equation. Does that answer? Yeah. So I just thought I'd show you some of this stuff. Here's what my website looks like when you go to it, which is fairly similar to what a lot of photographers are using these days, and there's interesting thing. This whole, like, Instagram-tile look has become all the rage because editors, you've got, I think it used to be seven seconds. Maybe it's now down to four or five seconds to wow that person or they're out of there, and think of a photo editor who's got so much work they can't even get their work done. They've got so much piled on them these days, that if you want to make an impression, you're gonna have to make a big impression and fast. So those first three or four images or whatever they're seeing come up on the screen better be unbelievably impressive. And that's why we've kind of gone, or a lot of photographers have gone to this tile look because somebody may be looking for something different than that first image on your website, and I don't want them to think that first image is all that I ever shot. So I'm showing them a wide variety of stuff, and they can scroll down within a few seconds and see a really wide variety of what I do, and that's why a lot of photographers have gone with this kind of look on their websites. I paid a bunch of money to get a custom-designed logo. Maybe this is probably six years ago, and maybe it's time to tune it up a little bit, but that makes a difference. People in the art world or in the (mumbles) world can tell if the photographer designed their own website and if the font looks funky or if the font is not, if I go back to that website, if the spacing here looks weird and there's all kinds of little things you think about as a graphic designer that photographers may or may not know about. So hiring somebody who actually knows what they're doing can really help set you apart, and I know early on, I didn't have the five or $6000 I spent on a logo. So I did it myself, but when you can afford it as soon as possible, do some of these things that will help you stand out from the pack 'cause it's not just your images on the website. It's also how you present yourself. I have a blog, as well, which isn't really for clients. That's almost more to talk to people who are following me on Instagram or people that follow my work in general. Every once in a while, clients will actually go to the website or the blog just to see what it's like to work with me, or they might watch a video of me shooting whatever it is. That's also for SEO purposes, Search Engine Optimization so that I can show up higher in Google. Business cards, it's consistency. You see that same logo everywhere, and I think consistency is key here.
Ratings and Reviews
Robin Sebastian
I think that Michael makes creatives take off their rosey sunglasses and see the business of professional photography as it really is. You might not want to hear everything that he says but he shares some very honest and important information here that people coming into the business should only ignore at their own peril. Established photographers are probably in full agreement with what he has said here. This class is a must watch for any aspiring pro photographer! Four thumbs up!!
Student Work
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