Let’s begin:

QUICK TIPS

1. 💼 Embracing the Business Side of Photography

Photography is not just an art; it's a business that requires wearing multiple hats, especially if you're pursuing it full-time.

Beyond your skills in shooting and editing photos, consider broadening your knowledge in other areas:

• Branding and Marketing: Understand how to brand yourself to stand out in a crowded market and effectively market your services to attract and retain clients.

• SEO and Web Design: Learn the basics of SEO to enhance your online visibility and the fundamentals of web design to ensure your portfolio is accessible and appealing.

• Social Media and Content Creation: Engage with your audience and showcase your work through effective social media strategies and compelling content.

• Financial Management: Acquire skills in budgeting, managing invoices, and handling contracts to keep your business financially sound.

• Legal and Sales Knowledge: Have a basic understanding of copyright law to protect your work and learn key sales techniques to improve your service offerings.

• Delegation and Management: Recognize when and what to delegate to others, allowing you to focus on your strengths and grow your business efficiently.

By expanding your skill set, you're not only enhancing your ability to manage your business independently but also ensuring you're informed enough to hire the right help when necessary.

You simply can’t keep doing the default (bad) things and wonder why people are not contacting you.

This type of page doesn’t cut it anymore:

Simply having a basic contact form there is the absolute minimum. But you could be doing a lot better. A default contact form is not enough to encourage visitors to leave you a message.

People come up with many excuses for not having a proper contact page:

• “I already have the email on the About page or in the footer” That’s not enough, visitors are used to clicking on “Contact” in website navigation to get to the contact info, don’t make them waste time looking for it.

• “I’m just starting out, I don’t expect getting messages for a while” This way, you surely won’t.

• “My design is too abstract or creative to include a separate Contact page” Usability trumps aesthetic. Try to find a good balance (by testing things).

• “I’m not looking for clients” That’s OK, but people still should be able to get in touch with you for requests, suggestions, praise, problems etc., or just for sending you Chuck Norris jokes. Why miss out on that?

• “I’m not selling anything (just showcasing images), so don’t need a Contact page” Same thing, see above. Networking is not just about getting work, it’s about developing relationships, making friends in the industry etc.

• “I prefer contacting clients directly myself” Potential new clients prefer contacting you instead :-)

These arguments simply don’t justify not having a good Contact page.