- 📸 ForegroundWeb Newsletter by Alex Vita
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- 📸 What should you work on first?
📸 What should you work on first?
Plus 3 Quick tips: you are the CEO, business vs passion, CTA buttons
Alex Vita
March 12, 2024 • Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
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Add more images? Or improve site performance? Or spend more time writing ALT tags? So many things to do…
IN TODAY’S EMAIL:
⚡️ 3 Quick tips: you are the CEO, business vs passion, CTAs
🧠 Deep dive: What should you work on first?
🔍 SEO: Keep your XML sitemaps clean
🖥️ Website examples: a custom stock photography site
🔗 Links & Resources: your weekly dose of interesting news
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
OK, let’s dive in!
QUICK TIPS
1. You are your own boss
Assuming you’re a self-employed photographer, don’t forget that you’re both the talent (= the creative = the person who does the work) and the CEO (= the “rainmaker” = the person who finds more work).
And creative people are often terrible bosses because they prefer being told what to do (even though that sounds wrong). Creativity thrives in restrictions.
You’re shooting an outdoor portrait, the sun is about to set in 10 minutes, and the battery in one of your flashes has gone dead. You have to improvise. It’s thrilling!
But tackling big ongoing marketing projects, working on SEO, staring at a new blog post editor screen is “harder”. They require a different part of your brain to fire.
2. Working on your business also rekindles your passion for photography
It’s not just about the money. Growing your business creates more opportunities to work on your art. It can feel at first that it’s taking time away from what you love doing most, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
“One of the critical factors of running a photography business is that you will probably not even spend half of your time taking photos.
Instead, you’ll find yourself sorting out your accounts, promoting your photography on social media, quoting clients, drafting terms & conditions, etc…
But it brings its rewards, not just financially but also in working on projects with very cool brands and people.”
Promoting your business will lead to you getting constructive criticism along the way, helping you grow as an artist.
The opposite is also true. Ignoring your business will make it unsustainable over the long haul. Without investing time in your business, sales will eventually trickle down.