Guest Blogger:  Rodney Washington

Have you pondered the idea of making some real money from your photography? In this article I will show you one of the simplest and low-cost ways you can learn-to-earn from your passion for photography. Call it your first step to Building a Successful Photography Business 101

Start with the people who already know, like and trust you and then ask them for referrals. For example, shoot your nephews birthday party, portraits of your neighbor’s kids or pets, even your favorite neighborhood restaurant dishes if food photography is your passion. Gently hit up everyone you know, siblings, parents, coworkers and friends and when you exhaust those resources (but don’t be a pest) ask them for referrals and remember everyone is a potential source.

You could build your business solely on referrals and word-of-mouth if you exercise this approach properly. Don’t ever forget that photography is a people business and people like to work with others that they enjoy being around period, so it never hurts to ask. If you want to sweeten the pot offer even further offer a referral fee. Money can be a tremendous motivator! If funds are tight or you don’t wish to offer cash in exchange for referrals you could offer more of your services, read the next section for more suggestions.

Quick Tip: People don’t like to be sold too, but they love to buy from people they know, like and trust. Once you start receiving new business this way and if you keep your customers happy all you need to do is rinse and repeat. In other words ask your referrals for referrals.

Want another bonus tip? To keep the referrals coming offer your current customers an ethical bribe. For example you could offer extra prints if they refer you to two or three new sources of contacts. Give them a gift certificate for a free session if they refer you to five or more. In other words the more referrals they provide the more you sweeten the pot. See how this works? If those referrals generate paying customers you could even go so far as to offer a gift card to their favorite restaurant or day spa.

Want one more tip? Find people with a good Rolodex. “How do I find someone with a good Rolodex?” you may be asking. Think about it; are you or someone you know in direct contact with potential paying customers you want to attract? I’ll give you some examples: if you shoot portraits of women, hairdressers or makeup artists may a great source of contacts for you.

If you photograph dogs or cats perhaps a doggie day care, pet spa or vet’s office could refer you. If you photograph individuals who have recently experienced a major change in their physical appearance i.e. weight loss, facelift or other cosmetic alteration consider contacting plastic surgeons, personal trainers or health and sports clubs.

Do you desire to break into the lucrative wedding market? Don’t go out directly soliciting brides-to-be especially if you don’t have a book or a lot of experience. No, connect with the people who serve them.

Target florists, caterers, printers, bridal gown vendors, bands and musicians. If you have to as a gesture of good will offer to shoot their goods for free in the beginning to build your reputation.
Most importantly do good work, prove yourself and give them something that they need and they in turn can give you something you need. In this case paying customers. The possibilities are endless.

Just remember: Take care of those who take care of you and you should have no problem bringing in new business.

I’ll leave you with this, today more than ever in the competitive business of photography those who succeed are the ones who think outside-the-box. Be willing to go that extra mile to reach those who need what you love to do and you greatly increase your opportunities for success.

The Bottom Line? Get the tools you need to either get your photography business off the ground -or- increase your existing business by opening new markets today! If you want in-depth pointers, ideas, information on running a successful photography business, explore my site. I’d like to invite you to sign up to receive my audio course: Secrets to Running A Successful Photography Business: 5 Things That They Didn’t Teach You In School to claim your copy of this valuable course:
http://photo-marketing-mentor.com/free

As a photographer and marketing coach for other professional photographers I’m always looking for new tools and strategies that can be used to get the word about their businesses.

In the age of Internet marketing and social media networking it’s critically important now more than ever for photographers to take advantage of every opportunity to get our work in front of our target audience.

With websites, blogs and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter just to name a few, they’re more avenues than ever for pro- photographers to reach potential prospects.  So the question becomes “if it’s easier to connect with our prospects online – how do I capture the leads I receive on my blog -or- website?”

The answer I give my clients is the squeeze page.  Now I’m going to tell you that I’m not a fan of the term.  I’ll explain in a moment, but first, I’ll share with you the terms origins.

A squeeze page is a word coined by the Internet marketing world meaning “to squeeze” the site visitor into giving up their email address usually in exchange for a free offer of some kind.

How the technique is used is simple: create a single webpage that limits the site visitor’s option to either supply the publisher with their contact info or click away.

The concept of the squeeze gets sort of bad rap in my opinion because it’s term “squeeze” denotes the concept of pressure.  But I believe that if you provide “real value” to your prospective subscriber via your free offer then there’s no pressure.  Either they want you have or they don’t.

While I’m not a fan of the term, I’m a huge advocate of the results it provides. But I prefer to think of the squeeze page as a “welcome” page.

For professional photographers our images constantly provide us with numerous options to create compelling content for our welcome page.

I’ll give you three examples:

1. You could combine your images with your notes about the origins of the images into a diary or journal style format.  Then create and publish a PDF document that your potential subscriber can download.

2. If you teach photography classes you could create and publish a special report supplying sample lessons; again either in PDF format or perhaps in a series of video lessons.

3. You could be interviewed via audio over the telephone or live in person about your work and publish the replay in either MP3 or Audio CD format.

These are just three examples of you can turn your existing content and knowledge into a compelling offer that will entice your site visitors to begin a relationship with you by supplying you with their contact info.

Why would you want a welcome page?  Because it’s fastest way to build an online mailing list of prospects online.   It’s actually a win-win for both you and your prospect.  Your prospect receives a tangible piece of content that is a soft introduction to what you do.  And you gain a new prospect that you can promote your services, products and programs to over and over again.

Potential Pitfall of the Squeeze Page:
You should never restrict your site visitor’s ability to view your photographic work by forcing them to give them to give up their contact info.  Therefore I do not recommend making the “squeeze page” the front page of your website especially for photographers.

I do recommend integrating your free compelling offer and opt-in capability throughout your existing site.

My 3 suggestions to make squeeze/welcome pages work effectively in your photography business:

1.  Do not and I repeat do not, limit or force your clients and prospects to sign up for your mailing list before they can view your images on your main website.  It won’t work if you force.

2.  An effective squeeze page should be a stand along page with it’s own identity separate from your main blog or website.  The squeeze page should promote your free offer, period.  You can however either in your special report, audio replay or video lessons invite the recipient to view more of your work by visiting your website.

3.  Always promote a “strong call to action” on your welcome page and throughout your free offer, for example: “If you enjoyed this video lesson then visit my website @ www.yourphotographysite.com to view more of my work and find out when I’ll be teaching in your area”.

Do you see the potential in this?

The bottom line: If you’re serious about securing new business your goal should be to always be prospecting this is crucially important especially in this challenging economic environment.

If you’d like to learn about how you can implement this strategy and similar ones into your photography business I’d like to invite you to visit my welcome page @ photomarketingbusinessinsider.com While there sign up to receive my FREE special report the Photo Marketing Business Insider Report.

Rodney Washington is  The Photo Marketing Mentor — a Los Angeles based photographer, marketing coach and host of his radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com. To learn more about his programs visit his website at photo-marketing-mentor.com