Self Promotion

surpasspro · #1 (**permalink**) 01-02-2007, 08:33 PM

I?ve been reading several threads here recently on the future of the photo industry and business plans. Along with creating outstanding images, I do believe in taking additional steps in promoting my work.

One of the ways to promote my work would be to have my own website. I find that most photographers? domain names will be their actual name such as (www.johndoe.com). However, in my case it poses a problem since the domain with my name is already taken.

As a substitute, without having the name getting too long what do most photographers use as a second name? Such as:

1) Johndoephotography.com
2) Johndoephoto.com
3) Johndoephotos.com
4) Johndoestudios.com
5) Or, some other name that doesn?t have your name in it.

I guess at the end of the day it may not matter, but just wondering which one most people would pick. Also, has anyone noticed that having a personal website helps them sell more images on the micro sites? Do you think customers view them, or just see your images on the sites their shopping? Just curious to know how effective having a site is to your business.

thesupe87 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-02-2007, 09:52 PM

My site is just a crappy "free webhost" with a generic name, and even so - it must make me at least 100-200 a month in referral dollars alone. It's nothing spectacular -just a site I started to help people out, as well as get referral sign ups. I'm a web designer, but don't have the time to design my own site from scratch. That's why I used this simple template type site.

http://www.freewebs.com/micropayment...aphy/index.htm

If this was my main profession, and only business - then heck yes, I would have my own site, my own hosting, and my own unique website design. I usually have a flash navigation in the sites that I personally design, but nothing too over the top.

Gracey · #3 (**permalink**) 01-02-2007, 10:48 PM

My website was built primarily for my 'other' clients, not for stock, though there are stock images on it.

I tend to use it for clients to view their proofs or to view some of my work before they hire me.

Mine doesn't exactly have my name in, though it does in a round about way...it's listed under my photography business name: photographyofgrace.com

Fotosmurf · #4 (**permalink**) 01-02-2007, 10:58 PM

My website does not have my name in it http://www.junglefrog.com but it does attract business. What happens in some cases (and I have one of those trackers on my site so I can see where visitors come from) is that people get to my portfolio on one of the microstocks and link through to my website and then sometimes contact me directly for commisioned work. It doesn't happen that often, but then my site has only been live for a few months, so who knows what will happen!
I think ultimately it doesn't really matter what name your site has as long as the content is good enough...

FlemishDreams · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesupe87

http://www.freewebs.com/micropaymentphotography/index.htm

Better take Galastock off there, or mention that one of their employees was busted stealing photos. ;-)

Fotosmurf · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 02:53 PM

Galastock?? Hmm... that is good to know; although there changed policy with uploading is just too timeconsuming but I will probably not upload anything else....

thesupe87 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 10:08 PM

You're right - I need to update that. I haven't submitted any more to them. I've have over 100 images in cue since 3 months ago - they're jerks. Come to think of it, I should just request to cancel my account right now.

striver · #8 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesupe87

I'm a web designer, but don't have the time to design my own site from scratch.

I have notiiced that about many of the best web designers...their sites are really simple and thrown together because they are way too busy designing sites for others. I have built some huge sites, with over 3 million hits per month, but I don't even have time for basic updates on my current site. I'm just too busy with other things.

oh yeah...in case you are curious...http://www.verchi.com/

thesupe87 · #9 (**permalink**) 01-05-2007, 03:28 AM

Exactly. And people don't GET that. When you do something all day 9-5 at a full time job, sometimes you just can't bear to go and do it even MORE once you get home. All you want to do is relax...otherwise my portfolio would be much larger than it is now, and I'd have a bunch of websites designed from scratch.

I'm mainly a print designer, so mainly at work I'm using Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator; BUT I also know a decent amount of Adobe ImageReady, Macromedia flash, director (shockwave), fireworks, and dreamweaver.

Here's my most recent site design - I did everything except for the login section, where the required php coding was way over my head:

http://www.mycompanymagazine.com

I don't exactly prefer web design, because you not only have to make everything look "pretty", but you also have to get it to FuNcTiOn correctly :lol: That part isn't always fun...

Very nice sites, Striver. I checked out your galleries; it's good to see that you're a well-rounded designer/photographer with 3d experience (the one area I've, personally, never really gotten a chance to delve into yet). There are a lot of designers out there that are too afraid to become more well rounded. Most designers I know couldn't tell you the first thing about web design, creating a flash web banner, or even just a simple little animated gif.

striver · #10 (**permalink**) 01-05-2007, 04:11 AM

My sister wrote HTML help files for Autodesk. She is one of the best in the business, as you can imagine at that level. Has taught this stuff at college level for years. She has never had her own web site.

I feel I am fortunate to have a good balance of left brain and right brain skills. I have been programming and hacking computers since the 60s. My gallery is just a livejournal blog. Easy to update and nothing to maintain. but the web site I hand coded from scratch in a text editor. I do most of my fancy stuff in PERL on the server side. My contact form is a good example. I wrote that from scratch as well.

Your custom publishing site is a nice design. Clean and well balanced. But the header takes way too long to load first time around. It was about one minute I think.