Basically, you get your hands dirty and go build yourself a funky little homemade website that hopefully does everything you need.

Now, granted, you may master your website building in a short afternoon. And that’s cool. However it’s when your whole online business starts evolving into a huge portable-empire (it CAN happen!) that you suddenly find challenge on your hands.

The challenge is thus:

Do you, humble entrepreneur, get making a website all by yourself (with help, such as using XSitePro – we’ll get to that in a minute), or do you throw risk into the wind and just find a (hopefully good) web designer?

Of course, there’s NO EASY answer…

That’s because it depends on EXACTLY what you want!

When you hire a web designer to make a website for you, you are doing more than just handing over the “dirty job” to someone else. In fact, by paying a few doll-hairs, you can let the designer concern themselves with getting the site ‘looking’ right.

That’s one less thing to think about when you’re out on the town!

On the other hand, you may feel that by doing it yourself you’ll have more control over the whole project – plus you’ll get to understand how the big ‘website building’ picture fits together.

There’s also the XSitePro web design software alternative.

This is one website building tool that allows you to become your own web designer, astonish your friends and create awe-inspiring websites – without having to watch 300 how-to videos or get intimately familiar with someone’s help desk!

It’s kind of like the secret weapon that the top ‘players’ use (and keep using) – to build websites that send them spinning into completely new tax brackets – in every niche they play in!

So… now that I’ve tickled your fancy, you best go and give her a trial run, or test her out…

Look here: XSitePro web design software

It’s either that – or sit down for the next 3 hours and explain patiently to your web designer exactly what you want done… (And hope she gets it right!)

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Seeing as this is my photo marketing blog and all, basically means I can pretty much do what I choose, right?

So, with that said, I decided to take a new approach and just start answering some of the questions that rock up to my inbox. Expect more videos too shortly, and other stuff, including a whole new blog design.

By the way, if you’re Philippino, contact me! I’ve got something for you…

So here goes…

JoAnn emailed me with the following thoughts…

“My idea is to promote the marketing area, like your ebook says to do, eBay, Amazon, and the other ideas you suggested, ideas for assignments, helpful tips, places of interest. I enjoy doing night photography on my SLR Film camera. My goal is to return to doing night photography now that I have a better digital camera. It’s a Cannon Rebel EOS XT.

I have some other affiliates which will be beneficial in setting up websites, finding the different niches, using keywords and other helpful information.

I would like to use make videos, using my photographs, possibly make them to sell, or download for people to use, or for T-shirts, and other products. I’m still in the process of what I would like to do. I just need to start making something even if I’m not quite sure of all the things I would like to do. I’ve made the investment on all this, and researched and studied. Just need to do it and make it start working for me.”

Here’s my passionate little reply…

One way to turn your photos into videos is by using Animoto.com I have made some colorful videos on Youtube using Animoto which you can see here: http://youtube.com/thehurley

I think video is indeed the future (and the NOW) so if you could ‘get known’ or be the ‘queen of your niche’ or brand yourself as a video/photo expert that would be good.

The photo/video niche is huge and lots of people like to learn about it – so tutorial type stuff always works well. Ie. how to shoot night photography… step 1, step 2 etc.

Then lead folks to your blog/site with opt in form to get subscribers.

The key is to give folks what they want… and what they’re willing to pay for…

So tutorial videos, ‘how to’ videos on Youtube, then they get to know you, trust you and like  you, then they buy your t-shirts.

In fact you could take it a step further and if you have enough passionate fans you could set up a low cost monthly membership site and show them personalized tutorials, exactly what they want… plus give them affiliate related products too.

You could also invite others to send in their best make money with photos ideas… and reward them with say $20 or $50 or maybe a gift of some sort.

This takes the pressure of you to create content – readers will create your content for you – and brings interest and so on to your blog – as well as helping all the other folks out too. Then you add other forms of monetizing to your blog too.

Anyway just some ideas – I could go on all day!

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And, you’ve heard that ClickBank is the place to go for finding digital products to promote…

So, here’s a step by step guide to using ClickBank to make this happen.

(BTW, to get to the ClickBank marketplace just click on the link above and look for ‘marketplace’).

Here’s what you’ll need to do…

Ready?

Good.

Firstly, take yourself to the ClickBank marketplace and in the ‘keywords’ box, search for ‘photography, camera dollars, sell photos’ (we’ll use Camera Dollars as an example).

After you’ve done a search, you’ll see a list of digital products…

Select ClickBank Product

The top product is the funky Camera Dollars guide. (See above). Now what you need to do is create your own little unique hoplink (so that ClickBank knows who to pay!)

Click on the ‘create hoplink’ link (see red arrow).

You’ll then be presented with a small pop up page like this one below…

ClickBank hoplink

Add your ClickBank affiliate nickname where it says to do so…

If you haven’t got a nickname, sign up to ClickBank here and get yours (for free).

BTW, you can promote any product on ClickBank using your nickname. (Your nickname might actually be a number, but that works the same as using a name).

You don’t need to add anything in the ‘Tracking ID’ box. This is just for tracking your links.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll click on ‘create’ and get a window like this…

ClickBank complete link

See the red arrow? Next to that is your unique link (hoplink).

Copy that link into a text editor and then get it out there into the BIG wide world.

Your goal?

You want people to CLICK on your link…

See my link?

Did you click it?

It is a ClickBank hoplink that is ‘cloaked’ so that it looks more tasteful.

You can use http://tinyurl.com to cloak your links.

There are other ways, we’ll get to them soon.

But for now, just get your link setup.

There are a thousand different creative ways to get your LINK out there.

BTW, you need a UNIQUE link so that ClickBank knows that you ‘recommended’ the digital product and that way you will get paid when someone buys through your link.

This is the start to making money with photography…

YES you CAN promote your link anywhere but you have to be careful you don’t spam anyone and that you do it carefully and tastefully…

So now that you have your link you could…

a) set up a Wordpress blog and start posting (writing) articles…

b) write a small review or a few pages talking about your niche/passion/interest… then add your link into that report/review, do it in Microsoft Word then make it into a .PDF….

Then you could give this guide to other folks (who are interested in this subject)…

Or you could set up a hubpages.com site or a squidoo.com site and talk about your interest and sometimes you mention your link or include it in your posts… (Tastefully though)

Got the idea?

Great…

ONWARDS!

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Basically this video is an introduction to getting your ClickBank affiliate link set up so you can then promote any digital photography book you want. (It doesn’t just have to be CameraDollars!)

Although I used Brian Moore’s CameraDollars because his product is such an excellent example, and, from I can see, converts very well.

Have a look at this video and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below…

If I get enough comments I’ll create another video. If not, I’ll go and talk to my friend Robert Plank about why his marketing methods are not working.

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What is a digital photography blog and how can you get one in 10 minutes?

Let’s break it into steps. Here’s how Wikipedia describes a photography blog…

A photoblog (a.k.a. photolog or phlog) is a form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of and focus on photographs rather than text.

In the case of PhotoMarketeers we use a WordPress template blog, and add the occasional small photo attachment to every post. (The excellent plugin that automates the ‘add photos’ part easily is Zemanta).

You could do a similar thing of course by starting out with WordPress. You can download WordPress for free at http://wordpress.org/

And when you get to the ‘writing’ stage,  (like I’m doing now) remember you can add more than just images too… Use bullet points, graphics, etc, to break up the text and make it easier on the eye when your visitors ’speed browse’ your site.

But I digress…

To keep things simple, what you’d do is add thumbnails or small photos to your photo blog, with links out to your FlickR photo folio, or to SmugMug photo sharing (so the viewer can go see more snaps if they desire).

All this depends on what YOU want your viewers to see…

In our case the emphasis is on the content, and we support the words with images.

But if you wanted to put the focus more on the images themselves then you’d use a photo blog template that’s specifically designed to display photography work. Do a Google search for ‘WordPress photo blog templates’ to find a list of these.

You can also invest in a digital photography blog that’s pretty much plug and play.

That means it’s all set up and ready for you to just add your photos, your content, and then go hassle everyone you know about it.  Go here to see one of these (never used this – can’t confirm how good it is!)

If what you’ve just read sounds good then why not take it further and get your hands on my ‘How To Make A Stunning WordPress Blog‘ (for photographers)?

You’ll be able to download this (free) rockin’ guide within minutes once you sign up to my free photo marketing ezine.

That guide explains how to set up your digital photography blog in greater depth with step by step screen pictures showing you exactly what to do, and how to do it.

It’s not that difficult to set yourself up with a photo blog. You can get yourself started in 10 minutes. Next week we’ll explore how to host your photo blog too.

What do you think?
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Here’s an interesting list of 50 favorite photo sites, articles and photo news from 2008 from one of my most favorite digital stock photography sites, Crestock

Take particular note of the Magnum photographer’s blog and also Simon Robert’s brilliant and surreal real-time photo book about Russia which you’ll find at www.motherlandbook.com (Great idea for a website by the way!)

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Photos above from:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/pictures-of-the-year/

Related articles:

• 5 Sites Where You Can Sell Your Photos (lifehack.org)

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1. Explore digital stock photography… Cast your eyes over iStockphoto or Fotolia… Learn more from Yuri Arcurs who makes an exceptional living from selling his stock photos. Yuri says “…branding yourself by having a unique style that is recognizable and consistent is probably the most important aspect in microstock.” Here’s a list of 10 popular microstock photography sites to sell stock photos.

Read more photo articles about digital stock photography…

2. Nurture your brand of one… Create stunning t-shirts, calendars, greeting cards, clothing etc that makes folks go wow. Use CafePress to sell your photography, photo image or photo illustration you created in Photoshop…

Right now if you look around you’ll spot lots of t-shirts, prints etc that are inspired by President Obama and are probably still going to still be popular for a while to come… How can you tap into this? Turning your photos into a photo product WORKS…

3. Stand in front of the hungry crowds… Use eBay to sell your photos on CD or DVD. Take a selection of interesting photography you have… find out what is selling well on eBay… then automate the whole eBay to DVD to buyer process by using Auction Acrobat.

4. No time to reinvent the wheel… Know about public domain? This means photos and illustrations and music etc that is copyright free and freely available to be used by you (the public!) Dig around the public domain until you find an amazing image or two, then re-idea them to your heart’s content… Think t-shirt designs, logos, website photography, blog headers, etc. Tony Laidig is the master of public domain and his picture project will get your visual IDEAS clock spinning madly…

5. Get a name for being unique… Use boutique photo galleries or photo agencies like these friends of mine (www.farmboyfinearts.com) to get your abstract or landscape photos lining the walls of restaurants, resorts, billboards, upscale hotels, etc… Create custom artwork… site specific artwork… Every wall needs a photo, right?

6. Create free desktop wallpaper screen-savers… Create screensavers or other popular downloadable ‘toys’ – stuff such as wall papers, desktop screen savers etc that put your photos on other people’s computer screens… Look at http://www.download.com for more…

7. Take the photos that no one else wants to take… and then get paid for it! See what I mean here: $200 A Day… Think of all the folks that need insurance, home, vehicle etc ‘photo documentation’ and then you BE the one who does it…

8. Tap into people’s passions… Everyone is enthusiastic about something right? Hobbies, enthusiasts… think modified cars, trucks, motorbikes, sports, homes, vacation spots etc … Make the necessary arrangements then shoot… After which you present said collection of images in a beautifully bound digital photography book using PhotoBox

9. Explore the 7 seas… Travel based photography ring any bells? Be the wordsmith and wield the camera, or just shoot and then develop a working relationship with another writer (they can live almost anywhere too)… You’ll want to be familiar with posting the images you take on blogs, using web 2 sites etc. Think ‘how to’ articles, either for photo blogs, or offline publications… Photo/text features easier to sell than individual photos… Plus you can on-sell this photo article to other magazines…

10. The wide world of pets… Folks LOVE pets like nothing else! And they’d like a photo of them too, wouldn’t they? Here’s some thoughts on the matter… “Before you hire yourself out, though, practice with your own (or a friend’s) pet – when people are paying money for photos, they want good ones. Some tips: Don’t use a wide-angle lens at close range unless you want an elongated, distorted look. Enlist the pet’s owner as an assistant to help manage the subject. And get some shots of the pet with the owner too…”

OK that’s 10 quick ways to sell more photos online (and off)… Comments?

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Do you lie awake at night ‘imagineering’ potential ideas in your mind… mulling over the creative possibilities of where you could go with a digital photography blog?

Photo blogging is actually one superb way to start making money in photography. Of course though, you DO need to put the effort into it (like anything, right?)

Although it’s easy enough to set up a WordPress blog (like this one), keep in mind you’ll still need to post (write) to your blog often, be willing to work hard at it, learn the basics to blogging, and make sure you keep firing questions to passionate marketeers like me!

However it’s not always as easy as it sounds. You kind of need to have your own ‘mission’ and blog purpose – and continue working on it no matter what. Otherwise you can have “…unrealistic expectations of how fast your readership will grow and how much money you will make, and when these expectations are not met, the disappointment can crush the desire to continue blogging.”

To counter-defend yourself against the frustrations that inevitably sneak up as you look up to the summit and see how far you’ve STILL got to trek, you need to have a realistic plan and stick to it. Everyone has their own plan, but in any case, it can be something as simple as writing a blog post, or contacting another related photo blog for a reciprocal link once a week.

And if you’re serious about making money in photography from blogging, then you’re going to have to do a little bit of photo marketing too… Stuff such as taking the time to let other folks know about your photo blog, posting comments on other related blogs, making comments in photo forums, and so on.

More often than not though, you’ll automate some of these processes to save you time. A really good example of hands-free, easy-automation is Jonathan Leger’s 3 way linking tool that’ll help to get your digital photography blog ranking highly in Google. But all in all, prepare to work at it for a good while before you start seeing results.

Once you understand that it does take work, you’ll know that to cultivate the regular visitors, you’ll need to keep posting on your blog, and continue the photo marketing side of things as much as the actual writing part.

You can also do things like drop a subscription form into your blog that invites your visitors to join your mailing list, or promote affiliate products through writing reviews or using banner advertising. When a website visitor clicks and buys one of these products you’ll earn a nice little commission.

The key to all this is staying committed to your project. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will update your photo blog, and how many readers you want to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking to your plan. By mastering the basics, and taking action, you’ll be ahead of 99% of the market…

So, a digital photography blog does a few things well… It’s a creative ‘canvas’ for your ideas, a good way to ‘put you on the map,’ and a potential (and very cool) way to start making money in photography too!

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If you take a quick peek at their site (see link below) you’ll notice the black background works well – especially when presenting photography. By the way, they have an impressive little photo slideshow on their intro page too. One stunning image in particular stands out – look for the lone yellow tree bathed in it’s own magical light by David Beatson.

Click here for your SmugMug photo sharing FREE trial

In summary: You pay a yearly fee ($40 – works out to about $3-4 a month) and for that get unlimited photo storage and bandwidth, photo sharing and photo upload, great photo based galleries where you can sell your photo creations and photo calendars etc. There’s no advertising (ie. nothing to distract viewers away from your photos!) and you can take a free 14 day trial too, as a taster. (See link above).

Here’s what some other SmugMug users said:

“I have been using smugmug since they launched. They are hands down the best photo sharing site I have come across for those who care about their photos. Since they charge a fee, there is no advertising or gimmicks, just great display and organization of photos. They allow viewers to download the full file size so it is easy to do photo transfer. It is worth $40 for me to have solid photo storage and great UI.”

Things I love about Smugmug and why I chose it over other competing services:

• They allow you to try the service free for 14 days. You can try EVERY feature they offer without any restrictions
• Your photos are safe and secure. They keep 4 backup copies of each photo in 3 states so you’ll always have access to them
• You can lock galleries with passwords to keep them private
• Smugmug doesn’t send you SPAM and there are NO ADS on the site
• You can share your photos with friends & family without them having to register with Smugmug
• A+ customer service. It’s fast, friendly, and professional
• Basic account offers UNLIMITED storage
• Prints can be ordered right from Smugmug. No need to get them ordered with a different company
• Comments, tags, keywords, and compatibility with blogs and forums – very convenient!
• Video clips are allowed with a Power User account
• Very helpful and friendly forum called “Digital Grin” who can answer just about any photo related question you can think of
• The company is FAMILY OWNED and not run by some internet conglomerate like Yahoo or Kodak

NB. Hey, on that last point… I emailed one of the team from SmugMug and received a friendly reply within a day. I don’t know about you but I certainly felt a real ‘family type’ feel to this site (think ‘accessible’). Maybe you’ll pick that up too. SmugMug keeps it nice and simple… “We dream of an independent company devoted to nothing but your priceless photos.” Way to go guys.

Need unlimited photo storage and photo sharing? Try this…

“SmugMug, a family-run business that will celebrate its fifth year anniversary this Friday, says it has over 450,000 paying customers and makes over $10M in revenue per year. There are no free accounts on SmugMug; users must pay a minimum of $40 per year, but they have access to unlimited photo storage and photo sharing. The company has yet to take any outside money, and seeing how well things are going, probably won’t.”
Quotes and user comments thanks to Techcrunch:

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Image via Wikipedia

Just a quick post today as I have been one very SLACK bunny. For some weird reason it’s easy to get waylaid never mind the fact that it only takes about 10 minutes to post a blog comment!

So, let me update you on new projects.

The first is a complete redo of my Digital Photo Toolkit guide – I re-wrote the sales page basing it on a story about me being stuck at the Kumbh Mela festival in India, with a Pentax K1000 and not much else. That was a few years back now, but nevertheless still a memorable and adventurous week. See that selling photos online guide here.

I’ve also busied myself with writing articles. I encourage you to do the same if you have a website setup and/or an information product. Articles? What’s writing got to do with photography? Well… you’d be surprised!

A bunch of my recent articles have touched on digital photography tips, but with a slight twist. Check this out for a title… Digital Photography Tips – How to Raise and Train Your Camera! These articles DO bring interested visitors through to my blog, and it’s a great way to become an ‘expert’ in your field too…

You can see exactly what chaos I’ve been creating by checking out the photography tips articles here.

Enjoy…

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