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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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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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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You are now an official Photo Marketeers Affiliate. Right now I am in the process of adding a bunch of eye popping resources for you to use and learn from.

After all, I’d love you to become a super affiliate for my products!

A super affiliate… how could you?

Well… here’s some quick ideas that you could use to promote my ‘eBay and Cafepress Guide’ for starters…

• Post to discussion groups or forums. Whenever you make a post, include your signature. (Ie. your special affiliate link) Here’s a few groups:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=photography
• Ask your friends to send mailings for you. Maybe you can work out some arrangement with them or do something beneficial for them.
  .
• Blogging about the product… If you have and use a blog, then perfect! If not, it’s pretty easy to get started. WordPress is fantastic (and free). Got any questions, just leave a comment…
  .
• Visit popular blogs in your market, niche or field and make a comment on them where appropriate. Make sure to leave your unique link. Creating some curiosity can be powerful thing…
  .
• Write an article on the benefits of the ‘eBay and Cafepress Guide’ and submit it to a few article directories. Try iSnare, Ezinearticles, and SubmitYourArticle.com to also distribute your article… OR *interview me! That idea would give you an article (or three) super quickly!
  .
• Email your photographer friends… Explain your mission… be honest, and tell them exactly why you want them to order. Just ask… you’d be amazed. Some people will give it a shot, for sure…
  .
• Advertise a ‘radical’ idea on eBay. For example, you could create some publicity by running an auction where one eBook is available at $2000. Unbelievable? Maybe. But you’ll get some curiosity. And heck, you might even sell it for that price too…

  And much more…

What is it about? Well, let’s just say it’s got a little bit to do with photography lessons in marketing, but it’s more on finding your passion, and using your passion…

Make sure to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts… Or questions. That way I can give you a comprehensive video answer. In these early ‘video’ days (for me) I’m still working on the ‘presentation’ factor, so hang in there…

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=-UMFUp5hD2Q[/youtube]

Enjoy yourself here, and ask away… and let me answer your questions on video.