Photography coach business breakthrough call-in day means you can stop and assess where you are before moving forward!

Do you have someone you can rely on to brainstorm ideas with to help solve the challenges and problems you face every day in your photography business?

Do you find yourself just wishing that you had a clear sense of direction and what you need to do to get there?

When I started out, I certainly wished I had a photography coach to call upon for help when I needed it, because we sometimes just need to STOP what we’re doing, and assess where we are, where we’re heading, and decide if we’re actually going in the right direction!

One of the major goals of this website, and my photography coaching business, is to try to help as many other professional photographers as possible.

The articles and interviews on this site are aimed at giving photographers material that can help them progress beyond the challenges they’re facing almost every day, but there is definitely more that I can do on a personal level.

Simply put, nothing beats personal 1-on-1 interaction with another human being who understands the challenges you’re facing, and that is precisely what I aim to provide…

Sometimes You Just Need To Talk To Someone!

Being able to talk to somebody who understands the problems and challenges of running a photography business can mean the difference between remaining stuck or having that “aha” moment that moves you further forward.

The benefits of a one-on-one phone conversation simply can’t be overstressed, which is why I offer a free 30-minute consultation to photographers who are thinking about hiring a coach for their business, or who just need a helping hand.

On Friday Febraury 10^th 2012, I’ve dedicated the day as a special call-in day. I have 8 appointments slots available (some may be taken already) for you to call in for 30 minutes to chat with me about any problem that might be causing you or your business to get stuck.

We’ll talk about your background, where you are in your business right now, where you want to go, and the obstacles that might be standing in your way.

Here’s what one photographer had to say about a consultation we had recently:

I am fairly new in the photography business & Nigel has coached me on several occasions to help me with my business. Nigel has so many great ideas & he has helped me believe in myself & in my work & made me realize that I have to respect & value my work. I appreciate the time & effort Nigel has taken out of his schedule to help me get further in the photography business.

Denise Benson – Memphis TN

Booking Your Free Chat Is Simple

Just go to My Personal Calendar to choose a time that works for you, and you’ll be sent the call-in details. It’s that easy!

But remember, there are only 8 slots open for Friday, and once they’re booked that’s it until next time!

Thanks, and I look forward to chatting with you on Friday. If you can’t make it this time, then maybe another time in the future. In the meantime, I wish you peace in your business!

I thought it would be an interesting experiment to try to find out the answer…

Passion For Photography - Our 1st blog writing contest for the professional photographer

So, are you up for a little challenge?

How about a blog writing contest with some cool prizes into the bargain?

Our 1st Professional Photography Blog Writing Contest

This is your chance to show the rest of us WHY you’re so passionate about the photography business and your job as a professional photographer by sharing some of your best creative photography ideas. I will personally read every submission, and select what I feel are the top 2 entries, each of which will win one of two great prizes:

• 1st Prize: 3 months of 1-on-1 photography SEO coaching ($1,997 value)
• 2nd Prize: Full scholarship to the SEO Academy ($297 value)

To be in with a chance to win one of these great prizes for your business, all you need to do is tell us why you’re so passionate about what you do…

What You Need To Do

First, choose ONE recent photograph that you created, in any genre, and write a blog post (posted on your own blog) around that image, describing what it means to you, how you feel about it, and how it embodies the passion you have for being a photographer.

The text of the blog post should be around 400-500 words in length.

Next, in the body of the post itself (preferably at the end), include a hyperlink to this blog (www.zenologue.com), which will confirm that the post was written for this contest.

For example, you can use this sample code if you are coding the link manually:

<a href=”http://www.zenologue.com/” title=”Professional Photography Business, SEO and Marketing”>Professional Photography Business, SEO and Marketing</a>

Or, in the WordPress editor you can write the text “Photography Business, SEO and Marketing” and then add that as the title to a link to the URL http://www.zenologue.com/ so that it looks like this in the post: Photography Business, SEO and Marketing.

The key to success in this contest is to be as open and as honest as possible, writing from the heart, and communicating the love of what you do. You don’t have to be a great writer to do this – I’m looking for communication of emotion, rather than grammatically-correct writing or great works of literature. Entries will be judged on how effective they are at telling the story of your passion for photography, in both the image and the story you write to go with it.

How To Enter

Once you’ve written and published your blog entry for the contest, return to this post and simply submit a comment, not forgetting to include a link to your blog entry.

Important note – Please use the main WordPress comment section and NOT the Facebook comments box for your entry. This ensures that I’ll be notified when you post your entry comment. You can see that I’ve already added one comment to indicate where that is…

Closing Date For Entries

All entries must be submitted by 6pm US Central time on Friday 10th February 2012 – no exceptions.

Prize winners will be announced on Friday 17th February 2012.

Other Rules

Entries are limited to one per photographer, and all work must be the original creation of the entrant. The decision of the judge is final.

Good Luck!

I am really looking forward to seeing your entries for the contest, and I wish you all the best of luck!

Every day, I see photographers visiting this site from Google, having used search phrases such as these:

• “Help for a failing photography business…”
• “How to save a dying photography studio…”
• “Why is the professional photographer extinct…”
• “Should I quit the photography business?”

I’ve written many posts and articles on this subject, to try to help out these individuals and point them in the right direction, but there seems to be a never-ending stream of people who are desperately seeking guidance on how to be a professional photographer.

Photography SEO To The Rescue

I really believe that search engine optimization is the key to success for many professional photographers out there. To do what I can to help, I recently completed a great three-week live training event on SEO for the photographer, and congratulations to everyone who invested in the event and attended the three webinars:

• SEO Basics For The Professional Photographer
• On-Page and Off-Page SEO
• Social Media and SEO

Having been through the program, those professional photographers are now better equipped to tackle the SEO challenge for their websites and improve the ranking in their local search results, leading to more qualified clients and better sales.

Introducing the Photography SEO Academy online training and photography program

If you missed out at the time, either because you hesitated about signing up or simply didn’t know about it, then the good news is that I did record the webinars and they’re now available through a new online training program…

Introducing The Photography SEO Academy

If you want to tackle the challenge of SEO for your business head-on then the Photography SEO Academy online training program is going to be the best thing for you to get started, and I’m sure it will make a real difference in your business.

However, before I offered the program to a wider audience I wanted to be sure that it delivers above and beyond the normal expectations of a general online course.

For instance, the way most online training courses work is that you’re given access to the learning materials, to study at your own pace at home, which is great, but what do you do if you get stuck or have a question?

Who will you turn to for help? Usually, such courses don’t give you access to the instructor, leaving you high and dry.

Because I really care about my clients, and want them to succeed, I want to make sure that they don’t feel left behind in any way.

When I designed the Photography SEO Academy program, my primary concern was that students should have personal access to me, as their photography coach, to help them understand, digest and implement the ideas being presented in the course.

In the world of photography business coaching, personal 1-on-1 attention is unprecedented for this type of online program, and I’m very proud to be able to offer the Photography SEO Academy with access to me as your personal photography coach to help you succeed.

I truly believe that this will make all the difference between just learning some new information, and being able to implement that knowledge to propel your photography business to the next level.

Check Out The Photography SEO Academy Videos

To help you learn more about the Photography SEO Academy and what it has to offer, I’ve put together a series of short videos explaining the SEO program, some of the big myths about SEO, and answering some of the most frequently asked questions about the program.

You can find the first of those videos on the “Photography SEO Academy Introduction” page.

Could this be the new Twitter bird? Photography SEO could become more difficult with Google's latest changes

The other day, I posted an article on “Photographer SEO Challenges – Google Hiding Search Data“, which talked about the fact that Google is no longer communicating to us the keywords people use to search for our photography websites if they are signed in to their Google account via a secure connection.

Well, today, Google is in the news again after announcing some sweeping changes to the actual search interface itself, something they usually leave well alone (with the exception of their entertaining Google Doodles)…

… some, as you can see from the graphic above, are not too happy…

Google Search Goes Social – Sort Of

The first article I read this morning while enjoying my coffee was “Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut“. The short version of this is that Google has created an update to its search interface called “Search Plus Your World” that will be available to anyone signed in to their Google+ account. The aim is to provide users with the ability to search within their own social network, which might be useful if Google were actually playing nicely with Facebook, Twitter and the other social networks!

Ironically, for a social network, Google+ seems to be acting in a rather antisocial manner.

By not including Facebook or Twitter links in their search results, Google is essentially thumbing their noses at everyone else, and abusing their position as the world’s number one search engine in an attempt to further their own goals.

For a company whose motto is “do no evil” this seems rather out of character!

Twitter Becomes An Angry Bird

While Facebook and Google have been locked in some weird kind of silent cold war, the folks at Twitter are not being so quiet about it. That pretty little blue Twitter bird is in serious danger of joining its “angry” brethren if things don’t improve!

I dread to think how ticked off the “fail whale” is going to be!

The BBC news also posted an article today that details the response by Twitter to Google’s changes – “Twitter unhappy about Google’s social search changes“.

While Twitter are all in a flutter over it, Google are just stonewalling with the comment that “they are just doing what Twitter asked them to by honoring their rel=nofollow links” – basically as a result of failing to come to a prior arrangement between Google and Twitter.

[For those who don't know, "rel=nofollow" on a web link tells the search engines to ignore the link.]

The upshot of all this is that tweets, and the information shared by many of those tweets, will not be indexed by Google or returned in the “search plus your world” results – not something that Twitter is particularly fond of.

What Does This Mean For The Professional Photographer?

So what does all this nonsense mean for us photography business owners? The answer is, probably not too much right at this moment, but the effects will undoubtedly become more noticeable over time, and much of that depends on how popular the Google+ social network becomes.

In a worst-case scenario, extrapolating to the point of pure speculation, where everyone is on Google+, I can imagine that traditional SEO through keywords etc. would become extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Because Google would be returning results based on how people are connected, and the information they’ve shared with each other, it might make it very difficult for a photographer to attract new clients who are completely outside their social circles.

Think of an Internet where the only search tool available is the Facebook news-feed, and you start to get the idea.

One possible solution in that instance, of course, would be to be connected to as many people as possible, and to make the loudest “noise” in the room – not exactly what we have in mind for a social network. In fact, it sounds awfully like becoming a nuisance or, worse still, a spammer.

Imagine that.

Google, the crusader against spam, actually causing people to become spammers in order to be heard above the background noise…

What Do You Think?

Of course, this is all random speculation, and there’s a 90%+ probability that I’m completely wrong, so I’ll be happy to hear your thoughts on this subject.

For now, I’m off to tend my Google+ profile and watch those angry Twitter birds…

Photography SEO - are you on target to rank higher in Google?

Today, I thought it would be fun to open up the Q&A to a wider audience, so this is your chance to ask the photography coach about your own photography website SEO obstacles.

Whether or not you’re taking part in the photography SEO course, this is a great opportunity for you to learn some more of the details that go into optimizing a photography website, or to clear up any blind spots you might have about the SEO process as a whole.

Having a solid SEO strategy for your photography business is critical to your success in 2012, so feel free to join me for this valuable and no-hassle Q&A session…

Ask The Photography Coach Your SEO Questions

You’re invited to join me on the Photography Business & Marketing Facebook Page today (January 9th 2012) at 2pm US Eastern time for an hour or two, where we’ll be talking about the SEO challenges and obstacles you might be facing right now. This is a very informal Q&A session and is a strictly “sales-free” zone – my goal as a photography coach today is to help as many people as possible, not to try to sell you something else!

Q&A topics can include:

• Keyword research
• How to write keyword-rich website copy
• Using images for photography SEO
• Tracking and measuring your SEO progress
• External linking tactics
• Social media’s role in SEO
• Anything else you like to do with photography SEO

To join in the Q&A chat, just head over to the Photography Business and Marketing Facebook Page at 2pm US Eastern time today, and I look forward to seeing you there!

It certainly seems reasonable, in a world where it’s becoming ever more difficult to be noticed and to garner people’s attention, to imagine that there must be better alternatives to the standard  2 x 3 inch traditional business card for the professional photographer.

A 4 x 6 post-card sized photography business card (front and back)

This is an example of one of my 4 x 6 business post cards, which was quite effective for a while, that was able to carry a lot of information and persuasive copy with it. This got me wondering what other photographers are actually using…

The Zero Option – No Photography Business Cards

As an aside, I even  wondered if it’s actually possible to run a photography business without having a business card at all? Has anyone tried to do that? If so, how is it working out?

For example, I was observing the behavior of people at a recent networking meeting, as I was interested in the psychological aspects of the networking process, especially in the realms of trading of business cards etc.

I’m More Important Than You

What I noticed was that two people would typically meet for the first time, and one of the first questions to be asked was usually, “do you have a business card?” Naturally, the response was, “yes“, followed by a business card exchange, as though it were part of some bizarre ritual that neither party fully understood.

What happened next was quite interesting. In most cases, one of the pair would take a few moments to examine in detail the card they had received, while the other person would quickly thrust the business card they had been given into a pocket without ever really looking at it.

What I concluded from observing these people for a few more minutes was that the simple exchange of business cards, and the way each person responded, actually established a rudimentary form of social ranking, with the one who paid the business card the least attention being perceived as the more important of the two.

It also seemed more likely that the business cards that were dismissed so easily would very quickly find their way into the trash can, or at the very least become lost or forgotten.

I’m sure the photographer watching her business card vanish without the benefit of a second thought realized that the chances of the other person contacting her were slim to non-existent, leaving her feeling at something of a disadvantage.

The bottom line for the traditional business card exchange seemed to be a win-lose, or even a lose-lose, situation in many cases.

Mutual Interest Is A Win-Win – Technology To The Rescue

At other times, I observed a different kind of behavior, one that indicated an improved chance of success for both parties.

In those cases, the two people met for the first time, chatted for a while, asked each other questions about their businesses, and then one would ask the other directly for their contact information, and proceeded to enter it into their smartphone. This is obviously a clear signal that the person asking for the information is really interested in talking further, or at least taking the other person more seriously.

The other interesting point here is that there was no obvious social ranking taking place, with both parties being accorded similar levels of attention and respect from the other.

The likelihood of a win-win game here is much higher.

It’s All About Making The Right Human Connection

I’m no psychologist, nor would I pretend to be, but I believe some of the key differences that made the second scenario work better would include:

• A sincere and genuine interest in the other person
• Listening more than talking
• Building a relationship and establishing common ground
• Fostering trust
• Eliminating the idea of social ranking
• Being interested as well as interesting

While the second scenario seems to work very well, and is definitely worth considering in future networking situations, I wondered if there was a way to make the traditional exchange work, even if we happen to be the one who finds ourselves at the social disadvantage of being “less important“.

In other words, in a simple photography business card exchange situation, what can we do to turn it to our advantage? Specifically, perhaps a more creative business card design can help to convert the first scenario into something more productive…

Creative Photography Business Card Ideas

I have little doubt that there are some exciting and creative business card ideas out there (even for the traditionally-sized card), so I asked for some examples in a recent blog post (See “Photography Business Card Ideas – Share Your Creative Design“).

Here are some of the ideas that other photographers sent in by way of the comments to that post.

A very creative photography business card idea from Keith Cooper - a 3 part mini-brochure

This one comes from Keith Cooper – a 3-part card that’s almost a mini brochure. Keith says that this card works really well at business networking events where there are “general purpose” pro photographers that he wants to differentiate from. With its interesting brochure-type feel, and convenient size, I’m sure that this one does not get discarded as easily as the traditional business card.

RJ Hidson's photography business card is a clear acrylic card that's clean and simple

RJ Hidson used to have traditional paper cards with some basic information on them, but grew tired of it after awhile because people were just accustomed to seeing cards just like it. This design and the clear acrylic material is unique, and really says something about RJ’s approach to photography. The result is that everyone loves them! I agree that this business card shows the kind of care and attention to detail that RJ shows toward his clients, and I’m sure it’s a big hit!

Margo Pinkerton takes a whimsical approach with her creative photography business card design - aimed squarely at the fun-loving photographer

Margo Pinkerton’s business card looks simple enough, but its design is an integral part of their marketing. They’re hoping to attract fun-loving people who take their photography seriously, rather than those who take themselves too seriously. I love the simple and effective creative use of the bare feet on this card and I’m not surprised that people tell them it looks as though they have a lot of fun in their business.

Dani Riot's clear plastic business card is designed to convey the modern approach to his business

Dani Riot created some sexy clear plastic cards with embossed black and chrome text to match the mood of his creative photography. A clean, simple and obviously effective design!

I love this creative photography business card from Brandon Weight - designed to look like the LCD panel of a camera, but still clean and neat

This one was submitted by Brandon Weight who made his card look like the LCD panel from a Canon 5D Mark II – very creative indeed, and certain to stand out!

It’s great to see people using some lateral thinking when it comes to something as simple and obvious as a photography business card. I’m sure that these ideas will ensure the photographers are remembered and that they’ll stand out from the crowd, especially in busy networking situations, where it’s easy to be forgotten.

Share Your Own Creative Photography Business Cards

Did you miss the first post, or forgot to submit an idea? Have you found a great alternative to the traditional business card that works really well for you? If so, share it with the rest of us and leave a comment…

• Paid advertising through Facebook ads
• Paid search through Google AdWords (or similar)
• Online listings in paid directories
• Improving their website SEO for better search engine rankings

Of these, the first three can prove costly to attract a significant number of photography leads. Then there’s always the question of how qualified those leads are, and I’m sure you know how frustrating it can be to pay to attract potential customers, only to find that they’re not qualified.

That leaves us with the most effective, and the least expensive, option: Improved website SEO for higher search engine ranking…

Photography website SEO should not be left to chance! Take charge in 2012 to bring in more clients!

But how can you do that, without poking about in the dark? Fortunately, I’m here to help you with a new SEO training course specifically aimed at the professional photographer…

Website SEO Strategies For The Professional Photographer

There are not many choices when it comes to selecting an SEO strategy for your photography website:

• Pay an SEO firm to do it for you (very risky and/or costly)
• Work with a trusted SEO consultant (expensive, but better)
• Do the work yourself (least expensive, and easier than you think)

The secret to good SEO is to build a solid foundation amongst all of your online assets, something which most of the more aggressive SEO companies don’t take the time to do. Sure, they can get you to the top of Google quickly, as long as you keep paying them (and until Google finds out about their underhanded methods), but then you can fall just as fast, or even get banned from the search index.

With a solid base on which to build your website SEO activities, you’ll create online authority over time, which is hard to topple. The key is knowing what to do and how to do it, and it’s actually a lot easier than you might imagine.

That’s where the power of this new training course comes in:

Learn How To Attract More Qualified Clients In 2012 By Improving The SEO And Search Engine Ranking Of Your Website

This series of 3 webinars (recorded for you to refer back to again and again) will teach you how to get started on your website SEO, how to approach the task, which tools you need, how to track and measure your results, and how to get the most from your on-site and off-site SEO.

If you’re serious about attracting more traffic to your photography website in 2012 by improving your SEO then this course is perfect for you. Not only that, you’re sure to recoup the investment in the training with just ONE new client, but I know you will definitely get much more than that!

But, you must hurry because the course starts on December 29th 2011, spaces are limited, and EARLY-BIRD registration ends SOON!

To learn more about the course, and reserve your spot, go to: Photography Business Education: Learn How To Attract More Qualified Clients In 2012 By Improving The SEO And Search Engine Ranking Of Your Website.

A great photographer who is a poor marketer will fail. Youth Sports Photographers can book and shoot hundreds, even thousands, of young athletes but if they don’t know how to market their photography, they’re not going to sell anything.

Youth sports photography can be a lucrative business for the professional photographer

There are a lot of things that go into marketing from creating and tailoring your message to actual distribution. But one of the most important aspects of marketing is repetition…

Repetition Is The Most Important Aspect Of Marketing

Frank Hadfield, founder of the Sports Photographers Association of America, writes that he believes repetition is the most important aspect of marketing for sports photographers.

He goes on to write:

Present your products or services in such a way as to make them desirable and present them to all organizations and to all contacts and do it over and over and over again!

In the advertising world, we refer to repetition as “frequency” or the number of times a consumer is exposed to your message.

Frequency Can Enhance And Position Your Marketing Message

We’re exposed to so many messages each day, upwards of 300 according to the ad agency Marah Creative, that it makes it difficult for businesses to break through the clutter and make sure their messages are heard. Frequency is important because it helps to position your business in the forefront of the minds of your consumers.

J.C. Smith, a business consultant for the Georgia Small Business Development Center writes:

Establishing a psychological beach head in the customer’s brain requires frequency of your advertising message. Many buying decisions are based upon top of mind awareness.

Cut Through The Distractions

People are people, they tend to forget things easily. Even if someone fully intends to purchase your product or service, something can come along and distract them long enough to make them forget that they had their child’s pictures taken. This is what makes repetition so important; it’s like a constant reminder to your potential customers.

Don’t Become Lost In The Clutter

However you choose to market your sports photography business, either through email, pre-made marketing materials or through simple word of mouth/direct sales, repetition of your message makes sure that people remember what you have to say. Otherwise you risk being forgotten and getting lost in the clutter of people’s everyday lives.

Thoughts and Comments

If you have any thoughts, reactions or comments on this story, then please do take a moment to share them below…

About The Author – Drew Winters

Drew Winters, writing about marketing for youth sports photography.

A graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Advertising, Drew has spent his career with Candid Color Systems, helping Youth Sports, Special Events and Portrait Photographers alike successfully market their businesses to help increase sales and book more business.

Drew has experience in Media Planning and Buying, Social Media Strategy and Community Management, Content Curation, Consumer Relationship Management and Data Analysis.

You can learn more about Drew from his website at Sports Photography Trends.

The traditional photography business card has evolved significantly from the original format

To help illustrate some of the different ways professional photographers can use business cards as a marketing vehicle, I would love to include a showcase of some of the best creative business card ideas from other professional photographers.

This is a great opportunity for you to be featured here on the Photography Business and Marketing blog, with a link to you and your photographic work…

The Evolution Of The Photography Business Card

The humble business card has evolved a lot over the last few years, and I know there are a lot of folks out there who are being very creative in the way they market their business by using interesting and eye-stopping business cards.

Do YOU have a creative spin on the traditional business card? Submit your examples here, and I’ll take the most interesting 3 ideas and feature them in my follow-up article on the blog, together with a link to your website.

Share Your Creative Business Card Design

To make a submission, simply post an image of your photography business card (max. width 600px), somewhere on your website, and then submit a comment with the link included, using the comment box at the end of this post.

I will look at each of the submissions over the next few days, and then choose my favorite three or four to be featured in the article. If yours is one of the lucky ones, I’ll be in touch with you to let you know, and to make sure I have the correct information for the appropriate link to your website.

Wishing you continued peace in your business!

Nigel