Starting a Photography Business – Website or Networking sites?
I was just wondering:
Starting a small photography business with little money – Should I invest in a website or start with networking sites?
Tagged with: money • networking • photography business
Filed under: Website Business
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
They do work hand in hand. One benefit that starting your own website has is that it can showcase your photography work. I’d suggest looking into Office Live Small Business because it’s extremely affordable – as little as $15/year – and you’re provided with a significant amount of tools and resources to make your site effective. You can choose your own domain name. You get your own @yourname.com email address. It’s template-based, so you don’t need to learn how to code.
Here are some testimonials from small business owners who have used Office Live Small Business with great success, including one testimonial from a photographer: http://bit.ly/96cuj3.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
KIM
Microsoft Office Live Outreach
i know people in a similar situation who do both… would you trust things purely on social networking sites???
Who would you take more seriously? The guy with an established web site or the guy who only uses social networking sites?
Social networking does have its place and I do actually have my own page on Facebook but currently it’s only my friends and 3 people I don’t know. Does not do me any good for business. My web site is being worked on but I still have some time to wait before it’s complete.
Get a web site. It will be better for you in the long run and will bring more clients than just social networking alone.
I can understand your dilemma. You probably have a list as long as your arm of things you need to buy to get a company off the ground.
You might want to check out some of the websites like Zenfolio. They have a premium account that you pay for that lets you sell from the site, but they also have a free account that would look better than Flickr or Facebook. I believe Smugmug may have a similar arrangement.
Invest in a website. Bludomain has decent sites for decent prices. But also don’t underestimate the power of social networking sites. I’ve had several friends turn into clients because when I uploaded new photos, they’d see it and love it and want me to shoot them. They then referred some friends to me.