Running a Photography Business in an Online World Lecture Notes
Notes from David Marx’s lecture on the business of photography in an online world for students in the Rocky Mountain School of Photography’s Career Training Program.
Part I: The Importance of a Web Marketing Plan for Photographers
Running a Photography Business in an Online World from David Marx on Vimeo.
Follow this link to Photoshelter for an excellent video tutorial on why SEO matters for photographers.
If you are serious about growing your business then I urge you to read The Linked Photographers’ Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media
I would also encourage you to subscribe to Rosh Sillars New Media Photographer blog if you are looking for advice on social media and online marketing from a true expert.
Part II: Running your Business Online
Here are all of the links and websites from my lecture. I know that’s it too much to write down during class and the list changes regularly. To help you out I have created three ways for you to keep track of all these links.
Method A: I set up a separate web page just for these links which you can easily access and bookmark. Clicking here for the complete set of the business of photography in an online world links.
Method B: I set up an RSS feed for these links using Foxmarks. You can subscribe to the business of photography online link feed by clicking the radio button here if you are using the Mozilla Firefox browser.
Method C: Finally, I have placed all of the links inside a frame within this web post. This is clunky and awkward but it works.
Please use our comments section to chime in with your own suggestions on building a web marketing plan and on useful websites for professional photographers.
Filed Under: Seminars and Workshops
About the Author: David Marx is a digital photography instructor whose engaging teaching style inspires photographers of all skill levels. David is an Adobe Certified Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom Expert. David has led Adobe Photoshop / Photoshop Lightroom seminars and digital photography field workshops for The Rocky Mountain School of Photography, FirstLight Workshops, The American Society of Media Photographers, and the world-renowned Blackberry Farm Resort. To learn more about David's software seminars and field photography workshops, please visit 
goodphotography site.. I like your article.. can I post and paste in my web ? Thank you for the attention
Cheers!
Dear Brant Charron,
You are welcome to link to, or embed our, content into your blog!
–
David Marx
Hello David
Thanks for the helpfull info. whats your recomendation for starting a web site using the diffrent hosts?
Thank you
Dear Farshid,
This is a tough question. It depends on your needs, your experience with the web and with computers, and your price point. If you need a truly customized website and know absolutely nothing about how the web works then I recommend hiring a top-notch web designer like Lightroom lab founder Scott Rouse!
If you are looking for a very professional website and are comfortable doing some of the work yourself using templates then I recommend using Photoshelter. My website, http://www.davidmarx.com, is a Photoshelter template.
Finally, if you want to keep the cost to a minimum I recommend:
Get a Domain Name (URL) from GoDaddy
Either use them for your hosting or use a company like Media Temple. GoDaddy hosting is cheap but their customer service is not nearly as good.
Use the Pages and Highslide Gallery Templates from The Turning Gate to design your own site within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom!
No matter which way you go the secret is to promote yourself online. Promote, promote, promote… drive traffic to your site with a blog and social networking. Our site, for example, is using a Twitter Feed, a Facebook Fan page, a YouTube Channel, a Vimeo Channel, and a Tumblr page to try and attract new readers.
Remember that a website with no traffic is a waste of time and money. Find your audience before you spend thousands on customized design!
–
David Marx