Web advertising: Getting my photo business out there and setting prices

[form]

I'm looking for advice as to how I should best advertise and optimize the SEO for my website. I'm also looking for advice about my pricing strategy and if there are better ideas I should explore to be more appealing to buyers.

The url is http://www.vegashendersonphotography.com

If anyone with experience as a paid photographer has suggestions, I'm all ears. I've also posted on other photography forums asking similar questions and have received a lot of feedback that has given me ideas and led to many improvements, but I know there are many more things to be done. I want to get a very high hit rate, and I want to make those hits count.

Currently 99% of my business is on the web, so I want to increase the effectiveness of my web presence. I also would love to have input about how and where to advertise my services at brick and mortar establishments or other businesses. Keep in mind that I'm in Las Vegas, and there is a ton of competition in my field!

Thank you!

 

[onomatopoeia]

That's a very nice looking site and quality work. That should speak volumes. I hope you get some good advice to grow your business.

 

[form]

Thank you, I hope so too. I'm still getting extremely little work; it's a good thing I'm not depending on photography work to make a living right now. My best month so far was February '08, and one of my worst months has been May '08. I want to turn things around.

One of the biggest things about my photography is that I can only improve my equipment if I make extra money with it; otherwise I don't have any to spare. Thus, when business stagnates, so does my equipment list. I haven't been able to add anything in a long time, and I need all sorts of things like wireless radio transmitters, more studio strobes, softboxes, a beauty dish, grids, flags, a boom, better lenses and someday a new body. On the top of my current list is radio transmitters: I can't stand the pc sync wires anymore. But, I need work to justify the investment.

 

[CanadaRAM]

You need to decide how much you are going to spend to drive business to your site.

Google AdWords is the classic way to get directed traffic. This will cost you some cash.

Get your site listed on as many legitimate business directories as you can - but don't use a "400 search engine" one shot listing service -- you'll be sent to every spammer in the world. Do it manually.

Yahoo Directory costs $299 per year for a business listing.

Get as many other sites as possible making *relevant* links to your site.

Issue some press releases in hopes your local paper will post them on their website with a link.

If you do any charity work, ask them to provide credit and a link to your site.

 

[form]

Thanks, but what about my offerings and price rates? Are the prices good or attractive? I'd rather have 10 people go to my site and like my rates, deals, etc., than 10,000 people go and not like my offering.

Right now I'm afraid to invest much in advertising because I don't make very much off the business, and I'm concerned I won't see any returns.

 

[ChrisA]

I'm looking for advice as to how I should best advertise and optimize the SEO for my website.

There are some technical issues with your web site.

1) When I select say "pricing" from the menu I horizontal scoll bar flashes on the screen. This goes away if I re-size the browser window to make it wider. But still "why?"

2) VERY annoying flashing of images. If I were looking for a photographer I'd just go to the next one on my list. I hate flashing images while Im trying to read. Not only do the images change frequently be they come on the screen at full brightness then jump to a washed out effect then the flicker back to non-washed out and then just when you can actually see the picture it is swapped out. Kil the movment and flashing. If your images are good show them withoutthe special effects and let people look at their own pace

3) why do the text pannels not re-size. There is this rounded corner frame-like thing around the text and a vertical scrol bar inside the frame. But when I make my browser window larger the frame remains the same size and still has a scoll bar in it. Loose the fixed size frame. Let the text adapt to the size of the browser window And then when the window is made small I see two levels of scrol bars one inside your frame and one on the browser. You page only "works" at one size.

4) how many web broswers have you tested this with? Install VMware and then get as many OSes as you can and then some browasers for each of those and then check the site using large and small size browser windows.

 

[form]

The first and second comments may be partly fixed: I've hidden the overflow for pricing and portfolio selection items, and the front page's image splash is now in flash format. Text panels not resizing is due to a static layout; I would have to recreate it using segments that border the "fields," and that would require some extensive css scripting for me.

There are some technical issues with your web site.

1) When I select say "pricing" from the menu I horizontal scoll bar flashes on the screen. This goes away if I re-size the browser window to make it wider. But still "why?"

2) VERY annoying flashing of images. If I were looking for a photographer I'd just go to the next one on my list. I hate flashing images while Im trying to read. Not only do the images change frequently be they come on the screen at full brightness then jump to a washed out effect then the flicker back to non-washed out and then just when you can actually see the picture it is swapped out. Kil the movment and flashing. If your images are good show them withoutthe special effects and let people look at their own pace

3) why do the text pannels not re-size. There is this rounded corner frame-like thing around the text and a vertical scrol bar inside the frame. But when I make my browser window larger the frame remains the same size and still has a scoll bar in it. Loose the fixed size frame. Let the text adapt to the size of the browser window And then when the window is made small I see two levels of scrol bars one inside your frame and one on the browser. You page only "works" at one size.

4) how many web broswers have you tested this with? Install VMware and then get as many OSes as you can and then some browasers for each of those and then check the site using large and small size browser windows.

 

[termina3]

There's waay too much text on that homepage. Break off all the descriptions into different pages; it's poor form to have to scroll so much.