Best way to get your name out there?

[Dylfish]

Hey Guys,

I'm wondering whats the best way to get your name and work out in the general population? I've been taking snaps for a few years now and i've decided to make a website to showcase some images. What's the best way of getting your name out in the open for all to see?

I'm primarily taking landscapes and this is the avenue I want to go down. I've launched a website a few days ago (www.dylanbenton.net) and i'm curious about seeing how others have gone about theirs?

I've intergrated Twitter and Facebook Page posts into my "marketing strategy" but i'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[ricktas]

Word of mouth. I take the recommendations of friends and family over every other method of finding out if a product or service is worthwhile. If I am say looking for a new Doctor to be my GP. I ask my family and friends who they see, and are they good, etc

[Dylfish]

Yeah I suppose your right, Ive had alot of people lately through word of mouth. But maybe im trying to push my name too hard at the moment. Thanks Rick

[mpb]

I can not really advise on the the business of photography as I have not and do not intend to 'try' and sell my photos, however that is not going to stop me putting in my 2c worth.

As Rick said, word or mouth is king. I and my Wife run our own, separate, businesses. We essentially do little or no advertising and rely on word of mouth and repeat business. We both have plenty of work and I have to turn work away on a regular basis. I will not take on work if I can not complete it in the require time, unlike some firms in our area who will string people along for weeks because they are too busy and try and take on too much work. I try to provide high quality service and listen to the client. If I give a quote or an indication of costs, I stick by it even if I end spending more time on it than anticipated.

This has lead to many people recommending us over the opposition due to time and cost blowouts. One client with a bad experience can influence dozens of potential clients.
As far as your website goes.
!. The people shots on the portfolio page are badly cropped with the heads of the bride and groom and cricketer being cut off. The actual photos are OK full size.
2. Tell people where you are. I could not see on your site where you are based, or did I miss it.
3. Give a phone number. There are still many people out there who like to pick up the phone and talk to someone rather than sending an email. We get many phone calls and ever few email enquiries. It also give an indication where you are located.

Best of luck.

[Dylfish]

Yeah, I'm still working on the portfolio area. Its a real pain in the *** the way it's cropping the images. Thanks for the tip, Ill have to review how i'll go about this. Thanks for the insight.

[TonySlattery]

As for promoting your name, may I suggest Redbubble.com, a place where you can post your portfolio and even sell your images.

[Cyza]

Your website is very clean, simply and easy to navigate around

Some give aways via social networking sites might bring in a few more followers?

[mini696]

A big thing in marketing yourself is to know your audience.

So -even though not directly related to your question- if you do any promotions on various sites (facebook, forums, handouts, TV, radio etc), you need to send them to your website using unique URL's. This enables you to track where your views are coming from and which advertising is working.

[kiwi]

who is your customer going to be ? and where are they ?

[Longshots]

Darrens asked the right question.

You want to get your "name out there" - to achieve what ? To sell your work ? Who is likely to buy your work ? What will that work be ? Ask yourself what you actually want to achieve before you try to know what your customer is, and where they are ?

[Danielle10]

I'm also thinking I want to put a website together. Just not sure if it's worth it for me... Yet. Did u design it yourself? Where did u go, web host etc??

I really like yours, easy to get around and beautifully presented

[maccaroneski]

Danielle if you just want something easy to get you started, I used smugmug. I still need to do some work on mine, but the intention was merely to get a slightly more professional place to point someone when they ask me where they can see my stuff (i.e. rather than giving them a link to a flickr stream or something). $50 per year for the site and 10 odd for the domain hosting, and although customisation is not endless, it is also not that complicated.

They also have a Lightroom plugin which makes ongoing management very simple.

[Redgum]

Hey Guys,

I'm wondering whats the best way to get your name and work out in the general population? I've been taking snaps for a few years now and i've decided to make a website to showcase some images. What's the best way of getting your name out in the open for all to see?

I'm primarily taking landscapes and this is the avenue I want to go down. I've launched a website a few days ago (www.dylanbenton.net) and i'm curious about seeing how others have gone about theirs?

I've intergrated Twitter and Facebook Page posts into my "marketing strategy" but i'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Nice layout but I can't contact you because I don't know where you are. About 99% of your traffic has gone past. Best you can expect is the occasional email from a tyre kicker or at best, a friend.
You can't have (don't want) privacy in business. PO Boxes and mobile phones work wonders, shopfront even better. It's all about trust so you need to be seen.

[Longshots]

I agree with Redgum. However it does say that you're a Perth photographer in the title line, so thats a step in the right direction. It also says that in your signature, but its not as obvious as you could make it, I would start with a definite description in your About You area, starting with; I'm a Perth Landscape photographer......

Having spent a few mins on your site - my comments :
1) get rid of the gear listing, especially the so called "professonal" tag of the 5Dmk2, while that may be my camera of choice, nothing screams more non professional than a listing of your gear - sorry to those offended by that opinion.
2) if you want to list anything, point out that you have business insurance, and public liablility etc,

3) getting your name out there also means as Redgum said, being able to be contacted with a phone number, and PO box. Personally while I like your shop, and abaility to sell images, I wouldnt buy anything from you, because there is no way to contact you if there was a problem. ie I dont trust people who only have an email contact on their websites.