Just wanted to give a quick thank-you and some link backs to everyone who
helped spread the word about fineartphotoblog.com. Your efforts helped
make the project launch a great success.
Back in December Brian Auer of Epic Edits started the ball rolling on a new group photography / web project.
Seven of us came together, spanning 4 countries and 7 timezones, all with very distinct styles, to create a web log specifically tailored to promoting and selling our fine art photography. Today at 12:01 AM we officially launched www.fineartphotoblog.com.
The site was built upon three basic principals…
As a gallery, the site is focused completely on the image. All featured photographs will remain on the site permanently, the idea being that before long, we will have an archive of thousands of images.
As a web log, new photographs from the group will be posted daily. Visitors may subscribe to site feeds through RSS or by email. Structurally the site will function just like any other web log.
As a search engine, the site employs extensive tagging and advanced search capabilities so the viewer can find exactly what they are looking for. Search results are based on relevance, ensuring older content isn’t buried by reverse chronological archiving.
I encourage you to take a look at what we’ve built. Given the diversity of styles there is sure to be something for everyone. Each photograph contains links to purchase original and / or art prints, so if you’re looking to fill some wall space, this is a good place to start…
Visit: http://www.fineartphotoblog.com
Subscribe / RSS Feed: http://www.fineartphotoblog.com/feed/
Thanks again to Brian Auer for the ridiculous amount of traffic he sent me this month from his post
“87 Great Photography Blogs and Feeds.”
The top 10 posts this month are…
Top Five Marketing Tools For Photographers
The Blog: Blogs are everywhere, they take all of ten minutes to set up, free of charge, and your work is instantaneously exposed to millions of people around the world. A website is just a portfolio, a blog can serve as a journal of your work. Post photographs, thoughts, news on what your shooting, what you’re working on, where you’re going. The personal nature of a blog can build a following that wasn’t possible just a few years ago.
The Book: Publishing on demand is a photographers dream. Sites such as blurb.com offer very reasonable rates and no minimum purchase. Blurb also offers a storefront to sell your book. You set the price, their commission is minimal. While selling books is a great idea, margins are thin, and revenues depend on volume. However, handing a potential client a professionally bound 40 page book, chances are your going to look pretty good.
The Exhibition: Photographers often think that their exhibition will generate income, that touring a show is a way to make money. This could not be farther from the truth. An exhibition is two things, a time suck, and an ego stroke, neither of which are money makers. That said, an exhibition can be an amazing promotional tool, and does have the potential to generate income if the infrastructure is in place. Selling books, catalogs, prints, and posters at the exhibition and through your website can produce a steady cash flow. An exhibition is really just a big PR campaign, use it.
The Card: May sound old school, but it still works. Hand them out like candy. Make them cool. Check out Creative Bits for ideas. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
The Street: You meet some interesting people when you’re on the street making pictures. Carry business cards, a couple 4×6’s, postcards, a small catalog, anything that you can put in someone’s hands. You never know who you’ll meet.
How To Get Your Blog Shut Down in 3 Easy Steps
- By Epic Edits
“Have you ever visited a blog or other site expecting to find content, but instead are confronted with an error page of some sort? Isn’t that cool? The first thought that runs through your head is “Wow, this must be a really popular site if they crashed their server†— c’mon, you know it is.”
If you have your own site, I’ll bet you’ve also thought to yourself “I wish I could do that so other people will think I’m cool too.†LOOK NO FURTHER! I’ll let you in on the secret of how to accomplish the appearance of a crashed site. All you need are three things:
An super-great web host (like HostGator)
A database taxing stats plugin (like FireStats)
A spike of traffic