I am trying to get my photography business up and running an...

I am trying to get my photography business up and running and I really feel that I need a website. I am a stay at home mom and to start with I would prefer something fairly inexpensive just to get my name and a few samples of my work out there and hopefully once it gets going good I would be able to afford something better. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any advice and opinions are welcome!
Thank you,
Joni Lee

Thanks for coming here and asking that question - If you look just below the posts when reading this , you will see several related topics, You can click on any of them and it will show you responses that others have had with similar types of questions.

I don't do photography as a business, but I do have a web page that I use (generally for friends, etc) Got it from godaddy.com, who have been very reliable and helpful with getting started. I know others here have used their web services, I am not sure how technical you are, so that is something to look at too. Have you looked at other photography sites around on the internet as there are many, many great exapmles of personalized sites where people have posted their images.

I think there may be some "off the shelf" ones, but I am not familiar with them

I second the vote for GoDaddy.com. I've been nothing but pleased with them. I use the Website Tonight designer and have found it to be quite easy to use. You can view the results at www.446Photography.com.

Have you checked out photobiz.com ? Does anyone here use them for hosting?

I no longer have a website for photography, but I do for my music business. I use Yahoo Small Business. Works well and they have a lot to offer including software to get your site up and running.

Why does every new photographer think that they need a website? A website when you first get started will just take money out of your pocket. Here's what to do to get business fast... Instead of spending money on a website or business cards take your camera and go introduce yourself to the owners of the nicest restaurants in your town.

Tell them that you will give them a free session and make them a free 24X30 inch canvas print for them to hang in their restaurant.

Take a fish bowl and place it on a stand under the portrait that is now hanging in the restaurant.

Place a sign next to it that says "Drop your business card into the fish bowl to win a free family portrait like this one".

Once a month pick up the many dozens of cards.

Call them and tell each that they won a free sitting and a free 8X10 of their choice. Tell them they are under no obligation to buy anything but they can order extra prints if they like. Then show and sell! This works like crazy! My wife and I did over $300,000 in sales in 09 doing just that!

And there are at least half a dozen other marketing tactics for photographers that work far better than having a website.

If you want to stroke your ego build a website. If you want to make money grab your camera and go talk to people eyeball to eyeball. Don't wait for them to call you. If you do, you may have to wait forever. Yet that is what most photographers do. Why?

WorldGypsie, you have some great marketing ideas here. I can see how they would be very effective in a portrait setting. It feeds on everyone's narcisitic side and once they see themselves in pictures they won't just stop at the free print. You also build buzz about your business from the fishbowl idea as long as you identify what they are dropping the cards for. Ironically, it would be nice to have a small website available for those people to go and check out even if they don't win the free session.

Your approach would not work for me however. I have do do the website, and wait for the most part for clients to contact me. I do a fair share of face to face contacts, but the result of that contact at some point has to be showing them my portfolio. Being a landscape/nature photographer has some different marketing problems than a portrait photographer. I've done both, and they require completely different avenues. However, a website is beneficial to both. It takes on a supporting role for the portrait photographer while it is the primary point of contact for me.

Hi Greg, For your photo niche a website is a necessity and a website for a portrait photographer can be a great marketing tool if it is used in the right way.

But I slanted my reply to Joni who said she was a stay at home mom so I assumed she was thinking of starting a home based portrait business.

Something like being a www.MomsWithCamera.com photographer.

Many portrait photographers try to make their websites do to much. If used in the right way a good website can help create desire and establish credibility but most stay at home moms would be better off without one until after they know what really works to get business.

They don't need business cards, a website, a yellow page ad, or even their name listed in the phone book to succeed.

All a portrait photography really needs is portable equipment to shoot on location and a good marketing strategy of which there are many.

Before telling a newbie to build a website I'd tell them to invest in a good lap-top computer and a digital projector and invest in a good slide show program like www.animoto.com and invest in some digital backdrops from www.DigitalFantasyBackgrounds.com

I'd tell them to not invest $600 for PhotoShop but to start with GIMP and control their expenses. Then once they have a profitable business going, then and only then should they build a website.

Too many portrait photographers use a website as a crutch. Nothing wrong with having a website and business cards if you can afford them and know how to use them.

I'm just a business person who markets portraits so my knowledge as a photographer is very limited. I only know what people want and how to give it to them at a price they can afford.

Cheers!

PS... Here's how a website can hurt a newbie. Say they use the free sitting and 8x10 strategy. The customer knows they have a website. They know that if they sit and watch a professional sideshow of their children's portraits set to tear jerking emotional music digitally projected onto a wall larger than life... they could end up spending $1,000 or more. So they will try to get the photographer to do online proofing. Great portrait photographers are often put out of business like this because a website is not going to do the selling for them. Newbies want a website to look good and avoid the face to face sales presentations that are the lifeblood to making it. They think a website will make it easier for them. It could but often does just the opposite.

I am in the start up phase as well - but in my opinion, the website I want to have is more of an online portfolio, than my main sales tool.....just my thoughts.