jeremy rundle

ANY help I can give just ask

so if they google by your site name why waste hours on SEO?

 

I have to say Jeremy I do admire how you are throwing yourself and your savings into this business but do you have a realistic chance of recouping your huge investment in the next 3 years as well as making a living from it?

Waste, why buy a car with air con when you drive with the windows down, because it is there as well when needed !

If I have enough money not to concern me does it matter !

In fact I may get this one myself

You need to go deeper in, NO gimmics

Book 3 years for £42 that is still £1.19 a month !!!

I do know, I have been using them for four years, and have enough sites, and remember, you can get additional FREE ones.

Its clear enough here in fact the DOMAIN is FREE with this plan

To be honest regarding the website it depends how you want to use it. If you want to use it as the main focus of your business then you can spend a lot of money on search engine optimisation (SEO) and google can change its search rules (it does this a lot) and your site can vanish from the search results until you get the SEO updated again. Photography and selling prints is a very very crowded market and frankly chasing top listing on google could cost you lots. 

 

If you want to go to craft fairs and sell your prints but catch those customers who dont buy on the day and then regret it but did take a leaflet or card with your web address on the SEO is meaningless as they will type in the url so google won't come into it but you will still get the sale. 

 

As Jeremy said he spends many hours optimising his site yet if you search google for his first keyword sports photography his site doesn't come up in the first 3 pages of results, not sure when it does show up as I stopped after the third page but it does highlight his point that it is very difficult to get good rankings on google for very popular search phrases.

And that is where advertising comes in as NO ONE relies just on a search on google to sell their business.

This is why I have adverts on the car, on jet skis, hand out leaflets at all major events, contact large companies such as Sigma, Nikon, Canon and so on, send images to magazines  (and get them published with a credit), then they google a1sportsphotography

Most of my work comes from facebook and word of mouth, the sites are just a throwback to what people expected, more people these days use linked in for professional as I do and am on, twitter, my page and so on, you need them all to work "together"

Thanks all for the advice. Jeremy, I have never made a website, have no one to help me, have no idea how to and did the best I could from the time I had. However, I havent even had 1 enquiry so its pointless spending time and money on it. Im gonna use my spare cash to build stock and start selling at fairs and markets rather than pay someone to improve my site..

 

I have realised asking for advice is great and results in some positive ideas however for everything 1 person suggests, someone else says the opposite. Some say don't frame, some say do. Some say keep prices down others say dont.

 

Think I will have to take a suck it and see approach and yes, framed prints look much better and as such, I am building a stock from sale and used frames. I work full time so my 'venture' has to fit in and it's gonna be a long, hard slog.

The CAB can point you in the right direction to get FREE site building advice and on a one to one basis

Google your local enterprise agency

Sorry, MY mistake, yes you are 100% Correct, as I have just said to Leon.

The £1.19 is soooooooo cheap, however then when you get further domains they can be free.

£1.19 is only £14.28 per year

If i were a single man with no ties/mortgage, NOTHING would stop me doing this trust me.

 

and something I should explain in better detail.... the ONLY reason I want my hobby to pay is I don't have spare money to upgrade my gear, Jeremy hit the nail on the head when he said I had reached the limitations of my camera, not the other way round...

 

I was discussing with a friend the other week about this, I think if it were my full time job it would be like every other, eventually it would become a burden HAVING to go and stand in a wet cold forest taking pictures while missing a family party or whatever.

 

I guess I wanted a happy medium, a little income to buy better gear....

 

as for the websites I'm a bit of a numpty, all the info posted above may aswel be written in Swahili , thats why I asked someone for a basic web page, was better than a link to Flickr....

OK here is a challenge for you

I will BUILD a site for you.

Go to ipage, and spend the weekend thinking of a GOOD domain name NOT Mr Wall, the domain name is THE most important 1st step.

A1rallyphotography.com is available as is A1rallyphotography.tv    for just £9.50 for the .com

Register it

Chose the £1.19p a month option just £14 for a year and I will do the rest

This can then be linked into a BUSINESS facebook account/page and cross referenced, add the meta data to the website and you are away

Oh and when I come up that way I will show you what is and has been done

Simples

(£45 per hour)   :)

I use ipage as I say, I have 5 sites, in a month ALL will be paid up, but at the moment while I build them the 6 free pages are enough

The service I have received is superb, no question is not answered within an hour 24 hours a day

Nothing beats word of mouth

I have lots of hobbies Leon, none of them pay. Hobbies to me are things to occupy my mind, not to earn a living from. Just enjoy what you do. You love your motorsports, keep taking pictures and if people ask for them , then sell 'em!

 

 

When I first attended night classes for photography, I had in my mind from the outset that I only wanted to learn how to use a DSLR a little better. The chap taking the classes kept on saying that 'if I did things right, you can be a professional photographer' . I knew different, I knew my limitations,  I still do.  I dont think any of those who attended with me ever became 'Photographers' in the real sense. Everyone is doing it these days as you say. You have either got to be really really good,with top knotch equipment or just become a snapper like me!

So ABSOLUTELY true.

MY photography has always been a HOBBY. I can't get enough of it, for 40 years it has been my passion, along with Astronomy.

It just happens that with the death of my father I am able and lucky to be able to afford to expand it into a job, one I love getting out of bed for.

For info, I am in debt (well business wise so far) it has cost me £12,000 over 5 years to get here, I don't smoke, drink, gamble, I live photography, as I say I only really started last year.

Sending as many images to as many magazines, tourist informations, newspapers (local) and so on as I could, I handed out FREE dvds with lower quality images to people at events, ANY and ALL I could attend.

Live it, love it and believe me it will happen.

I'm just wondering why you need 5 sites rather than push/forward each domain name to the one site? 

 

Of course more than one site can give you a different look but surely this can also be confusing for the purchaser who may question if a second or third site is really yours or a copy trying to pull your business? 

 

and just using a web forwarding address to one master site via the domain panel for each domain name you hold  must be a lot easier than maintaining 5 sites?

1.  You can push one site or another but Google prefer sites to be different, in content and domain.

2.  JRS Photography is a general purpose site, .TV is for VIDEO only and will be used for commercial video

3.  .COM and .CO.UK A1 sports photography are for "photography mainly NOT video

I am investing £20,000 during the next two months in new gear and sites and publishing the business. NONE would be possible if my father had not died, so I am fortunate.

NO totally and 100% WRONG in so many ways

I only started last year (in earnest), Nothing good comes overnight.  "Better" in what way, nothing I have done has cost me money website wise

Also your "splash" site really isn't a site, it is a slide show.  You need

Home, contact, gallery, links to facebook on contact page

The ONLY way to be seen out there is to get sites,PLURAL, they are FREE, I have FIVE

A1sportsphotography.co.uk

A1sportsphotography.com

A1sportsphotography.tv

JRS-photography.co.uk

and of cours the one you must have facebook

ALL but JRS photography have cost nothing as ipage is free for 6 pages and sub pages

All my sites link to each other but there are very serious rules you must follow.

1.  ALL sites must have a title which is NOT part of a heading or image, Google picks up on TITLES, have a different one on every page

2.  More sites means more coverage but do NOT use the same content Google will penalise you for that

3.  Facebook is as important if not more so than a website, you can also advertise your website ON facebook but this is where you build an audience

4.  Ensure you complete all the metadata etc on your webpage

5.  Go to and use the SEO page on your site builder (search engine optimisation) ensure it is filled out saved and published

I have decided it is not worth it, and thank you for your personal view

No matter how small a business is, insurance covering anything that matters is very important......by a strange coincidence, my son bought small, used van yesterday........We discussed how having a few tools in the back might affect his domestic use insurance..........he has horses and works for someone else, so a few bales of hay plus a tool or two in the back wouldnt be unusual.

I had recently watched a TV policing program when a similar van was classed as not having business insurance because it contained tools.......a bit of a grey area.......get it wrong and it could prove very expensive.

Likewise, if you work in and around the general public at shows and events then Public Liability insurance is a must and its common sense to check your equipment cover ......... Not being covered or having the wrong cover could prove expensive , better safe than sorry.

A golden rule of business is that all your costs should be included in your pricing or you wont make a profit....... I speak from over twenty years experience of running my tiny crafts orientated business at shows and events all over the country.......never made vast profits but loved every minute of it.

One eyed FUJI

Very good advice

I hear you and take that as sincerely good advice thank you

Sorry, 

I'm sure Jeremy didn't mean to sound so unfriendly (he wasn't in the Diplomatic Corps, that's for sure ) - but he made some good points. However, at the end of the day, it's YOUR site and YOUR decisions that count, so don't be put off by one person's opinion, baldly expressed. You must decide on its worth to you, and who knows where it may lead if you persist?

Sorry, yes, people who DO know me know I am not the best at expressing myself, and I apologize for that.

I am just stating the pitfalls.

More importantly the legal stuff as I don't want anyone to fall foul of the law.

For info, the additional car insurance on mine with More Than is £10 a year for business

you have me worried a little about this... I understand the house insurance but car insurance is affected too?   got me thinking..

Wot no business car insurance, come on my friend

Specific camera insurance 

Public Liability,

Commissioned work public indemnity

:)

You have an accident, your fault or some idiot hits you, you (or they claim) claim for damage, they find you are a photographer using the car place to place, NO insurance and possible in fact almost inevitable legal action,

Also as a by the buy, people need to remember if road tax is out of date your car insurance is VOID

Or your gear is stolen from car, "yes sir, and what business are you in, is it stated on the policy"

Oh another thing, 

CAR

The second you place an ad on the car as I have, and as many do then unless you change your insurance to "business use" you are driving illegally, even if the signs are magnetic.

Many people are now using the cheap vistaprint signs, on their cars, without business insurance they are driving illegally.

And yes 100% again, even have a website, facebook page selling or working and your car insurance is invalid, unless you state WORK

On an indirectly related note, being unable to offer advice on the specific detail above, please remember to bear in mind the insurance of your photographic gear.

If your home insurance firm can find evidence that you are trying to sell your photos (you needn't have sold any) they won't cover your stuff and you will need specific equipment insurance.

Hopefully you already have this but it doesn't occur to people that this would be the case. Your car insurance might suffer also.

100%, you WILL need it.

Mine costs me £500 a year, then there is public liability insurance if you are shooting for a business/work, minimum these days is really £5m

Oh dear

1.  HATE the bold typeface, it is sooooooo  IN your face

2.  Telling people you are new and almost apologising is a very bad move

3.  I assume, and I am sorry if this sounds harsh, from your site and the design, you are aiming at the small home market, why, the site looks extremely "beginner".

I know we all have to start somewhere but when you are a business "selling", then you really need to spend a lot of time designing your site, I have three under construction right now, as well as my "front line" facebook

Search engine optimisation

You also need to spend much more time on the deeper site, metawords, optimisation, targeting it for GOOGLE, Target phrases (Google), 

You have a "jug" and title "combined"  and no "separate" title, Google will not pick this up.

I spend many hours optimising my site.

I ask because I am oooing and arring about getting one and can not  or perhaps I can   think of a reason why I need one.

I have a Nikkor 28-300 and 80-400  do I really need the 70-210.

Does anyone here use one for sports.

Thanks

I have been watching LCE, MBP and other sites, I have never seen soi many people part exchanging their D800/E, I assume for the 810.

I do believe the false belief that the "e" didn't have a low pass filter was an error on Nikons part, it DID, and people thought it didn't it just had a low pass filter "corrector" filter over the LPF.

I have just bought a D810 and D4s, they are very good.

Go to mine and click on the link below, I have FIVE sites with them now, all drag and drop, you can have six pages and as many sub pages to those FREE

I now have a need for all of the sites and the .TV will be mainly video and reportage hence the .TV

You could have spent £60-70 and not been happier so saved many £s