HOW TO GET YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE
The hardest part is deciding to begin. After that you just make it happen.
Let’s show your work to the world
So you've got your portfolio ready. Now you need to showcase and put it online so that you can attract paying customers.
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You want to choose something unique. It could be 'your name' photography.
Google search the ideas you have to make sure the name isn't already being used.
If you plan to expand your business in future it may be best not to include your name in your business name. If you will be hiring and training other photographers to do weddings for you in future and you are using your own name, clients will expect you to be there. But, if you choose something else then you could potentially have a number of good photographers who work for you, and you can assign any of them to do the weddings for you. If that's something you want to do then don't use your own name.
Try to find something unique so that people don’t get you confused with someone else.
Create social media pages
If you do a quick Google search for ' how to create a Facebook business page?' you will find step-by-step instructions. And, it will only take you a few minutes to create one.
To get started, create a Facebook page for your business and invite everyone you know to like it and share it with their friends. This will be a valuable tool for finding clients. Having lots of likes, comments and reviews on your Facebook page will help clients to see that you are a trusted service provider.
Starting a Facebook page is a must and will prove to be a valuable tool as your business grows; sharing your latest work, and tagging your clients, will be a great way to expand your audience.
Encouraging your clients to write reviews on your page will establish trust for future clients who will consider using your service.
Instagram and Pinterest are also good ones to do as they are primarily focus on photography.
The online landscape is constantly changing and you should always be on the lookout for the next trends and opportunities for reaching new clients.
How to create a logo for your business
This can be simple, so don't be scared if you're not a graphic designer.
A logo is a design used to identify your business. Everyone probably knows the Coca Cola logo. Even if someone couldn't read they would be able to know what it is when they see it due to the style of the writing. This is what you are aiming for.
Spend a bit of time thinking about the logo you want to have. Look around at other businesses’ logos for inspiration. Once you've chosen your logo and you start putting it out there you are probably not going to want to change it anytime soon as people will start to become familiar with it and associate it with your brand. So, make sure you are happy it before putting it out there.
Option 1:
Pay a graphic designer to create one for you.
Option 2:
Create one yourself using an online tool.
Luckily, you are starting your business in a time when everything is accessible and user-friendly. Google search 'free logo maker' and you will find a tonne of websites offering just that. There are a lot of good ones, and you can create a logo in minutes.
Option 3:
You can just use a font within the Website Builder to add your business name.
This is by far the easiest method. However, if you are wanting to save the logo to use it elsewhere you won’t be able to do it using this method.
Option 4:
Create one yourself using software.
If you are familiar with using Adobe Photoshop, or something similar, then you may be able to make a logo easily. If you don't know about these kind of things then here is an easy way for you to do it. It will be a very basic design but most photographers do that. You can always do a better one later, but this is just for the purpose of having one for your website.
Step 1:
Google search ' free fonts' or ' fonts' (if you are willing to pay for one).
Browse the different websites until you find the font you like.
Download the font and save it and make sure you make note of where you are saving it so you can find it again later.
For Mac users:
Locate the file and double-click on it to launch the installation.
In the window that appears click on 'install font'.
The font folder will appear and you should see the new font in there.
For Windows users:
Locate the file and double-click on it.
In the window that appears click on 'install'.
Step 2:
You can use Gimp to individually resize your photos. Gimp is a free software. You can get it at www.gimp.org
Download the Gimp software and save it onto your computer. Double click on the downloaded file to install.
Once it has installed, most likely you will have a Gimp icon on your desktop. If not, search for ‘Gimp’ on your computer to locate the application.
Start/open Gimp.
When it loads, it will open to a blank window like this...
Select ' File' at the top left of the window and then select ' New'.
A box will appear giving you options for the size of file you want to create. You can make it any size you want, but select ' template' from the dropdown menu and select
' 1600x1200' - this is quite a large size but you can always create smaller versions later. The new file will appear as a ‘ blank white page’.
Select the ‘ text tool’ from the ‘ Toolbox’. The text tool looks like a large letter ' A'.
Click anywhere on the white page.
Type your business name.
Now, to make changes to your text, you must highlight the text beforehand: click, hold, and drag the cursor over the letters. It should now look like this...
In the ‘ Toolbox/Tool Options’ click on ' font' and find the font you installed from the list of fonts, and select it.
If you want to, you can also change the ‘size’ of the font in the ‘Tool Options’.
In the ‘Toolbox’ select the ' Move' tool.
When you have selected the ‘ Move tool’, also select ' Move the active layer' in the ‘ Tool Options’ - this will allow you to move the text around on the page.
You can now click, hold, and drag to move the text to where you want it to be on the page.
At the moment, the logo is a white, square background with text in the middle. If you want it to be a different shape then select the ‘ rectangle select tool’.
Now drag and hold to create a box around the logo like this…
Now select ‘ Image/Crop selection’.
The logo will now be a rectangle rather than a square, like this…
...you can make it any shape or size you want.
If you want to save the project so that you can make changes later, go to 'File' and then select 'Save As'. Give it a name like 'logo.xcf' and save it to where you want it to be saved on your computer - somewhere you can easily find it later.
Now you are going to want to export the file so that you can use the logo. Save it as a PNG file - this is the best format for text. Go to 'File' and select 'Export As' and name it 'logo.png' and choose the location on your computer that you want it to be saved to - and remember where it is, you’ll need it later. Click 'Export' and then a window will appear and just click 'Export' again.
Now locate the saved PNG file on your computer and double-click it to view it.
Perhaps you want it to be your profile image on your social media pages. If so, you can now upload the saved PNG file.
As mentioned, this is just a really basic design at the moment, but it could look much more impressive with a different font or if you use your imagination and creativity to make it more interesting. Either way, it is enough to get you started.
The important thing is that you now have a logo that you can use online to inform people as to who you are and what you do.
Resizing your photos for online use
The photos you have taken on your camera and edited will be large files. But, when you use them online they don't need to be. If they are larger it will take longer to upload, and if you are using them on your website, it will take longer for them to open when people are browsing your website.
If you go onto a website and it is taking ages to load you probably lose patience and leave the website. You don't want people to do that on your website so you need to change the size of the photos to be suitable for online use; still good quality but small enough to load quickly.
Option 1:
Use Lightroom to resize all the photos at once.
Option 2:
Resize the photos individually using Gimp.
Start/open Gimp.
Select ' File' and then ' Open'.
Locate one of your photos and select ' Open'. Your photo will now be open in Gimp.
Or
Drag one of your photos into the window and it will appear in Gimp.
Select ' Images' from the top menu and then select ' Scale Image...'.
If the photo is a landscape (horizontal) photo change the 'Width' to ‘ 960px’. The Height will be automatically calculated and entered once you click ‘ Scale’.
If the photo is a portrait (vertical) change the 'Height' to ‘ 960 px’. The Width will be automatically calculated and entered once you click ‘ Scale’.
Basically, what you are doing here is changing the longest edge of your photo to be 960 px. This is the size that Facebook recommends for use in their photo albums.
Later, if you want to use photos for a full-screen image on your website 960 pixels might not be big enough if it is being stretched across the entire screen. In that case, you may want to resize that photo again and make it something like 1920 px or larger - this is recommended for full-screen images.
Make sure the ‘resolution’ is set to ‘ 300 pixels/mm’.
Select ' Scale’.
The photo will now be scaled down to the new smaller size.
Select ' File' and then select ' Export As'.
Give the file a name.
Choose a location where you want the photo to be saved.
Select ' Export'.
The ' Export image as JPG' window will appear.
Set the ‘quality’ to ‘ 75%’ and select ' Export'. 75% is a good amount; good picture quality and a small enough file to be fast when using online. If you find that the photo quality isn’t good enough, you can always try saving it at a higher percentage.
How to create your free website
Option 1:
Pay someone to build a website for you.
As a photographer, you will need to update your website often so this can be an expensive process if you are planning on paying someone to do it for you.
Option 2:
Build your own website.
Building a website is not complicated anymore, don’t be scared by the thought of doing it yourself. Many companies have created fantastic online facilities to make creating a website almost as easy as creating a Facebook page.
If you Google search ' website creator comparison' you will find many websites that compare the prices and features the different companies have to offer.
You will see that many of the companies offer a free option. Of course, this is a basic service but it might be all you need to get started. So, you can begin with the free one and see if it works for you. The downside to the free one is that they will most likely display their company information on your website. Something like...
But, start with that for now and you can always upgrade later. And, even the paid ones are quite reasonably priced.
For the purpose of this lesson, we are going to focus on a company called Wix, and it really couldn't be easier. They have step-by-step instructions for doing almost everything you could imagine, a good customer support service, and an online forum if you need answers to questions or help learning how to do things.
Go to www.wix.com
Click ‘Get started’ to s ign up and create an account - signing up is free.
Select ‘Sign Up’
Enter your email and create a password.
You’ll be redirected to a page like this. Select ‘Photography’
You will be presented with templates.
You can ‘view’ and even ‘edit’ these templates to create your own website, but don’t do that just yet.
With Wix you can add different pages (about me, contact us, blog, etc). But, until you get familiar with using it, we are going to keep it really simple so that you can get your website up and running...
Select 'Blank templates' and 'Start from scratch'.
Now hover over ‘Start from scratch’ and select ‘Edit’
A new tab should open up with the Wix Editor.
A welcome video should begin playing. It will provide you with a quick overview as to what you can do with Wix. When you’re done watching it, close the video window.
Now you will be looking at the Wix Editor and it should look like this…
...this is your website's ‘home page’ and it is divided into the header (top), body (middle) and footer (bottom).
To understand these sections, the header and footer will be the same on every page of your website, but the body (content of each page) will be different.
Click in the header area and you will see that a button appears…
Drag the button up or down to adjust the area size of the header - you are going to be adding your logo here. You can make it any size for now as you can always change it later.
On the tool panel at the left, select ' +'.
From the dropdown menu select 'Image' and then 'My Image Upload'
The 'Choose Images' manager window will open up. This will be where all the photos and images on your website will be stored.
Select ' add new folder'. Name the folder 'My logo'.
Select 'Upload Images' and you will be asked to locate an image on your computer.
Find the location of your ‘ logo.png. Do you remember where you saved it? Yes, well done, you passed the test! Click on it and select 'Open'. The file will upload and will appear in the ‘My logo’ folder.
The logo.png should be highlighted, if not click on it and then select 'Add to page'.
You should now be back to Editor and your logo should be there.
Click on the logo and adjust the size you want it to be by using the small circles on the corners (highlighted in the example photo above).
Move the logo into the header section at the top (click, hold, drag). If it doesn't fit you can adjust the size of the logo and/or the header in the same way that you did before. To adjust the header, click in the header area and then drag the button.
The header is done for now. And, now the logo will appear on all pages you create in future.
Leave the footer blank for now. Later you can add your contact details in there and/or a newsletter box that will allow visitors to sign up to your newsletter to stay up to date with all your latest updates and promotions. These sorts of things are really easy to do and you will figure out how to do them as you become more familiar with using the Wix Editor.
For now, let’s add some of your resized photos. Let's create the body for your website home page.
Select 'Add' in the tool panel and then 'Gallery'. Grab the first gallery you see in the dropdown menu - you'll be able to change it later - and drag it into the body.
The gallery will now display in your body.
Click on it and select 'Manage Media'.
The 'Organize your gallery' window will appear.
Click on the images that Wix has there and ‘delete/remove’ each one.
Select 'Add media' and select 'Image'.
The 'Choose Images' manager will open.
You will see your logo still in the folder in there.
Select 'Add new folder'.
Give it a name like 'Portfolio'.
Select the Portfolio folder and then select 'Upload images'.
Just like you did with the logo, add your photos and upload them.
The photos will now all be in the ‘ Portfolio’ folder.
Now you need to click on each photo that you want to be added to the gallery.
When you've done that select 'Apply'.
In the 'Organize Your Gallery' window you can rearrange the photos by dragging them into the order you want them to be in. When you are finished, select 'Done'.
Now all your photos should be there in the gallery. If you want to move the gallery up or down, click on it and a button will appear - the same as with the header.
Now you have your header that tells people who you are (your logo) and the gallery that shows them the work you have done (your portfolio). If you spend some time browsing the 'Add' drop down menu you will see that there are many other features you can add (social media tools, boxes, buttons, etc). You can add text if you want to tell people a little bit about yourself and you can add social media widgets and connect them to your pages (e.g. your Facebook page). You should play around with these things and become familiar with using them and moving them around.
You are probably curious as to how your website looks. If so, click on the ‘Preview’
button and you will be able to view your website as a visitor would.
It should look something like this…
It is so simple, but it is starting to look very professional.
The next thing you want to add is a contact form so that people can make enquiries.
Click ‘Back to editor’ to exit the preview mode.
Select '+' from the menu panel on the left and then 'Contact' and browse and drag one of the contact forms into your body. Click on it and move into position under your gallery. You may need to scroll down on the page a few times until you can get it to be positioned under the gallery.
Click on the contact form and you will see menu icons that allow you to change the design. Play around with these until the form looks the way you want it to look. You can also change the size.
Click the ‘ settings’ (gear icon) and add your email address.
If you don't have an email address for your business just enter your personal email address for now - you can always change it later. Adding your email address here and making sure it is spelled correctly is important as this is the email address that Wix will use to forward enquiries to.
Now let’s quickly add some text to tell people what to do.
Select ‘+’ and then ‘Text’. You can choose any text or style. Click, drag, and drop it into the editing area.
Now move the text box and position it between the bottom of the gallery and the top of the contact box. If there’s not enough space for it, move the contact box down.
Double-click on the text and replace it with your own text, and resize the box if it’s too small for the text to fit. You can write something like this...
Now people can see your photos in the body, your name in the header, and they know what to do to get in touch with you. It is very simple and basic, but that’s all you really need to get started.
Next, you want to check how the website appears on mobile phones. To do this, select ‘Mobile’ (top right) and select ‘ Edit mobile view’.
The editor will now switch from the Desktop Editor to the Mobile Editor. You can move things around and even adjust the size of things so that everything looks the way you want it to be.
You can also click ‘Preview’ in the Mobile Editor to see how visitors will view your website on their mobile devices. It should look something like this…
When you are happy click ‘Publish’.
Now let’s give this a name. Click ‘Site’ and then ‘Site Manager’
Select ‘Site Name/Edit’
Now you can change the name to what you want it to be. Select ‘Rename’ to save it.
You will now be back to the ‘Site Settings/Overview’
You want to become familiar with the different things in the Overview window. Here you will be able to manage all the elements of your website. For now, close the Overview box to return to the Wix Editor.
Select ‘Publish’ (top right) and your work will be live online.
Now let’s visit your website for real. Select ‘Site/View Published Site’.
This will open a new tab and your new website will be there for you to see, just as a visitor will officially see it, like this…
Viola, now your website is there for the world to see!
If you want to share your website with people, you can find the address here…
...you can copy and paste it or type it out and share it with people.
Looking at your website, you may have noticed this (top right)…
And this at the bottom…
Like all website builders, this is the reason the website is free; if you choose the free option they will place these advertising labels on your site.
If you want to have a domain/website address like www.yournamephotography...
then you will need to select ‘upgrade’ on Wix and choose one of their packages.
They will then provide you with instructions to set that up. Many of their packages include a free domain name. A domain name is the URL (website address) for your business. When you purchase a package you will be able to then choose a domain name. Wix will guide you through the steps of that, and how to connect it to your website. Basically, to have a website you need two things: a host (like Wix) and a domain name (which could be www.myphotographywebsite... or the free one).
Test your contact form on your live website to see if it’s working.
Fill out the info, click ‘Send’. If you don’t receive anything, return to the Wix Editor and check that you have entered your email address correctly…
One last thing... Click on ‘Manage Fields’.
This will open…
Currently, your contact form has 4 fields for entries: a box for the person’s name, their email address, subject, and message. If you don’t ask people what the date of their wedding is they may forget to mention it and you will be going back and forth with emails. To avoid this click ‘Add New Field/Custom’ and then ‘Rename’
Let’s call it ‘Wedding Date’. Now your contact form should look like this…
Or, you could call it something like ‘event date and venue’.
When you are done click ‘Publish’.
Lesson summary
It is very easy these days to create a website on your own. And, very cost efficient.
You will improve and add to your website as you become more familiar with using Wix, and as your portfolio grows. But, the most important thing is that you have an online presence. Your website is basically your shop window. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Clients are interested in the quality of your work and a simple website is all you need to show your photography skills. If your portfolio looks good then there is no reason why people won’t enquire to find out your availability and prices.
Congratulations! You have completed this lesson.