Consider this the hub of everything you need as an business-minded photographer. I’ll keep adding to it so check back often. I recommend bookmarking it for use down the road!
Tools To Get More Photography Clients
Every photographer dreams of an automatic pipeline of clients knocking down their door so they can focus on what they do best: take photos.
But if you want to live that dream, you’re going to have to put in the hard work now to reap the benefits later. That means building up assets like:
- A clean website
- A strong portfolio
- A thriving email list
- Social media accounts
We teach all of our best stuff on our blog and in our free email course, and below you’ll find a list of our favorite tools to build those assets.
WEBSITES
A strong website is key to running your photography business. I absolutely guarantee that two things will happen when a person is thinking of hiring you:
- They will Google you.
- They will judge you based on what they find.
So let’s make sure they find something amazing.
Website Hosting
- Flywheel: All of my websites are hosted on Flywheel. I find it super easy to use, 1-click WordPress installation and great customer service. Seriously, like the best customer service ever. When my homepage suddenly redirected to a random blog post and destroyed my search rankings, they investigated it within 24 hour and explained what plugin was causing it. If you are serious about building something that matters, you should absolutely use Flywheel.
- Also, full disclosure: I recommended BlueHost and Hostgator for years (as evidenced those two affiliate links), but their service is so awful. I had so many bad experiences with them and so have thousands of others. Whatever money you think you’re saving by going the cheap route you WILL lose. Flywheel all the way!
Click here to check out Flywheel.
WordPress Websites
80-90% of the top-performing photographer websites I’ve found (and I’ve reviewed HUNDREDS of them) are built on WordPress. Your website is different than your portfolio site or your client-side site.
- StudioPress: This is the marketplace that sells all of the themes that my sites currently run on. Be honest, you see the design of this site and it looks pretty pro, right? If you want to look like a pro AND have a site that coverts, StudioPress is the way to go. Go check it out. You’ll be able to see what template I’m using here. 🙂
- The Thesis Theme: This is the theme that all of my sites ran on from 2011-2017. It’s not what I use any more, but it’s still pretty great if StudioPress isn’t your jam. It’s super simple out of the box and has built-in SEO (search engine optimization) features, fast page loading, and built-in readability. The less work you have to do on your theme, the more you can focus on your content, products, and audience.
Click here to check out Studiopress.
Photography Portfolio Sites
So you’re finally ready to build your online photography portfolio. You’ve probably been doing comparison searching online to find out the best way to go about it. There are countless platforms to choose from — from sites like 500px to Photoshelter to Squarespace and more. If you’re reading this, you may have narrowed your search down to two of the industry leaders in specialized website platforms for photographers:
Click here to check out our comparison between Zenfolio and Smugmug.
MARKETING & BUSINESS
Courses
- Photo MBA’s Free Email Course
- Find out how to build relationships and get new clients (even if you’ve never had a paying client before)
- No more guessing about your photography packages
- Learn quickly how to give your clients exactly what they want
- Zero to Photo –
- Photo Client Pipeline – Coming Soon!
Click here to sign up and get instant access to our FREE course.
EMAIL LISTS
- Mailchimp – It’s what I use and what I’ve always used. I tried switching to Convertkit, but returned to Mailchimp because I didn’t have the time to learn a new system.
IMAGES & EDITING
Coming Soon.
YOUTUBE & VIDEO
Coming Soon.
CAMERAS
Great Cameras for Beginners coming soon!
Full Disclosure: A few of the links on this page are affiliate links. I earn a commission if you decide to purchase them (at no additional cost to you). Know that I have personal experience with all of these companies and I share them with you because they’re what I use and what I need as an entrepreneur, not because of any monetary incentive. Please DON’T spend your hard earned money on these products unless you feel you need them or they’ll help you achieve your goals. Your money is better spent taking your kids out to dinner and giving your spouse the night off 🙂