Will You Fail At Blogging?

I was doing a little research this morning for a new client. We built a blog for them over a year ago. They liked the idea of growing their online referrals by reaching out and sharing information. They had good intentions of blogging regularly. But after one year – and six posts scattered across that one year period – they knew they didn’t have the time and effort to make a blog work. So they reached out for ghost blogging help.

As I started researching their industry, I found a few blogs in place amongst their competitors. And likewise, all of the blogs I found had a few posts scattered across a one year period of more.

Blogging works great if you work at blogging.

That’s really the secret.

Of course you need to understand keywording, how to create perfect titles, write about what people are truly searching for, and make your posts informative to the people who will read them.

But above all, you have to work at it. Regularly.

If you commit to blogging one a week, blog at the same time every week. Have more time? Add another day or two to your schedule.

I’ve been blogging for almost 8 years now, and the one thing that makes it work so well is commitment.

I keep a running file of ideas to blog on.
I write regularly and make time for writing.

I was talking with a photographer online the other day. She commented on one of my tips to gain more clients – I said to write blog posts every week. She stated she wasn’t a writer. I agree – not everyone is a writer.

But you don’t have to be a writer to communicate with your prospects and customers.

Grab a video camera and talk about what you do. Post that to YouTube and your blog, and you’ve just created a double strategy to reach out to new customers.

The key isn’t how much content, or how well its written. It’s how well you reach out to your customers, and give them what they truly want to read.

Read more about Ghost Blogging and Social Media.

The Secret To Gaining Clients Through Blogging

Want to know the secret to getting massive amounts of traffic to your blog, have people follow you no matter what you write, make contact with you daily, and turn into clients instantly?

When it’s written in a sentence like the one above, you start to become a little leery. Nothing can be THAT good. Right?

Yet every week I meet with people that have heard me talk about blogging, and they always bring up the statement, “I want to use a blog so I can quit other forms of gaining leads”.

When I hear that statement, my next question is, “how quickly do you want your blog to work for you?” Because a blog is a great tool In fact, I can’t imagine my marketing plan to be without several at the moment. But I’ve also been using blogs for over eight years now.

Blogs are just like any other form of marketing.

• You have to use it regularly to make it work for you.
• In order to bring clients to your blog, you have to give out content that makes them want to come back again and again.
• Traffic will come from a variety of sources; you have to keep trying and do what works.
• People will sign up for and buy different things. You have to make more than one offer to gain clients.
• You have to be patient. A blog will only work after you’ve dedicated yourself to it for a while, and you have the traction of several things working together.
• You won’t be number one in Google immediately. Like everything else it takes time.

So let me ask you a question. Will you be in business five years from now? If so, then you have plenty of time to start up a blog, dedicate yourself to it as one of the best forms of marketing your business, and just do it.

Read more about Ghost Blogging and Social Media.

Make Money As A Stock Photographer

I’m always amazed when I head out to the forums to find photographers complaining about stock photography, and the fact there is no money to be made in that industry?

It’s just not true.

As a matter of fact, it is an incredible way to make money, and I’m seeing huge potential over the coming years in this field.

Last fall I touched on this in my Trends In Stock Photography and today I read more about it in Microstock Photography Is Getting Big.

By far, iStockPhoto is advancing as the leader in the stock photography industry. In February 2006, Getty Images purchased iStockPhoto for $50 million. In 2006, iStockPhoto had revenues of about $23 million. Fast forward to 2008, revenues jumped to $150 million, with projections for this year being around $200 million. Huge growth! And huge potential for us photographers!

If you’re thinking, “How can I ever make money with just a few cents per image sold?”, think again. iStockPhoto obviously has the desire to make money through sales of images, but it also looks for ways for building deeper relationships with great photographers too. Which is why they’ve just announced their newest division, Vetta Collection, which is comprised of images that meet a higher quality. They cost more for the end user (starting at $20 per image compared to the $1 per image for the standard images) – and provide more income for the photographer as well.

So, can you really make money as a stock photographer? Let’s take a quick look.

Obviously the more images you have on iStockPhoto, the more you build your portfolio, the higher potential you will have.

If you sell one image to a person on a pay as you go plan, you can earn anywhere from $0.30 to $8.40 per image. If you sell just 10 images at every level during the month, you would make $270 that month. And this is the lowest level possible to make money with iStock. They also have subscription options, their new Vetta program, and the opportunity to move up in levels when you have bigger sales potential.

And the best thing is you continually build on your portfolio. If you have a best seller this month, chances are it will continue being a best seller a long time into the future.

Convinced? Ready to get started as a Stock Photographer? Then you’re going to love my program on Creating A Stock Photography Business. Get started today.