Pursuing a career in professional photography is daring. After all, there’s just so much competition out there; how do you manage to land clients when there are so many good photographers?
The answer is simple – you establish better online visibility as a professional photographer than them. Once you have a good online presence and make sure it keeps growing, you should be getting attention from potential clients left and right.
Let us guide you in how you can grow your online presence as a professional photographer.
Start with a Portfolio Website
A portfolio website serves as your professional calling card. It’s where potential clients and collaborators can see your best work without distractions.
Make sure your portfolio is well-organized, highlights your expertise, and offers clear ways to contact you. Having a digital home base is key to building credibility and showcasing your unique photography style.
Now, if you hire a professional for the portfolio’s web development, you have to spend at least $1,000 on the whole project. On top of that, it’ll take at least a month to get your photography portfolio site up and running.
However, you can consider leaving the website design process and the development side of things to an AI website creator. Doing so will help you save money as well as valuable time.
According to Hocoos, using an AI website builder, you can create your website within minutes. Besides, AI website builders often come free of cost. You might have to pay an annual fee for the AI website generator if you’re looking to use a few premium features. However, even the annual fee for top AI website generators isn’t that expensive.
Build Your Presence on Social Media
Social media is a goldmine for photographers looking to gain exposure. Platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and even TikTok are designed to highlight visual content.
Create a consistent posting schedule for your clicks, share your best shots, and don’t forget to use relevant hashtags. For TikTok, you can prepare slideshows of your best clicks from a particular location or theme.
You can even share behind-the-scenes footage; something like “A day in the life of a professional photographer.” Doing all this can help your work get discovered by a wider audience.
Engage with followers, comment on other photographers’ work, and be active in online communities. Social media also provides a way for potential clients to directly reach out to you, so it’s crucial to maintain a professional presence.
Ask People to Give Proper Credit for Using Your Photos
When it comes to common pet peeves photographers might have, not being credited for their work stands number one. After all, there’s nothing more disrespectful than having someone use your photos and not credit them. Also, as it turns out, a lack of proper credit under your photos on the internet can hamper your online visibility.
For instance, you took an amazing photo of the Statue of Liberty, and people want to use it for personal purposes. Now, you don’t want to charge money for this since it’s a normal photo, and you don’t mind personal free usage. However, when you’re denied credit, that hurts your chances of being known to others.
In fact, people might credit the person using your photo as the one who took the picture if no credit is mentioned.
Also, when you’re credited for such photos, it helps with search engine optimization (SEO). As more of your work gets credited online, your visibility will grow. Soon enough, search engines like Google will identify you as a photographer and might even set up a dedicated knowledge panel for you.
Don’t Hesitate to Share Your Work
As a photographer, you might feel hesitant to put your work out there. You might think it’s not perfect or that it doesn’t match the high standards you set for yourself.
However, waiting for perfection will only delay your growth as a professional photographer.
Sharing your work frequently helps build your reputation and gain exposure. Don’t just wait for big projects or paid gigs; post your daily practice shots, behind-the-scenes moments, and experimental work, too. You can even hold exhibitions at different locations around town.
This shows your range, creativity, and dedication, which can attract potential clients. The more people see your work, the more likely they are to remember you when they need a photographer.
Therefore, don’t be shy about sharing what you create; it’s one of the simplest ways to grow your visibility as a photographer.
As you get into all this, you should see your online visibility as a professional photographer noticeably growing. If you’re starting from scratch, you might need some time to fully set up your artistic presence on the internet.
However, don’t stop. As long as you keep at it, you can build your online presence and set yourself up for success as a professional photographer.