The portrait photography business is a competitive industry filled with a wide variety of portrait photographers with skill levels of all ranges. Unfortunately, being a quality portrait photographer doesn’t always mean that your business will be booming. There are hundreds if not thousands of talented professional portrait photographers in the United States who are not getting the results they want or the business they need to meet their financial goals.

Please consider the following marketing and promotional tips for your portrait photography website. The fact of the matter is that marketing is the most important aspect of having a successful portrait photography business. If you want to make succeed as a portrait photographer, the following tips should be very helpful.

Tip #1: Website!

Since the dawn of the Internet age, websites have become the most powerful and effective strategy for photographers to showcase their respective portfolios. If you don’t have a website by now then you might as well forget about increasing your business. Even for the photographers who have been in business for 30 plus years, a website is an essential thing to have. Not having one is akin to not having a telephone number: it’s that important!

Tip #2: Your website must be impressive!

Your website is you. That is, your website is a virtual you. When potential clients visit your website, they are looking at something that is an extension of who you are. It is imperative that they are impressed with the look and feel of your website as well as the presentation of your images and content. It never ceases to amaze me at how many portrait photographers have websites that look sloppy, unprofessional and downright ugly! If you want to gain business as a result of your presence on the Internet, you absolutely must have a professionally designed, easily navigable and aesthetically pleasing website. If your website is missing any of these elements, I would advise you to remove it from the Internet. It’s better to leave no impression at all rather than a poor impression!

Tip #3: Finding a qualified web designer

Be sure to do your homework before plunking down thousands of dollars for your new website. Be sure to carefully review your prospective web designer’s portfolio. Find out whether the website they will build for you is a custom, one of a kind website or a template website. Although custom websites cost more, they are usually worth the money as they will set you apart from the competition. It’s never a good thing for a photographer to have an identical website as another photographer in the industry.

Be sure to find out exactly what is included in the price they quote you for the new website and review the contract carefully to ensure there are no surprises.

Tip #4: Marketing your website

Just having a good looking website isn’t enough these days. Getting found on the search engines for high value keywords is one of the most effective ways in increasing your portrait inquiries. A well-known portrait photographer in Denver, Colorado – Julie Harris—estimates that 80 – 90% of her portrait inquiries can be directly attributed to her high search engine rankings on Google, Yahoo and MSN. “Without the traffic to my website, I don’t know where my business would be,” says Ms. Harris.

The effectiveness Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing cannot be overstated. The Internet is full of free articles that will help you figure out how to go about implementing a successful website marketing and promotion campaign. You may also want to consider hiring a professional SEO consultant to help you with your website marketing strategies.

Tip #5: Maintaining and updating your website

Keeping your website up do date and fresh is extremely important. Try to get into the habit of uploading new work to your portfolio on a monthly or bimonthly basis. If you have a great portrait session, replace some of your older stuff with the new images. This will ensure that you’re always showing off your best work and it will encourage people to keep visiting your website to see your new work.