Blog on Photoblogs

It seems to me that I am constantly thinking about methods of monetization for photoblogs and something struck me this afternoon. How about introducing a “subscribers” a.k.a “true fans” section to your existing photoblog? This type of thing has existed for ages in other parts of the web so why doesn’t something similar exist in the photoblog world? Here’s what I am thinking – you create a members only section of your photoblog where you provide subscribers with extra-value in exchange for a small bit of information about who they are, and what they like to look at.

I recently purchased (and read - that’s important!) Seth Godin’s Purple Cow and I have to say that not only was it a quick read - which is good nowadays, it was an excellent read, and it should be read by anyone who’s trying to market themselves and/or their work.

The biggest takeaway I got from Seth’s book was that in order to be successful now (and in the coming years) you’re going to have to be remarkable, and find ways to stand out from all the other folks doing the same thing that you’re doing. Not only that, but you’re going to have to continue to find ways to stay remarkable as your competitors mimic what you do.

Self-promotion of your photographic work is a key element in determining just how successful you are going to be

Digital technology has changed the game, it’s levelled the playing field.  Thanks to the proliferation of inexpensive digital SLRs everyone has the tools (maybe not the skills) available to them to take high-quality images.  The days of needing highly expensive and complicated equipment are long gone.  Mix this with the rise in the popularity of blogging (in our case photo-blogging), and the digitization of everything in the photography world and it’s not hard to see why the commoditization of photography is pushing forward at a break-neck speed.

Photographer’s (amateur and professional) who cling to the “old way” of doing things are sentencing themselves to eventual failure!

While reading my “digital newspaper” (a.k.a. Google Reader) I came across a few articles that I wanted to point out, and stress how important it is  for all photographers to read them.

The first one is from A Photo Editor and it talks about “The Future of Photography” and makes some great points about how the game is changing,

“What needs to change is instead of thinking about having a couple of fans with deep pockets you need to start adding a large number with shallow pockets”

I think that it is already clear that we’re operating in the long-tail of photography. The question is how do you move from existing on the far-right of the tail to somewhere closer to the left?

More disposable income + less reliance on traditional (i.e. Expensive) new sources = a new market opportunity for  photographers.

The second was a post about “A 1,000 True Fans” and it takes about how to move up the long-tail just enough to make a decent living from your creative passion.

“A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce”

Wouldn’t we all love to have fans like this?

I also wanted to point out a few books that in my opinion every photographer (or creative professional for that matter) should have already read, or need to read now.  I pay my bills by working in the IT field so I originally read these title for much different reasons, but a photographer who can apply the main themes of these books will have a distinct advantage over those who do not!

The World is Flat
Wikinomics
The Big Switch
The Long Tail

Just to help prove my point, check out this article about Scott Schuman a.k.a. The Sartorialist who at the ripe old age of 15 (correction: 30)has created himself a nice little niche by using a Google blogspot blog.  All I can say is what are you doing?