Photo courtesy ASMP member Luke Copping
If you would like to contribute to the Strictly Business blog, please send submissions to blog@asmp.org.
In 2007, two professional photography trade associations, The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA), applied for and received matching fund awards from the Library of Congress as part of the Library’s National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). Now that is a mouth full of an acronym, but this is a very cool thing. Two of our pro orgs took the initiative and acquired funding to do mind…
Whenever I buy something I try to pay attention to how I respond to different sales approaches and use that to improve my own client interactions. We recently put a home renovation project out to bid and I think we’re learning more about sales from this process than just about anything else we’ve ever done! The first contractor walked through our house and yard, clucking and sighing at every step. He furrowed his brow, grimaced…
Speaking of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The content of a website’s <title> tag is what is displayed in the top-most bar of a browser window when someone is looking at your site. The tag is given significant weight by search engines in their effort to figure out exactly what a site is about. As I speak to photographers around the country about search engine optimization, or SEO, I notice quite a lot of studio names…
Knowing what it costs you just to wake up every morning is critical information for all business owners to have. Right now, with a country in the throes of an economic downturn and an industry undergoing disruptive change, it’s even more crucial for photographers to do this exercise. The National Press Photographers Association offers an excellent Cost of Doing Business calculator as part of their Business Practices Module within the Professional Development section of their…
Photographers exhibiting in contemporary galleries sign their prints on the back of the print, also called the reverse, or verso, and not on the front of the print. (more on that in another post) Sign in the upper left hand or lower right hand corner of the print, inside the print area (remember on the back of the print), and not on the border. You should include the following: Title of the piece Year that…
One good thing about the bad economy is that there are bargains when it comes to airfares. Even without a lot of notice, one can find a good priced ticket to most destinations. However, that bargain can quickly add up to a lot of money when paying for check on baggage. Many photographers need to travel with 2-4 bags of equipment with each bag costing more on a steep sliding scale. However, many times it…