The Pet Photographers Club The Pet Photographers Club
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The FREE podcast for the global community of pet photographers. Join your host, Kirstie McConnell as she interviews professional pet photographers and other expert guests to help grow your business.
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The power of a strong website for organic bookings with Angie Rose
For most of us pet photographers, we have to have a strong, layered marketing plan in order to get consistent bookings. But what if your website did all the heavy lifting for you? For today’s guest, Angie Rose, that’s exactly the case. Her marketing budget is almost exclusively spent on a her content creator who does all her blogging, which she admits wouldn’t get done otherwise. That blogging, combined with the main website is her biggest lead source and then it’s through her booking process that those leads are converted into dream clients.
If ditching expo’s, affiliate programs and Facebook marketing sounds like a dream to you- tune into this episode to hear how Angie runs her business without all that!
We covered:
What clients book Angie for Angie’s booking rate and the process to booking Working with professionals to establish a high converting website How the website helps attract enquiries and convert them to bookings
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:
The benefits of using your name as a business name How people find Angie’s website The positive impact of bloggingOutsourcing content creation for newsletters and bloggingHow Angie customises her sessions Why pets with their people?
MENTIONED LINKS
www.angierose.com
www.facebook.com/AngieRosePetPhotography
www.instagram.com/angieprose
www.thepetphotographersclub.com/blogging-challenge -
25 years of dog photography with Margaret Bryant
Today’s guest has over 25 years of experience as a pet photographer. Back when she started, pet photography basically didn’t exist. A lot has changed in the photography world since then, but as you’ll hear, a lot of things haven’t really either. I’m talking about Margaret Bryant of Bryant Dog Photography who started out shooting dog sports on film but quickly realised that wasn’t sustainable (for the time) and moved into studio portraits. Since then she’s photographed thousands of dogs in her home studio in Texas and even published a couple of books.
One of which is helpful for us as fellow pet photographers as it’s full of posing tips and other advice. It’s called Dog Photography: How to Capture the Love, Fun and Whimsy of Man’s Best Friend
We covered a lot in this episode, from Margaret’s experiences in the early days of her business, to who our biggest competitor is and how we can book clients anyway. And if you’ve been thinking about offering puppy packages, definitely tune into the second half to hear exactly what Margaret is offering.
We covered:
What did pet photography look like in the 90’sPhotographing dog sports, on film! Why Margaret changed business modelsThe reason Margaret opened a home studio What’s changed in terms of sales over the last 20 yearsWhere do Margaret’s clients come fromMargaret’s golden rule to survive unexpected difficult times after making it through the GFC and Covid
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:
How to make it easy to book through your websiteHow audience can get to know you and like you for a better client experience The reason a client should choose you (and not their iPhone or AI)What are “in but not in” photosHow being observant can help your client and your bottom lineManaging expectations for a good client experience Puppy first year - what it looks like, pricing, structure and why the client can own the responsibilityDog birthday parties as a pet photographerBiggest tips for someone wanting to do puppy first year The impact of AI for us as pet photographers in business -
This is how to start a profitable pet photography business
It’s been just over a year since today’s guest launched her pet photography business. She spent 2022 learning all about business and hit the ground running in 2023. She’s proof that actioning what you learn is the only way to meet your goals. Tune in to today’s episode to hear all about the marketing strategies that worked and didn’t, to get this pet photography business off the ground for England-based photographer, Diane Gollowitzer of Dogs in Focus Photography.
If you are looking to see who has recently walked the path you’ve just stepped onto- today’s episode is for you.
We covered:
Starting a photography business without knowledge of photography Why Diane quickly realised she needed to re-brand her pet photography businessHow starting a new business is just like dating!Following your passion and aligning your business with your values and desires
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:
How Diane filled her first few months in business with paying clientsChristmas Markets and the difference the audience can makeGiveaways as a training groundSelling gift vouchers What Diane would do differently next timeOther marketing avenues Diane has tried
Check the show notes for links! -
How a seamless client experience leads to a fully booked calendar with Carlos Alanis-Miljour
What if I told you that it’s possible to be completely fully booked thanks to past clients either returning or referring? That is the reality for today’s guest, who clearly doesn’t do things in halves! A quick look at either his Instagram or Website is proof of that with stunning images, useful information and beautiful design so it isn’t a surprise to learn that his client experience is also seamless. In today’s episode, we broke down exactly what that experience looks to make his clients tell all of their friends!
We covered:
The reason Carlos is running his business part-timeClient availability for a part-time business offering this style of pet photographyThe marketing campaign that actively seeks out the friends of his clients and turns them into clients tooAn overview of Carlos' client experience and the elements that lead to referrals
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:
The role of an assistantWhat a thinking dog first looks likeHow custom sales videos work Selling products with a hands-off approachCarlos’ pricing structure
Full show notes found here: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1511 -
Demystifying the world of editorial photography with Shelley Paulson
Despite this interview being with one of the world’s best equine photographers, it’s not about horse photography at all! Instead, Shelley and I dived deep into the editorial world. If you have your own stock library of images, this might just be a great way to add some passive income to your business. Shelley shared exactly how she finds these clients, what it is they’re buying and how her system works to sell images to magazines. In the members half we got into the numbers and then had a little chat about licensing too.
Shelley is truly a wealth of knowledge and what she shared in this interview is sure to get your mind ticking with ideas.
We Covered:
Who is ShelleyWhen and why Shelley stopped working for private clients What Shelley thinks is the best training for photographersThe difference between commercial and editorial photographyWhy would a magazine order commissioned photography over stock imagesCan you make money from editorials What advice Shelley has for someone wanting to do editorials but without a stock library How Shelley got into Commercial photography What is the difference between commercial, branding, and editorial?Offering video as an edition service Where does stock imagery fit into your business model
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE
Becoming a member of publications to attend conferencesConnecting with editors at events - what to askWhat these conferences look like (American horse publications)What will a magazine pay for a stock image and is it worth itSubmitting photo essays and pitching Portfolios Vs Photo EssaysShelley’s incomeLicensing Pricing Documentary equine films - passion or commercial projects?
Links and show notes can be found at https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1510 -
Blogging and other tips for improving your SEO
The Pet Photographers Club podcast is back for 2024 and if like me, you’re taking advantage of this quieter season to update your website and put a blog strategy in place to get you closer to position one on Google, then today’s episode couldn’t be better timing for you.
Late last year I decided to hire a PR consultant for my new photography business. After learning from today’s guest, Zoe Hiljemark back in Season 9 and then following her Facebook Group for a while, I knew she was the perfect fit. She’s been busy pitching journalists for me over the last few months while also sharing extra advice with me on blogging and SEO. Based on her advice, I made some changes to my website which had an immediate positive impact.
I asked Zoe to join me again on the podcast to share some of these insights with you all and you absolutely will not be disappointed.
If you’re not a Club member yet, this extended episode with Zoe is alone worth the annual fee. We broke down the customer journey, giving you suggestions on what blog topics to cover for each stage. Zoe shared the biggest mistake most photographers make with their blogs, and among everything else also got into backlinks and understanding Domain Authority.
WHAT WE COVERED:
What is SEO and why should we focus on itWhere do blogs come into itMinimum word count per page and how to make the copy digestible Site structure and submitting sitemaps through Google Search Console The pages we should have on our websiteWhy should we blog
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE
Blogging beyond sharing client galleriesCustomer journey and how that impacts blog strategyBlog topic examples for a cold audience, warm audience, hot audienceThe importance of re-engagement content or nurture content How to do keyword researchUnderstanding keywords Breaking down the technical SEO optimisation of blogging: Meta description, Titles, heading tags The biggest mistake photographers make with meta descriptionsHow internal links help SEOWhat are backlinks, why do we want them and how can we get them Guest blogging and how to approach it Understanding Domain Authority
LISTENER BONUSTo make it even easier for you to get started with blogging this month, I’ve put together a blog planner with a table of ideas! Everyone can access it for free until the end of January via the show notes, after that, it will be a bonus for members found only in the portal! Grab yours now!
ACCESS THE FREE BLOGGING PLANNER AND IDEAS
MENTIONED LINKS IN THE SHOWNOTES: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1509