30 September 2017
I have just set up WordPress on this brand new website where I plan to showcase my best photos for fun and profit.
Right now I’m thinking about my to do list:
- Set up a few galleries. I’m thinking that I’ll need to be a little more specific than just “Outdoor Photography.” Off the top of my head I can definitely fill up galleries under the following categories: Shore Birds, Sea Life, Sea Shore Landscape, Desert, Wilderness, Canyon, Forest, Sunsets, Waterfalls, Wildlife, Urban, North Woods, and many more. To begin with, I need to limit the list to 4 or 5 items that will fit neatly in the header menu. Something like the following: Wildlife, Landscape, Urban, Macro.
- Set up companion accounts on a few of the social media platforms so that I can direct web traffic to this site: Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Imgur, 500px, and Flickr would probably be good platforms to start with. Maybe even Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.
- Start figuring out how I can monetize this site. Showcasing my best photos might be a way to offer value to web. But I need to follow Steven Pressfield’s advice and turn Pro. After all anything worth doing is worth putting your heart into, and worth getting paid for. Moreover, the whole mindset of going Pro demands it. Note to the brave hearted: If you are a photographer or an artist of any description, then you owe it to yourself to read Steven Pressfield’s book, the War of ART. But that brings me to the next item on my to do list:
- Join Amazon Affiliates. And then link to the sales page for Steven Pressfield’s The War of ART. …so… …you can expect to see a few affiliate links on this site in the coming days.
- Put up a number affiliate links to my favorite photography books. I will also write a review and a brief synopsis for each of these books.
- Create my own product. It will likely be a How to guide for dslr photography.
- Set up a companion Shopify storefront where I can sell a wide variety of handy accessories for the serious and discerning dslr photographer.
- Set up a Paypal shopping cart where visitors can buy prints and possibly even a few stock photos
- Convert all of the items in my to do list into a formal list of action items with hard deadlines and accountability consequences. That’s right. I need to commit my will, my time, my energy, my resources and my self respect to the success of this site. In other words, I need to go Pro.
- Set up Google Adsense on this site. That means G – rate content boys and girls. QuickSprout explains how to this quite nicely.
Well, that’s quite a hefty list that will surely keep me out of trouble. No doubt that working through this list will also be good for my character.
If you liked this post, if you want to join the conversation, or if you have a bazillion suggestions on how to monetize a photography site, then please leave a comment. I can’t wait to hear from you. I will be sure to reply asap.
Maximum respect,
Doug Weir
