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I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my website
layout? Please look at my website and let me know.

My website: www.philipcorcoran.com

I see nothing wrong with it. The layout of your website is clean, simple and
to the point.

The photography is good as well.


"WeddingPhotographer" <> wrote in message
news:E5ydnXO_Ydc_QaTfRVn-...
> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my
> website layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com
>
>
>

WeddingPhotographer wrote:
> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my website
> layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com
>

I like it. I think the business model is sound. It might be good to
explain that part of the reason traditional wedding photographers shoot
the wedding inexpensively is that they subsidize the shoot with
overpriced prints.

If it was me (being the photographer), I would supply the bride and
groom with a CD or DVD (so they don't *have* to download). I would also
offer (perhaps at a nominal fee) to hand them a stack of 4x6 prints
(from Wal-mart, CVS, or wherever). When my wife and I got married,
looking over the proofs was fun, and we had a lot going on. I wouldn't
have wanted to be *required* to download all the photos myself.

You might also want to mention that *real photo prints* can be made
inexpensively from the files (at the type of location mentioned above).
I was talking to a number of people at Christmas, and none of them
realized that -- they thought the only way to get prints from digital
cameras was to own an inkjet printer.

Bob

The most successful wedding Photographer I do prints for doesn't charge a
cent to photograph a wedding! She imposes a minimium purchase requirement of
an album and a parent's album or a wall mountable canvas portrait but no
money changes hands for the photography.

Last month I made six canvas portraits and 280 prints for her. Above average
month I admit but you get the picture, I'm sure. Don't rely on advertising
alone for your clients. Get some litrature together and introduce yourself
to everyone associated with wedding planning and flowers.

Offer them a commission for every wedding you do which originates from them.
Don't rely too much on a web site either. The real deal is done face to
face. Incidently your photography is quite good and the site acceptable.
That's not the problem if you are not getting work.

Far too many talented Photographers go belly up in the business because they
haven't a clue how to market themselves. If this sounds familiar, get a
marketing manager or a wedding planner on the job. Just tack their cost on
your price. Price alone is not what you need to be concerned with.

Work like yours shouldn't come cheap and any self respecting father expect
his daughter's wedding to cost a heap. What's it matter if the pictures cost
$1500 or $2000 when you can see your little girl in life size on canvas
hanging on your lounge room wall whenever you feel like it?

"WeddingPhotographer" <> wrote in message
news:E5ydnXO_Ydc_QaTfRVn-...
> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my
> website layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com
>
>
>

"WeddingPhotographer" <> wrote in message
news:E5ydnXO_Ydc_QaTfRVn-...
> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my
> website layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com
>
>
Thats one way of promoting your website anyway....

> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my
website
> layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com

I'll be blunt and forthcoming, but don't take any of this as
mean-spiritted by any means!

The first thing that comes to mind is that the home page looks bland and
very amateur. That alone will turn away a LOT of people. Second, when
people are shopping for wedding photography, they may not be looking for a
"general purpose" photographer that shoots food, travel, etc. - but someone
who specializes in wedding photography only. Regardless of the validity of
the logic, some people will perceive someone who does ONLY wedding
photography as being more of an expert in the field. However, that's not to
say that a better-looking home page and some terrific samples couldn't bring
them around.

Moving on to the photographs themselves, there are various technical
shortcomings in them - from being less-than-sharp to poorly- or under-lit
scenes. However, the largest shortcoming is that the images don't really
convey emotion in them, they don't make the viewer *feel* anything. Women
want their wedding to be like something out of a fairy tale, and they want
their pictures to make the viewer feel like they're looking into a
fairy-tale.

I did a quick googling for some wedding photography, and here are some
comparisons:

http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_043_img.jpg
http://www.iqphoto.com/newgal/images/sample199.jpg

Look at how the use of perspective, lighting, and depth-of-field give the
second photo more depth, draw your attention more to the cake, and creates
much more "mood".

http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_021_img.htm
http://www.brycevickmark.com/wedding/images/sc32.jpg

Whether you like that last pose or not aside, you can see how much more
emotion is conveyed in the image.

http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_031_img.htm
http://www.brycevickmark.com/wedding...stcarter06.jpg

Some of your photos are getting much closer - here's one that I liked:

http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_042_img.htm

That's a good use of persective, and the sky makes a good background.
However, the subject's expression almost makes her look like she had
something bad for lunch, and her shoulders look hunched forward. The
subject also looks a bit "flat", and some directional lighting would help
out with that. With a little better expression, pose, and lighting, that
good photo would be turned into a great photo.

Steve

"WeddingPhotographer" <> writes:

> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my

I have friends in sales, and they assure me it takes months to get results,
that the key is repetition, repetition, repetition. One guy who sells on
the phone says it takes about 20 calls to a buyer to make the sale.

Read up on marketing. You need a plan, and you need to stick with it.
--
Phil Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
The Civilized Explorer | spam and read later. email from this URL
http://www.cieux.com/ | http://www.civex.com/ is read daily.

bob <> writes:

> WeddingPhotographer wrote:
> > I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> > newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I think my
> > work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with my
> > website layout? Please look at my website and let me know. My website:
> > www.philipcorcoran.com
> >
>
> I like it. I think the business model is sound. It might be good to explain
> that part of the reason traditional wedding photographers shoot the wedding
> inexpensively is that they subsidize the shoot with overpriced prints.
>
> If it was me (being the photographer), I would supply the bride and groom
> with a CD or DVD (so they don't *have* to download). I would also offer
> (perhaps at a nominal fee) to hand them a stack of 4x6 prints (from Wal-mart,
> CVS, or wherever). When my wife and I got married, looking over the proofs
> was fun, and we had a lot going on. I wouldn't have wanted to be *required*
> to download all the photos myself.
>
> You might also want to mention that *real photo prints* can be made
> inexpensively from the files (at the type of location mentioned above). I was
> talking to a number of people at Christmas, and none of them realized that --
> they thought the only way to get prints from digital cameras was to own an
> inkjet printer.

Just a thought -- bear in mind it often isn't the bride who selects the wedding
photographer, but the bride's mother, who may not be as computer literate as
the current generation. If the bride's mother doesn't have a computer, you've
just lost the sale. I would include a couple of real prints in the basic
pricing model, and print them at a place like mpix.com, ezprints.com,
shutterfly.com, and not at Walmart (unless you can convince Walmart not to
print the store name on the back of the print). People want something they can
hold.

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

On 17 Mar 2005 in rec.photo.digital, WeddingPhotographer wrote:

> I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I
> think my work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something
> wrong with my website layout? Please look at my website and let me
> know.
>
> My website: www.philipcorcoran.com

The photography is good, but you need to sell sizzle, not steak.
Strictly from a website point of view: I visited your site in Lynx, a
text mode browser. Search engines (SEs) are essentially text mode
browsers. Here's what your site looks like:

[logo.gif]

Rates ⢠Online Proofs ⢠Contact
__________________________________________________ _______________
Weddings Food Travel
Weddings
Food Travel
Music Theater Glamour
Music
Theater Glamour
__________________________________________________ _______________

There's not much there for a SE to latch onto. I ran a wisenut
(http://wisenut.com/) search on 'photography boston'; you didn't show
up on the first three pages.

- Get your keywords into the body text on your page. If people don't
find it (and if it ain't in the search engines, they won't) they won't
visit. And SEs look for words on the page.
- Secondary to that, keywords in the keyword meta tag aren't worth the
paper they're printed on. They got abused in the early days of SEs,
and current thinking is that most SEs ignore them.
- Get incoming links. Do you have a professional association? Other
(non-competing) wedding professionals you do business with? Suppliers?
A shop that does your printing? Chamber of Commerce? If any of them
have websites, get links to your site.
- Consider Google Adwords or a similar program from other SEs (Yahoo?
MSN? AOL Search?)

Non-web items:
- Do you do bridal shows?
- Yellow pages advertising?
- Church bulletins?
....

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.net/
Email: http://makowiec.net/email.php

I agree.
Although it's hard to get into the mind of a woman, my first impression
is, that she is not looking to share her dream wedding pictures with
photos of Food and Glamor. The site should be wedding dedicated, to
show you mean to give her full and exclusive attention.
Also I agree it's a bit clinical. This is the event of a lifetime, and
she needs to feel it's going to be "special." I don't see that here.
The originator says he wanted a 'modern' feeling, but to be frank, and
no point in being anything else, the wedding photos I see are
pedestrian/everyday, not traditional, quirky even, or modern. This is a
very special day!
DonB

Steve Wolfe wrote:
> > I've been advertising my new wedding photography business in Boston
> > newspapers for several months but I've received few inquiries. I
think my
> > work is good for the prices I ask. Is there something wrong with
my
> website
> > layout? Please look at my website and let me know.
> >
> > My website: www.philipcorcoran.com
>
> I'll be blunt and forthcoming, but don't take any of this as
> mean-spiritted by any means!
>
> The first thing that comes to mind is that the home page looks
bland and
> very amateur. That alone will turn away a LOT of people. Second,
when
> people are shopping for wedding photography, they may not be looking
for a
> "general purpose" photographer that shoots food, travel, etc. - but
someone
> who specializes in wedding photography only. Regardless of the
validity of
> the logic, some people will perceive someone who does ONLY wedding
> photography as being more of an expert in the field. However, that's
not to
> say that a better-looking home page and some terrific samples
couldn't bring
> them around.
>
> Moving on to the photographs themselves, there are various
technical
> shortcomings in them - from being less-than-sharp to poorly- or
under-lit
> scenes. However, the largest shortcoming is that the images don't
really
> convey emotion in them, they don't make the viewer *feel* anything.
Women
> want their wedding to be like something out of a fairy tale, and they
want
> their pictures to make the viewer feel like they're looking into a
> fairy-tale.
>
> I did a quick googling for some wedding photography, and here are
some
> comparisons:
>
> http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_043_img.jpg
> http://www.iqphoto.com/newgal/images/sample199.jpg
>
> Look at how the use of perspective, lighting, and depth-of-field
give the
> second photo more depth, draw your attention more to the cake, and
creates
> much more "mood".
>
> http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_021_img.htm
> http://www.brycevickmark.com/wedding/images/sc32.jpg
>
> Whether you like that last pose or not aside, you can see how much
more
> emotion is conveyed in the image.
>
> http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_031_img.htm
> http://www.brycevickmark.com/wedding...stcarter06.jpg
>
> Some of your photos are getting much closer - here's one that I
liked:
>
> http://www.philipcorcoran.com/weddin...08_042_img.htm
>
> That's a good use of persective, and the sky makes a good
background.
> However, the subject's expression almost makes her look like she had
> something bad for lunch, and her shoulders look hunched forward. The
> subject also looks a bit "flat", and some directional lighting would
help
> out with that. With a little better expression, pose, and lighting,
that
> good photo would be turned into a great photo.
>
> Steve