I am writing a major post about photography business resources that I use. I wanted to write a short post about the resources that I use on my photography websites.
These are the 6 Essential Resources For A Successful Photography Website that I use.
- GoDaddy – website domains
- Bluehost – website hosting
- WordPress – website platform
- Ezoic – website adverts
- Blog development – Income School
- Business Development – Convertkit
These website resources have been hand-picked by me over the course of many years of business and I use them on all my my websites, including this one that you are reading this blog post on right now. These products and services have been recommended by the very best in the online marketing world, people that I trust.
After reading this post you will know What you need to start a new website, and if you have a website already you will find new things to help grow your website and your photography business. Oh yes and also to earn some money from your website which has to be a good thing!
Ånd a very warm welcome from me to my website – thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me. I best make sure that this is time well spent hadn’t I?
Why are these tools important to me?
Simple. Each one contributes in its own way to this and my other websites. My websites are not only my online presence but business tools in themselves.
I will say it again, these are tools that I use and pay for that have taken me years to find and incorporate into my online businesses which I can personally recommend to you all.
A word on my affiliate links
In the brief description of each product you will find affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and buy that product or service I do get a commission, and you get my (virtual) thanks.
You don’t pay any more but the company just gets a bit less for me telling you about their product, which is fair enough don’t you think?
This is an important aspect of running a successful online business these days – a website is not just a website but one of various revenue streams that we need to thrive these days.
Want to find out what else I use?
I list all the business resources that I recommend on the Photography Business Resources page of my website.
OK – back to the 6 resources for successful photography website
Can I start by saying that these days it is pretty much a given that you have your own website if you want to operate a successful photography business.
And if you are going to have a website it needs to work for you in more ways than just being there on the internet. As I said before my websites are contributors to my photography business income as well as being my online presence and the place where people find me..
1 – GoDaddy
To have a website you need your own domain. That is your own piece of the internet. When I say domain I mean your own web site URL.
Mine is https://rickmcevoyphotography.com.
I use GoDaddy for this. Very slick, good pricing, regular offers and telephone support make them my go to for web domains.
And why .com I hear you ask? OK – you know what I mean…
Well photography, as well as being a wonderful thing is a global wonderful thing, so why would I want to restrict myself to a .co.uk website?
I made the switch a couple of years ago and wish I had started off as a .com URL back in the day…..
2 – WordPress
I use WordPress for all my websites now.
A word of caution though. WordPress can be challenging but it is well worth learning for the long term. And building a successful online business is not a quick thing, it is very much a long term thing
And WordPress is free. And I managed to work it out with some help so It is worth considering.
But before I moved to WordPress this year I used Squarespace for a number of years, and they made things super easy for me to grow my website.
If you don’t know or want to learn WordPress Squarespace is a great place to start but you do have to pay for it.
3 – Bluehost
Once you have a URL you need someone to host your website so other people can see it. You can use the same company for hosting as you do for your domain but on the advice of others I split the two.
I use Bluehost for my hosting. And I am so glad I chose them, again using the advice of someone I trust.
Bluehost have the best customer support that I have ever come across. They have genuinely saved me from disaster many times, and have also helped me do things in WordPress that I was struggling with massively.
They also guided me through the transition from Squarespace to WordPress which I could not have done on my own.
And I also hop on the chat with them once a month and they backup all my websites.
Invaluable to me. Literally.
This is my affiliate link for Bluehost who I can not recommend enough.
4 – Ezoic
If you have a website why not make money from it with ads? You need 10,000 page views to get accepted by Ezoic..
Ezoic however do have an arrangement with Income School, who I will get on to next. You can get ads on a website sooner through this route as they know that you are working to a known formula that will get your traffic levels up to the 10,000 page views per month. 10,000 views and well beyond that is!
Ezoic have dedicated success managers who guide you through the process of getting ads on your website.
I did not have a clue how to do this but they guided me through the process painlessly. I was dreading this but it really was straightforward with their help.
See, companies who help me are very important to me.
Ezoic use Artificial Intelligence to maximise the earning capacity of websites. I am relatively new to this but like getting my monthly payment from Ezoic, even if it is a modest payment at the moment.
Click on my Ezoic Affiliate link to get started with ads on your website.
5 – Income School
If you have a website you should start a blog. This gives you fresh regular new content which Google loves, which will help get traffic to your website which is the whole point of this right?
Income School run a course called Project 24, where if you follow their processes you could earn a full-time income in 24 months.
Income School is full of fantastic resources, including the Community who have helped me out endless times. Them and Bluehost have got me to where I am now.
You have to pay for this of course, but there are fantastic resources and a proven system to follow one step at a time.
If you want to earn money from your website then Income School Project 24 is well worth a go – sign up using my affiliate link.
And going back to WordPress, you get their own custom WordPress theme included in the cost of your subscription. It is called Acabado, super fast and super easy to set up, taking away one of the barriers to going with WordPress.
And yes I use this theme on this website.
6 – Convertkit
This is new to me. Email lists are a great way to build an audience online, and a way to communicate directly with people who are interested in what you have to say.
And Convertkit is free to start with which is good. And their support is also excellent – they have helped me get started and create those subscribe boxes that you can see on my website, and also my first ever landing page!
If you want to grow an online business, you need an email list. Trust me I have this on good authority.
Ask Pat! (Ask Pat 2.0).
Summary
I hope that you have found the information in this post helpful, and that you now have some new ideas for creating and growing your own photography website, whilst at the same time adding new revenue streams.
Rick McEvoy Photography 2020
#photographybusinessonline #photographybusiness #photographywebsite