Facebook, Twitter and Optimized Websites For Stock Photos

We all face constant choices in our business such as where to put our time, whether to facebook, whether to Twitter, and whether to use SEO to enhance the value of our websites.

Facebook, Ping Pong and Coffee

I have a confession to make. I haven’t looked at Facebook in two weeks. I don’t miss it (and I don’t think it misses me either). Its funny; I sort of wish I missed it. I like the idea of being more connected with my friends. And yet, when I am reading the writing on the wall (little humor there), it just isn’t that compelling to me. I would much rather be having a spirited game of ping pong with a friend than sharing tidbits over the Internet. I’d rather be having a discussion about, well, anything over a cup of coffee with a friend, than sharing those thoughts via twitter.

Twitter, Tweets and Limits

Now twitter; I use that to let those following me know when I have posted a new blog entry or interview…and hoping that a lot of RT’s generate traffic and grow my audience. Sometimes I peruse twitter looking for the interesting tweet. But the 140 character limit on twitter I find, well, limiting. E-mail or the phone actually makes more sense to me. To me, twitter is a mini-press release. Oh well, maybe I am showing my age.

A Toe In The Water

What does make sense to me in this digital era is optimizing and fully utilizing my web site. Maybe someday it will be different and people will look for photos through facebook...and that is why I think it a good idea to at least have a toe in the water with social media. But right now, today, people are searching for images and finding my site via search engines. They are licensing images, buying prints and merchandise (though not yet in the quantities that I want), and finding me with interesting business proposals. Oh yeah, and I am making ad revenue from the ads on my site (but again, not yet in the quantities that I desire).

Text Heavy Sites, Finding Images, and Advertising

I made a decision that the look of my site was secondary to the optimization of it. It was a difficult decision to make…to create a text-heavy site. I even resisted it for several years. But eventually I came to believe that if someone was looking for an image, for whatever reason, then having them find that image, on my site, was more important than how the site looked. The way to help people get to those images on my site, that they are looking for, is through text. I further came to believe that if they were looking for an image, and found what they were looking for, then having advertising on my site would not deter them. In fact, if they did not find the image they were looking for, then at least they might find something else that interests them in one of the ads. Providing relevant ads is actually doing a service for them.

An Ear To The Ground and an Eye on the Future

I won’t abandon facebook or twitter. I’ll keep my other toe in the video water (the one not in social media), and I will keep my ear to the ground (as opposed to my head in the sand) and an eye on the future trying to understand where the stock photo industry is headed. I am striving to create images that the market wants (whether they know it or not), and to be as creative as I can in order to fulfill both my monetary and artistic needs. I have a deep faith that the world is always going to need good, relevant photos, and that if I can create such images I will be fine; actually, I will be better than fine, I will thrive.

FOMO!

Elephant on his way!

A case of FOMO


What is more important, your career or your life? I ask this question because a lot of us get lost in chasing things; Chasing success, chasing money, chasing twitter, chasing Facebook. This morning I sought some solace from a good friend and fellow photographer, Shalom Ormsby (www.shalomormsby.com). I explained that to him that I was starting to feel a little frantic about not keeping up with all the tweets from twitter, and all the writing on the wall (Facebook). “You got FOMO!” he exclaimed, “You have Fear of Missing Out.” And it is true. My obsession with Social Media is starting to adversely affect the quality of my life! And that is what got me thinking about how important it is to put your life in front of your career. I already knew that, but a reminder now and then is necessary.

Don’t get me wrong, I have certainly enjoyed whatever success I have had, and not having to worry about paying my bills rates right up there at the top. But life does fly by all too quickly and it is important to enjoy every minute that you can. Whey young people come to me for advice on their photography careers, among other things, I advise them not to forget to plan their life as well as their career. Where do you want to live?
How do you want to live? What do you want your LIFE to look like five years from now, ten years from now? Build your career on those determinations, not the other way around. There is room for both a rich life and a satisfying career, but life needs to be nurtured as well as your career.

I am a huge proponent of visualizing what you want and then writing it down. There is some magic to that. Making your vision of what you want as real as you can, as detailed as you can make it, will propel you in that direction. I do not know if there is a metaphysical component, or if it is just because the more you want something the more likely you are to take the necessary steps to get it…but the process does work. A lot of experts have written on this subject and my favorite is Brian Tracy. I highly recommend anything Brian has written; give him a Google!

So while you visualize your life, I have to get back to my twitter account. I might be missing something!