Make Money With Your Own Photography Site Part 1

ArrGee · 10-12-2008, 02:35 AM

Ok folks. I am going to part with some information that I don't usually give out for free, but it's best that we work together as a community.

I have a number of websites that make me around £2k to £5k per month and growing. There are 4 websites and I am producing more and more. These sites pay my mortgage and bills. I do not pay a penny in advertising, and I do not employ anyone (shame). The sites work pretty much on auto pilot, but it does take some work to kick off with.

First of all, like myself, there are plenty of people out there that want to create their own websites, but they are frightened of the whole prospect. They think that they have to learn a whole new major software application, understand design, understand SEO, hosting, RSS, blogs....oh, it gets so confusing. So I am posting this to show you that you can also make cash on autopilot for almost nothing, except your time and effort.

I will try my best to show you all the set-up process in this post, and I will break it down for you in later posts. This post is going to be the full process in bare-bones methodology.

First of all, think of a subject that you are interested in. No, actually, think of around 10. In this case, I am going to use the topic of photography.

Mmmm...photography. God, there are thousands of sites out there about photography. But bear with me.

You are going to set-up a website about photographic equipment. (Yawn, loadsa those out there too).

I said, bear with me.

Let's just cut to the chase here, and let your brain fill in the rest.

You're going to produce a website about photographic equipment, but you don't have the cash to buy the equipment or the time to test it and report back on your site. Nope. What you do instead, is you call the Press Department of Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc, and ask for a press release of any new equipment they put onto the market. They will send it to you free, and (hey presto) you have your review! Just re-word a little (not too much) and put it on your website.

Next, call the equipment supplier and ask if they have an affiliate program. (Yes, of course they do) and put a banner ad for the equipment you 'reviewed' right next to the review. You can gain as much as 50% of the value of the sale in some circumstances. (My Nikon D200 cost me about £700)

Update the content each time you get that automated press release from a supplier.

ArrGee · 10-12-2008, 02:37 AM

Now you can start adding extras to your site. Such as ebooks about how best to use that equipment, and gain a percentage of sales. You could even write the ebook yourself, or even sell the equipment manual as an ebook!

Oh, but, hang on. What did I say about this whole website production and hosting stuff?

What if I told you that you could register a website address, have it hosted for 2 years, no software to install, no software training, update from anywhere in the world from any computer. It is so simple to use. Just go to google and type in "office live pages".

Yes, that top link from Microsoft is the place to go. Want more help? Then just google "office live tips and tricks". And once you register, you don't have to pay for 2-3 years. On some domains you don't have to pay at all!

As said, the subject does not have to be about photography. It is totally your choice.

However, here is the hard bit. Putting your time and effort into marketing for free. Yes, time and effort to make money. But you can do it in your spare time. I will show you how.

I have spent years doing this, and you don't have to. I will show you exactly how I did it. All I ask in return is if you stumble across any other tips that can help us all, post it.

PS, You have to believe it to see it, but the website design stage is so easy that even a kid of 5 (my nephew) can use it to good effect.

PPS, Even if you choose a domain that will cost you £7.99 after two years, I am fairly sure that you will make that amount through affiliate marketing in that time, so there is nothing to lose and all to gain.

As mentioned, that's the bare-bones scope. I'll fill you in with come great marketing tips soon. Just do me a favour. Don't pay a penny for any traffic/marketing/site farms, etc. They are not worth it.

Go for it webmaster!

Tripleeagle · 10-12-2008, 08:40 AM

Absolutely great guide! Well written, really interesting, very informative...well done!
Nominated

ArrGee · 10-12-2008, 10:37 AM

Thanks Tripleeagle.

Gwerzal · 10-12-2008, 01:20 PM

Great article dude

Very much appreciated and nominated.

Wheres your links in your sig though mate. Lots of people will se this post so its better to add them sooner rather than later.

Im gonna change the title slightly just to make it more relevent but otherwise this is very good info.

ArrGee · 10-12-2008, 01:33 PM

Thanks for the nominations peeps. Really appreciated, especially as I am very new here. The information given is an example, so in this example, photography was used. But you can apply the same formula to pretty much anything. Look for niche markets so that your competition is lower.

So, what is an example of a niche? Let's go back to photography once again. It's a very broad area. So instead you could focus (pardon the pun) in a specialist area of photography. In other words, your site could be concentrated to information about just Digital SLRs, or lenses, or camera bags, etc, etc. You get the idea.