Reply To: When to create a Facebook, Flickr, website

[Bill]

I think it is all how you present yourself on what ever platform you choose, but there are some advantages to using a dedicated web site for your photography.

If you are getting into the business, presentation is key. This doesn’t mean you have to shell out thousands of dollars for a fancy web site, but it basically boils down to how you want to be perceived by everyone and what route you are going with your photography.

If it is just a hobby, then flickr is fine. It has good features and fairly easy flow. If Yahoo can get their shit together and figure it out, it would be a lot easier. IMO, Flickr is a great way to present photos, but lacks in the business side of things. Yeah, they can do licensing for you, but trust me, you won’t get rich from it, your better off doing that part yourself, if you get to that part.

Facebook is good, but it isn’t without it’s problems. For photographers, it is a good way to keep in touch with your clients without being a pain in the ass like some email marketing firms can be.

The problems with facebook are privacy, photo protection and usage.
We all know that facebook has privacy issues and will have in the future as they look for further ways to monetize the service, you didn’t think it was actually free did you?

Photo protection is next to nil, since anyone can download a photo that you post. You shouldn’t use it as a gallery anyway, why would you? This is where a web site comes in, but I will get to that later. Facebook has a strange way of resizing and compressing the images to make them load faster, that has terrible effects on photos and the way they are presented.

Usage, it is a very good idea to keep a little separation between you and your business, this can be sometimes hard to do using facebook. It is a really good idea to have a totally separate page for your personal stuff to avoid any negative attention. Remember, what you say or post can have dire consequences, especially with your clients if using it as a “business” page.

A web site, depending on your service provider and platform, can allow you to do pretty much what you want. Nowadays, you don’t have to know all sorts of coding and scripts, there are plenty of ready-made templates available for free or low-cost. It helps to know some coding, but you can figure it out by going on youtube or searching the web for how-to’s. There are even free web sites, they may have some limitations, but they are free.

The trick to doing photography as a business, is incorporating all the available platforms into an easy to follow environment. Don;t forget you have Tumblr, Pintrest, Google+ and many more out there to choose from.

Good Luck!