From a photographer’s artistic point of view, websites are digital portfolios of their work. But from a business point of view, a website only has one goal: to get potential clients to send an email or pick up the telephone.

In marketing, the business goal is called the conversion rate. If 100 folks look at a website and 5 call, that means the website has a 5% conversion rate. The better the website, the better the conversion rate.

Here are 3 easy things you can do to your website that will only take a few minutes each to accomplish, but have repeatedly been shown to increase any website’s conversion rate:

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If you’ve been thinking about creating a custom business (or fan) page in Facebook but didn’t know how to get started, Tim Ware has created the best “step-by-step” instructions I’ve found on the web. He shows you graphically what changes you can make to your Facebook business page so that it can become a virtual website for your business.

Did I say website?

What we learned during the recent photo contest was that some photographers have started using Facebook instead of a regular website. This is a new, growing trend. While there are good reasons to have both, there is some logic to focusing on Facebook. If you only have the time and energy to keep one site constantly updated with new information, why not use Facebook as your main marketing site?

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If you aren’t ready for mobile phone users to find you online, you need to get started. Here’s why:

• By 2013 — 50% of web traffic will come from mobile devices
• 74% of smart phone users made a purchase based on a phone search
• The US population is approximately 306 million. 69 million have smart phones now

“Mobile” is growing faster than any other aspect of computing. If you expect your customers to be able to find you online, you need to be ready for mobile.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a video you should watch.

So what can you do to get ready?

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If you’re having trouble picking the 5-8 best keywords for your website, take advantage of Google’s auto-complete feature.

How does auto-complete work? As you type each letter into the search box on the www.google.com homepage, Google sifts through millions of other online searches to “guess” what you are looking for. The more letters you type, the better Google gets at guessing. Since most people hate to type, they click the terms on the screen, and over time the top searches get more popular.

These “top searches” can be used to help you verify the best keywords or 2-3 word keyword phrases.

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You’ve just created a great marketing email newsletter (or postcard), and you want to drive clients to your website to see more examples of your work. It makes sense: your website is your 24/7 salesman, showing off your studio’s products and services in the best possible light.

So at the bottom of the email newsletter, you write something like “See samples at myphotostudio.com” Not bad, but there is a better solution.

Ask any website marketing expert and they will tell you: When it comes to converting readers into paying customers with email marketing, it isn’t the subject line, the photographs, the graphics or the “from” address that has the biggest impact on converting views into sales.

The secret to email conversions is to send customers to a focused landing page.

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We all know the old joke about what the word “assume” means (in the interest of good taste, I can’t print it here). Yet all of us make them.

Below is a list of five assumptions many of us have about online marketing. If you have any of them, you could be hurting your studio’s bottom line.

• Assume that an attractive website is the goal. I hear clients say, “I know my website isn’t great, but I’m working on a new one.” Then one night after work they will buy one of those cool all-flash photography templates, spend 4-5 hours adding a bunch of images and studio contact information, and declare the project “finished.” Great design is important, but unless your website is SEO friendly, potential customers won’t be able to find you.

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If you’ve been following JD’s blog regularly, you’ve read lots of tips for improving your website for SEO (search engine optimization). SEO is the secret sauce that can help you get your website to the first page of Google, Yahoo and Bing (the big 3).  Unfortunately, most SEO doesn’t work for the beautiful all-flash websites that I see many photographers have started using.

Why?

95% of all flash websites are invisible to Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Do you have an all-flash website? Not sure? Here’s an easy experiment I’d like you to do:

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On any given day, I speak with several photographers. As we talk on the phone, I usually visit their website. While I’ve seen some great websites, I’ve seen others that don’t quite convey the professional image the photographer is trying so hard to project online.

Your website is an important part of your brand. 80% of new customers will look you up online before contacting your studio. That’s why you’ve got to get every detail of your website right.

Here is a list of 10 projects you can do in an hour or less that will make your site look more professional to your clients. Do one of these every day for the next two weeks, and you’ll be confident your website isn’t hurting your sales.

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I honestly cannot remember how I got along before Google. Back in the day a phone book, a telephone and a map were all the tools I needed to make a purchase or find an address. Now that I have Google, I can’t imagine going back to the old way of doing business.

The problem with Google is that it has too much information. Type “photographer” in Google and you’ll see everything from Ansel Adams to Zoom Lenses. Not very helpful if your customer is looking for your studio online.

Here are the steps I use when I’m selecting keywords to help visitors find my website.

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You would think photographers could run out of anything else before they run out of quality images. But the fact is, even pros occasionally need to use stock photography for

• Graphics to use in advertising materials
• Backgrounds and textures for composites
• Shots from locations around the globe

This butterfly image is a perfect example. Why go to the trouble of taking this image myself, when their are a host of places online where I could get this image (legally) for free?

It’s called Stock Photography. Every designer and marketing person in America uses it, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t use it too.

I thought I’d share with you some of the stock image web sites I use most frequently to find excellent images.

Stock.xchng. This is where I start. The quality of images here is uneven, but I occasionally find a good one, and the price is right – most images are free in exchange for mentioning the photographer. Because Stock.xchng has partnered with iStockPhoto, in addition to the free images, you can see what paying a couple of bucks will get you.

iStockPhoto. A great site for very inexpensive images, but beware of image “over-use.” You can easily end up with an image that’s already been used by many other people. Image quality is also more of an issue, since many amateurs contribute to the site, so select carefully. All that said, there are still wonderful images to be found here, and it’s hard to beat the prices.

EveryStockPhoto. Another free image site, it searches the Internet for images that are available under the Creative Commons License (like flickr). This means you are free to share or remix the images, but that You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the photographer.

Getty Images. Over 80 million images, priced from $5 to thousands of dollars each. Huge and highly professional selection, and a very powerful search tool. If you want a photo of Elvis in your marketing brochure, this is where you’ll find it.

Jupiter Images. Like Getty, they have a huge, terrific selection and a good search tool. Because Jupiter has partnered with many of the best stock photo sites, you are guaranteed to find what you want here, even though some of the images can get pretty expensive.

Image*After. This free image site specializes in textures. It is a great place to find a piece of wood or fabric texture you can integrate into a background or composite. Note that most of the textures don’t require attribution.

If you have a favorite place to find stock photography for your business, leave it in the comments below and share it with others.

Butterfly photograph by Keith Syvinski