By David Saffir

What’s the best way to set yourself apart from the crowds and get your work noticed? The Internet and social networking now offer thousands of channels you can use to connect with people who might appreciate your images, and your photography-related expertise. Here are some steps that have helped me build a customer base and gain greater exposure for my photography.

Participate in print competitions and portfolio critiques. Why not make sure your work is as good as you think it is? Bluntly, what really matters is how your work is perceived by the people to whom you’d like to sell your work. Enter your work in categories that fit best with your personal style, and follow the advice from the competition organizers.

Share your expertise. About five years ago, I started writing articles on inkjet photo printing for a new, unknown magazine on digital printing for professional photographers. Along with each of these articles, I included some of my best images. Once I started publishing useful content and my images, opportunities started coming my way for consulting, seminars, and book publishing. All of these activities have continued to provide opportunities to show my work. Another way to generate interest in your work is to consistently provide good answers to questions posed on the forums.

TIP: Instead of targeting only big-name publications look for opportunities to help start-up publications, both in print and on the web. Also, go to some conferences or trade shows and try to develop contacts with companies that interest you.

Develop a personal style. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, find a photography niche in which you can excel. One friend of mine focused on infrared digital photography; another on photojournalism. Create images that fit the niche and write accompanying articles that readers can use in their daily work.

Use a blog to attract visitors to your website. You must have a well-designed, attractive website that showcases your best work and conveys a sense of who you are as a person. A blog that provides value-added content gives people new reasons to visit your site.

I use a Wordpress blog separate from my main website. It is free, easy to use, and provides reasonably detailed reporting on blog traffic. Customizable features in Wordpress make it easier for readers to find the content they want. It is also quite easy to include images in a Wordpress blog.

Use feedback from current and potential readers to help you determine what to cover in your blog posts. Whenever you attend (or teach) a photography workshop, pay close attention to people’s questions. I teach frequently and workshop attendees always ask interesting questions. I receive quite a few emails on a variety of subjects. I monitor questions posted on photography and digital-printing forums. Do this, and you’ll soon see a pattern that you can use to focus your thinking. 

As I compile each list of FAQs, I rank the questions based on timeliness, interest shown in specific subjects, and whether or not I know something about the topic.I also conduct an online survey about every three months.

Write for other blogs. Once you demonstrate your abilities, you will likely be offered opportunities to write and/or provide images for other blogs. For example, after I’d written a number of articles and begun leading seminars, I was invited to join the team of photographers who contribute to this blog!

Invite other people to write for your blog. Broaden the appeal of your blog by inviting other experts to contribute articles on topics of interest. On my blog, posts written by guest authors Robert Ash and Ted Dayton were widely read.

Publicize your posts. There are a number of ways to publicize your work. One of the most useful social-networking tools is LinkedIn, which includes many special-interest photography and printmaking groups. In fact, I started a group myself. So far, the Fine Art Reproduction for Professionals group has drawn over 150 members. Whenever I post new content, I make an announcement about it with a direct link to the post on the LinkedIn groups that are most active. I also make posts on Facebook, and Twitter. I also make sure that Google is informed about new content on my website in a timely fashion. The best way to find out about this is to create a user account on Google (free), and look up Google Analytics. Google provides detailed instructions for use.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. It may take many months of focused effort before you start connecting with the people who value and appreciate your offerings.

Since I started focusing on improving my online publishing workflow, the monthly traffic to my website has tripled. For me, combining multiple promotional tools has been most effective. A somewhat unexpected benefit is that traffic to my portfolio and gallery pages has increased as overall traffic has increased. Put another way, galleries that weren’t viewed all that often in the past are now being visited.

Keep in mind that a key part of all this is to help others become better photographers. If you can communicate your willingness to help, the rest will fall into place.