On the 3rd February 2018 I published the targets for my photography business in 2018.
I am going to see how these are going as we all reach the end of the first quarter of 2018. Blimey - that went quick!
Original text in italics. New text in bold.
I wrote
”Here are my 10 very ambitious targets for my photography business in 2018. Having thought about them for far too long I just need to finalise and publish them. I will review how I got on in January 2019.”
1 - Stock photography
The average UK salary is £27,600, which equates to £2,300 per month. I want my stock photography to achieve 50% of this monthly level of income by the end of 2018, and 100% by the end of 2019.
Is this achievable?
I’m not sure, but there is one thing I can guarantee – I will not achieve this if I don’t try.
I made about £2 through Adobe Stock in 2017! And cannot tell you how great it was to get an email saying I had sold an image, even if it was for 53p!!
That is very ambitious aim number one.
Not managed to do much with this target yet. So not a good start!
“2 - Commercial sponsorship
I want to have one commercial sponsor by the end of 2018. One company, a manufacturer of a product I use and value, whom I can work with promoting their products and at the same time my use of their products.
Another challenging target!”
Well there is movement on this one. I am in contact with a few select suppliers of things that I use. I did not want to just go out and blag all the free stuff I could possibly get my hands on - I am looking for commercial partners whose products I can use and write about, giving these companies some value from my work. Companies who’s products I already use.
This a bit of a slow burner this one - responses can often take a while for understandable commercial reasons.
3 – Freelance writing
I already have one freelance writing contract, on the excellent Improve Photography website. I really enjoy this work, as well of course as the massive exposure. Writing for Improve Photography has made me change how I write, and what I write about.
Both in a positive way.
I want one more freelance writing commitment in 2018. Just one.
Nothing yet. Not that I have tried to be fair.
“4 – Website
I have spent a lot of time and effort on my website in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 I am going to do very little to my website other than the following.
Image refresh – 2 pages per month.
Home page – an update on the text and images.
Travel photographer page – this needs to be produced in February 2018. You will find one image on there at the moment – a photo of Santorini.
And there is the outcome of all this work. By the end of 2018 I want to achieve 1000 visitors per month to my website. I was averaging just over 300 visitors per month before I started my writing on the Improve Photography website in late October 2018.”
Ok - progress update.
At the time of writing this is what Google Analytics is telling me.
No one was on my website when I captured this Google Analytics screenshot!
Basically I am up to circa 500 individual website visitors per month. An excellent increase in web traffic.
Is it the traffic I am after? The benchmark for that is the number of enquiries I get. But for now I am happy with this.
This is a slight decrease on the previous month, but there is another significant change.
Bounce rate - this was over 70%
Now it is down to the lowest I have seen it ever. 55%. Which is very good news.
What is bounce rate exactly?
In Google Analytics, bounce rate is actually the percentage of single interaction visits to a website.
And what about the numbers?
“As a rule of thumb, a bounce rate in the range of 26 to 40 percent is excellent. 41 to 55 percent is roughly average. 56 to 70 percent is higher than average, but may not be cause for alarm depending on the website. Anything over 70 percent is disappointing for everything outside of blogs, news, events, etc.”
I have copied this information from the website Go Rocket Fuel.
I have gone from higher than average to average, which is a great improvement, and I hope one that the work I have done and am still doing will continue this trend.
This is very much ongoing work, and there are new things that I am doing to my website that will add to everything else, so this target might well be achieved.
“5 - Website
I want one source of income achieved solely from my website. This will of course be directly related to the number of visitors to my website, to the value my website has on the World Wide Web.”
See 4 above!
“6 - YouTube
I want to have achieved 10,000 views by the end of 2018. 10,000 views triggers more possibilities in YouTube, which I want to get to. And hopefully the quality of my videos will improve over the course of the year to the point where I am able to produce videos for commercial clients that they want to buy.
And I want a drone too! Just thought I would throw that one into the mix here.”
At the time of writing this post I have managed to get 1408 views. Not good progress at all. One to get stuck into.
“7 - Portfolio
I want a high quality printed portfolio of 30 prints for
- Architectural photography
- Landscape photography
- Travel photography
Interchangeable in a lovely high quality folio holder.
Actual high quality prints that I can present at meetings.”
Not done. Nothing more to say really!
“8 – Qualifications
I want to achieve my ABIPP in 2018. I never submitted my portfolio in 2016 as I was not happy with it, even though my BIPP mentor was happy with it. There is a lesson there in just going for things that I have definitely learnt.”
Update - I have issued my draft portfolio to Bryn Griffiths, my BIPP mentor, and have the green light to submit!
Big news for me.
Bryn Griffiths is awesome, and a Hasselblad Master. Enough said?
“9 - Travel photography work
I want to achieve one commercial photography booking overseas in 2018.”
One that other things will hopefully unlock.
“10 – One shop to sell my photos
Last one. I want my work in an actual shop being sold to actual people. I will get my portfolios done and get out there and see who wants to sell my work.”
Not done. I guess I need my portfolios first!
Summary
I will check about in another three months and see where I am up to, and if I have actually achieved anything!