When you visit Kevin's website there are a number of things that stand out, some obviously so, some catch you more unawares and it's not until you've been there for a while that you begin to understand how effective his website is.
One of those things is the long list of Kevin's photography awards that he proudly and rightly so, shows off on his website. A website that we know is converting well. Learn how the awards affect bookings and how he leverages them to improve his business and website rankings.
Here's some more of what we cover:
If you're on Twitter and like to support the show and easily let Kevin know you've been listening, click here to populate a tweet: photobizx.com/Kev
What's on Offer for Premium Members
In this episode, I announce a big shake up for the premium members and how you will get more premium content than ever before. Going forward, members will receive the full interview via email with the option to download or listen from the membership area of the website.
Non premium listeners will only be hearing roughly half the interviews from today. I will, however, continue to do my absolute best to get the most valuable content possible in the first half of each interview and I won't be holding back.
Needless to say, I'll be going just as hard in the 2nd half of the interviews for premium members.
Why the big change? After more than 12 months and 56 episodes, there is no mistake about what you get with the Photo Biz Xposed podcast interviews. From the very start, my intention was to provide a seminar/business workshop with the best guests possible to help improve your photography business. I wanted this show to make a difference to your bookings, profitability, your confidence and your lifestyle. I wanted to produce a show that encourages you to take action and that makes a difference.
I never wanted to produce a show for entertainment value.
With the runs on the board and emails every week letting me know the difference the podcast is making, I know I'm on the right track. I feel now is the time to keep the listeners that really are serious about taking action in their business, the listeners that want to improve.
If that's you, get on board and join all the other premium members and don't miss out on information, advice and tips that will take your business to the next level.
If you're simply looking for a time filler, some photography entertainment, the weekly podcast will still be available for you but just not in as much depth.
I hope to see you as a premium member if you're not already there.
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview with Kevin, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or learnt from what he had to share? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you'd like to ask or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.
If you'd like an easy way to show the guys your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically and let them know you're listening: https://photobizx.com/kev.
The Resources Page
Remember the ever expanding resources page that has a listing of products, programs, hardware, books and directories mentioned in each episode of the show. If you’re looking for something that a guest has mentioned on a previous episode but just can’t remember who or what it was – you’ll find it listed in order on the resources page.
iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs
Each week before recording the podcast I check iTunes for any reviews and each week I'm excited to see what you've had to say about the podcast and am usually blown away by the comments and reviews. This week was no exception with 3 fantastic reviews. A big thanks this week to Anais Chaine from Aukland New Zealand, Chris Gillham from All Reasons Photography in Queensland Australia and Todd from Todd Langille Photography in Ottawa Canada.
Sincerely, thanks so much for your rating and review, I appreciate the time you've taken and it's a big help for the show. It's these iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes.
Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask. Don't be shy about leaving your business name in the review either – that way I can add a link in the show-notes and show my appreciation with a proper thanks and a Google loving back-link to your website.
Get in Touch or Leave a Voicemail Message
If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on Twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Kevin's main website – http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk
My Eyes Website – where Kevin covers his Fuji experience
Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R Wide-Angle Lens
Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 Camera Lens
Fujifilm X100S: From Snapshots to Great Shots
Vimeo – For sharing video content
Photo Mechanic – photography software for sorting, renaming and renumbering images fast
That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!
If you've been enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to tell another photographer about it – it could be in a Facebook Group you're a part of, a photography forum, with a photographer friend or on twitter.
If you do have a twitter account, simply click here: https://photobizx.com/tweet or use the share buttons below.
Thanks and speak soon
Andrew
Cool! Things are changing on here but even so, great content Andrew. It was interesting to hear from a U.K photographer as I’m in the U.K and can relate better to him.
And once again, it was good to hear all the tips Kev gave as to SEO and websites etc. So, thanks again guys.
Yes, things are changing and hopefully for the better. I think the photographers serious about their business and being more profitable will move with the changes, won’t miss a thing and continue to implement the great advice and tips.
I’m 100% behind your comments about Kevin – he shared so much great knowledge and his success is testament to that. I know I’ll be making a few website changes as a result of this interview.
Andrew
Another great podcast. I think Kevin’s pricing strategy is spot on – and I will seriously think about adopting the same when I get to that level. It’s really easy to get distracted by all the different ways of promoting our work – but Kevin really strikes home that a well designed, well maintained and relevant website is the foundation to all of this. You can have the best referral in the world – but if your website doesn’t look spot on you could still lose the booking.
I looked at a similar pricing strategy for my business a couple years ago but couldn’t sell the idea to Linda, my wife 🙂
I still think it’s a great way to go, especially if you’re busy enough to be getting more enquiries than you can take on in a year.
Visiting Kevin’s website, it’s easy to see how much thought and work has gone into the structure. It’s difficult to visit any page and not get caught up going from post to post, page to page… it’s been very well done.
I was actually considering shooting weddings these eve, after all the resistance! And thought, oooh, if I did shoot weddings, I’d shoot them documentary style too. That’s the only way I’d do them!
Another amazing interview! I always believe that pricing yourself low will make your possible clients think your work isnt that good.
Agreed Joseph – a common thread with successful photographers is that competing on price is never going to turn out well.
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been on here. Another great podcast Andrew. I really like the idea of using one wedding to write a bunch of different blogs. That is something that I will definitely be doing since we don’t have a whole lot of weddings that we have done yet.
I would really like to try out the little fuji cameras, but I think I would use it mostly for personal work. It’s a bit of a pain lugging around a huge DSLR on a plane, or in a backpack when I’m only using it for myself, and not a client.
Good to hear you enjoyed this episode Chris. I loved the “feature image” blog post idea too!
I’ve hardly used my Fuji for wedding photography and really made the purchase for family/everyday/travel photography and it’s absolutely perfect for that – for the exact reasons you mention.
It’s small, light, simple but every capable – get one if you can, you’ll love it!
Thanks for the positive feedback and comments folks. And thanks Andrew for allowing me to be part of the podcast.
The pricing options of course are very subjective but it works remarkably well for me. It allows me to build a strategy at the beginning of the year, and based on previous years statistics I can actually pretty accurately plan for the year ahead (and taking August off 😉 )
Again, the documentary approach is very much subjective. A lot of “classical” wedding photographer think there is no place for it in the industry. Of course, everyone can have an opinion and I’m totally in awe of the people who can do the formal photography well. But for me, if I didn’t enjoy doing it, then I wouldn’t want to do it and the documentary approach is what ticks all the boxes for me.
And as for the Fuji cameras (other CSCs are out there remember folks!) – try them. All the CSCs manufacturers are developing systems that are very capable of professional shooting and hopefully people will see that these cameras are more than “personal photography”.
An absolute pleasure Kevin and thank you for answering all the questions here. We’re all grateful for your time and for sharing your thoughts.
“And as for the Fuji cameras (other CSCs are out there remember folks!) – try them. All the CSCs manufacturers are developing systems that are very capable of professional shooting and hopefully people will see that these cameras are more than ‘personal photography’.” – since coming across your work late last year I have thought you are a class act and you continue reaffirm that notion.
I’m part way through the interview and I need to stop listening to these in the car during my commute as I keep wanting to write ideas down – Keep up the good work Andrew and Thank You Kevin for sharing your online, biz and shooting insights.
Rollin, I once heard from a podcast expert that if a podcast can keep a listener in their car once they arrive home, to keep listening – or to pull over and take notes, you have a successful podcast episode on your hands.
Thanks for reaffirming I’m doing something right with the interviews.
As for Kevin being a “class act” – I reckon you are spot on! I believe it was you that recommended Kevin as a podcast guest and for that I thanks you, what a fantastic suggestion.
After a year of listening to your show, you may have given me the nudge I needed to finally sign up for the premium membership. I listen to a lot of different podcasts each week, but yours is the one I always look forward to the most.
I often struggle with blogging, but I got some great ideas from hearing Kevin’s interview. The “Why I love this Picture” category is brilliant!
I agree that’s brilliant, and I’ve taken it on myself and created my own little #WILTP project. Only one down, but should be more to come! 🙂
http://shotby.ca/edmonton-city-hall-wiltp/
I plan on doing it twice weekly now by either taking a new photo, or going through my backlog of photos and picking out something that I may not have looked at recently.
So good to see you implementing something you’ve heard on the podcast Chris – that’s awesome!
Blog posting doesn’t seem anywhere near as daunting when it’s focussed on one photo and why you like it. It seems this was a massive take away from what Kevin shared.
Love the first photo in your series too. Cool location and an interesting dude.
Good to read your comments Tim – you’ll love (and know) what’s on offer for premium members. Make sure you let me know about some of the things you’ve implemented as a result – I’d love to hear or read about them!
Great to have you listening and good luck with the new blogging ideas, I think it’s a winner too and lines up perfectly with what Facebook and marketing expert David Watson had to say at the end of his interview in episode 51.
Hey there, I listened for like a day and just my nosy nature I guess, I HAD to know what was being said in the premium world! I signed up my second day I think after finding this page and love it! its so worth the 10 bucks a month as there is some GREAT stuff there that is not covered and reserved for premium members! Also you get a different comment section and its a bit more personal imo. I dig it anyways, I say go for it!
Great to read your comments Tara and it’s great having you as an active contributor and Premium Member!
Kevin,
Is there a reason you display your wedding galleries where you page down, like on this page: http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk/gloucestershire-wedding-photography/temple-guiting-manor-wedding.html
over the kind that display in one frame?
Thanks in advance,
Rollin
Rollin – Individual images have a much stronger SEO pull in Google Image search than composited gallery types. Also, I prefer to see images big an bold on the page 🙂
Thank you. I thought you’d have a reason, and probably be SEO related.
I agree with the big and bold, and personally find some of the layouts with lots of little images too visually busy. Also, for our style of shooting, where content is so important, the larger image allows better appreciation of the layers of meanings.
Supply and Demand based pricing. A concept that can actually work if you see yourself as a unique artform that they can only get from you. I think it also works well for the wedding photography model, because you arent really going to annoy people by changing your price throughout the year because they arent repeat clients.
They are only looking for a wedding photographer once and whatever the price is at that time is what it is.
If you were say a portrait photographer and varying your price from one year to the next might confuse people who have been before, but for an area like weddings this can actually work.
Another great interview by Andrew and great to hear about a successful photographer on the other side of the world!
Now I’m keen to hear the rest of the interview, on how to make your website work hard for you… so I think its time to sign up for the premium!
Totally agree Brian – would never work for multi-sales type businesses.
Hey Brian – good to read your comments and I agree, the supply and demand model is far more suited to wedding photographers.
If you’re happy with the way your website is performing in regard to client conversions and Google rankings, there’s probably nothing for you in the premium part of this interview with Kevin 😉
Hang on, if your trying to talk me out of listening to the premium content… it must be good!
Cheeky!
Kevin,
What do you use for software after Photo Mechanic?
Lightroom Rollin and then Capture One Phase One Pro 7 right now.
I liked Kevin’s approach to SEO when he said “Be completely honest and natural with your content”. I think that is so much better than trying to pay someone to try to cheat the system.
Also liked how he emphasized the need for having “ongoing” content. I definitely needed to hear that.
Also how Andrew chimed in saying that the amount of time someone is on your site helps your ranking as well. Definitely will be ringing up the family to have them Google me and leave the page open all day, haha : )
Enjoyed this episode a lot… at least the first half of it. Now I am going log in and catch the second half. Maybe I should have saved my comments for after the whole episode. Oh well : )
Thanks for putting it together for us!
Joey Joiner
Fort Worth Photographer
Good idea having your family hang around on your site Joey 😉
I’m so glad Kevin explained that we should be natural and honest with our writing (I think a few guests have said this now), I’m so sick of reading crappy content written purely for the search engines. Photographers are notorious for putting out that drivel. Including me, I’m making a conscious effort to change!
Hope you enjoyed the 2nd half as much as the 1st – lots of great stuff that Kevin shared.
From my journalism background I had planned to blog smaller story bits out of weddings along the lines of Kevin’s “Why I love this picture” all alone, but I encourage everyone to study the details of Kevin’s website as everything is there for a reason from his SEO background. Some as simple as asking visitors to Like, share and connect to your FB & G+ and not just have the buttons sitting there – it worked for me. And as Andrew said Kevin’s site keeps you moving and involved in it through his linking.
Since Andrew you ask about how we are applying what we hear on the podcat I did my first short blog post: http://www.rohuphoto.com/weddings/2014/4/6/extra-the-story-behind-the-shoes and used Kevin’s Technical Details label and I like the data you are including in yours so going to tweak mine some more. Calling these “Extra:” and not copying directly Kevin’s Why I love this picture/photo headline like some folks. . . . looking at you AH 😉
Hi Rollin – good pick up with Kevin’s call to actions on each of his posts and pages. Everything on his site is there for a reason as you say. Nice to hear the ideas are working for you too… Proof this stuff works.
Nice to see you’re not “copying” and have come up with your own spin on the theme. And nice digg at me too. I did ask Kevin about my wording when implementing his idea but you couldn’t have known that. I’ve just tweaked my post title and category name – I’d hate to be seen as copying after a big mistake I made copying something in the past.
I like the idea of your “extras” content but where are the words to go along with the posts for your SEO benefits?
Meant only as good natured ribbing, hope you took it as no more than that.
For stuff like this there is only so many words in the English language and you tweaked it to make it your own. Good example of adapting an idea especially when you are in a different hemisphere/audience. Reason again to check out photographers from around the world and not just the local competition. I found it interesting to see how you are applying it too.
All good Rollin – I was guessing that you were just teasing but it’s difficult to know sometimes, hence my explanation.
I’m actually glad you did mention it be honest. Made me push myself to come up with a different spin, something I should have done from the start instead of taking the easy way out.
What about the copy for your post? Or are you going for the simplicity of the images and shooting data?
Good call, I need to work on text for SEO benefit to track better for searches for documentary, photojournalism reportage wedding photography in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. 😉 Seriously, you are correct. I liked the simplicity of just an intro and letting the three images play off each other. Looking again at Kevin’s posts he has even more at the end of his posts – About the Author, etc. I just hope one day to have some comments and interaction like you guys.
In this case the wedding lasted less than 5 minutes, with a total of less than an hour at the greenhouse and I did not feel I had a strong solo image that I could not use in the original wedding post. In the future I plan to do more a “why I love” a single image with lots more text, as long as it falls into what would touch a bride while between engagement and wedding day (I think Anie from your episode #60 is going to be sitting on my shoulder talking into my ear for awhile on reasoning and approach to most decisions LOL https://photobizx.com/the-business-marketing-and-branding-brains-behind-yervant-photography-international/#comment-2864)
For the more technical & creative photography stuff going to start a second blog area tentatively called Kit (the Gear & Creativity we bring) to build SEO and a place to host other posts.
I am yet to listen to this podcast – need to catch up with the podcasts. I have been busy with implementing SEO advice from Gabriel Machuret. Ok, downloading now!
I loved what Gabriel had to share in his interview and implemented some of what he teaches in my business following that episode.
Interestingly, I’ve also implemented a couple of ideas I picked up from Kevin too – you’ll love this episode when you get to it Adi.
Hi! Greetings from Greece!
I found the Photobixz podcasts very recently, just 15 days ago, and I have been listening day-in day-out! What a magnificent resource.
Being an engineer/ web/ marketing guy myself as well as a wedding photographer of course, listening to the podcast of Kevin, and getting to analyse his thoughts and his website I have come to appreciate his honesty and straightforward way of presenting things, authentically. He is producing magnificent photographic work but he supports it extremely well marketing-wise. Kudos Kevin!
Well, Kevin’s podcast, being among the first to listen to, definitely made me want to jump into the premium wagon. Thank you very much!
Hi Yannis!
Wow, I think you may be the first listener from Greece and certainly the first Greek photographer to leave a comment.
It sounds like you have the perfect combination of skills for a successful photography business.
Is it mainly Greek locals or tourist coming for destination weddings that you are shooting?
Looking at your website, you have some wonderful locations to shoot at!
Thanks for adding your comments. Stay in touch.
Hi Andrew,
Thank you so much for all the time, effort and dedication you have put into bringing all this information to the world. I have listened to podcast before and got put off due to all the bias due to sponsorship. After getting hooked on your other podcast (Weddings made easy) i stumbled across PhotobizX and instantly loved it. And now thats all i listen to. Am now woking on justifying too my partner on why i want to be a premium member.
My partner and i shoot weddings as a team and after listening to your podcasts, discovered there was a lot we needed to change and improve in our business. We have increased our prices and already booked 2 weddings on the new prices. The next thing we are working on is our website. Our current website does not have a blog and we had been posting more stuff onto our Facebook page but once we have the new site (WordPress based) up and running will shift the focus to our website.
Keep up the great work and the professional manner in which you run the podcast.
Hi Oswald – great to have you listening and really nice to read your comments.
So far I’ve gone against the idea of sponsorship in favour of a “user pays” if they feel the content is worth paying for. I personally get sick of ads and would be happy to (and do) pay for content I think is worthwhile.
The challenge is to make sure the value is there and that’s one thing I work on for every episode.
Very cool that you’ve not only raised your prices but made bookings on the new price structure – got to be happy with that!
You will love having WordPress as a framework for your site – so flexible and you should be able to do more than 90% of what you want to do yourself… when you want to do it. If you get stuck with anything, let me know. If I can help I will.
Speak soon!
Loved this interview! So much good stuff here… Interesting to hear the strategy of upping prices for the remainder of the year once you’re nearly booked, and I especially liked the SEO conscious way he approaches building a website.
Most interesting to me was when he talked about minimizing the time he spent with clients on anything but the wedding day. That’s a big love/hate thing for me: I absolutely love getting to know my clients better, and everyone feels more at ease on the wedding day. I’m lucky that many of my clients are people I’d like to be friends with in “real life” (and my marketing is targeted to bring those cool types in), so it’s actually enjoyable to know clients better. However, it does eat up a lot of time that could be productive toward other things or spent with the family.
Does anybody else out there take this approach of not meeting with their clients until the wedding day? How does it affect your relationship with the clients and their comfort level? And how does it affect your booking rate?
Hey Liz, it’s definitely a dilemma – either getting to know your clients well or freeing up more time.
I’m with you and like to get to know my couples better but can see the advantages of Kevin’s methods. From the interviews I’ve done, it’s the documentary style photographers that seem to be able to “get away” without spending much (or any) time with their clients before the wedding day.
The guys from Nordica and some other photographers use Skype to do their meeting if they’re required but again, I think it depends on your style.
I believe my cupels want to meet first but that may simply be my perception.
I guess I kind of missed the point of the blogging different entries all from one wedding. I did go check out his website before the podcast and I noticed he would have a blog post and all it would be was one image, maybe a sentence with it maybe just the image. Can someone tell me why this is? Is this helping his SEO or what ‘tactic’ I guess Im trying to ask is this helping or what is he doing by doing it that way?
Im curious because normally when you go to read a blog post you just expect to see…well….a blog…written words you know? so seeing just an image I am a bit confused. But I heard him say he does this intentionally I just dont fully understand the WHY. thank you!
Longer blog posts, with lots of words are definitely better for SEO. In Kevin’s case, he’s using “social proof’ as a form of SEO. By publishing a single image with shot details like shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc, he is appealing to his photographer followers that visit his site.
If these visitors share his photography and Kevin’s site is seen as an authority and has increased traffic, Google will reward his site by showing higher in the rankings.
Using this strategy will only work if the posts are being liked and shared and extra traffic happens as a result. Because Kevin has a lot of photographers that follow his work, especially those shooting and interested in shooting with the Fuji system, these seemingly simple pages are working well for him.
He does also say in the interview that the photos he is choosing for these posts also need to be appealing to brides and couples as that’s who the site is ultimately targeted at.
Hi Tara,
It’s worth remembering that the “Why I love” is just one post. I’m firmly of the opinion that *every* wedding can yield 20+ posts over time.
Each and every wedding gets a full post of it’s own too.
Thanks
Kevin
Thanks Kevin and Andrew for this episode. It was incredible.
What strikes me most from Kevin’s blog/website is the number of links and call to actions. I am a firm believer in call to action and having listened to this podcast, I intend to rebuild my site for SEO optimization using a blog site and better call to actions.
Having listened to other podcasts, especially episode 34 from Gabriel Machuret, I see that WordPress is the way to go. But where to start? Kevin has told me that he uses a core WordPress system with a template over the top. But having looked at many templates, I am even more lost and confused. I really don’t want to start developing a new site with a template to find out that it doesn’t support all the features I require and have to try another. Any suggestions on which templates are good to use for business and photography would be great.
I am also looking at ProPhoto. Their sites are blog based and look good, but with Gabriel telling us we need a WordPress site, I am not sure ProPhoto will give the level of control needed.
If anyone can offer some further advice from your experience it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hey Paul – thanks for adding your comments and great to read how much you enjoyed this episode.
In regard to your WordPress questions:
The first step is to have WordPress installed on your own domain at pauledmundson.com. While you are building your site, you can have your webmaster set up a subdomain where you can fully set up your new WordPress site before moving it to your domain. A subdomain could be something like: newbuild.pauledmundson.com.
Once you have WordPress installed, you’ll need to decide on a Theme or skin, which will dictate how your site will look. As you’ve found, there are thousands of Themes to choose from. One of the best locations that I’ve found and use is http://themeforest.net.
Once you find a theme you like the look of, you can use the “live demo” function to see how it looks and works.
Once you’ve fond a theme you like, purchase and install it via your WordPress dashboard. You can change themes anytime but it’s usually a big job so take your time choosing something you like in the beginning.
ProPhoto themes are perfectly suitable and very popular amongst photographers. These too are WordPress themes that you install over the top of your WordPress site just like any other WordPress theme. If you find a theme you like the look of here, go for it.
The customisation that Gabriel talks about can be achieved with any WordPress site and theme combination and are achieved by installing 3rd party plugins. You’ll be more than likely adding plugins for improving your sites SEO and other customisation that isn’t offered directly via your theme.
I hope that helps Paul and let me know if you have any follow up questions.