Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.

Sarah Von Bargen of www.yesandyes.org wrote something that caught my attention and had me clicking through to her website. From memory, it was a sponsored post inside Facebook. On that page, I saw an optin form where she asked for my name and email address in exchange for 3 custom, specific-to-me suggestions for my website. Sure, why not I thought, let's see what this woman suggests.

She came back to me with three actionable and great ideas. I was impressed, hooked and in.

I did a little looking around and learnt a few things before inviting Sarah to be an interview guest on PhotoBizX…

She teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to make a name for themselves on the net. And she learnt what she knows by doing it herself – Sarah has a blog read by 13,000 people every day.

She's worked with billion dollar companies, brands that are household names, bloggers just starting out, and online entrepreneurs who are feeling stuck.

Sarah teaches small businesses and entrepreneurs how to make a name for themselves on the internet. Whether that’s through blogging, social media, creating e-books, or pitching bloggers who will then promote their products. She teaches all things internet-related and I know you're going to love what she shares in this interview and be scrambling to get on her email list like I did.

Here’s some more of what we cover in this interview:

  • Sarah’s income streams – where the money is coming from
  • Past jobs, work background and experience
  • How Sarah found her voice and the confidence to express her personality
  • Why you need to write in your own voice to be truly successful
  • Where do you draw the line with slang and swear words when expressing yourself
  • How to deal with the negative feedback of your word choices
  • The biggest mistakes made by small business owners all over the net
  • Common mistakes found on most websites
  • How to convince clients to give you their money easily
  • Why you need to have a pop-up on your website – even if you hate them yourself
  • Weeding out clients who are not a good fit for your business
  • Why you need to have a visible testimonials tab on your website
  • The importance of providing specifics for your photography packages
  • Are testimonials important enough to have a dedicated page
  • How to painlessly solicit testimonials from clients
  • Ideas for give aways when having an opt-in form on your photography website
  • How to entice people to sign up without underselling yourself or reducing your profits
  • Opt ins should directly relate to your services
  • What is OptinMonster and how it works
  • The idea of using an Amazon eBook as a lead magnet
  • Sarah’s Mastermind retreat and how it works
  • How much time should be allotted to mastermind sessions while on a retreat
  • Creating a paper trail to prove you went on a business focussed retreat
  • Sarah’s feedback for premium member’s websites
  • The importance of showing an ‘About’ tab on your website
  • Writing the About page in first person
  • Adding a call-to-action at the bottom of your About page
  • All important information on your website should be above the fold
  • Why your About page needs to be client-centric
  • The need to make information readily available for clients to see
  • How to generate money from photography when you lack an audience
  • Utilising big name bloggers to sell your photography or services
  • How to get leads from cold pitches
  • Tie in business pitches to a social cause to guarantee leads
  • The importance of having visible social media icons on your website
  • Having a cohesive look for your Instagram profile to be successful
  • What to expect when signing up for Sarah’s newsletter
  • Sarah’s consulting service and how it works

Sarah Von Baren Photography Podcast

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this interview – the full length and more revealing version.

If you’re not taking a stand and if you’re not expressing who you are and being yourself, what’s the point? – Sarah Von Bargen

If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interview with Sarah, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus, member only interviews.

You'll also receive access to the members only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take what you hear in each episode and put it into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group.

You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Joining a Mastermind Group (encouraged by Andrew) has been incredibly valuable and fun, I look forward to connecting with my group members every week. Jina Zheng, Premium Member and Melbourne Children photographer.

And that's not all… you get a set of steak knives… I'm kidding! Seriously though, that's not all. In addition to everything above, you'll get access to and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business.

Sarah Von Baren Photography Podcast

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Sarah shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in todays episode.

People are judging you no matter what you do so you might as well be yourself – Sarah Von Bargen

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Sarah or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

Sarah Von Baren Photography Podcast

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you!

If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast  and email me your key words or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Sarah Von Baren Photography Podcast

You need to sort of walk the line between being yourself and being open about who you are and talking the way you talk – Sarah Von Bargen

Sarah Von Bargen Photography Podcast

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Sarah Von Bargen Website

Sarah Von Bargen Blog

Sarah Von Bargen on Facebook

Sarah Von Bargen on Twitter

Sarah Von Bargen on Instagram

Yes and Yes Free Site Review

Episode 223: Kristen Kalp – Life and Business after Quitting Facebook

OptinMonster

ConvertKit

MailChimp

AWeber

Kate Beuchner

Episode 214: Kate Buechner – On Her Way to A Million Dollar Family Portrait Photography Business

Jakub Redziniak

Angie Connell Photography

Sarah Von Bargen Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening and thanks to Sarah for coming on and sharing so much about her business, marketing ideas and strategies and thoughts on creating a website that converts better than most.

Social proof is absolutely important – Sarah Von Bargen

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks and speak soon

Andrew