Photoblogs are quite fun and people desire them because they look easy. Post a Photo a Day?! How hard could that be? Having a photo blog and showing a photo once a month, or once ever 3 months is easy. I agree with you that a Photoblog would be easy work if that’s the case.  So, why are 77% of photoblogs inactive on Photoblogs.org? It’s because making your photoblog remarkable requires a lot of hardwork. If you’re ever going to cut the cubicle umbilical cord and enjoy freedom via a photography home business, you’re going to have to work at it. I believe if you can creat a great photo blog, you’re going to see business opportunities open up.   To get to that point in transitioning your photoblog from just another site, into a photography small business you’re going to probably run into some roadblocks.

Day Job Gets in the Way of Your Very Small Photography Business

Trying to earn money and treating a photoblog as a micro business creates some interesting roadblocks that most people run into and find it hard to recover from.   I know that life and the “day job” can seriously take over and the start up of your photography home business gets swept aside. I am actually currently still living it through this roadblock. Since this issue is one of the toughest, I neded to mention this first.  I firmly believe in sychronicity and that when you’re ready, the teacher will appear.  About 2 weeks ago, I came across Chris Guillebeau and I haven’t looked back.  If this is your biggest roadblock to freedom and being paid to exist as yourself, I strongly reccommend you check out his ebook that discusses  Creating Personal Freedom through a Very Small Business!  It’s an Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself.   I read Chris’ ebook in a night and the amount of motivation I recieved is out of this world.  It’s outstanding and I finally feel as if I really am set on the right path to owning my own home photography business. Click here to view more details about the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe your day job can seriously help to work towards your photography business.  There are activities you can do at work during downtime or lulls.  The problem is that the day job can take over and the passion for photography is pushed deeper down in you that it can disappear for a long time.   In order to combat the stress of doing something you aren’t meant to do, you need to find ways to ensure you’re always taking micro-actions towards your photography business dreams.

You Photoblog Ego is Hurting

This is directed at the existing photoblogger or a potentially new photoblogger. You’ve listed your photo blog on many sites across the internet and you’re photographs are looking awesome these days. Perhaps you’re even a recent grad from a photography program at University or College. Don’t your viewers realize that you graduated top of your class and have a degree for your photography work? Sadly, photography school and having that degree does not ensure we receive 100,000 unique visitors per month to our photoblogs. Even though you are getting a little bit of traffic to your photoblog, those visitors are not interacting or leaving any comments. Even your closest friends are not talking about your photos that much if at all. Self-Doubt can seriously kick in and, if you even get the guts to tell friends or family you want to make money from your photography they might tell you that’s unrealistic. It may be very, very easy to let your photoblog slip when the ego starts to hurt.  This is very tough and it’s something I fight with on my photoblog that is focused on urban HDR photography.

Picking the Wrong Reasons to Photo blog

This follows perfectly from the previous problem. If you’re ego is hurting, you’re coming from the wrong place anyways. Are you blogging and trying to start the photography business for any other reason than to make money? I totally get that you want to make money from your photography. Your equipment cost you money, and so does your hosting for the photoblog. What was your reason for starting a photoblog? Hopefully it’s for far better reason than to impress others.  This is something that most people do not even consider when beginning a photoblog.  If you don’t pick the right reason, you’re never going to make anything of yourself or your photoblog.  If you’re having trouble thinking of a reason to photoblog, that’s okay.  Keep coming back here and you’ll find reasons and ways to utilize them to add value to the internet and the lives of people.

Photoblog Post Consistency

When your photoblog ego is feeling down, you’re much less motivated to display your work. The other day, I posted up some really interesting findings in my eyes. I took a random selection of the accounts on photoblogs.org to see how many active photoblogs are there out of 100.  Check it out if you haven’t reviewed that article yet because it might shock you.  Sometimes I think that this roadblock emerges from the others or vice versa.

If you don’t have a consistency to your posting, you’re not going to drive the traffic.  What does consistency mean to your photoblog?  It could mean so many different things to different people.  If you’re interested in making money from photoblogs and using it as a gateway to creating a photography online business, you’re probably visiting other photographers’ photoblogs already.  You might not realize it, but feel a bit annoyed when you visit a photoblog or blog that hasn’t been updated?  How long is it until you just stop checking it all together?  Consistency keeps a viewers attention.  Setting up a system to ensure success is recommended.  Something this simple could help you stand out from many other photoblogs.

Ignoring Analytics

I am a  very laid back person.  I believe everything happens for a reason and that I will be guided towards greatness. I tend to ignore certain activities that I should probably be giving more attention.  If I want to run my photo blog as a way to get my small business in photography running, I need to pay attention to aspects of the business and view it as a business.  It doesn’t mean I am suddenly back to filing TPS repots, but depending how busy I am there may be someone else that can focus on these activities for me.

If I organize properly I may realize that these business activities do not take near as much energy or attention once I have a system set in place.   I believe this runs very true with blog/website analytics.  People either put way too much time into trying to analyze the data, or people spend no time at all and look at how many hits came in the day before. If all you’re doing is looking at your number of hits, you’re missing a great deal of valuable information that will contribute to your success in the transition to a photography small business.

You’re Photoblog is Boring

I touched on this point in another blog post about photoblog content etiquette.  Does your photoblog have to look just like the next guys? I love when I visit a website and the person is doing something creative that I’ve never come across before.  I don’t find that very often with photoblogs.  Thank goodness I am on a search for creative photo blog success stories and I’ll be sharing them in the future.  In the mean time, start to think about what kind of value can you add?

The other issue might be that you’re photographs are boring.  The great thing about boring photographs is that over time, with a photoblog, you’re going to build upon you skill in photography.  It’s a given because whatever you put your attention on expands. Overtime you’re going to learn the types of photographs that generate the most love from viewers.

How are you talking about your photographs, if at all?  My initial suggestion is for you to visit some of the top photoblogs on coolphotoblogs and take some notes.  What are they doing? What are you doing?

Summary: Make the Transition

My hope in writing this article for my blog is that you start to think of these roadblocks and explore your own ways to go around them.  As I mentioned, it’s not  easy. If you’re not experiencing any of these troubles in getting your photoblog to become a part of your photography business, you can pat yourself on the back.  I might even send you a reward in the mail.  If you are experiencing these issues, you’re not alone.  I go through them myself.  Come back here, sign up for the newsletter e-mail list and we’ll take the journey together in getting over these humps and get your photoblog transitioned into a photography home business.