You often hear successful photographers tell less successful photographers that all you need to do is carry a camera with you at ALL times so you’re ready to capture any moment that may land in front of you.  I’m sure there is some truth to that.  There have been times when I wish I had my camera to shoot something completely fascinating, amazing, or funny.  There was even that time during high school that I happened to have my Nikon F1 on the passenger’s seat as I drove around a corner on the freeway just as a car was erupting into flames and the firemen were dousing it with loads of water.  I snatched the camera, aimed out the window and shot.  I didn’t even focus because I had my other hand on the wheel, my eyes on lookey-loos braking to see the action, I was driving 90 MPH, and didn’t want to become the next roadside fire.  Back in those days, I had to wait a couple of days to know if I actually got the shot (I know this is completely foreign to my younger readers, but that’s the way it was).  The next day I spent an hour in complete and utter darkness processing the film during photo class.  The following day I spent some more time in the darkroom making prints.  Turns out I actually nailed a pretty dramatic shot with the fire truck, a fireman and some serious smoke.

So, the point is, you gotta be ready to shoot when the moment is right.

But, I’ll reiterate again, this blog is not about becoming a good photographer.  I’m the last person that should be teaching you that.  But, I do know a little bit about marketing.  And one thing I’ve noticed is that most photographers bite when it comes to marketing.

Here’s a little trick you oughta learn: When a prospect is checking out your stuff, he or she has “moments”.  Moments of desire.  No, not “that kind” of desire.  Moments of buying desire.  You see, they have moments when they have the sudden urge to buy what you’re offering.  They’re moments of pure emotion, propelled by the thought of the outcome of having your product.

The key is, you have to be able to capture those moments.  Just like you need to be able to capture 1/500th of a second of sunlight at any particular moment in time, you need to be able to capture the buying moments because they leave almost as fast as they come.  As soon as the prospect moves on, the logical part of their brain will soon talk them out of the purchase.

Here’s how you do it: Offer something of value in exchange for contact information.  Yes, its really that simple.  So, on your website, have a webform that is ever-present (because you don’t know when someone might have a “moment”) offering a coupon, a free session, a free report on how to select a photographer or what to look out for when buying art.  When the prospect fills out the form, you now have a lead.

Leads are to be treated like little seedlings.  You must nurture them.  You have to keep making the buying moments return over and over again until finally the emotion overcomes the logic, the person can’t resist anymore, and they buy.

I think most photographers just haven’t learned the concept of lead capture.  That’s ok because I just taught you.  But, others resist the idea because they think that putting a form on their site will be ugly and the designer in them vetoes the proposal.  Yes, most forms on the web are pretty ugly.  But they don’t have to be.  If you can’t do this on your own, find a good web guy and have him design and code the webform to look as cool as you want it to.  These days, you can make forms look however you want them to look.

There you go.  Free advice that’ll make you a lot of money.  Keep your camera and your webforms with you at all times and you’ll capture every possible moment.

For more free advice, get on the early-bird list for Over[Exposure] – the step-by-step, drop-dead simple system that will teach you how to get massive exposure on the web to market & sell your photos or your photographic services.