Questions on wanting to start a small side business...

[Rachelinaz]

First off. Is Spence-photography.com too long of a website? If so, what would you suggest? I wanted spencephotography.com but it's taken. :(

Secondly: What makes a good photography business website? What makes it stand out? My husband can set it up (he did the Alaska Men's Magazine website and a bunch of smaller sites when we lived in Alaska). He wasn't focused so much on the photography aspect of it.
What would you want to avoid for a business site? Especially a photography site.

How do you drum up business? I realize word of mouth is best, but I really have no clients (friends/family but most are in Alaska). I have had many compliments and suggestions of publishing my work (when I lived in Alaska) most which was scenery photos. I am hoping to venture into weddings, family pics or even family reunion type photos.



I appreciate any insite you can provide and look forward to replies.

~Rachel in Chandler, AZ

[liza]

There was a really great thread on this recently that gave tax information and everything. You might try using the search feature.

[am_pitbull_terrier]

I think you should probably try and figure out a different .com
It would only be a matter of forgeetting a hyphen and someone would be going to the wrong site. Also I'm not sure but I think this is the thread that Liza is talking about. Small Business (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125878&highlight=starting+up+small+business+taxes)

[liza]

That's the one! I found it to be quite informative.

[PhotosGuy]

************ will shorten a url, but I don't see where it would be any easier to remember.
I'd try to get the spence_photography.com & spencephoto.com, etc names, too.

[Rachelinaz]

Thank you everyone. And thank you for such a great link. I am going to read through it and hopefully get some great ideas.

I went with SpenceImagery.com and will probably buy a couple more names and have them be directed to the one main site once I've got a site created. I just wanted one to get it started so I could attemp designing the web page.

J-I-N: thank you for your very informative thoughts and ideas! I racked my brain (ha!) trying to think of other words that could mean photo or photography. Silly I know. Maybe I was trying to think too hard *ha ha*.

I am off to read that other thread. Thanks again guys for being so friendly and informative!