Worth it ?

[bzimmermann]

Look that the event services on the cragislist. In my area 2/3 of the ads there are from photographers. The competition is so high that soon photographers will be paying for the right to shoot a wedding. Call it a marketing research but recently I posted an inquiry if anyone would take professional pictures.
In one day my email account was flooded with hundreds !!! of offers. How one can compete in that climate. A short calculation shows the number of weddings in the area is several times smaller than the number of wedding photographers.

[tim]

People are still willing to pay for quality and reliability. I'm still getting bookings for this year and next year, at the same prices as this year.

[cory1848]

Is it really competition? In my experience on researching CL ads and actually visiting photogs websites, its really easy to see who is competition and who is not. There is a lot of crap on there. I stopped answering ads from couples that posted to CL, I now just post and wait for inquires. Inquires have been a lot more plentiful than me trying to answer a posted ad once it posts.

[Karl Johnston]

People are still willing to pay for quality and reliability. I'm still getting bookings for this year and next year, at the same prices as this year.
Do you ever catch yourself responding to these threads trying to hold back a cynical reply?

[tim]

Do you ever catch yourself responding to these threads trying to hold back a cynical reply?

What do you think ;)

[Alleh]

CL is kind of a waste for most types of photography. I do however occasionally when I remember post my product photography ad. I ran the ad pretty heavily back in Nov. and I booked about $1000 worth of work from it that month then Dec. rolled around and I didn’t get an more inquires so I sort of stopped posting it. I try to remember these days but I often forget.

[cory1848]

CL is kind of a waste for most types of photography. I do however occasionally when I remember post my product photography ad. I ran the ad pretty heavily back in Nov. and I booked about $1000 worth of work from it that month then Dec. rolled around and I didn’t get an more inquires so I sort of stopped posting it. I try to remember these days but I often forget.

I can highly disagree with this. You stopped receiving inquires because you stopped posting ads. Simply advertising 101, when business slows down you need to advertise more, not less.
Sure you have to sift through the crap but if you are willing and patient enough, there is work to be found. In the month of march I have had 13 inquires and turned 3 of those into sales. Since CL is so widely known, its usually looked at before typical advertising for the sole reason that the couple doesnt know where to look. At least that has been my experience. Now if you have a good word of mouth reputation, than CL might be a waste of time but I am not turning away any form that results in sales.

I have also learned that when posting, set the email addy to hide and list your email address in your ad. Knocks out 95% of the spam.

[Karl Johnston]

What do you think ;)
Holy cow I just realized you had a 31 000 post count. That's a lot of responding.

[tim]

Holy cow I just realized you had a 31 000 post count. That's a lot of responding.

Yeah, and all of my posts are informative, interesting, and polite ;)

[wayovrpar]

So, after reading this thread I went to CL just for kicks. Is it typical for professional photogs worth a poo to sign over rights to photos when they do a wedding for $500? I realize that any pro worth a poo would be charging more than $500 for a wedding, but seriously...8 hours of shooting with rights signed over for $500....

[cory1848]

So, after reading this thread I went to CL just for kicks. Is it typical for professional photogs worth a poo to sign over rights to photos when they do a wedding for $500? I realize that any pro worth a poo would be charging more than $500 for a wedding, but seriously...8 hours of shooting with rights signed over for $500....

Those ads usually get flamed by someone... You have to sift through all the poo....