So you hate your day job and you just want to say goodbye to it right away and start living your dream life. Well, DREAM ON! It’s not that easy for regular folks like us. Want a good advice? Get stuck in your day job…until you’re financially, skillfully, emotionally ready to lose that source of income.

Your day job is actually more of a patron for your dreams than a mortal enemy. If you rely on your day job as your source of income, you’d be able to focus on building a strong foundation for your career or business rather than having to grovel and take every job that came along just to pay the bills. So instead of hating and looking down on your day job, be grateful for it. But for Christ sake, start working on your dreams right away.

Remind Yourself of Your Goals DAILY.To prevent your day job from making you forget about your dreams, it’s important to make time remind yourself of your dream, even if it’s just setting aside 30 minutes everyday to devote to that. Remind yourself of your goals, make a vision board, ask yourself where you are right now and how you can transition to the life that you want.

Develop Traits While Doing the Transition Rather than After Quitting the Day Job. Starting a music career or a business as a side-hustle while keeping your day job is a great way to charge up your self-discipline, determination, patience, and diligence which are all very necessary if you want to work for yourself. You just cannot quit without getting a full tank of these traits. And if you still haven’t transitioned, that means you’re not yet ready. Keep trying.

Look for an “easy” day job. Your day job can help you achieve your dream job only if it’s not too demanding and soul-draining. Look for a day job that doesn’t give you plenty of stress but pays fine. If not, look for a day job that’s a bit stressful but is still in line with your dream job (i.e. working for a magazine and your dream job is to have a blog).

Budget Every Second Wisely. Time is money and money is time. Right now, you may not have that much money to quit your day job but you certainly have time (if not, please find another day job).Try sitting down and, just like you’d come up with a monthly or weekly monetary budget, come up with a monthly or weekly “time budget.” Make sure you devote a certain number of hours for your dream job. There’s no other way to do it. You gotta roll up your sleeves and do more work even if you’re tired from work.

Not the time to Relax and Become Contented. Push yourself more than I used to by staying up later, using my “down time” more productively, and reminding myself as often as possible that I’m putting in all this effort now for a big payoff later.

Choose your Battles. If you have a 2-year-old kid and you’re trying to transition to your dream job AND you’re an obsessive neat freak, you’d get cranky before dinnertime if you want to achieve perfection in all these aspects. To save your sanity, you have to let go of some things. You can’t have it all at once, apparently. So instead of obsessing about the dishes in the sink or the laundry piling up, let it slide a bit and be “o.k.” with a little bit of clutter. Instead of taking your child to the nearby park everyday, just do it twice a week. This way, you’ll have more time to work on your goal. If you feel guilty for a dirty house and less time with baby, channel this to achieving your goal. Your laundry can wait, and your kid will understand.

Test the Waters Safely. People tend to always have a “grass is greener” mentality. This just means that you might be envious of something you don’t have, but once you do have it, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Remember that you don’t want to quit your job and go full force into something else only to realize that you’re even more unhappy in the new situation. Do what you can to research and participate in your new plans to make sure that it’s the right path for you.

Quitting your day job requires a lot of preparation and timing so don’t just submit a resignation letter without thinking it through a hundred times. Quit only when you’re ready. This may seem like a lousy advice but I suggest you quit only when it is already safe to quit. And that requires a lot of hustle and self-discipline on your part.

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. We also print posters! If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

Do you believe that some people are just plain lucky? That they get all the success in the world even if the rest of us also exerted plenty of effort- even more effort than they did? Is this just the universe playing tricks on us? Or do you believe that there’s a formula for success? Maybe they’re more diligent, they’re more friendly, they’re more (gulp) able and skilled. But sometimes, it’s about the small habits. These small habits make the big difference.

Here are some habits that might seem like attitude of “winners” but are actually counterproductive.

Making too many resolutions at once

This usually happens during the start of the year, mid-year, and birthdays. You’re so pumped up to change yourself right away that you make a very long list of resolutions right away. You want to wake up at 6 am everyday; you want to write one blog post every week, you want to read one good book a week. The problem with this “new-you” project is that it isn’t very sustainable. Sure you can keep it up for a day, even a week, but one month later you know you won’t be able to keep up. And then you try not to think about it coz you’ll just hate yourself. This happens everytime you make resolutions! This is bad because you’ll start to lose confidence in yourself. You start to doubt your capacity to take charge of your life and make good changes. But actually, it’s not because you have low EQ or that you have no sense of discipline, it’s sometimes simply because it’s sooo darn difficult to practivce 20 new habits and end 10 old ones in one go.

Solution: Drop those big resolutions. Instead, just deal with one to two things at a time. If you want to wake up at 6am everyday, that’s a big order. Work on that for a month until it becomes a habit before trying to remove/add another habit.

Having “Working Lunch”

You probably think you’re such a hard worker for working in front of the computer while you munch your lunch. Although it might increase your productivity, this has a negative psychological effect. Working in front of the computer gives you a feeling that you’re working too hard. You may feel good about yourself a little for being “more diligent than others” but if you do this often, it will burn you out. Take a break when it’s breaktime. Sit in the cafeteria and savor your lunch, for Chrissakes. The feeling of working too hard and being deprived will catch up on you (and your social life, family, health) and it will do you more harm than good.

Solution: Don’t work during lunchtime. Ever. If you’re already doing this, ask a colleague to pull you out from your chair and drag you to the cafeteria. And maybe you can have a bet. If you insist working during lunchtime, you have to pay him $100.

Obsessing with Your To-Do List

Making a daily list of to-dos is a great way to stay on top of your work. However, there is one pitfall-it can make you inflexible. “A lot of people feel their day’s been wrecked if they have to change their plan, but the most effective people understand that’s part of the job.

Solution: When something goes wrong, don’t think you day’s schedule is ruined. Inhale, exhale, then try to restructure your day without sacrificing anything. But if your schedule is totally ruined, then there’s tomorrow. Loosen up.

Too much time on Facebook

Or Twitter. Or Pinterest. Or silly online games…and they’re totally unrelated to your job. Instead of stalking random people on Facebook, why don’t you use this time to make more productive things that might take you closer to your goal. I’m not saying that you should stay away from Facebook all day long. You can check maybe 15-30 minutes a day but more than one hour is wasting time.

Solution: Discipline yourself or let Google Chrome discipline you. Google Chrome’s  website blocker allows you to set restrictions to your online time by either totally blocking your favorite websites or just restricting the timeframes within which you are allowed to check them.

Sleeping Too Late

They say early to bed and early to rise will make you healthy, wealthy and wise. Healthy- of course. Not only will it give your body the rest it needs from all a day’s work, it also helps create a healthy lifestyle. If you sleep early, chances are you’ll wake up early. And although some artists want to work late at night because that’s when they become more imaginative, it will be bad for them in the long run, too. Again, this is psychological. Winners, except those who have exceptional talent, tend to start their days early. If you wake up at 6am, you have a 4-hour advantage to those who usually wake up around 10am. This makes you feel good. And because you feel good, you want to become more productive.

Solution: Sleeping pills. Also, wake up early each morning and your body will look for sleep earlier at night. And, if you wake up early, you probably won’t have as much unfinished businesses at night.

Desire Without Much Action

Desire will never be enough. Some people just romanticize and envision what they want and then that’s it. They’re so inspired but they don’t do the actual steps to reach their dreams. Maybe they think that it will come someday…they’re too confident that they’ll achieve their dreams. But they don’t get out from their routine and actually start the small steps required to reach their goal.

Solution: Stop dreaming and start taking steps. Even one baby step a day. If you just keep on fantasizing, even if it looks so real you can touch it, nothing will happen. Always include baby steps to your to-do list.

Slacking off during the Third Act

There are some people who get too excited during the first act. They plan every nitty gritty detail, they make a very long (and detailed) list of what needs to be done for the project. They become control freaks and want every single thing organized. They’re always on time. All signs of a successful person. But on the final stages, their energy wanes and there are times they just can’t be reached or seen or felt. They start to act the exact opposite of how they acted on the first stage.  Are you one of them? Then you are not alone. Many people are like this. And that is why only few people really succeed.

Solution: Just don’t slack off. Period. How you deal with this depends person to person so just find what works for you when it comes to disciplining yourself.

Sticking too Long at Something That Isn’t Working

There are just some endeavors when quitting would do you more good than bad. But this is very tricky. How would we know exactly that it’s really time to quit? Others say we should never quit because who knows, we might be so close to our goal when we decided to stop. An article in Psychology Today about knowing When to Quit says that you have to ask yourself this question: “What do I need to reach this goal, and can I get what I need? Look at the whole picture. If successfully reaching this goal means more time and effort than you can spare without sacrificing other important goals, you may need to walk away.”

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

This t-shirt packing by Society27 doubles as wall art. It looks like a cylindrical bamboo messenger case but instead of a scroll, you will find a rolled t-shirt inside. And what’s more impressive is that the body can be opened flat and hanged on a wall as a wall decor. If you’re not too crazy with the artwork, you can use the inside pattern as an art material (canvas?) or maybe as a note board.

TheDieline
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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

It’s almost 2013. Are you still using DVDs for your Wedding Photography business? Not that we hate DVDs. We love DVDs and lovely DVD packaging… for films. But for more precious things such as wedding pictures, a personalized USB flash drive just seems to work better. Check out these charming USB Flash Drives.

Vintage Key USB Sticks

These vintage key USB sticks just might hold the key to your memory. Fill them with photos from your wedding, and give one to each member of your wedding party to commemorate your big day and thank your closest friends for all their support. Suggest they put them on their keychains, and they’ll never be without a USB stick again
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Camera USB Wedding Souvenir

Any wedding  photographer would love this! Jut engrave the names of the couple and viola! It becomes priceless.
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Photo Block USB Drive

Nothing cuter than putting the newlyweds’ photo in this adorable little baby. Measures less than 1.5 inches per side, the recipients can just slip it in any pouch or pocket.

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Wooden USB Drive

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Newlyweds USB Flash Drive

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Pink Heart USB Flash Drive

Insert a chain to turn it into a stylish necklace or keychain.

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USB Cufflinks

This is not only engravable, but feature functional USB drives! A perfect gift for your groomsmen.

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Recycled Wine Cork Flash Drive

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. We also print posters! If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

Flaming Lips is planning to release their new record “The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends” with an album packaging blotched with blood of artists like Ke$ha, Erykah Badu, Nick Cave and Grammy’s Best New Artist Bon Iver.

“What I’m going to try to do – and I’m collecting stuff for it as we speak – is I’m going to try to make a record that has every person’s blood in the record,” Lips leader Wayne Coyne tells Hive. “I don’t have everybody’s blood just yet, but I collected quite a few vials of blood and it’s actually sitting in my refrigerator as we speak.”

The record will apparently come as a picture disc and Coyne explains, “I’m going to try to take that same concept and put little bits of everybody’s blood in the middle of this record. Like a glass specimen thing.” Five or six of the special items will be made.

Do you think they were just high on meth when they thought about it or do you think it’s a brilliant idea? Would you buy this record for its packaging?
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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

Now that you know how to make exceptionally good-looking shirts, it’s time to look for a way to package your tees. Now, you want to have an attention-grabbing t-shirt packaging but  you want something that’s eco-friendly. Here are some eco-friendly t-shirt packaging you’ll surely love!

Milky Tee

Packaging design for an ethical brand of tee shirts, Milky Tee wanted their boxed shirts to be quirky, carbon neutral and fun. Joshua Felton developed a milk carton package that would hold a shirt, and could be folded up from a single a3 sheet of paper, including swing tickets and barcode tag.

Cafe Press

Rolled t-shirts with a recycled brown paper band that is held together with a sticker.

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Laitlab

Creative and unique packaging for Naples based street wear brand Laitlab.

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Lega Lega

Designed by MIT

Once opened, inside you’ll find a cool Lega-Lega t-shirt, and a small sketchbook for doodling and sketching when you feel like it.

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Hangerpak

The Hangerpak could conceivably be made out of any post consumer recycled material like cardboard or recycled plastic, and when you are done with the hanger it can be recycled again.

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Ren

Probably the eco-est cardboard box. Basic design, basic colors, basic materials.

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Hang Up

The packaging, after bringing home the t-shirt in it, can be kept as hanger for your new favorite T-shirt. A smart way to add value to the product. Hang Up was rewarded with a prize of honor and was also given attention in Swedish and international packaging press (Packnews, Packmarknaden and Ceepackaging). The Jury said: ‘It’s fresh, innovative, inspiring packaging that would be possible to produce’.

Together with Mikael Lundén and Jenny Lindahl.

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 Lega Lega Xmas Box

Seasonal T-shirt packaging from MIT for Lega-Lega.

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The Fineprint Chicago

Designed by Laurent Varlet

“Screen printing on corrugated cardboard is tough! Problems arise registering your colors with such a thick item to print on. Also, due to the nature of the cardboard, there are random creases in the product that can lead to inconsistent prints.”

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 Carhartt

T-shirt comes in screen printed box design with Carhartt/ Montana spray can & Carhartt stencil. All clothing/ packaging screen printed by Iain Campbell. Showcased at 2007

If you really want the transparent plastic bag, you might want to check out this dissolving eco “plastic” bag.

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

2011 is indeed a great year for music. Vinyl sales continue to go up, overall physical album sales declines 5%, but this is significantly less that the 19%decline in 2010. Oh yes, people. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. Here are the numbers made by Nielsen & Billboard:

• For the first time, total music purchases reached the 1.6 Billion mark for the year.
• Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) were up 3.2% compared to 2010.
• Total Album sales were up for the first time since 2004 (1.3%) with sales totaling 330.6 million compared to 326.2 million in 2010.
• There were 228 million physical album sales in 2011; a decline of 5% over 2010. This is significantly less than the 19% decline in 2010.
• During 2011 there were 76,875 new albums released that sold at least one copy, that’s up slightly from 2010 when there were just over 75,000 new albums released.
• Similar to a year ago, there were 11 albums that sold 1 million or more copies and 35 albums that sold 500,000 – 999,999 copies.
• While there were a number of album genres that had saw growth over the previous year, 3 smaller genres experienced double digital growth in 2011. Jazz, New Age and Electronic grew by 26%, 16% and 15% respectively.
• The genre that experienced the biggest decline for 2011 was Soundtracks; down nearly 20% over 2010.
• For the fourth consecutive year, more vinyl albums were purchased than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan.

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

You can download a huge music library without ever leaving home, but reports of the compact disc’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, writes BRIAN BOYD . Read this article from the Irish Times.

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IT WAS INEVITABLE. The report went like this. By the end of next year the major record labels are planning to have abandoned the CD and replaced it with downloads and streams through iTunes and similar music services. That’s because the CD is an anachronism from a pre-online era, according to the online music magazine Side-Line. CDs won’t disappear completely, the report continued, but the format will occupy as small a niche as vinyl does now. Its end not only makes economic sense, as downloads are cheaper than a physical product to provide, but is also in tune with how we consume music in these days of the smartphone and the tablet.
The story was widely blogged and tweeted, and almost everyone accepted that technological progress had lapped the physical CD and that we were going to live our cultural life happily ever after in the cloud.

There’s just one problem with the Side-Line story: it’s wrong. At first it looked solid: more and more people are opting for downloads, and CDs have the drawback, when they don’t sell as well as expected, of leaving retailers and record labels with return and storage costs. Downloads, on the other hand, incur no packaging, transport or storage costs and minimal distribution costs.

Music stores have been giving CDs less and less floor space in recent years, as video games are now the big sellers on the high street. More people are getting their music from iTunes and other digital services, and a whole generation of music consumers each own hundreds of albums but have never touched a CD.

After Side-Line published its story, people started to wonder about magazines, books and films. Surely, the argument ran, if it’s cheaper, easier and more convenient to acquire music, books and films online, we’re looking at the end not only of the CD but also of physical copies of books and films as well.

BUT WHAT IF THE END is not nigh for the CD? And what if that means our cultural future will not be entirely digital? Side-Line contacted three major labels – Universal, EMI and Sony – about its story, but all declined to comment. That probably fuelled a grassy-knoll theory that the majors had privately decided to kill off the CD next year but didn’t want the news to be reported too soon.

This week, at least, it was easy to find music-industry people who will talk about the future of the compact disc. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide, and CD sales are its lifeblood. “This story was first written back in October, and as far as I can see it hasn’t gained any credibility at all,” says Adrian Strain, the federation’s director of communications. “CDs still account for more than 60 per cent of industry revenues globally – more than 70 per cent in some markets, such as Germany – and there is still healthy consumer demand for the physical product. This is despite the rapid growth we have seen in the industry’s digital revenues.” Check the Nielsen Report for 2011 here.

Gennaro Castlado, a spokesman for HMV, says, “I don’t think we should write off the CD just yet, as there are still a huge number of people who like the idea of owning and collecting music in physical formats, especially when they can make their own digital copies to get the best of both worlds. There will be a viable market for CDs for quite a while to come.”

Read the whole story here—–>

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

Mastering is a bit of a mystery to most people. For some the mystery only goes as far as how it’s done. For most it’s a question of ‘what is it? And what is it for?’

 For the latter, here is a beginner’s guide.

Loudness and polish

The most familiar aspect of music mastering for most is the loudness and polishing part. Strictly speaking this is pre-mastering, but common usage has extended the definition of mastering to include this.

This part of mastering is where the mastering engineer takes the final stereo mixdown of a song and uses a number of processes (predominantly EQ and compression) to apply a final polish and bring it up to commercial loudness levels.

Translation

Some mastering engineers consider translation to be the ultimate goal of mastering. Although it should of course be considered at every point down the chain, it is up to the mastering engineer to make the final call on whether or not a mix translates well to as many playback systems as possible.

These considerations are as much a part (if not more) of the processing done at mastering than loudness and polish.

Consistency

Arguably the most traditional aspect of mastering is in ensuring a consistent sound is achieved across an entire album/EP. It’s this consistency that is most often missed by DIY mastering engineers.

Of course every track should be made to sound as good as it can, but if it sticks out sonically it’ll ruin the listening experience. Sort of like spotting a digital watch in a period film – it sends suspension of disbelief crashing down.

This is particularly important for records where songs may have been recorded at different studios with different producers. It’s up to the mastering engineer to coax a consistent sound out of varying recordings. You could say it’s the difference between an album and a collection of songs.

Quality control

Of course, a really great mix can already meet all of the above criteria. In this case the mastering engineer may need to do very little processing, sometimes even none at all.

However, there is still an important role to be played in quality control. Mastering studios tend to have a much higher quality monitoring environment. This, combined with a pair of fresh, experienced ears are crucial in giving a project the final sign off.

Essentially, when a project comes in to a mastering studio, it’s up to the engineer to decide if:

ñ  The mix needs tidying up.

ñ  It needs to be louder.

ñ  It translates well to other playback systems.

ñ  There’s a consistent sound across the album.

If it meets all those criteria, then great. If not (as if more often the case), it’s up to the engineer to make sure it does.

image source: wavelab

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Nick Lewis runs Brighton Mastering, an online mastering studio based in Brighton, UK. For more music production tips and opinions, you can read his blog and follow him on Twitter @BTNmastering

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

You’ve started your business, now how do you find clients to hire you?

Traditional advertising, such as an ad in a magazine or newspaper, is mostly worthless. Don’t waste your money. I’ve tried it. They don’t work.

Instead, imagine having people love your business so much that they send all their friends your way. Think about what it would be like to show up #1 in Google for your desired keyword, and to have enough people finding you to meet your profit goals without stress and without spending thousands of dollars on advertising.

It can happen.

It may take some time, but here are 10 free photography marketing ideas that work like crazy.

1. Google Places

When you search on Google and include a location in your keyword, such as “Madison Wedding Photographer,” Google is now putting their Google Places listings BEFORE the organic listings in their rankings. These listings are free, so go and get one now!

Go to Google Places and fill out as much as you can on the page. Make sure to upload some photos as well, as they sometimes show up there in the search results. It’s a great way to improve your chances of being found on Google when people are searching for a photographer.

2. Use Facebook to promote your images

Uploading images to Facebook and tagging your clients in them is a really fantastic way to get the word out about your business as all their “friends” may see the photos tagged of them. I highly suggest creating a “Page” instead of using your profile, as that’s how Facebook prefers you promote your business, and change your settings (in Edit Page -> Apps -> Photos -> Go to App) to allow fans to tag themselves in your photos. I find this is a great way to get exposure from wedding guests and their friends as well.

I also post links to my blog on my page and send out behind-the-scenes announcements to the people who have liked my page from time to time.

Do be aware that Facebook has strict terms of service about not using it to promote contests. You can require people to like your page to enter a contest, but you can’t require them to comment, like, or post anything else to their profile in order to enter or win. Definitely read their terms of service before promoting a contest on Facebook.

There’s lots of different ways to promote your business using Facebook – share a comment below on your favorite way to promote your business on Facebook. I’d love to hear some more ways you are using it.

3. Blog as often as you can

Having fresh content on your site is one of the best ways to let Google know that your is site active (which gives you better rankings) and shows your customers that you are busy. When I visit a site that hasn’t been updated in a few months, I often wonder if they are still in business. If you don’t have many shoots, spread out your posts (do a few images one at a time instead of all in one big post) or show some personal work.

It’s also extremely valuable to blog about things that your clients want to know. For example, wedding photographers may want to put out a series on their blog with tips for brides for having better wedding photography (such as hiring a professional lighting company or not getting ready in a church kitchen) whereas portrait photographers may post about what to wear to a session. Providing information to your clients helps them to value you and see you as an authority about the subject.

You’ll also want to make sure that your blog is optimized for search engines so that you can attract search engine traffic.

4. Start building an email list right away

The more I learn about email marketing, the more I realize that I should have started an email list right away from the very beginning. I’m not talking about buying some random list that people are trying to sell you. I’m talking about people who are interested in your work and opt-in to receive emails from you.

The beauty of the email list is that these clients already like your work enough to give you their email address. They want to hear about your business and about the products you are offering. They may even love your work enough that they want to receive an email every time you update your blog with new photos. These people are priceless.

Want to do a day of mini-sessions? Tell your email list and give them the opportunity to sign up a day before you open it to the public. Have a new product you are offering? Tell your list about it and entice them to buy it.

The opportunities that are out there with an email list are so vast that I’m planning on talking about this more in-depth in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

5. Offer referral bonuses

Word of mouth advertising is one of the most powerful things you can have for propelling your business forward. One way to help encourage that is to reward people for telling their friends about your business and how awesome you are. I like to offer either a free print or a certain amount of print credit to my clients for each friend they refer to us that books a session or wedding. This isn’t free to deliver, but I am putting it in my “free” list because you can pay for it out of the profits from their friend who may not have booked with you otherwise. It’s free to get started and promote.

Read the rest of the article———————>>>
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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.