Model
ConceptsandConstructs
Posts: 11
Raleigh, North Carolina, US
Hi guys,
I'm wondering if people could comment on their experience with getting a domain and setting up an outside portfolio for their modeling or photography work.
Models, did you find it got you more publicity or more shoots? Or does the majority of your work still come from MM? I'm talking portfolio site, not a facebook page or something similar. I have a portfolio site for my artwork as I take painting commissions, and I have one for dog training/behavior and am wondering if it's worth the upkeep and domain cost to make one for modeling or if I'm better off just sticking with MM (keep in mind I am a hobbyist but I do take modeling pretty seriously.)
Thanks!
Photographer
Good Egg Productions
Posts: 16713
Orlando, Florida, US
I update my personal site about once every year.
I update my MM about once every 6 months.
I update my photography Facebook page about every other day.
I get way more business from Facebook than anything else. So that's where my energy goes.
Photographer
Art Silva
Posts: 10064
Santa Barbara, California, US
Having your personal website means you have total content control.
It doesn't have to be only about your modeling but everything else you want to present to people.
Photographer
Ken Warren Photography
Posts: 933
GLENMOORE, Pennsylvania, US
I see a lot of models on Facebook, either just as themselves or with pages promoting their modeling. I also see a fair number with tumblr and similar blog type sites. Since you describe yourself as a serious hobbyist I suspect that you'd do fine with MM plus tumblr or Facebook (or both), without going to the bother of setting up a separate web site of your own, with all the maintenance that entails.
Model
Koryn
Posts: 39496
Boston, Massachusetts, US
I had a personal website for a couple of years. The only thing it was [not] good for was people who wanted to cast for hardcore porn would find my MM port, then contact me through the personal website (which I had linked here). I don't think I ever booked any actual work from the site. Just a few times a month, random people would ask if I was willing to do POV porn scenes.  I maintained a FetLife portfolio for a long time, which I used to network for niche fetish content (non-explicit), and had success with booking jobs there. Much more so than through my own site.
Photographer
AJ_In_Atlanta
Posts: 13053
Atlanta, Georgia, US
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason.
Photographer
Garry k
Posts: 30129
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. This
and I have even had models here tell me that I am not a real photographer unless I have my own site ( of course they didn't - which i has tempted me to point this out ....lol )
Photographer
Quay Lude
Posts: 6386
Madison, Wisconsin, US
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. New / younger members should read this and understand why you say this.
I agree with you, 100%.
Photographer
Farenell Photography
Posts: 18832
Albany, New York, US
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. Agreed.
From a professional standpoint, I wouldn't want a potential client being able to check out my competition on the same portfolio hosting site.
From a personal standpoint, MM's messaging system alone would give me pause. Sometimes I get messages, sometimes I don't (or have them pop up months later on their own). Sometimes new messages are bolded when viewing the site on my mobile, sometimes they're not.
Photographer
Andrew Thomas Evans
Posts: 24079
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Good Egg Productions wrote:
I update my personal site about once every year.
I update my MM about once every 6 months.
I update my photography Facebook page about every other day.
I get way more business from Facebook than anything else. So that's where my energy goes. I'm the opposite.
I update my main site about once every few months. Usually when I notice bad grammar or misspellings (note, it's best to pay someone professional to write content, I should). A lot of my work comes in from search and ads as well as referrals and this is the main portal to my work that most people see.
I rarely update or care about my MM page as I haven't got much work from here and don't really look here for tests all that much or anything.
Although I do get work off of Facebook I don't really do much with my business site there and don't do much with my personal page. I will start advertising there at some point but right now I don't consider it that important to my business.
Now as far as being a model and having a page. I think traveling models need to network a bit more on social media and that really can't happen with a .com website. What I do think is important and could fit more with a model is having a blog setup on some service and then having a website direct to the blog, since domain names are cheap and everyone should have one or at least consider one even though it may not be the main way you're contacted.
IMO
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com
Photographer
Andrew Thomas Evans
Posts: 24079
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Farenell Photography wrote:
From a professional standpoint, I wouldn't want a potential client being able to check out my competition on the same portfolio hosting site. ????
Workbook.com is a national one, and mncreative.com is my local portfolio site (not on either yet).
Being a professional I don't really mind if people shop around and look at other sites. I feel my prices are competitive for what I offer and that my style is different enough to set me apart. Also, at least with commercial gigs, from what I know and maybe someone like Bob Randall can chime in since I know he does a lot of this, but with commercial gigs it still is about price but it becomes more about style. So in that case having your website up with others is a great way to get it out there in front of peoples eyes which can lead to bids and more work.
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com
Photographer
Rob Photosby
Posts: 4810
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I got tired of seeing my images appearing on soft-core porn sites, so my MM site is no longer open to the public.
That left me with a problem of how to show my work online to non-MM models.
As a result, I keep a second site on photo.net where there is some protection against downloading images and where I can direct potential models to public galleries and also to special purpose galleries that are not public.
I also keep a portfolio on the Vogue Italia website that is larger than my MM portfolio.
Photographer
Al Lock Photography
Posts: 17024
Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
Rob Photosby wrote:
I also keep a portfolio on the Vogue Italia website that is larger than my MM portfolio. From the perspective of commercial clients, a portfolio that is excessively large is not any better than one that isn't sufficient to show what you can do.
Photographer
Al Lock Photography
Posts: 17024
Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
Andrew Thomas Evans wrote:
????
Workbook.com is a national one, and mncreative.com is my local portfolio site (not on either yet).
Being a professional I don't really mind if people shop around and look at other sites. I feel my prices are competitive for what I offer and that my style is different enough to set me apart. Also, at least with commercial gigs, from what I know and maybe someone like Bob Randall can chime in since I know he does a lot of this, but with commercial gigs it still is about price but it becomes more about style. So in that case having your website up with others is a great way to get it out there in front of peoples eyes which can lead to bids and more work.
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com And yet, you sign with a link to your own site...
Not criticizing here, but workbook.com is a site targeted at paying commercial creatives to show their work to ADs, etc. It doesn't replace a website of your own.
And although the great majority of my work comes from Facebook, I still have to maintain www.allockphoto.com if I intend to have commercial clients.
As already noted, MM isn't a site to refer clients to.
Model
Angelina Henstra
Posts: 248
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. Yep
Photographer
Looknsee Photography
Posts: 26342
Portland, Oregon, US
ConceptsandConstructs wrote:
I'm wondering if people could comment on their experience with getting a domain and setting up an outside portfolio for their modeling or photography work. I think that it's a very good idea for photographers. It makes them look much more professional. But see the caveat, below.
I think that it's only a fair-to-good idea for models. If I see a domain like suzymodel.com, I'll probably assume that it's a pay site intended as an easy way for her to make a little cash by showing her nasty bits. Sorry -- I know that's unfair, but that what I think.
Caveat: Any site, in order to be successful, needs to active, meaning that it needs to be updated often (at least once a month). Sites that are updated less often (like mine) are just placeholders.
Photographer
Abbitt Photography
Posts: 13562
Washington, Utah, US
It's useful, when I'm communicating with non MM members. When contacting MM models, I feel my portfolio here is for the most part adequate, though I also have a copy of my model release on my website.
I used to use my off-site portfolio as a photo sharing site as a means to deliver photos to models, but now I usually just email them instead.
When I contact potential models on Craigslist, it's nice if they have some way to provide me with some photos, but honestly emailing me a few works fine.
Photographer
Sal W Hanna
Posts: 6686
Huntington Beach, California, US
In my opinion, it's more important than an MM portfolio. Why draw traffic to someone else's site when you can draw traffic to yours? (Rhetorical)
Photographer
Al Lock Photography
Posts: 17024
Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
Looknsee Photography wrote:
Caveat: Any site, in order to be successful, needs to active, meaning that it needs to be updated often (at least once a month). Sites that are updated less often (like mine) are just placeholders. I update my site when I have new work that fits my online portfolios and which I am allowed by clients to use for portfolio use (not all is). Despite that, picked up a food photography job from my website just a few hours ago (shooting this week).
Photographer
Shot By Adam
Posts: 8094
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. The short answer is this. 100%.
My clients never even know I have a Model Mayhem account nor do I want them to know. This site is for social networking among peers in our industry. And while I routinely book models on this site for paid work, I am much more likely to choose a model who responds to a casting call who has a website, a blog, or both. Why? Because it shows me that they are serious about being a professional.
Photographer
Andrew Thomas Evans
Posts: 24079
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Al Lock Photography wrote:
And yet, you sign with a link to your own site...
Not criticizing here, but workbook.com is a site targeted at paying commercial creatives to show their work to ADs, etc. It doesn't replace a website of your own.
And although the great majority of my work comes from Facebook, I still have to maintain www.allockphoto.com if I intend to have commercial clients.
As already noted, MM isn't a site to refer clients to. I'm a bit old school and keep tagging my website. Has nothing really to do with getting traffic off of mm, more or less at this point like having a signature at the bottom of a email.
Not to criticize you, but there are MANY websites that list creatives out there, I only choose workbook and mncreative because they were on the top of my head. I'm sure there are many, many, for weddings, high school seniors, travel photos, etc. Again, it's not that professionals are really competitive based on prices (at the higher to mid end of things) but based on their look and style. So it can be beneficial to have a listing up on some site when you know your style is a bit different than others, you offer different things than others, and when you know there are potential clients using that site as a resource.
It's marketing 101 really, or should be part of that first level class. Get your product or business in front of people who are looking to hire or buy what you have to offer.
Again for models, there has the potential to be a decent client base of photographers here on MM, and there is a contact system here, where it may not be as important for them to have stand alone sites as it would be for photographers. But, I think that everyone should have a site, and even if a model just has a wix page or a flickr account or something showing they are making a little effort and/or for a different venue to contact them.
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com
Photographer
Laura Elizabeth Photo
Posts: 2253
Rochester, New York, US
I have a domain through square space and I mainly use it so I have something seriously professional looking if I need to present something to big clients; MM and Facebook are great for networking and having people comment on your work but for paying clients I like to show them something a little classier. I mainly got it around the time I was doing interviews with a major retouching company in NYC, otherwise I don't use it much and I'm pretty sure I never get connections with models or other talent through there.
I feel like it's good to at least have one as a photographer but rarely do you need one as a model. If you're doing seriously regular paid work and are traveling it can be helpful but probably 95% of models could do without it or just go through and agencies page. I even look over most facebook model pages unless it's someone big like Mosh, it's just not really necessary in my opinion. For finding clients an MM portfolio is good enough really.
Photographer
Johnny Panzo
Posts: 699
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Photographer
SayCheeZ!
Posts: 20621
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
AJScalzitti wrote:
I would never direct a real client to this site for any reason. Garry k wrote:
This
and I have even had models here tell me that I am not a real photographer unless I have my own site ( of course they didn't - which i has tempted me to point this out ....lol ) I just had the same thing happen, although she didn't really come out and say it in those exact words. The actress/model is a pro and has quite a substantial amount of real credits. I'm not sure if she has a website though.
Photographer
John Fisher
Posts: 2165
Miami Beach, Florida, US
![https://www.johnfisher.com/images/sweatergirl1s.jpg]() This picture of Mia Giacobbe is the first image you see when you go to JohnFisher.com. It's from a fashion editorial (Sweater Girl) featuring sweaters from the Russian designer, Yudashkin. The blue and red shirts in the background are no accident. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far way, a guy told me I had to have my own website with my own domain name. I had no idea why, I had a free site on GeoCities (anybody remember GeoCities?), and the idea of spending good money to have a personal site seemed a little silly. Well, the guy kept hammering away at me, and I finally went through the process of acquiring a domain name (JohnFisher.Com, try getting a name like that today!) and setting up a very rudimentary site. Literally my first site had one picture, and if you clicked on that you went to a new page with two pictures! But the girl who set my site up showed me how to get the source codes for the pages, and with a little experimenting and a lot of reading on html code, I started to expand the site eventually to what you see today. I don't have a simple way to update my pages, it involves a lot of cut and paste, but I do try to refresh the site at least a little on a regular basis. I can never repay the guy who nagged me to get my own site seventeen years ago, but it did change my life. JohnFisher.com shows up on most appropriate Google searches (for some reason particularly involving swimsuits, who new?), and searches which pulled up my site have brought me many significant new clients and sent me all over the world from the Ukraine to Australia. So when someone says you don't need your own domain, it always reminds me of my father at Thanksgiving. My mom would come out with desert, and one of the offerings would be rhubarb pie. All of us kids would go: "ugh, no rhubarb pie please!" My dad would lean back and say: "Good......... more for me!" Indeed. John -- John Fisher 900 West Avenue, Suite 633 Miami Beach, Florida 33139 (305) 534-9322 http://www.johnfisher.com
Photographer
AJ_In_Atlanta
Posts: 13053
Atlanta, Georgia, US
John, google favors sites the older they are. 17 years in Interent time is big, you will continue to outrank many sites by that reason alone. Never give that up 
Photographer
Andrew Thomas Evans
Posts: 24079
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
AJScalzitti wrote:
John, google favors sites the older they are. 17 years in Interent time is big, you will continue to outrank many sites by that reason alone. Never give that up I wonder how clients like the link to his MM profile...
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com
Photographer
John Fisher
Posts: 2165
Miami Beach, Florida, US
Andrew Thomas Evans wrote:
I wonder how clients like the link to his MM profile...
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com You know, that's interesting, Andrew. I do see Model Mayhem sites come up in searches, and God knows with a member number of 5058 I've certainly been here a while. But I don't see my Model Mayhem site come up on the searches, although in fairness I only look at the first page of Google searches.
I will say I am not unhappy with my Model Mayhem site, and in general it reflects much of the same work you would see on my own site.
John
--
John Fisher
900 West Avenue, Suite 633
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
(305) 534-9322
http://www.johnfisher.com
Photographer
Andrew Thomas Evans
Posts: 24079
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
John Fisher wrote:
You know, that's interesting, Andrew. I do see Model Mayhem sites come up in searches, and God knows with a member number of 5058 I've certainly been here a while. But I don't see my Model Mayhem site come up on the searches, although in fairness I only look at the first page of Google searches.
I will say I am not unhappy with my Model Mayhem site, and in general it reflects much of the same work you would see on my own site.
John
--
John Fisher
900 West Avenue, Suite 633
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
(305) 534-9322
http://www.johnfisher.com I'm not saying you are or aren't unhappy with it, just pointing out that you have a link to it on your website where as a lot of people wouldn't be that outright about it.
Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com
Photographer
Patrick Walberg
Posts: 45198
San Juan Bautista, California, US
Good Egg Productions wrote:
I update my personal site about once every year.
I update my MM about once every 6 months.
I update my photography Facebook page about every other day.
I get way more business from Facebook than anything else. So that's where my energy goes. Facebook, that's where the modeling agencies, prospective models, and clients plus other photographers are at. Have a website, a MM profile, a Twitter, an Instagram, but always have a Facebook!
Photographer
Al Lock Photography
Posts: 17024
Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
A week ago, a food photographer cancelled out on a client. The client did a search for "food photography Bangkok" and my site was one of the results he found. He sent me an SMS (he sent others as well). I called him back.
On Monday, I did the shoot for him.
One job alone just paid for my website hosting and domain for a couple of years.
It's worth it.
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