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  • Pet Photography Website Copy: How to Attract the Right Clients with Erin Ollila

    Pet Photography Website Copy: How to Attract the Right Clients with Erin Ollila
    2026/09/01
    Erin Ollila spent years comparing wedding photographers before her own wedding, and she still remembers ruling one out. Everyone in her area loved them. She looked at their website and thought she would probably get in trouble if she did not smile correctly.In this episode, Ina sits down with conversion copywriter Erin Ollila to talk about pet photography website copy, and why beautiful images are not doing the selling most photographers assume they are. Erin writes websites for service-based businesses and pairs SEO with conversion, and her position is blunt: your site is not a portfolio, it is your marketing team, your sales team and your education team. They get into what is actually missing from most photography websites, whether to put your prices up, how to ask for a testimonial without feeling like a nuisance, and where AI genuinely helps your copy and where it makes you sound like everyone else.What We CoverWhy your website is not a portfolio, and the three jobs it should be doing insteadThe answer for anyone thinking "but my photos are better than a beginner's", and why that stops mattering the moment you are compared with another good photographerThe most common copy mistake on photography websites, over-explaining what is included and under-explaining why you and what happens nextWhat Erin found when she researched one local photography market: the site ranking far above the rest was the one with the most of the photographer in itWhy the line items should be negligible, and what people are actually choosing betweenConfidence has four layers and only one of them is your camera skillThe honest read on the word "luxury", and the rule if you are going to use itWhy it is fine to be exclusive, and how repelling opens the door wider for the people you wantPain points do not work in photography. Desires do. Erin explains the difference using her own weddingThe distinction worth the whole episode: you can repel someone without turning them off, and reminding a client their pet has an expiration date is turning them offShould you put pricing on your website: why Erin says no detailed menu but yes to pricing clues, and how to set a range that actually means somethingWhat happens to the client experience when someone books at a price they were not expecting, and why you start from below zeroA more creative approach to case studies: the client spotlight, and how it does the selling and the SEO at onceHow to ask for testimonials when you feel like you are bothering people, and why the real problem is that clients do not know what to sayUsing AI for your copy without sounding like everyone else, and the work almost nobody wants to do firstThe third option between DIY and done for you that most people do not know existsOne thing to try this weekLook at your website like someone deciding between you and one other photographer whose work is just as good. Not a beginner. Someone genuinely good. If the only difference a reader could name is the number of images included, the words are not doing their job yet.About ErinErin Ollila is a conversion copywriter and SEO specialist who writes websites for service-based businesses. She studied fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction before moving into content marketing in the early 2010s, writing for very large brands, then moved into website copy when she started her own business and found herself surrounded by skilled people who did not know how to write about what they did. She hosts the Talk Copy to Me podcast. Ina put a call out on Threads looking for a copywriter and Erin came recommended by Colie James.Connect with ErinErin Ollila's website: erinollila.comTalk Copy to Me podcast: erinollila.com/podcastWork with Erin: erinollila.com/servicesConsistent Bookings AuditIf you're getting inconsistent bookings and you don't know what's causing it, do the free consistent booking audit quiz to find out which gaps is costing you.Complete the audit here.The Consistent Bookings MastermindThe Consistent Bookings Mastermind is a 6 month group coaching program aimed to help you build your repeatable marketing system with implementation support and accountability. Click here to learn more and apply for the mastermind. Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1Connect with InaInstagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceoEmail: ina@inajphotography.comMentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    1 時間 7 分
  • Michelle Marchant on the Marketing Plan Behind Consistent Bookings

    Michelle Marchant on the Marketing Plan Behind Consistent Bookings
    2026/08/19
    Michelle Marchant used to be flat out for two months, then drop off to nothing. Leads were never her problem. She had them coming in, she just did not know what to do with them once they landed. Now she has eleven bookings sitting in her calendar for August and September, a three week holiday booked over the top of them, and no stress about either.In this episode, Ina sits down with Michelle Marchant of Captured Hearts Photography in the Dandenong Ranges, Melbourne. Michelle has been in business for about ten years and has worked with Ina one on one. She shares exactly what changed when she stopped running her marketing on the fly and built a proper pet photography marketing plan, a follow up process for her leads, and full pricing transparency before the session. This is a real look at how consistent bookings actually get built, numbers included.Key takeawaysLeads were never the bottleneck. Michelle already had a good filtering process and knew which marketing worked. What she did not have was anything that happened after a lead came in. A three email nurture sequence and a consultation script closed that gap.One question she was not asking in the consult changed the whole conversation. What is your why. Why do you want this, why did you enter the competition. It opens up a real conversation, and it hands her ideas for what to capture, which lifts the sale.Past coaches had told her not to disclose pricing before a session, and it never sat right with her. "I felt like I was handing over a surprise." She now sends the full pricing list once a client books, gives it earlier on request, and her pre session questionnaire asks whether they have looked at it with the link right there.Between transparent pricing and a reworked price list with more collections, her average sale moved from around $1,500 to $1,800 up to about $2,200 across the last six months. Clients who tell her they are just going to take the minimum package regularly land between $2,000 and $3,000.A $250 Facebook ad run over one week for Mother's Day brought in about 80 leads and 10 bookings. That is $25 a booking. May went from her usual four to six sessions up to eleven, and the campaign worked so well she did not need to run the autumn campaign she had planned.Michelle does not rely on one campaign to book out six months. She runs several across the year, targeting different people, bringing in a few bookings from each. "A campaign can do so well one time. You try it again and it's the opposite."Her Pets of the Hills calendar fundraiser for a local wildlife shelter raises around $4,000 to $5,000, with Bendigo Bank sponsoring the printing for the third year running. Fundraiser clients arrive thinking they are doing her a favour, so she added a phone consult and an in person studio consultation to shift that. Two of the highest sales she has ever had came through it in the last few weeks, one of them over $4,000.The first half of this calendar year has already brought in over $60,000 in revenue, against a goal of four sessions a month at a $2,200 to $2,500 average sale.One thing to try this weekAsk every enquiry why. Why they want this, why they entered. Then use what they tell you to plan what you photograph.About MichelleMichelle Marchant is the founder and photographer behind Captured Hearts Photography in the Dandenong Ranges, Melbourne. She picked up a camera in a high school photography class, went on to a Bachelor of Arts, and worked as a camera assistant in the film industry before launching her own portrait business about ten years ago. She photographs families, couples and single pet owners with their pets, works on an in person sales model from her studio, and runs the Pets of the Hills calendar fundraiser for a local wildlife shelter.Connect with MichelleWebsite: capturedheartsphotography.com.auFacebook: Captured Hearts by MichelleInstagram: @capturedhearts_bymichelleAlso mentioned in this episodeGlobal Image Products, where Michelle first saw Ina's work on displayConsistent Bookings AuditIf you're getting inconsistent bookings and you don't know what's causing it, do the free consistent booking audit quiz to find out which gaps is costing you. Complete the audit here.The Consistent Bookings MastermindThe Consistent Bookings Mastermind is a 6 month group coaching program aimed to help you build your repeatable marketing system with implementation support and accountability. Click here to learn more and apply for the mastermind. Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1Connect with InaInstagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceoEmail: ina@inajphotography.comMentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https:/...
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    58 分
  • The passive marketing every pet photographer needs, and why it will never fill your calendar on its own.

    The passive marketing every pet photographer needs, and why it will never fill your calendar on its own.
    2026/08/07

    For years I did what everyone tells you to do. I posted consistently, I showed up on social media, I made sure my website was SEO optimised. And I was still sitting there waiting for the bookings to come in.

    Last year, more than half my bookings came from campaigns I deliberately launched. Book projects, giveaways, being physically present at expos and markets, and the business relationships I built through them. I can track exactly one booking directly to a reel.

    That's not an argument against social media. It's an argument about what social media is actually for. In this episode I'm walking through the four passive marketing foundations every pet photographer needs, why they're not optional, and why none of them will fill your calendar in the week you need bookings.

    This is Part 2 of a two-parter. Part 1 was the full breakdown of one of my active campaigns, the Facebook ads that turned $688.80 into over $30,000 in sales.

    In this episode:

    What passive marketing actually is, and the honest reason it works slowly

    Why a marketing campaign is smaller than you think, and what makes something a campaign

    Your Google Business Profile, and why it matters for AI search now, not just Google

    What your website has to say about you, beyond being SEO optimised

    Why "I don't want to be spammy" is costing you bookings, and how often I clean my list

    The client who booked because a newsletter landed in her inbox at the right moment

    What your social media is really for, and why a caption without a call to action gets you nothing

    Where my bookings actually came from last year, tracked honestly

    Why you can't build a custom audience without passive marketing underneath it

    The 24 hours I lost access to Instagram, and what saved me

    One thing to try this week: look at your last 90 days of bookings. How many came from something you deliberately launched, and how many came from someone who just happened to find you? That split tells you exactly where to put your effort next.

    Work with me in the Marketing System Workshop

    The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop is where you build your own campaign with me, in the room. Three live sessions where we build your ideal client, your messaging, and one campaign planned start to finish, that you run again every season. The next cohort starts 13 August.

    Enrol in The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop here

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)

    A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.

    Join the Skool Community here

    ✨ Off the Record Segment

    Ran a marketing campaign that didn't work and you're not sure why? Send me a voice note or a DM on Instagram and I'll break it down on the show. You can stay anonymous

    📲 Connect with me

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

    Email: ina@inajphotography.com

    Free Consistent Bookings Audit (find your gap in getting consistent bookings): https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    17 分
  • Breakdown of my Facebook ads pet photography marketing campaign that turned $688.80 ad spend into $33,495 sales.

    Breakdown of my Facebook ads pet photography marketing campaign that turned $688.80 ad spend into $33,495 sales.
    2026/08/06

    I spent $688.80 on Facebook ads over 13 days. That turned into $33,495 in sales.

    I keep hearing that nobody's spending right now, and that giveaways don't work because all they attract is freebie seekers. So in this episode I'm breaking down my National Love Your Pet Day campaign start to finish. What I ran, what it made, and the part I got wrong.

    Facebook ads for pet photographers can absolutely work. Mine returned 48.6 times what I put in. But the ads were never the thing that made it work, and I'm honest in here about where mine leaked. 191 leads turned into 13 bookings, which is a 6.8% conversion rate. The same style of campaign in 2024 converted at 25%.

    If you've been thinking about running a giveaway or a seasonal campaign and you're not sure it's worth the money, this is the whole thing, numbers included.

    In this episode:

    • Why I set a booking and revenue goal before I spent a dollar, and where I write it down
    • How to pick an anchor event, and why you can invent one if you need to
    • The real numbers: $688.80 in ad spend, 191 leads, 13 bookings, $33,495 in sales
    • Lead ads versus traffic ads, and why cheaper leads are not always better leads
    • Why your ad copy has to call out your ideal client, not just your ad set targeting
    • The difference between nurture and follow up, and why most giveaways fail on one of them
    • My 6.8% conversion rate against 25% in 2024, and where I think it went wrong
    • The follow-up process I did including the afternoon I called 90 people
    • Why getting someone into a consultation is the whole game, and what happens once they're there
    • How knowing your conversion rate tells you exactly what your next campaign has to generate

    One thing to try this week: work out your actual conversion rate from your last campaign, or from your last ninety days. Leads in, bookings out. That one number tells you how many leads your next campaign needs.

    Work with me in the Marketing System Workshop

    The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop is where you build your own campaign with me, in the room. Three live sessions where we build your ideal client, your messaging, and one campaign planned start to finish, that you run again every season. The next cohort starts 13 August.

    Enrol in The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop here

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)

    A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.

    Join the Skool Community here

    ✨ Off the Record Segment

    Ran a marketing campaign that didn't work and you're not sure why? Send me a voice note or a DM on Instagram and I'll break it down on the show. You can stay anonymous

    📲 Connect with me

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

    Email: ina@inajphotography.com

    Free Consistent Bookings Audit (find your gap in getting consistent bookings): https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    21 分
  • How to Use AI in Your Pet Photography Business Without Losing Your Voice

    How to Use AI in Your Pet Photography Business Without Losing Your Voice
    2026/07/27

    When someone tells me AI content all sounds the same, I don't argue. I agree, somewhat. Most people are giving AI basic prompts and getting generic AI slop back.

    In this episode I'm sharing the difference between AI slop and AI that amplifies your actual voice, and exactly how I use it across my pet photography business and my coaching business with a human-first approach. My brain-dump workflow (one 10 to 20 minute voice note becomes emails, podcast outlines, reels and carousels, in my voice), the litmus test every piece has to pass, my honest answer to "isn't using AI cheating", where I draw my own line (no AI image or video generation), and the client tool I built with Claude Code without knowing how to write a single line of code. Plus what one of my Mastermind clients, Aubri, built for her own studio with no coding experience at all.

    Links and resources mentionedFree live Claude workshop, Thursday 30 July

    Bring 3 to 5 samples of your own writing (written by you, not AI) plus your business information. We'll build your slim context file and your Brand Voice DNA together, live, so Claude knows your business and your content sounds like you. Live on Zoom, Thursday 30 July, 10am AEST (Wednesday 29 July, 8pm ET / 5pm PT). Replay available for 72 hours only.

    Register here: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)

    A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.

    Join here: https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

    📲 Connect with me

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

    Email: ina@inajphotography.com

    Free Consistent Bookings Audit: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    13 分
  • Why Your Ordering Appointment Isn't Where You Sell

    Why Your Ordering Appointment Isn't Where You Sell
    2026/07/25

    A disappointing ordering appointment usually looks like one of a few things. They don’t show up. They turn up and say, my gosh, this is so expensive, or I thought this included all the digitals. Or you relied on them to book it in, and they ghosted you. It feels like it fell apart on the day. It didn’t. Something was broken earlier in the process, before the session ever happened.

    In this episode I’m breaking down why the sale process shouldn’t start at the ordering appointment, what my own client journey looks like so there are no surprises, and a real planning call from this week where I knew exactly what formats I’d be shooting for before the session. Plus the consultation questions that plant the seed, the tells that show you who values artwork, and how I use AI to create the content that does this educating, without letting it write everything for me.

    The episode covers:

    • Where the sale actually starts (and what your consultation, questionnaire, and nurture sequence are doing in the background)
    • What I ask on a planning call that shapes the entire shoot before I pick up my camera
    • How to make sure clients arrive at the ordering appointment already thinking about their wall, not being introduced to the idea for the first time
    • Where AI fits into building the content that does this education work for you, week after week, without you writing every caption from scratch

    One thing to try this week: pull up your consultation questions and check whether any of them get the client imagining the finished photo in their home, not just what they want photographed.

    Links and Resources Mentioned:Free live Claude workshop

    On Thursday 30 July (Wednesday 29 July in the US) I’m running a free live workshop where we build a slim context file so Claude knows your business, your pricing and your offers, then your own Brand Voice DNA document, so your content sounds more like you and can educate clients about the artwork long before they book. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST, replay available.

    Register here: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

    🎓 The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop, next cohort starts 13 August

    My paid workshop for pet photographers who want a marketing system that brings in consistent bookings, not random ones.

    Details and registration: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-system-workshop

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers’ Collective (free community)

    A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources. It’s also where you’ll hear about the next free training first.

    Join here: https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

    🐾 Struggling with disappointing ordering appointments?

    Ghosting, low sales, clients surprised by pricing. This is something I work on closely with my Mastermind clients, from the client journey to the consultation to the ordering appointment itself.

    Learn more: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/mastermind

    📲 Connect with me

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

    Email: ina@inajphotography.com

    Free Consistent Bookings Audit: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    17 分
  • Pet Photography Pricing: Why Generic Content Keeps You Cheap

    Pet Photography Pricing: Why Generic Content Keeps You Cheap
    2026/07/19

    Back when I charged around $250 a session, my marketing sounded like every other pet photographer's. Pet photography pricing works differently now, and generic AI content can do the same damage that generic marketing always did: it makes you impossible to tell apart from anyone else.

    In this episode I'm breaking down why generic content, including lazy AI-generated content, makes you blend in with the big ocean of photographers, and why that's the real reason you can't raise your prices, not your market, not your niche. I get into what AI slop actually looks like, the anchor line I keep coming back to (using AI isn't the problem, using it lazily is), and how consistent branding and positioning since 2023, not AI, is what actually lets you charge for the artwork instead of the files.

    In this episode
    • Why generic content leaves price as the only thing left to compare you on
    • The mindset issue behind "nobody in my market will pay more"
    • What AI slop actually looks like: emojis, short sentences, "this is not X, it's Y," and em dashes everywhere
    • Using AI isn't the problem. Using it lazily is.
    • How I turn 15 to 20 minutes of voice notes into content with a human-first process, not a copy-paste prompt
    • Why consistent branding and positioning, not AI, is what let one of my mastermind clients land a $9,000 sale from a single client
    • Why I use AI in my own business, and where my line is
    • One thing to try this week

    One thing to try this week: read your last five captions or emails back and ask honestly, could any pet photographer have written this? If yes, that's the gap.

    Links and Resources Mentioned

    Register for the free live Claude workshop, Thursday 30 July: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

    Free Claude workshop

    On Thursday 30 July I'm running a free live workshop. We build a slim context file so AI actually knows your real business, then your own Brand Voice DNA, so AI finally writes like you instead of like everyone else. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST (Wednesday 29 July, 8pm ET / 5pm PT), replay up for 72 hours.

    Register here: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)

    A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.

    Join here: skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125

    📲 Connect with me

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

    Email: ina@inajphotography.com

    Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: inajphotography.com/for-photographers
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    16 分
  • How to Grow Your Pet Photography Business With Confidence with Stacey Sherman

    How to Grow Your Pet Photography Business With Confidence with Stacey Sherman
    2026/07/06

    Not long ago, Stacey Sherman's pet photography business still felt like a hobby. It wasn't the real, paying business she wanted, and it frustrated her. A self-described procrastinator who struggled hugely with confidence. Today she's opening her second studio.

    In this episode, Ina sits down with Stacey Sherman of BarkHop Studio, a founding member of the Consistent Bookings Mastermind, for an honest client story. Stacey shares what actually shifted for her: how she found the confidence to back herself and negotiate, how she started taking consistent action instead of putting things off, and how she built marketing she can turn on and off, including the community events that now bring her whole town out. If you know the marketing you should be doing to grow your pet photography business but keep putting it off, this one's for you.

    Key takeaways
    • You don't need more information, you need to see it made real. As a visual learner, what unlocked Stacey was seeing Ina's actual assets, not another abstract course.
    • Your community events are marketing. Strut Your Mutt drew 400 people, 200 dogs and 30-plus vendors, and built partnerships that market her for free.
    • A campaign doesn't have to be a big scary thing. Build it once, keep the assets, tweak and repeat.
    • Confidence is the real product. From imposter syndrome to a second studio, a VA and 19 booked sessions. Her two words: motivation and confidence.
    • Turn the marketing tap on and off. A repeatable system lets you switch it on for bookings and pause it when life needs you.

    One thing to try this week

    Look at the events you're already doing and write down which ones are actually marketing. Get next quarter's one repeatable event onto your calendar now, before you're scrambling to pull it together.

    About Stacey

    Stacey Sherman is the photographer behind BarkHop Studio, a studio pet photography business she has built over two and a half years. A former family photographer, she found her way to pet work through fostering and rescue, with a second studio on the way. She is a founding member of Ina's Consistent Bookings Mastermind.

    Connect with Stacey

    Website: http://barkhopstudio.com/

    Instagram: http://instagram.com/barkhopstudio

    Work with me in the Mastermind

    Stacey's story is exactly what the Mastermind is built for. The Consistent Bookings Mastermind is open for enrolment: a group coaching container focused on implementation support to help you build your repeatable marketing system, with full support across pricing, sales and mindset. inajphotography.com.au/mastermind

    Not ready yet? Start with the Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

    💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free)

    Join the free community on Skool

    ✨ Want to Be Coached Live? (Off the Record)

    Drop a voice note or DM on Instagram (@inaj.thepetphotoceo), first name or anonymous.

    📲 Connect with Ina

    Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo · Email: ina@inajphotography.com · Mentoring & Coaching
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    52 分