How do you promote yourself on the web?

[evgeny]

I'm looking for

1. A software for my own Web site to promote my photography services. (Technical info: I run a dedicated Red Hat Enterprise server connected to the Internet. I prefer a Java-based software for the Tomcat/Apache).

2. On-line services for photographers to promote and improve business.

I mostly shoot people and still life.
Thanks.

[Frank Doorhof]

static sites are nice for people to point to but I believe you need A LOT more.
I'm very active on my blog and twitter (and fora) and try to make something interesting a day for the people to follow, being it backstage photos, tips or even live webcam streams from our studio.
It's sometimes a lot of work and I dedicate at least one hour a day to keeping up (mostly spread over the day) but it pays back much more than a static website.

[evgeny]

Frank, your blog/forum is great. Your reviews are full of interesting details, I read all them.

I ran my server for years. But  actually I make money via big public internet resources, not mine. My sales grow rapidly once I started with eBay, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, etc.

I think to simply cancel my own server and buy an unlimited gallery with a personal web page on the photo.net for only $70 for 3 years. Today I pay $100/month for my own server, which is 51 times more expensive, plus my unlimited time to manage the server.
So, I will be glad to hear what else on-line resources do you, LL members, recommend.