I started blogging in 2007. Over the last eight years, I’ve amassed a ridiculous number of photos. I am constantly snapping quick pics on my iPhone, shooting images for a blog post and, more recently, I’ve added a pretty hefty catalog of videos saved from my daily chats on Periscope.

The problem? Photos everywhere – they were saved on my computer, a stand alone hard drive, various mobile devices and even a few web based apps and cloud storage accounts.

Over the last year I’ve developed something of a system that seems to be working and (even better) is saving me a decent amount of money.

I figured you’d want in on the dets and so today I am sharing everything about digital photo storage for bloggers and creative entrepreneurs that I wish I would have known when I started (or even two years ago)!

Set your camera to the correct date and time. This first tip may seem like a silly detail, but it makes all the difference in the world. Each photo will be tagged with the correct date allowing you to search and sort through your photos chronologically.

Delete duplicates and bad photos. Fight the internal instinct every creative has that makes you feel like every single photo is a precious memory that needs to be preserved. Duplicates and bad photos are just cluttering up your digital space making it harder for you to find the good ones. Delete them right away.

Store all your photos in one place. My favorite spot to save blog photos is on my Amazon Cloud Drive.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I love my Amazon Prime account – two day shipping, early access to goodies like the Amazon Echo…It’s worth every penny.

Plus with an Amazon Prime account you have free access to unlimited photo storage, along with 5 GB of additional space for video, movie and music files (the option to upgrade to unlimited everything with a free three month trial is about $5 per month or $59.99 per year).

If you don’t have a Prime account, we’re probably not meant to be friends you can purchase the stand alone Amazon Cloud Unlimited Photos Plan (similar to the Prime benefit) for $11.99 per year.

In addition to great savings, Amazon’s secure storage provides an avenue for easy access (from any web-enabled device) and the ability to share photos.

Possibly my favorite feature though, is Amazon has created the Amazon Photo app, which automatically backs up your camera roll and allows you to access photos and videos across devices. Considering the number of files I generate with my phone alone? AWESOME.

File Organization

Within my Amazon Cloud, I am very particular about file set up. I picked up on this method while working at an agency surrounded by designers and other creatives.

Category Folders

Within my main folder on Amazon Cloud, I have broad categories like Blog, Consulting, Family, Ideas, etc.

Subfolders

Within the category folder I have more specific subfolders. For instance in my Blog folder, the folder typically represent a post, or series of posts.

Each folder is labeled topic then specific post. For instance, the folder containing yesterday’s mummy treat box post is labeled Halloween Treat Box, while the post I shared on Tuesday about attending blog conferences is Blogging Tips Attending a Conference.

Internal Folders

Now, this is where it really gets good – number folders so that they appear in the order of my workflow.

1. SOC Original Files (kept in case I need to re-edit and/or a file becomes corrupt)
2. Developed Photos (cleaned up for brightness, cropped, etc.)
3. Web Ready Photos (resized and watermarked for blog and social media)

Here’s what one of my web ready folders looks like.

I keep an empty template folder and simply copy/paste so that I don’t have to recreate all of the folders every time.

Looking for a quick cheat sheet to hang near your desk? Print out this handy infographic.Now that I am in the habit of properly labeling and storing photos, it’s become a quick maintenance feature that will ensure I have easy access to photos in the years ahead.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.