Edges and clusters

Seth has a good riff on keeping true to the core values of your work. Do what you do really well and fight the urge to do everything for everyone.

Good words to think about.

Seth's Blog: Edges and clusters: "Clusters work because people are likely to be drawn to a crowd. They also work because making a good, better, best comparison gives us the confidence to go ahead and buy something. It's not an accident that profitable products like cars come in so many variations--having a choice makes it easier to choose (at least for a while). When Heinz comes in four colors, you don't have to decide whether or not to buy ketchup... you merely have to decide which color, and they win every time."

Yes. I cried.

Thanks Kevin. This was a great way to start a day. Amazing.

Individualists: So needed. So very needed.: "In a sports world where greed has taken over from fair play and egos run rampant, we need more things like this, to remind us why we love the game so much."

NOTE: Changed link. Video no longer plays at UTUBE. Go Here.

10 flickr hacks for ideas and fun!

I love Flickr...

Strategic Public Relations: 10 Flickr Hacks: "What Web 2.0 service boasts more than 100 million examples of consumer-generated media?

Flickr—one of the most underutilized online pr tools in the blogosphere. Flickr makes it easy to store and share photos online, but it also empowers PR people with a powerful visual tool. Here are ten tips to get you started.

Update: More Flickr fun here.

Another Strong Tool...

... hopefully?

Well, I am not worried about competition from some little company named Google. That said, this could be a very cool little app for creating some content for free. And since it is owned by Google, I would tend to think that it will get some good ranking points. Don't know that for sure, but it will all be revealed in time. Wonder what impact this will have on small development companies or some of the small content aggregators (Squidoo? - maybe nothing)... and there are some interesting things that can come from the blend of Blogger and Google Pages... maybe...

As it is with these things, there is much to be learned. But this could bea great place to create a site that is rich in content, easily navigated, highly ranked... and drive traffic to your other site.

The templates are not all that great (but not all that bad either) and the AJAX interface is simple enough for even the most luddite user.

Of course, as with any roll-out with a company of this size, the errors are many and varied... but that will go away soon.

Check it out though, if you have a Gmail account.


The screenshot shows the AJAX interface and the template I chose. I will fill out the pages soon and let you know how it is going.

Truth in Advertising

Reminds me of one of my all-time favorite tag lines: "We Don't Suck."

On Location With Rick Lee: Seen at the gas station...: "Seen at the gas station...

... we're not exactly excellent, but we're not that bad!

Here are a few more of my favorites...
1. "Good enough for government work."
2. "Better than most."
3. "It'll do."

Sometimes you just gotta love the folks that don't take themselves too seriously.

Chicago Tribune | Eric Zorn

Here's a great little post on how to set up your reader. I think RSS will replace much of what we now do as email. After all the crap we have had with some site that shuts down our IP because they say we are spamming (we don't. ever. ever.), I can certainly hope for something to let me get my work done.

Chicago Tribune | Eric Zorn: "What is a 'feed'?

It’s a Web product that allows you easily to see (and read, if you wish) what’s new on the Web sites and Web logs you visit most often."

Update on Gary Ward's site (Magic?)

Below you will see a screen grab of Gary Ward's new site. Previously I have blogged about site design, Flash and the problems associated with total Flash sites. Gary had his site for nearly 6 months I believe without ever being found on the searches he wanted. We took his site and re-constructed it remaining faithful to his original design. (As faithful as we could).

We launched the site Friday. Four days ago. Gary is busy getting content in to the site with our Total Control and WebFolio tools. You can visit the new site at www.gmanstudios.com. You can see his old Flash site at www.gmanstudios.com/oldsite. You can see for yourselves that with the exception of things 'movin' around' the site is very similar.

Results: This afternoon I recieved an email from Gary. subject line: "Oh..my...goodness! Is it magic???" In the email was a screenshot he had just done with his site listed at #4 on one of his main search criteria "Lifestyle photographer Phoenix" See second image below.


Also you will notice that his navigation is picked up as well as his page name. This is without Gary's home page copy which he is working on.

We don't call this Search Engine Optimization... we call it smart design. Daniel and I have a strong belief in the power of design, and we think that designing for better search engine ranking is even more important than choosing the coolest new hip font.

Now with this site Gary can start to work on gaining high ranking and placement with Adwords or YPN campaigns. Without the power to attract the search engines instead of ignoring them with Flash, the results should be significant. (Yes. I blurred the Google AdWords on the side. They are Gary's competitors and we remain loyal to our clients.)

Lady in Red (Michelle)

Lady in Red (Michelle)
Originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Just having fun now and then is good for the soul. I like photographing beautiful women. I am surrounded by them (3 beautiful daughters and a lovely wife) so it is a natural choice of subject matter.

Every once in a while it is really good to remember what you love to do and do it. Michelle is a friend and so it was easy to set up a shoot and have some fun making images.

Embarassingly Stupid

This long post dedicated to "Blogs are dead" memes is a monuement to monolithic, elitist tripe. There is so much wrong in this post that it becomes difficult where to start. I will leave it to others (Lileks?) to take this post down with a good Fisking, but the spotty and shoddy selective research just jumps out at you.

Note the complete inaccuracies of this final graph...

FT.com / Arts & Weekend - Time for the last post: "And that, in the end, is the dismal fate of blogging: it renders the word even more evanescent than journalism; yoked, as bloggers are, to the unending cycle of news and the need to post four or five times a day, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, blogging is the closest literary culture has come to instant obsolescence. No Modern Library edition of the great polemicists of the blogosphere to yellow on the shelf; nothing but a virtual tomb for a billion posts - a choric song of the word-weary bloggers, forlorn mariners forever posting on the slumberless seas of news."

#1. "...dismal fate of blogging..." Really? Seems that blogs are garnering more and more readers, advertisers and credibility. Old Media is laying off and cutting back. So this 'fate' is both pre-mature and the result of arrogant old-media elitism. Uh... goodbye.

#2. "...need to post four or five times a day, five days a week..." Really? Many respectable blogs post a few times a week, and some post 10-15 times a day. This kind of generalization is just lame on the face of it. False statement as fact.

#3. "...closest literary culture has come to instant obsolescence..." No, literary obsolescence is old-media posturing of "shut up and listen while we tell you what we have decided you need to know. Oh, and by the way, we will decieve, truncate, cajole and downright lie and you better just sit there and take it. Morons." The new media invites discussion and opposite points of view being aired. It means questions about research, sources and facts... you know... that pesky stuff the writer above leaves out.

#4. "...nothing but a virtual tomb for a billion posts..." So? Other than the cute allegory of 'virtual tomb' this statement says nothing. Ad Hominem statement that has absolutely no substance. Just because OM crap sits and yellows on shelves, what relation does that have to relevance to any given situation? It was written... it was shelved. So? It is written, posted, linked to and forgotten in most instances... except when you need to recall it, punch it in Google and there you are. That's called realtime research, and the virtual tomb has a billion cracks of entry. The 'shelved and yellowing' OM crap doesn't.

#5. ...word-weary bloggers, forlorn mariners..." Projection anyone? This guy writes a jillion paragraphs with little substance, a lame 'gotcha' attempt or two, hand selected situations spun to support his pre-decided outcome, and then lectures bloggers on being word-weary. Yeah right. Word-weary is what came to mind while reading this post... I actually had to come back to it and try to forge through it two times. The OM is always holding their "we have editors" meme up to show the blogosphere how 'real' journalism works. Guess this guys editor was on vacation... or working on his own blog.

Man, these old guys are scared. So they think they will make themselves feel better by hunkering down together and pumping each other up with tales of how the 'enemy' isn't all that tough. Yeah, we can beat 'em. Yeah, we have editors. Yeah... they are in a quagmire of a word-weary cemetary. Yeah, we still have readers. Yeah...

Jerks like this just make it easier.

Campfire Discussion...

Campfire has just been released over at 37 Signals. For those of us who love our IM tools, this is a very cool, yet simple solution. This post by Jason talks about something that Daniel and I discuss nearly daily with our PHOTOtool and Total Control products. 'Bells and Whistles' vs seriously important solutions. We have always leaned toward the simple and important over the 'cool factor' whistle. We want to solve the most important issues as simply as possible and then we add, judiciously, the items that will help get the job done for the majority of our users.

And we get similar questions. Why doesn't the PHOTOtool have the ability to handle EU sales? (Because the tax issues there are horrendous and coding them into the PHOTOtool would bloat the hell out of it and we have not seen much interest from EU nations.) Why doesn't the Total Control site have a cool 'drag and drop' organization tool for the portfolio? (Because the simple numerology sort takes very little resources and we think that our users are smart enough to know that image 25 will display between image 20 and image 30.)

Now... for the heart of this post... What are we doing in our lives that over emhasizes the bells and whistles instead of focusing on a bit more simplicity? Billing systems for photographers have become huge, bloated tools that most photogs use about 10% of. Wouldn't it be nice to have one that did that 10 or 15% really well. On the rare chance you needed and addendum, I'm quite sure you could create something that would work just fine.

I was recently talking with a shooter who had just spent about 60K on new stuff. One of his recent purchases was a lighting system that had more buttons, knobs, switches, meters... sheesh... you would just marvel at this thing. I asked him what they all did and he responded that he didn't know, he just plugged the lamps in and fired it up. Yes... that's what I do with my 26 year old Norman packs.

The most important distraction this all causes is the encumbrance it puts on creativity. Instead of getting out there to market, we wait for yet another 'cool, shiny thing' to come along to dazzle us. Instead of getting a solid website up there and work it to bring in leads, we over examine every product to see if it will deliver something we read about at another site. The question should be, 'will this deliver what I need?'

The rest... just doesn't matter.

It just doesn't matter - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals): "Today I spent a lot of time fielding questions about why we did this or that with Campfire. Why we added certain things, why we left out others, why the UI looks like this and not like that, etc. It’s always a blast to interact with people who are genuinely curious (and not just there to bust balls).

My favorite answer to the “why?” question is always: “Because it just doesn’t matter.” I think that statement embodies what makes a product great. Figuring out what matters and leaving out the rest."

Stilettoed Women in Death Race for Dollars

I shoot a lot of glamour... so this was - well - kinda funny.

Glamour Pits Stilettoed Women in Death Race for Dollars - Consumerist: "On March 9th, Amsterdam’s cobbled streets will be filled with the clatter of stilettos as women run seventy-five meters to vie for the prize of € 10,000 or 11,877.01 in U.S. torture dollars. The race is masterminded by glossy mysoginists, Glamour Magazine."

Some great writing tips...

There is a wealth of info here for us novice writers. Read the whole thing.

Blogcritics.org: One Simple Rule for Improving Your Writing: "More tips:

Use simple, strong verbs (not simple, weak ones, like 'use'). For example, instead of saying, 'The linebacker tackled the running back,' say, 'The linebacker torpedoed the running back,' or say, 'The linebacker flattened the running back.' Vivid verbs appeal to the reader's senses and help make sentences more memorable. (A little alliteration doesn't hurt, either.)"

What is the reason?

Seth's list of reasons give me pause to think...

The reason that 35mm cameras look like they do was to keep the film canister on one side and the advanced film on the other. Why do they still look like that with no film? (We all know the answer, but it is still a good question.)

I recently shot for a client that insisted on digital (of course) but wanted a set of contact sheets. The reason? He kept them in a file drawer.

Stock agencies started as a point of access for clients to see large groups of images on a particular subject. That was before the internet. What is the reason you don't sell your own stock now?

Macs were created to bring a graphical interface to compete with DOS. They cost a lot more for that luxury. Now?

If I think about it a bit more I will post.

Seth's Blog: The Reason: "The reason that Blockbuster exists is that VCR tapes used to cost more than $100."

Flickr Fun...

You all know I love Flickr. I am not a power user though. I have limited time and love to look at great images, but I don't have time to do lots of comments. Yeah, that means my images don't get commented much, but I don't care about that. Flickr is a fun app that I use to drive images to my blog and site with flickr badges, create slideshows from Flickr groups and more. If you don't have a Flickr account, come on... it's time. After you get your account, come back and visit Lifehacker's great post on all the other things you can do with Flickr.

Lifehacker - Flickr: "Photo-sharing web application Flickr is like an onion: it has many, many layers to discover. Last February I published an article here on Lifehacker called Tips for Flickr beginners, a quick rundown on how to get started on Flickr. One year later I’m still as big a Flickr fan and user as ever, so it’s about time to point out some of the more advanced features of the amazing, ever-evolving (yet e-less) service. If you’re not already a Flickr member, do head back to the newbie article and get yourself going. If you’ve already got yourself a Yahoo! account you’re halfway there."

G-Man Studios - Work in Progress

One of our PHOTOtool clients, Gary Ward, has a beautifully designed Flash site. It cannot be found by Google (or MSN, Excite... anyone). Gary shoots commercial work and should have a website that can bring visitors from the region at least - and the nation as well.

Gary's site is an example of good design, great images and compelling work. But if no one can find him when looking for a photographer in Arizona, or a "People photographer Arizona" the web site is not a useful excercise, but a time waster.

Daniel and I will be redoing the site into one of our WebFolio templates. The site will look fundamentally the same, but Gary will have the ability to modify his text, change the images in the portfolios, tweak his metatags for better search engine response and more. Take a look at Gary's site as a Flash site and I will let you know when we have taken it to a more search engine friendly site. Early next week is our target.

iStockphoto acquired by Getty

Guy has a small blurb about this, but read the discussion below it to get a sense of the widely diverse opinion. It has always seemed like a no-brainer for a free market (which I am a big believer in). As a photographer however, I found it - well - interesting. I believe that it could be used by commercial photographers to gain more visibility for their assignment work, but I also wondered at how designers could use them for such large projects. (A friend used iStock for a huge capabilites brochure... 6 color thing... just seemed strange.)

I have used them on a number of occasions when I needed a little web graphic or an insert shot for a brochure. Good stuff there.

I don't have a clue what this will mean for iStock or stock shooting in general, but it is indeed an interesting development.

Let the Good Times Roll--by Guy Kawasaki:
Mazel Tov iStockphoto

My wife thinks this explains it

Actually I agree with her. My Hyper-ADD has always been a blessing creatively and a drag for the real-world annoyances of mediocrity and slow-moving systems.

The advantages of ADD in a high tech world - Lifehacker: "It seems to me ADD and the technology industry is a natural fit. The constant change of the high tech world can be stressful and troubling for some people but it’s often stimulating and energizing for the ADDer. A great source of Dopamine hits. Although, there are no specific statistics a number of other ADD experts I’ve talked to agree with my observation."

Above and beyond...

On Location With Rick Lee: Uncommon Cold: "When I got there, I asked them just how cold it was in that room and they said 'about minus 20'. 'Excuse me?' I was expecting it to be just below freezing. I had no idea if my camera gear would even work in there. The camera gear was less trouble than my fingers which started hurting real bad after about 15 minutes. "

Art of Photography Show...

For those of you who may be interested, this could be a lot of fun. Entry fees don't seem too bad either. I would caution you to verify all of this first.

Art of Photography Show Prospectus: "CALL FOR ENTRIES:

Images created via any form of photography will be accepted for consideration (i.e. shot on film, shot digital, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, etc.), so long as part of the image is photographically created."

Very Good Bogger information at this long post

This is a terrific post on things all bloggers deal with daily.

» Battling Bloggers Block: Blog Tips at ProBlogger: "I’ve come up with 20+ short tips which I’ll share over the coming week as a series. As I add them one by one on the main blog I’ll also add them to this page so you can have one place for the complete series. Feel free to chip in in comments as we go with your own bloggers block busting techniques. Not all of them will be suitable for every blog - but hopefully in the mix will be something of use to you next time you get bloggers block."

Nicely Done Magazine

Visit this well done online magazine of photography. I love the RSS feature so I can see the newest stuff as it is posted.

MakingRoom Magazine: "MakingRoom is a magazine about the process, intention and results of image-making. Please join our mailing list or use our news feed to stay up-to-date. Please get in touch if you have questions, comments or suggestions."

Watch these videos for some insights

on where the tech world is going. Of special interest is the Scoble video (unbelievably poor video) on blogging and corporate blogging. Check it out. Take an idea or two to mull over.

freestudios.tv: "LIFT has a simple goal: connect people who are passionate about new applications of technology and propel their conversations into the broader world to improve life and work"

This is great...

I am cross platform. Love my Macs and use a lot of PC's. Lately I have spent more time on PC's and really love using Netvibes for my home page. It has all my logins on it, Flickr pics from my contacts, RSS Feeds, my Writely pages, to do lists and important bookmarks. It has been a huge time saver for me. It had not been working on Safari, which was a pain, but that is fixed now.

There are several start pages out there. Some are more sophisticated than Netvibes, but I personally like the simplicity of design and the ease of use. Check it out, Mac folks.

Netvibes welcome Safari Users ! - Netvibes.com Blog: "Yes, this one was a big time feature and it's now available : Netvibes on Safari."

Nothing to do with Photography...

...or marketing. Just a really cool rug I found at one of our clients web site. This rug has incredible designs in it. It's going on my wish list quick. And it matches our new wall colors!

Exotic Weaves - Tibetan Hand-knotted Area Rugs, Custom Area Rugs: "Exotic Weaves are among the finest Tibetan Area Rugs available. Each of our beautiful designs are carefully handwoven and the design elements are carved by hand to accentuate the details. Our rugs are made in 80-120 knot construction with wool and/or silk."

"The New Era

...doesn't have to be a zero sum game." I love that line. Too much negativity and ludditology and status quo worshipping going on out there. This is a bold move that will prove to be the start of a trembling in the publishing world. Content provided with advertising... what an incredible, earth shattering idea. (What about television, magazines and radio? - ed)

(crickets in the mist)

Oh yeah... there's always that.

Publisher to Offer Book Content Online - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK - At a time when publishers are suing to prevent Google from putting excerpts of copyrighted books online, HarperCollins has started an advertiser-supported program that will offer a free look at the full text of selected works.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Harper program, announced Monday, is being launched with Bruce Judson's 'Go It Alone! The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own.' The book was published in hardcover at the end of 2004, and recently came out as a paperback. Anyone who wants to read the whole text can visit the author's Web site, http://www.BruceJudson.com.

'We hope this pilot will demonstrate a win-win for publishers, authors and search engines. The new era does not need to be a zero sum game,' HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said Monday in a statement."

Some thngs to do...

...on a rainy day. Of course here in Phoenix it doesn't rain.

Camera Hacker: Hacks

Canon Digital Rebel 300D Universal Remote with Nevo on iPAQ
PDA wireless control for digital cameras that are compatible with the RC-5 infrared remote.

How to re-use Polaroid instant PopShot camera?
Let these step-by-step instruction show you how to turn the Polaroid instant disposable camera into a re-usable instant camera.

There are a ton more hacks here as well.

I Hate SEO Crap... this is why

One of the things you will notice about what Daniel and I do is a definite separation between Search Engine Optimizing and Optimizing a site for Search Engine viability. To me the SEO crap was the cheat, scam, lie and decieve and the other is responsibly building pages that work within the guidelines of the SE's.

Responsible site building creates a well-ranked page. Irresponsible SEO crap results in this. Consider this a shot over the bow of those SEO companies who practice this kind of stupidity.

Pocket-lint.co.uk Google delists BMW Germany for foul play news story: "Google has flexed its muscles and dropped BMW Germany from its search engine following the German car manufacturer’s attempts to artificially boost its popularity ranking.

The move is likely to send shockwaves through the Internet industry over fears that one company has such power and affect over a website's access to the public. "

Launching Another Site...

Finalizing the Project Management portion of CC-Signatures Web site today. CC-Signatures is owned by Joe Courtney and is one of the finest Home Theater and Custom builder in the valley. Here are a few screenshots of the site. It is a Total-Control site and has lots of bells/whistles including a full featured project management tool for creating teams, creating timelines, vendor control and reporting.

Each section of the site has its own portfolio. If you live in the great cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler or Gilbert, take a look at what can be done with your home theaters. (Shamelessly plugging our client is a n/c item on our billing form.)

ASMP Arizona Chapter Site

We just finished the ASMP Arizona Chapter web modifications. Thanks to the hard work of Jim, Steve and Dan, Daniel and I were able to get this last portion put together rather quickly. The overall design is very compatible with the ASMP National site. News, articles and upcoming chapter meetings are easily spotted on the home page.

All of the content is managed by our Total-Control-Site tools, so the team can add / deleter articles, news, events, members, contact info and more. The slide show on the home page shows a random set of 5 member images everytime the page loads... keeping it fresh.

Finding an Arizona photographer for your next shot couldn't get any easier. We built a simple listing of photographers that are easily modified and maintained by the individual photographer. That frees chapter leaders from weekly maintenance items.

The Biography features the links to the photographer's web site(s), two are provided as well as a link to a blog. There is a place to add a bit of bio material and a listing of the photographer's specialties. Also included is a space for some images to be shown. One of the cool things Daniel did was to build the pages as an XML controlled process whereby the photographers page is rendered as html from the upload point. Search Engines are invited in to each photographer's bio.

The Search function is based on specialties and last mames. Even if you only know the first letter of a photographers last name, you can find them here.

ASMP has worked tirelessly to support the efforts of photographers in many disciplines. If you are a shooter and are not a member, join. If you are an art buyer, give this list of highly talented professionals a look-see. You wont be disappointed.

it's just cool stuff...

... that's my take anyway. Morethanseven has an interesting post to a lot of cool little apps and tools. Check 'em out.

morethanseven.net > Small Software: "I dont know if it’s just me getting older and having more disposable income, or a greater appreciation of what it takes to make really good software (probably a bit of both) but it’s sort of snuck up on me? Anyone else finding the same? I know Jon has been mentioning some cool new apps he’s using. What about everyone else?"

Shooting an Editorial Assignment

... can sometimes be a study in focus (no pun intended). This gentleman is the headmaster of Brophy Prep Academy in Phoenix. I had a very short window to get the shots needed. He was bing interviewed at the same time as I was grabbing images. 20 minutes in and out. Great guy, he showed off the new buildings and development at the school with great pride.

I love the spontaneous rush of shooting editorial. Not a lot to pre-plan, no time to over-prepare, just get in and get it done. I wish more of my business was like editorial shooting. Focus on solving the challenges with what we have, take a risk, get the shot... throw the rest of the crap out. Did I mention that I had forgotten my bag in my wifes car (she traded with me before I awoke) and had only my camera, 50mm lens and a small reflector? Hey, turns out that is just what I needed. Ya know.

Blogs Make the Big Time TV...

Just sitting here working and glance up... there's Amanda Congdon on my TV doing what seems to be a 'fake' Rocketboom Videocast. On CSI... the number one rated show. Guess that means Rocketboom will start to do dog food ads.... naw... probably not.

This is very cool

Take your apps with you. Most of what you need... on a thumb drive. Plug it in to any computer and go to work. Easy to back up files and keep your bookmarks. Wow. I will take some time to look at this and give it a shot, but I still like the virtual approach (everything on the web). This may be have definite advantages though.

PortableApps.com | Your Digital Life, Anywhere™: "A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB thumbdrive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind."

File Under - Sheesh...

... I wish I had this 5 yrears ago... before I started getting about eleventybillion emails from the excrement that thinks I need a mortgage loan or a Rolex....

hiding email addresses - Sarven Capadisli: "I've compiled a list of methods for hiding email addresses from the page source, to rebel against the email spam bots. Each method has its (dis)advantages, therefore I leave it up to the reader to decide which method suits them the most, as there are many factors."

Risk Nothing. Become Invisible and Safe

One of the more interesting phenomena of our day. We have at our hands the most incredible tools for doing amazing, ground-breaking, revolutionary things... and most of us simply choose the safer road.

The main reason I am shooting more is that I realized how 'safe' my images had become. Playing around at Flickr has shown me some wonderful, edgy work and I want to break free of the 'commercial safeness' that took over my shooting. Technical excellence and competant imagery are demanded from every shoot. If you go off and do something 'off the wall' you could lose the client and tons of money. The problem occurs when that 'zone of safeness' imposed by the project begins to take over in the other aspects of the creativity. Not every shoot demands the perfect outcome. Trying new things at the risk of making a bad image or design is very difficult... especially for us old-timers. (Recognizing the problem is the first step to fixing it.)

Creating Passionate Users: Death by risk-aversion: "Risk-aversion is the single biggest innovation killer, and of course it's not just Microsoft that's been infected. Taking risks is... risky. But if not taking risks is even riskier, then WTF?"

Elite Photo Art Launches

We just launched Elite Photo Art's new website. It is a Total Control site and William is doing a great job with it. William understands the many levels of marketing possible to help him sell his beautiful nature images. He has populated his PHOTOtool with over a dozen galleries and is using lots of tools for visitor retention.


Features:
Home page includes a slideshow, links to his blog and his Flickr account (a Flickr badge is used). He is also using Constant Contact to manage an email campaign. This will help develop a strong following when he does it consistantly and with such elegant mages.

He is selling books from Amazon ( a good generator for powerful "incoming links") and should help him raise his ranking in Google and other search engines.

Good job on populating the content William. We are glad you are on board with us.

Like that big Stay-Puff guy in Ghostbusters

Good post on planning / overplanning and countin' them chickens.

Success Begins Today » Marshmallow Musings: "They usually end up with the Mercedes of Marshmallows but many times in huge marshmallow debt. Have you ever witnessed marshmallow repossession? It’s not a pretty sight."

Testing QuickrPickr...

This little tool makes grabbing images from my Flickr page so much easier. Very cool, QuickrPickr guys.

Testing with Deena

Testing with Deena

a quickr pickr post

Tons-O-Storage Sites

This is one of the more exciting developments for photographers. Thes assorted sites (some even offer free services) allow you to send / store / retrieve large files. Easy for your clients to use, professional interfaces and powerful features. Much easier than training someone on FTP for the first time - or trying to email huge files. Pricing is very competitive and affordable.

TechCrunch » The Online Storage Gang: "The online storage market is evolving fast. In the past, users could expect no more than a simple service where files could be slowly uploaded and downloaded from a mapped virtual drive or a simple web based interface. Little competition (and the bursting of the bubble) led to very high prices for a minimal amount of storage."

Things to consider

Recently having one of my "Good Grief - he's off on a roll on that synergistic-blog-web thing" discussions about this same thing. My friends know I can get a little over the top on some things I truly believe in, but I really think there is power out there for getting photographers and designers more work through gaining more interest. Guy Kawasaki has been blogging for a month. He has doubled to tripled the visits to his website. His book has climbed over a thousand places in book sales at Amazon. In a month.

So. Go ahead. Tell me that you have too little time (Two hours a week? Really?). Explain how doing a blog wont help get you more hits, visits, impressions, visitors, possible clients, ... argh!

Maybe I'm a little grumpy, but this is such a no-brainer.

Let the Good Times Roll--by Guy Kawasaki: Total BS (Blog Statistics):
"8. Traffic to my web site, www.guykawasaki.com, increased from about 400 page views/day to 800-1,200 page views/day.
9. My Amazon sales rank for The Art of the Start (go ahead, I dare you to click on this link) hovered between #1,500 and #2,000 prior to the start of my blog. Currently, the sales rank hovers between #500 and #750."