“If something seems to good to be true, it probably is.”

Nowhere is this old saying more true than on the Internet. 95% of Internet scams are designed to take advantage of the fact that we love getting something for nothing. The other 5% rely on the opposite fact: we hate to lose money.

Here’s a great example of the first kind of scam: Read the rest of this entry »

JD is proud to sponsor the annual Great Lakes School of Photography (GLIP), and we encourage you to attend one of the many great classes offered. But the one class that is guaranteed to make you money year after year is Jennifer Roggi’s PPA Studio Management System during GLIP. Here is the course outline:

“Learn the necessary business skills to really understand your business.  Everything from pricing to actual cost to stay in business.  Learn from the program that has been a resounding success for PPA members all over the country.  This will be the first PPA Affiliate school offering this class to PPA Members and Non-Members alike.  You must register for this class thru PPA. org and then at GLIP.org.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity right in your own back yard to learn what it really takes to be a profitable and sustainable photographic business!”

There is an old adage in business: you get what you measure. Without having measurable goals and a plan to achieve them, you risk your studio being stuck as a hobby instead of a real business. In addition to offering this class locally, PPA offers reports, webinars and a host of other resources for members who use the Studio Management System on the PPA website.

The class runs Monday, June 25th and Tuesday June 26th. Cost of this class is $379.00, and must be scheduled thru the PPA website. Click here to register.

Last week, you asked for examples in the Never Stop Marketing article.

While I don’t have perfect examples from a photographer, I do have a couple of pretty good print ad examples we’ve placed in magazines and as shipping stuffers for the lab.

The “grow” ad on the left is designed to communicate our brand: we’re a full-service pro lab committed to helping our our clients grow their business.

The “2 for $2.00″ holiday card sample ad is an offer designed to make it less expensive for photographers to pre-sell photo Christmas cards by letting them purchase just 2 cards – one to show the client, and one as a studio sample – at below cost.

Because the “grow” ad promotes the brand, it is difficult to measure its success. However, we had dozens of photographers take advantage of the “2 for $2.00″  special, so we’ve left it in the ROES catalog and will be promoting it again next year.

As an aside, notice that while both cards look completely different, they both use the same basic style, colors and JD logo. This is no accident – our graphic designer’s goal is to make our brand familiar to you.

JD is proud to sponsor the 2012 School Photography Boot Camp to be held June 25-29, 2012 at the Alexis Park Resort in Las Vegas, NV.

This popular five day program is in it’s seventh season and is the most comprehensive training available for independent photographers and studios who want to enter the lucrative underclass school photo market. A highlight of the week-long program is a simulated classroom photo session using local children as models when attendees get to see a wide range of imaging technologies in action.

The program is taught by Chris Wunder, Cr. Photog. ASP, one of the School Photo industry’s most popular instructors. Guest instructors will also be featured. The Deadline for discount advance registration is May 31, 2012. In addition, JDPI customers get an additional $50 off by using Discount Code 50bc2012 when registering by May 31.

The program sells-out each year, so early registration is recommended. A program synopsis, registration fees and information is available at http://www.marathonpress.com/lasvegasbootcamp/

A potential client called and asked if I would mail him a catalog and price list.

“Sure,” I replied, but noted that he could also download it off our website.

“I don’t know what your website name is,” he said. “I got your phone number off an ad in an old magazine.”

After I put down the phone, I was again reminded of a fundamental truth in business: never stop marketing. You can never know which advertisement is going to motivate a potential client to call.

It works like this:

Read the rest of this entry »

Stick a pin in a map where your studio is located, draw a circle around it, and chances are 80% of your clients live inside that circle.  It makes sense: most people prefer to shop close to home. This (and mobile phones) is why Google search results are influenced by where your studio – and your customers – are located. The fancy term for this is localization.

To see how localization works, type “wedding photographer” in Google (or click here). Over on the far left you’ll see where Google thinks you’re located. Click the “change location” link, enter a new zip code or city at least 100 miles away, and you’ll see a different list of websites on the 1st page of Google. This is because Google assumes you are searching for wedding photographers near you.

In order to take advantage of localization, you just need to let Google know where your studio is located. Then when people in your area search for photography, you’ll come up higher on the first page.

Here are 3 ways to localize your website for Google:

Read the rest of this entry »

Student images can now be posted online easily and quickly from within PhotoLynx’s K-12 data-matching software.

That is the news from PhotoLynx, Inc. and ImageQuix, Inc. The two companies have formed a strategic alliance to provide full service installation and implementation of FLOW, the new data-matching software from PhotoLynx.

FLOW software is designed for photographers shooting events, schools and sports. The software uses a new interface, intuitive data and image matching methods, and many other improvements over its predecessor, CamLynx. FLOW efficiently associates data and images, providing the photographer a new level of control over product offerings and the on-site photography process.

Read the rest of this entry »

Uncle Bob brought his high-end digital camera to the wedding and shot dozens of photos. The bride gets a DVD of images a week later, and really likes some of the shots. Perhaps she’ll upload them to Flickr to share with her friends or Shutterfly to make some prints. But most likely, she’ll throw the DVD in a drawer and save it for a rainy day project – along with all the other images she received from wedding guests.

Could this be an income opportunity for a professional photographer? What if you offered as part of your package a central place for brides to have guests to upload their photographs, then you downloaded the images and designed and printed a 2nd album for the bride?

Read the rest of this entry »

So you’re committed to social media. You’ve just finished a great portrait session with a new family, and after a little work in Photoshop you’ve created a great portrait they are going to love. Time to upload a thumbnail  image to Facebook, mention it on your blog, Tweet it, and perhaps even update your profile of services on LinkedIn.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one program where you could do all of this from a single screen?

That is the point of Hootsuite, a free, online application that lets you view and control all your social media connections from a single desktop window.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you checked out our layout guides for ROES yet? These collections of layered PhotoShop PSD files make it easy to lay out a product, save as a JPG image, and drop into our ROES software. And because each layout guide comes with safe, wrap and cut guide lines, you can be assured your finished products will look great.

Here are a current list of available guide collections you can download. Each collection of guides are in a ZIP file. You should download the ZIP file and open it to access the PSD files.

• Diamond Albums – our Diamond Album cover guides in leather and acrylic available in 5×5″ through 12×24″ album sizes.

• Emerald Albums – Cover layout guides for Emerald Albums in 5×5″, 6×6″, 8×8″ and 10×10″ sizes.

Read the rest of this entry »