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The Best Way To Tweet on Twitter

May 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Previously we shared how to optimize your Facebook and Google Plus posts for usability and reach. Today we want to talk about Twitter.

At Photocrati, we are always testing new ways to organize a tweet. Below is an Infographic that MarketingThink created to help guide for your proper Twitter etiquette.  After the Infographic, we will share some additional thoughts.

best-tweet

In summary:

  • Keep it within 120 characters
  • Include a call to action (catchy headline)
  • Include 1 hashtag
  • Include @mention when needed
  • Include RT when needed
  • Include a short link using bit.ly, goo.gl or t.co
  • As for retweet
  • Try to leave blank space at the end

Keeping your Tweets clean and with enough space for retweets should help improve its reach.

For example:

best-tweet-twitter

Targeting 1 hashtag is much better than stuffing many hashtags into a tweet. Think of it like SEO and including keywords. Too many is a turn off.  You are much better off creating multiple tweets (original) using different hashtags and sending through out at different days and times.

Write something catchy, add your personal touch to the tweet, and don’t be afraid to ask for a retweet.

…and don’t forget to test. In fact, using Buffer App can help improve overall reach.

Thanks for reading,
Scott

Filed Under: Social Tagged With:

3 Time Saving Bookmarklets For Your Browser

May 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Bookmarklets are kind of like tiny apps. They’re bookmarks that you place in your browser’s bookmark bar that perform some sort of task.

In the video below you will see 3 bookmarklets that I use on a regular basis.

To try these bookmarklets for yourself, visit the following sites and added them to your bookmark bar.

I hope you find them as useful as I have.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Social Tagged With: ,

Anniversary Letters Increase Engagement & Trust

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Thanks to my friend Mike, I have a great tip to share with Photocrati users and readers.

One year after shooting a wedding, Mike posts on his Facebook page a congratulations note to his clients. In addition, he will include a photograph from their wedding or engagement session if he photographed that as well.

Check this out:

anniversary-posts-increase-engagement

Click the image to view the Facebook post. Photo © Mike Olbinski Photography

How to go about it?

  • Pick the best engagement or wedding photograph when processing the photographs for your client
  • Create a folder on your computer specifically called Anniversary Letters
  • Inside the folder, place the photograph inside a sub folder with the client’s name
  • In a text file, write a letter to your client (it can be short) and include something personal from their wedding
  • Place the letter inside the client’s sub folder
  • Add the client’s anniversary to your calendar so you are alerted when it is time to post the letter and photograph

So how can you take this concept to a blogging level?

  • Take the same concept that Mike has been utilizing, but in a blog article form
  • Try to write a longer letter
  • Include 3 of your best photographs from the wedding and/or engagement session
  • Send an email to the client so there is no way they can miss it
  • In the email, include a note about your referral program
  • Close it with something like, “Thank you for having me photograph your amazing day”

What do you think of the concept, both Mike’s and my expanded view?

Have you done something like this?

Please comment below to share your thoughts.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With:

Use An iPad To Sell A Client Prints

April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

There are two iPad apps that do a fantastic job of selling prints to photography clients. Preveal is one and Shoot and Sell is the other. Both are extremely similar, but there is one huge difference between the two. Shoot and Sell comes packaged with a few stock photographs of “client rooms” where Preveal requires you to take room photographs on your own. The nice part of about forced to photograph your own rooms is that it pushes you to photograph your client’s room.

Here are the video descriptions of each:

Preveal

Preveal brings the power of projection sales to the coffee shop, allowing you to show it small to sell it big.

Shoot and Sell

Shoot and Sell is an iPad app for photographers to help their clients “picture their pictures” on the walls of their home.


These apps are not your typical iPad app prices, however if you are the type of photographer who often hand delivers products to clients, then they are both perfect fits for your business.

I originally shared my own videos on through my website, so if this interests you please head there and read some comments about iPad sales.

To see what other iPad and iPhone apps can be useful in your photography business, check out my free course on Udemy.

Thanks for reading and enjoy,
Scott

Filed Under: Working With Clients Tagged With:

Your Photography Website Is Pretty, But Will It Get You Clients?

April 2, 2013 By 8 Comments

I’ve seen photographers spend piles of money on lovely photography websites with lots of fading images, music tracks, pretty pages and more.

I often wonder how good those websites are at converting a visitor into a potential client?

The “pretty factor” helps, sure. But what other elements can help a photography website: generate a visitor, engage them enough to cause them to stick (or return), and, ultimately, to get them to convert into a phone call, email or web form submission.

I spent the past eight years studying a variety of websites across hundreds of industries, not just photography. I’ve put together a list of things that I’ve seen be the most successful.

Three ways to ensure your photography website is performing to its fullest potential

1. Is anyone visiting?

A pretty website is worthless if no one, or not enough people, visit it. How much is enough? There is no “enough”.

I personally believe that in order to continue to be successful in your business, your website traffic should be higher this month than it was last month or higher this year than it was last year. For those of you in seasonal businesses, perhaps the comparison of same months within prior years is most relevant, where more steady photography businesses can just look month over month within the same year.

If you have no idea how many visitors are coming to your website, use Jetpack or Google Analytics or see if your hosting provider offers a stat package.

How often should you watch your website traffic?

Once a week is sufficient. You should be looking for a few things:

  • Where are people coming from? (ie what sources are they coming from? Facebook, Pinterest, Email programs, etc?)
  • What search terms are they using to find your website? (i.e., are people only Googling your name? Or are they searching and finding you using more general terms?
  • What is the quantity of traffic and how does it compare to last year, last month, etc?

2. If people aren’t visiting or finding you, fix something (or a lot of things)

Obviously I could write a dissertation on website SEO. If you’re really into optimizing your website for search, check out this amazing community here. I would write about SEO more, but I’d rather leave that topic to the experts. :)

People not finding you could be because of poor SEO. It could also be because of any number or combination of the following:

  • Your overall reach in social media needs to be improved (get more fans or followers!)
  • You need to post more links from social to your site (give those fans and followers a reason to visit your site!)
  • You need to get more links to your website listed (naturally) on other websites (a great way to do this is by guest blogging!)

3. You need to blog (or blog more)

Most photographers run a blog on their own website. But I believe the target audience for future clients is often lost in the process.

Take a look at your own blog and evaluate it based on these simple questions:

  • Does my ideal future client find anything of value in my blog?
  • Do my posts help my ideal future client make a better decision about purchasing photography (hopefully from me)?
  • Does my blog truly speak to the needs of my future client?

Editors note:  What’s your blogging strategy?

If the answer to those questions is “no”, then you may be using your blog as a diary of what you’ve done.

Instead, consider using your blog to diary ways in which your clients prepared for a shoot, participated in a shoot by holding a prop or light reflector, added to the fun of a shoot or any other idea that might help your future client see what a shoot with you can be like.

Educating your future client is key.

There is an insanely overwhelming list of things that new photographers need to learn as they launch their photography business. A website that converts visitors to potential clients is just one of them!

art-photo-business

I recently wrote a brief e-book titled: The Art Of A Photo Business: What Every Photographer Wished They Learned Before Starting Their Photography Business. It contains marketing advice, business tips and miscellaneous motivational “umph” for every single photographer seeking a better way to approach their business. Photocrati readers get it for just $7 until 4/30/13. Buy it by clicking here and use coupon code LH48A.

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Angela Pointon is the founder of Steel Toe Images, which offers marketing advice and inspiring motivation for photography business owners. She recently published her first book, The Art of a Photo Business. Find her on her blog, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Filed Under: Photography Websites Tagged With: , ,

Make Your Photography Website Print Friendly

March 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Have you been wanting to add a cleaner print experience for your website visitors?

In the video below, you will see how you can add a simple CSS script in your Photocrati theme’s Dynamic CSS area.

Here is the PrintFriendly button I mentioned in the article.

Print Friendly and PDF

Here is the snippet of CSS that you can paste in your Dynamic CSS section.

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below.

Thanks for reading,
Scott

Filed Under: Photography Websites Tagged With:

The Best Way To Post On Facebook & Google Plus

March 12, 2013 By 1 Comment

When it comes to social media, many photographers (including us) want to save time by using automated tools. For example, using Buffer App can save time posting spontaneous links to your Facebook page. Using IFTTT can automatically share your newest blog article on your Facebook page.

Using automation tools are definitely valuable with how busy we are as photographers. But when you are ready to post something on Facebook or Google Plus, there is a simple trick that can increase the views, likes, +1s, clicks and re-shares.

Here are the steps for both Facebook and Google Plus:

  1. Select/Upload your photo(s) to the post
  2. Paste the URL of the link you want clicked
  3. Below the link, include a description of the content the viewer will read about
  4. Post it!

When you’re done, the post should look something like this:

best-facebook-google-plus

After you’ve posted the article, you can feature it on Facebook by making it the full width of your timeline.

Want to see more effective Facebook strategies?  Check out this article from Amy Porterfield.

I also want to mention that you might have a preference for including the URL to your article/page at the bottom of your social post. That is also effective, and looks a lot nicer. However, it will decrease the click-through rate because it won’t be as prominent as having the URL at the top.

That’s about it.  This simple technique will increase the conversions you are hoping for.  If you have questions please feel free to comment.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Social Tagged With: ,

Lead Generation For B2B Using LinkedIn & Google Analytics

February 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Wanapi is a new tool well worth checking out for any photographer focused on businesses or business people as your customers.

Wanapi connects to your Google Analytics and shows you interesting b2b sales leads. You can see which companies visited your website, when and what they did there.

With it, you can literally connect your Google Analytics and LinkedIn accounts to the application. Then, it analyses the data and shows you which businesses were on your site, why and what they were doing.

Here are some screenshots.

wanapi-01

The basic default screen lets you browse the companies, and clicking on a company brings up the traffic.

wanapi-02

Clicking on the LinkedIn tab brings up employees at the company and their connection to you.

wanapi-03

You can then hide the company, add notes, show what pages the people visited and categorize the lead.

wanapi-04

Hovering over the chart will bring up more information that can be useful for your outreach to the new lead.

So there you have it. Wanapi is pretty neat and very new. The basic account is free, but looks as though they will be adding price levels in the future.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Photography Business Tagged With: , , ,

What Baby Toys Can Teach You About Photography Websites

February 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

photography-website

There is such an overwhelming amount of photography website designs around the Internet.  Sometimes in life, we get inspired by the strangest things.  In this article you will see how a simple baby toy inspired some insights into photography websites.

My nephew was playing with this musical toy and certain things the toy did sparked some thoughts.

photography-website-baby-toys

  • Keep your colors consistant -  This toy has so much going on with color.  Of course, because it’s a baby toy the colors are meant to trigger certain responses.  A photography website color scheme should be simple so that the color in the photographs are drawing the viewers eye.
  • Music – This toy is meant for a child to hear and play music.  My nephew already loves music, so when he plays with the toy he also dances.  A photography website can have music, but think about the audience before setting it to auto-play.  Will your audience enjoy the music?
  • Things to touch – Baby toys have so much to touch.  Things move, open, make noise and have texture.  A photography website should also have things to touch, but in an organized way.  Keep the layout clean and have a focus so your visitors do what you want.
  • Durability – Most baby toys, like the one you see in the photo above, are built to last.  Make sure you are using a well designed and thought out WordPress photography theme and use the best website hosting for photographers so you’re website is safe.

Now it’s your turn.  Think about a toy and comment below with what it teaches you about supercharging your photography websites.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

Filed Under: Photography Websites Tagged With:

How Affiliates Can Leverage Evergreen Content

January 15, 2013 By 1 Comment

High quality content is the cornerstone of SEO. Regularly updated blogs and content sites tend to rank better in search engines than all-but-abandoned sites or ones that are full of duplicate content. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the time to write new content for our websites every few days. The good news is that we don’t have to.

There are two main kinds of content. Evergreen content, and news or topical content. Topical content is content that talks about the big news of the day – for example posts about the Olympics, the royal wedding, or the latest big-name celebrity gaffe. That content may generate a large number of hits for a short period of time, but within a couple of months it will be outdated and almost never searched for.

Evergreen content is content that is going to interest visitors for a long time to come. Tutorials are a good example of Evergreen content. People will always want to know how to bake a chocolate cake or how to format their hard drive. Lists, biographies, and even some product reviews can also be considered to be examples of Evergreen content, as long as the things that you are talking about have a lasting appeal.

Monetizing Evergreen Content

Affiliates can use evergreen content to create niche content sites that contain affiliate links to their favourite merchants. For example, if you run a photographer targeted website you could write some tutorials, for example:

  • How to increase business this summer
  • Fix your photo business finances for the New Year
  • Create templates that decrease processing time

The above content is your “long tail” content. You could then write a “head piece” titled “6 Ways To Add Revenue Streams To Your Photography Business”, and link that article to the other articles.

Within those articles, you could link to presets, financial templates, legal templates and other products. Each individual long tail article will only attract traffic at certain times of the year, but throughout the year you should enjoy a steady stream of traffic.

Writing Good Evergreen Content

The secret to success with evergreen content is to write content that appeals to the layman. Experts won’t search for photography advice, so there’s no reason to use a lot of jargon or link to obscure research papers. Use clear and concise language, and make sure that your articles are accurate and easy to understand.

The most successful evergreen articles are ones that are quite narrow in scope. An article titled “Do Spreadsheets Work?” will probably have a lot of competition. An article examining one specific type of spreadsheet should have less competition and will also attract higher quality traffic because the person searching for that specific diet pill is likely to be highly interested in the topic.

It’s a good idea to link your evergreen posts to each other. Someone interested in one diet pill may be interested in others, and someone who wants diet advice so that they can get in shape for the summer may also want to read your article about useful spreadsheets that will streamline their photography business.

Write Topical Posts Too

Evergreen content is just one piece of the affiliate marketing puzzle. It’s a good idea to write news posts too. If a new product comes on the marketing, related to your original content, write about it! You can get a lot of traffic by taking advantage of big news and sudden trends. The purpose of the evergreen content is to keep those clicks coming in during otherwise quiet months.

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This post was written by Crispin Jones for Twist Digital.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: ,
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