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What The Walking Dead Teaches Us About Photography And Business

April 23, 2013 By 1 Comment

The Walking Dead is a television show on AMC. The show is the most realistic film with zombies ever made. (for how realistic zombie movies can be)

teaches-photography-business

While catching up on some of the episodes, I had one of those “ah ha” moments, and thought I’d share them with you.

You see, The Walking Dead reminded me of a few photography and photography business things. So here goes.

  1. The story matters, so be sure to tell stories when blogging, because stories make things happen.
  2. Relationships matter, so stay in touch with them during the highs and lows.
  3. Shadows can create dramatic results, so let the details go.
  4. Don’t give it all away. Save some of your story, or advice for future content or campaign.
  5. Have a backup plan. If you’re a wedding photographer there might be times when no one in your area is getting married. Your backup might be boudoir or portraits.
  6. Talking Dead (the interview episodes after each show) is like an in-person session follow up.  Don’t be afraid to meet with your clients again after their session to upsell and build upon the relationship.

Television shows can inspire some interesting thoughts. Have you been inspired by The Walking Dead or any other show? Please comment to share.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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Easily Create A Video Introduction

April 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

If you have been wanting to add a video introduction to your screencasts or videos, then this tip is one you will enjoy.

Using Apple’s Keynote, I have successfully created a video introduction for my video marketing efforts. After creating an animated slideshow in Keynote, I added sound effects using Screenflow.

I can then easily add the introduction template to future screencast recordings or export the introduction as a hi-resolution .mov file and add to any video using iMovie.

If you are a PowerPoint user, you can still do something like this, so don’t be discouraged by Keynote.

The final video introduction

At Photocrati, we hire professional video teams to create our product introduction videos. (which you can see on our homepage) But as you can see, without a budget for a professional intro clip, you can still create something with quality.

Thanks for reading,
Scott

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How To Help Prevent Your WordPress Site From Breaking & Being Hacked

February 26, 2013 By 4 Comments

We are often asked about WordPress security, and while we are not security professionals, we are happy to share some advice. If you need specific advice for your website, please contact a WordPress security expert like Sucuri.

Recommendations

I will start with some recommendations and then move into answering some common questions that come into Photocrati support.

Backup: Files & Database

BackupBuddy is a fantastic WordPress plugin to automate full-site backups. However, there are many free alternatives in the WordPress plugin directory that can also get the job done. For example, WordPress Backup to Dropbox. Keeping regular backups offline is ideal for a WordPress website so it can be restored if something did happen.

  • BackupBuddy – Premium plugin with annual subscription. Can backup to FTP, Amazon S3, Dropbox and more
  • WordPress Backup to Dropbox – Free with premium upgrades – Can backup to Dropbox only
  • VaultPress – Premium plugin with monthly subscription. Service from Automattic, developer of WordPress

Of course, there are many other backup plugins available. If you have one to suggest please comment below.

Database Optimizing

Keeping your WordPess database optimized is one of the ways to keep it running fast and strong. Database optimization can be done through a database tool, however that is not something that should be touched by someone without full understanding of the tool. There is a plugin that can help anyone optimize their database at any time. WP-Optimize is one of the more popular tools of its kind.

Of course, there are many other database optimization plugins available. If you have one to suggest please comment below.

Security: Monitor & Fix

Because of the popularity of WordPress, it is more vulnerable to attack than other content management systems. One of the top security plugins, free in the directory, is Wordfence. Let it monitor and safeguard certain aspects of your site. Some security plugins come with incident actions, where they will log in and fix hacks if they occur.

  • Bulletproof Security – Free plugin with limited monitoring capability
  • WordPress Firewall 2 – Free plugin with limited capability
  • Wordfence – Free and premium plans – many free options for monitoring levels
  • Sucuri – Premium plans starting at $89 per year. Includes malware cleanup
  • VaultPress – The $40 plan comes with security features

Of course, there are many other security plugins available. If you have one to suggest please comment below.

Security: Admin Accounts

The most important thing I can tell you about your admin account(s) is this… Your admin account should not be called “admin”. In fact, it should not be your name. Call it something that no one would ever guess by looking at your website or social profiles. For example, your admin account could be named “RainSnow.” The account that you are using on a regular basis can be your name, but their user role should be less than an admin, like editor.

Hosting: Good, Better, Best

Many hosting companies have multiple options of hosting styles. At Photocrati, we recommend Bluehost for our customers (who do not photograph adult oriented images) because of their highly rated shared hosting platform. What many don’t realize is that Bluehost also offers virtual private server hosting which provides more speed, security and flexibility for websites. Other hosts we like are WP Engine and Synthesis, who provide WordPress specific hosting and are regularly scan for security vulnerabilities.

  • Dreamhost – A very popular hosting solution, that is proactive when a hack is detected. They offer shared hosting, virtual private servers and private servers.
  • Bluehost – The most popular hosting solution. They offer shared hosting, upgraded shared hosting with more resources and less users on one server.
  • WP Engine & Synthesis – Great option for heavy WordPress users that want the highest security without separate security fees. Both use Sucuri for regular security checks. In addition, both offer built-in daily backups, similar to Apple’s Time Machine. The feature can be very useful if something goes wrong and you want to turn back the clock to the previous day.

Of course, there are many other web hosting solutions available. If you have one to suggest please comment below.

Common Questions

Now I am going to share some common questions we have through Photocrati support.

I’m afraid to update WordPress/plugins because I am worried it will break my site!

Understandable, and you are not alone. My best advice is as follows.

  • Keep your backups up to date. If possible, schedule backups to run daily or weekly.
  • Whenever a plugin, theme or WordPress has a minor update (i.e., 3.4 to 3.4.1), then update it right away. Typically minor updates contain important bug or security fixes.
  • If a plugin, theme or WordPress has a major update (i.e., 3.4 to 3.5), then hold off on updating until developers and other users have put the updates through further live testing. Or if you have access to another WordPress install, duplicate your live site to a “staging site” or “development site” and update there to see if it’s okay to update the live site.

Here is an article I’ve written with more on WordPress updates.

Here is an article discussing how to manually create a secondary (or staging) site or use BackupBuddy to create one.

It is also worth noting that all WP Engine plans come with a staging site feature where you can automatically create a staging site at any time.

Can I revert back to an older version of WP, Theme, Plugin if my site does break?

As mentioned, before updating anything on a live (production) site, create a backup.

To answer the question, it depends on the update. Many times if it is a minor update, then the database is not changed much at all. If that’s the case, then replacing the WordPress files on your server should revert smoothly. If the WordPress update is a major one, then it is likely that reverting back to an older version might break the site. Using a plugin like BackupBuddy (mentioned and linked above) can help reverting to older versions smoothly.

Typically with themes and plugins you can revert at any time, but you will have to speak to the developers of each. With the Photocrati theme, reverting is safe with minor updates. Major updates typically have database changes. The same goes for NextGEN Gallery.

What if my site breaks, and I lose everything? How can I restore my site to a working version?

This is where a backup tool comes in. Of all the backup plugins available, BackupBuddy has the easiest for restoring a WordPress website. Another option is going with a host that supplies backups on a daily or weekly basis (as mentioned above).

How do I do a full backup of my site before upgrading?

Most backup plugins will do a full backup with all the files on the server. However, not all of them can or will backup your database, which is also extremely important. When deciding on a backup plugin, make sure that the one you decide on offers database backup as well. Many times these plugins also have a one-click solution to perform the backup. My upgrading workflow includes:

  1. Manually click the backup button to get it going
  2. Wait until the backup is complete and confirmed
  3. Perform the upgrades

How do I know if the new version will fix my issue?

Take a look at the changelog that comes with themes or plugins. Each plugin in the WordPress directory should have an included changelog. For example, here is a link to NextGEN Gallery’s changelog page in the WordPress directory. Many themes, like Photocrati, publish a blog article with the changes, in addition to including a changelog file within the theme’s ZIP. Here is a link to the Photocrati changelog archive.

In a changelog, developers include what is new, what was fixed and what was changed. Before doing an update, look at the changelog to see if it addresses your issue. If so, check the issue after updating.

If you are not seeing the change fixed, verify that you do not have caching activated on your website or server because that will delay the changes from being live. We find that many WordPress users are using plugins like WP SuperCache or W3 Total Cache. Both can be very effective for speeding up your website. However, they both take a lot of time for the cache to clear and updates to show.

Clear cache and then deactivate the plugins to see changes on your live site. Then reactivate when complete.

If your issue was addressed in the changelog, but you continue to see the issue after updating, then contact the developer.

I’m worried about being hacked, how can I protect my site?

Pick one security plugin and keep it active and monitoring your website. I personally recommend Wordfence due to its many options and levels of security. In addition, their premium plans are not too expensive if added security is needed. I also host with WP Engine, so I know that my site will regularly be scanned by Sucuri thanks to the relationship between the companies. Between my host, their security measures and Wordfence, I feel comfortable with my website.

For more security tips, please visit my article, Secure Your WordPress Website (Do It).

Oh no! My site got hacked, how can I fix it?

If you want to handle the hack on your own, It’s best to wipe your server clean and restore to a backup that is clean from hacks. Before doing so, try to figure out how the hacker got in and what was vulnerable. Keep in mind that if you run on shared host, like Bluehost or Dreamhost’s starter plan, that your website is vulnerable to attack if someone else on the same server gets hacked.

My personal recommendation is to hire a company like Sucuri to fix your hack. Being that Sucuri handles WordPress security on a daily basis, it is likely they can identify and fix the problem fairly quick.

My site is so slow, what can I do to help speed things up?

There are many things you can do to speed up your website. The list below will cover a few of the things you can do, that can make obvious improvements.

  • Go with a better hosting option, not necessarily the provider. For example, a VPS (virtual private server) will push your website out to a visitor faster than a shared host.
  • Reduce the amount of front-end plugins that are running on your website. For example, if you have Facebook or Disqus comments live on your website, and not many people are commenting, then remove them. Try to only keep plugins on your website that are used on a regular basis or are crucial to the function and security of your site.
  • Do not use multiple security or caching plugins. Doing so can cause conflicts and actually slow down or break your website.
  • Keep your database optimized (mentioned above)

What plugins do you suggest to help speed up my site?

As mentioned above, WP Optimize is a great plugin for keeping your database clean and optimized. If you would like to see which plugins are affecting page speed, there is a great plugin that tests the front end of your website. Download P3 Plugin Performance Profiler and give it a try. The results will show you WordPress, theme and plugin load speed. Of course, there will be things that you cannot remove, so the plugin is best for identifying plugins that are slowing down your site. I ran this on my own website and found one plugin causing a major drain on my page speed. See the results and how I used P3 to speed up WordPress.

Conclusion

If you have any other advice or suggestions for the Photocrati and NextGEN Gallery community, or anyone who stumbled upon this article then please comment below to share.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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Zack Arias On If He Had To Start His Photography Business Again

February 5, 2013 By 1 Comment

Zack Arias is one of my personal favorite modern photographers. There are so many amazing things about Zack that are so inspiring. These things go beyond just his photography. They’re also videos and words.

Zack has a way with words that catch your attention and keep you focused, listening hard.

Well, not long ago, Zack offered a free webinar with Photoshelter, where he shared a story about what he would if he had to start his photography business over again.

Below is the video recording of the webinar, but I want to get you thinking already by sharing his key points

  1. Hire an accountant because you’re a photographer and you may need help with the business aspect.
  2. Slash your expenses by getting rid of cable or drinks of coffee or the fancy car. Spend wisely.
  3. Know your business numbers, like the cost of doing business. Use the calculator from NPPA if you need to.
  4. Purchase only the gear you need for your business.
  5. Get a basic WordPress website (we can help you with that!)
  6. Get basic business cards with your name, address, phone number, website and email address.
  7. Pick a niche, like headshots, weddings or whatever it might be.
  8. Find a referral base and build that list. Ask customers to refer you business.
  9. For a limited time, shoot for free. Pick some friends and photograph them at no cost.
  10. Get involved in your local community and online communities.

Now that you see the key points, please enjoy the webinar.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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Photography Business New Years Resolution

December 31, 2012 By 8 Comments

We’re keeping this very short today. We have one question.

What is your photography business New Years resolution?

Comment below with your answer.

Ours is to continue, increase and further improve the education and assistance to the photography community. There is a lot planned for 2013 and we’re excited to share it with everyone.

Thank you for your support in 2012 and continued support into 2013!

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Photography Marketing By Visualizing Data

November 27, 2012 By 1 Comment

photography marketing

We previously we shared an article comparing photography marketing to Star Wars.  In this article, I want to talk about one of the items mentioned in the original article.  Google Analytics is a very powerful tool not only for gathering data, but also visualizing it.

Photography Marketing Keywords Visualized

In the screenshot below, you will see a word cloud of all the top inbound keywords that bring visitors to a website.  These keywords, are what the sample website is ranking for.

keyword-rank-word-cloud

 

As you can see in this screenshot, an article was written about Zenfolio and is the most popular keyword bringing in traffic to the website.  Knowing that, the photographer can optimize the article in some way convert the traffic to a lead, or monetize to earn affiliate revenue.

To get a keyword word cloud of your site, visit Google Analytics and on the left column, click to get to the Queries section.

Traffic Sources >> Search Engine Optimization >> Queries

Photography Marketing Referrals Visualized

Next I want to share referrals. These are the websites that traffic is coming from to visit your website.  As you can see in this screenshot, Facebook.com is the most popular.

referral-word-cloud

Knowing that Facebook is doing very well for the website, the photographer could and should focus more attention on that social network over others.  Twitter and Posterous are also bringing in a lot of traffic, so further attention could be focused there.

To get a keyword word cloud of your site, visit Google Analytics and on the left column, click to get to the Referrals section.

Traffic Sources >> Sources >> Referrals

As you read and visualized in this article, word clouds are a great way to see the data that your Google Analytics tool is capturing.  Take advantage of learn from it.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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Photography Marketing Like A Jedi Knight & Sith Lord

October 23, 2012 By 2 Comments

photography marketing

Photography marketing is one of my favorite subjects. It’s so much fun learn new tricks, techniques and methods. It’s also extremely fun to see photographers putting the ideas into action and then hearing about the results.

Photography Marketing & Star Wars

I found a poll recently, on a random poll web app site where 70% of random people love Star Wars, and 30% do not. That sparked an idea to discuss how interested photographers can implement photography marketing tactics like a Jedi or Sith Lord.

“Do or do not… there is no try”

When it comes to photography marketing, you have to try new techniques, otherwise there are few chances for business improvement and you are only relying on old business to bring in new business.

“Use the Force, Luke.”

Think of the Force and the actual marketing technique, like blogging. Use it, embrace it, build it, and grow with it.

photography marketing jedi knight

© Chris Nitz

“I’ve got a very bad feeling about this.”

Intuition is a great thing, but having the data behind decisions is extremely important. Make sure you have Google Analytics or some other statistics tool in place.

“Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way!”

Going along with the previous quote. Once you have the statistics in place, you can pinpoint what keywords you’re ranking well for, what blog topics are helping and which are not. SEO for photographers, is as important as marketing for photographers.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Criticism is something that can and should boost your photography business, not hurt it. If you publish and photograph and the comments you receive aren’t what was expected then you need to learn from it and improve. Feedback is good for the soul.

“The Force is strong with this one.”

Competitors know when you are using a technique that produces good results. In fact, they might try to duplicate it. Competition is good, but always be thinking ahead and plan for the future.

photography marketing sith knight

© Chris Nitz

“Watch your mouth kid, or you’ll find yourself floating home.”

Ok, so Han Solo was not a Jedi or Sith, but the quote works very well. When you are planning your marketing tactic, make sure you are true to yourself. Being yours and respectful can produce amazing results for your photography business.

“Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes.”

If a marketing strategy fails, do not give us. Keep poking the box, as Seth Godin says. Try, fail, try. If you do fail, go back to the first quote, “Do or do not… there is no try”. In other words, start fresh and keep pushing until you find a strategy that is successful.

“May the Force be with you.”

Sometimes you have to let a test play out for some time before you can consider it a fail. Have trust in yourself and what you are trying to accomplish. Eventually, it will pan out in your favor.

“I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.”

In closing, don’t assume that you’re the most powerful Jedi. Always be learning, as Yoda does. Find marketing blogs around the web and learn from other sources. Even if they’re not photography specific, you can relate it to your work, usually with some ease.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

The photographs in this article were used with permission by Chris Nitz Photography.

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WordPress Portfolio Themes For Creatives

September 18, 2012 By 2 Comments

WordPress Portfolio Themes

Not all the WordPress portfolio themes you see available are actually what you might think. Many of them utilize a slider style widget in order to randomly display a WordPress post’s featured image. While this may work for many people, it’s not really ideal for WordPress portfolio themes.

In this article, I am going to share with you why the Photocrati WordPress theme makes a great choice for those searching for WordPress portfolio themes.

I will detail each of the following areas:

  • Portfolio Management
  • Portfolio Display
  • Album Management
  • Album Display
  • eCommerce
  • Blog and more

WordPress Portfolio Themes For You

So let’s get to it, shall we? Essentially, WordPress portfolio themes should have a portfolio management system, so I will start there.

Portfolio Management

In a perfect world, every WordPress portfolio theme will make it extremely simple for every user. Making portfolio management easy means designing an interface to handle the task. The Photocrati theme has a very distinct button visible while creating a new post or page. When clicked, it brings up a modal window where the user has the ability to upload graphics, add a title and description to the gallery and then insert into the post/page body.

This is what the portfolio management window looks like:

wordpress portfolio management

Here, not only can you upload your images, or import them from NextGEN Gallery, but also organize and edit meta data or eCommerce options.

Portfolio Display

Now this is where the fun really starts. If you look at the same screenshot above, you will see the section called Gallery Type. This is where you can choose between a few different portfolio display styles.

  • Slideshow
  • Blog Style (vertical list)
  • Filmstrip (galleria style)
  • Thumbnail grid (with Lightbox modal enlargements)
  • eCommerce grid

In addition to the styles, a user can pick between different aspect ratios to flow more with different designs. Here are examples of the portfolio displays.

wordpress-portfolio-slideshow

Slideshow Style

wordpress-portfolio-thumbnails

Thumbnails Style

wordpress-portfolio-filmstrip

Filmstrip Style

wordpress-portfolio-blog

Blog Style

wordpress-portfolio-ecommerce

eCommerce Style

To see each of these style in action visit the Photocrati demos section.

Album Management

Moving on to albums now. These are similar to portfolio management system, except portfolios/galleries are made included within an album. Think about the album being your overall portfolio and the galleries being individual components of your portfolio.

For example:

wordpress-portfolio-album

Looking at the bubbles above, albums would be in yellow and galleries in green. Make sense?

wordpress-portfolio-album

Looking at the Photocrati album management window above, you can see that you can name the album to your liking. There is then an option for the album display type. Following that you have the ability to pick which galleries are to be included in the album.

What this does, is make the gallery thumbnails within the album, link directly to the post/page that has the gallery included. It does this automatically.

Album Display

Like the galleries section, the Photocrati theme provides two styles of displaying albums.

  • Album List
  • Album Grid

This is what the album grid style looks like:

wordpress-portfolio-album-style

To see albums in action, be sure to check out the Photocrati showcase of customer websites.

eCommerce

Next up is eCommerce. Not all creatives need to sell their work, but even still this feature is built-in to the Photocrati theme. The eCommerce system is based on PayPal, which is a trusted processing company. There are currently pricing/product fields to use, but a more detailed eCommerce system is in the roadmap.

wordpress-portfolio-ecommerce-settings

To see the eCommerce system in action, visit any of the Photocrati demos.

Blog & More

Having essential portfolio functionality built into a WordPress portfolio theme is extremely important, but more is needed. Having a well designed blog, compatibility with WordPress SEO plugins, flexible settings easy for all creative, etc.  I also want to note that while there are a lot of options within each modal window, there is also an entire backend settings panel for galleries, albums and eCommerce.  The Photocrati theme meets the criteria and is definitely a great choice for your WordPress portfolio.

Now I want to hear from you. What do you look for in a portfolio theme?

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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Win A Free Photocrati Theme & Lightroom Guide From SLR Lounge

September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

slrlounge-giveaway

We’re working with our friends at SLR Lounge to give away a free copy of the Photocrati theme. But that’s not all! The winner will also receive a copy of the SLR Lounge SLR Lounge Lightroom 4 A-Z Guide, a comprehensive guide to Lightroom 4 retailing for $99.

Instructions

To enter, “like” both Photocrati and SLR Lounge on Facebook and hit “enter.” Like previous SLR Lounge giveaways, you get 3 additional entries every time you refer a someone via your link; so be sure to share away!

If you are having issues entering the competition, please sign in to Facebook prior to entering

What is the SLR Lounge Lightroom 4 A-Z DVD Guide

Become a Lightroom expert! With nearly 14 hours of step-by-step video instruction, this in-depth DVD is designed to turn anyone at any experience level into a Lightroom 4 expert. From file management and organization to advanced artistic processing techniques, this comprehensive DVD has become the standard in Lightroom 4 training.

- 130 video tutorials and nearly 14 hours of content
- Step-by-step tutorials with a full menu system for easy navigation
- Over 6 hours of tutorials dedicated to developing techniques
- 1080p resolution tutorials, exercise files and final Lightroom 4 Catalog

Preview the SLR Lounge Lightroom 4 A-Z DVD Guide

Rules and Restrictions

Void Where prohibited. BOTH domestic and international contestants allowed. One entry per Facebook User using the form. Three additional entries granted when a referral using your link enters the contest.

How Do I Find Out If I Won?

The contest ends Thursday, 10.04.2012 and the winner will be announced on 10.05.2012. We will announce it on the SLR Lounge contest page and they will send an email to the winner.

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Get Trippy With Local Marketing

July 10, 2012 By 3 Comments

local-marketing

Previously I wrote about why photographers should use Pinterest.

Today I want to share another website, similar to Pinterest. However, this bookmarking tool has a niche that is great for photographers.

Meet Trippy

“travel boards are visual collections of places where you’ve been or want to go”

trippy-local-marketing

Like Pinterest, you can pin (or bookmark) places you’ve been, want to go, or photographed. But there is more to it than that.  Let’s say you’re a travel photographer.  Create Trippy boards for each state or country you’ve been.  Then pin different photos from each location.  Make sure your description has a natural tone and is not a sales pitch.  Then browse around boards from others within the same locations, comment and mark as “i’ve been”.  Be engaging with others and you may find yourself eventually selling prints to new customers.

Let’s say you’re a destination wedding photographer.  Could this be any better for reaching potential customers?  Follow the tip I gave above and do the same for marketing to specific locations you want jobs.

But that’s not all.  Currently you can also customize the anchor text within your profile which means you can create the perfect backlink from within your profile.

So go ahead and create a Trippy profile.  Then come back here and let me know if you discovered a new strategy by commenting below.

Thanks for reading,

Scott

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