A couple of weeks ago, I posted Why SOPA/PIPA Affect All Of Us to help you better understand two bills that were before congress and the impact they could have on us all. I’ve been involved in groups for the past couple of years that have been watching and fighting this “concept” as it makes its way through both state and federal levels again and again.

I was happy to see both tabled and not put forward for a vote. But again, they were merely tabled, not stopped. Which means they will surface again. And probably again.

So of course I keep following what people are saying and what industries support these types of bills – and which ones are against it.

I was very surprised a week or so ago when PPA came out with a post on their site and also proceeded to email it out to their members. If you haven’t read it, head over and read it now.

SOPA and PIPA – Don’t Be Fooled

There are many things wrong with this lines of thinking – so many I could literally go line by line. But the one item in particular that stands out to me is:

“So when a behemoth corporate money-maker like Google attempts to stand on the backs of photographers to increase its profits, we as your association take exception.”

Yes I will agree, Google is a huge money making company. Yet they stand up for keeping censorship at bay and work to give everyone free reign to promote and do as they will to make money as a small business. They work to keep the playing field as equal as possible for everyone online. Google isn’t alone – Wikipedia and others all have the same approach to Internet regulation. Which is why a great majority of them went dark to support defeating the SOPA and PIPA regulations. And will continue to do so again and again.

There are two ways of looking at business today: old school or innovative.

The Internet made old school obsolete. If you’ve ever read the book “Who Moved My Cheese”, old school associations and businesses are still in the old store room, looking for “cheese” that has long since disappeared. Yes, there are still ways of making money with old school thinking, but they are drying up quickly. Not just in photography, but in every industry out there – think newspapers and book publishing.

Yet the Internet is what is allowing small businesses to be truly innovative. You can use sites like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Pinterest with simply an investment of time (occasionally a little money) and a whole lot of magic to create a business beyond your wildest dreams. Its you, your innovation, a little time, and magic can truly happen.

Who is threatened by that? Old school businesses who like things the way they always were. We will never go back to the way things were. The only way to move forward is to allow us to keep the playing field as equal as possible.

Here are how others are sounding off

The Foolish PPA is Pro PIPA and SOPA

An Open Letter to David Trust and PPA

Photographers Supposrt SOPA and PIPA?

Open Letter to PPA and David Trust

And a few statistics to show you where others stand:

SOPA and PIPA Internet Blackout Aftermath

What’s your opinion?

Many people dream of the day they can quit their jobs, throw a camera in a bag and travel the world. We love to travel and experience new things. Taking pictures is a way to remember each step of the way. And if you can get paid for doing it as well, why not start today.

If traveling the world with a camera in hand has always been on your bucket list, the only way to make your dreams come true is to do it.

Self Promotion

With many career paths, they can be time consuming and expensive. If you open up a retail store, you are pretty well locking yourself into a location.

But if you want to be a travel photographer, the only investment is camera equipment, a computer, and a website. Then you can create your images and load them up to your site for any type of promotion you choose.

Need some inspiration? Check out Stuck In Customs, one of the best travel photography sites online.

Build Your Portfolio

With WordPress, you can build a sophisticated web presence in no time. You can add to it anywhere in the world you have Internet access. And you can connect it up with many different sites to give you even more exposure – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube and SmugMug.

In years past, you had to connect with people on a personal or one to one level. Now everything can be done via online. If you are connected to editors through Twitter, you can communicate on your time. If they run across your Pinterest boards, they can evaluate you on their time. If you build a SmugMug portfolio and gain an incredible following, you’ll have more traffic than you can handle. And it will all be something you can build when you have the time – leaving you free to shoot on your time.

Dig Deeper: The 10 Advantages Of WordPress For Designing Your Photography Site

Mailing Lists

Some people say mailing lists are dead. I think they are still a great way of drawing exposure to your work IF you have an area of focus. If you know exactly who you want to connect with, build up a list and create a mailing campaign to introduce them to your work. Never plan a mailing without directing them back to your online portfolio – this will reduce the costs over time, yet let you connect with people that may have never heard of you.

Resource: AgencyAccess

Editorials

Think working for magazines and newspapers is all but dead? Think again. There is still work for the creative photographer that can find new ways of captivating an audience. Magazines are starting up in specialty niches and if you’re willing to do a variety of things, you can build relationships up pretty quickly. Style has a lot to do with it. Develop your style and stick with it. Editors will understand what to expect and hire you to get results.

Dig Deeper: How To Get Photos Published In Magazines

Resource: Editorial Photographers

In Flight Magazines

What better way to reach out to the travel industry than through travel magazines. When people are in the air, they are traveling – statistics show about 42 percent is personal, 58 business. Airlines have a captive audience and a large number of people will pick up the inflight magazine to thumb through it. In addition being receptive to ideas about far away regions, you can also pitch ideas about regions closer to home. Because everywhere is a destination to them, your ideas can take many shapes and forms – just make sure you get the feel of the magazine and who they are targeting before you begin your pitch.

Resources: Pace Communications and Ink

Corporate Accounts

The world is now a global marketplace. Companies may have offices in several countries and interests in many more. When they put together annual reports, company magazines and online periodicals, they need photographs to go along with their information. Because they are looking for specifics, they aren’t just looking for stock – they need a photographer to physically head to each location to capture the image they are looking for. For many corporate account, it’s the luck of the draw. If you have no experience, they probably aren’t going to trust you with an account. Yet once you’ve built up a specialized portfolio, start looking at companies that service the regions of the world you wish to travel. Find out the marketing directors and start connecting. They too are on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. Find them and connect with them. Then let them take the ball once they view your portfolio and begin taking an interest. Remember, these assignments are things you should strive for over time.

Travel Industry

While we’ve talked about the travel industry in a variety of ways, the one missing item is the travel industry itself. Niches like travel agents, hotel chains, cruise ships, tour providers, ski industry, boating industry and many more niches rely on making their products and services look great to attract people traveling in to experience a region. Depending on how large the company is and their outreach to their community, they require an abundance of photographs to capture the essence of every season, every mood. Start by targeting places within your own community to build a reputation. Then reach to the locations you desire the most.

Press Trips

While the travel industry as a whole is becoming harder to break in thanks to the number of amateurs providing their work for free, if you are an accredited photojournalist you can get projects that companies are willing to compensate. These trips are organized with a specific purpose in mind – make sure you read the contract to understand the full extent of the assignment, as some are looking solely for positive reviews.

Resources: The International Travel Writers Alliance and International Travel Writers and Photographers Alliance

Self Initiated Projects

Crowdfunding is the new way to bring your great ideas to life. If you have an idea for a documentary, social commentary, fine art or other project, plan it out and find a way to make it become a reality. If it is directly related to an organization, you may try and connect to help promote the idea in more than one way. You can also look to organizations for grants. Or simply check out one of the many growing crowdfunding communities online and list your project. The more committed you are to the idea, the more luck you will have.

Dig Deeper: Crowdfunding – Is It The Solution To Your Next Great Photo Project?

Book Publishing

Want to build up your credibility? Nothing says “expert” like a book. You can try to get your images into some of the top named books on the market today – think Foders and Lonely Planet. Or take the road many are today and self publish. The options are endless. Head to your local book store to check out the many ideas selling today. Then head over to Amazon and do a thorough search for your niche ideas. You’ll quickly find many areas of interest and be able to put your own ideas together.

Resources: Blurb, My Publisher and Lulu

One of the most common questions people ask me is:

“I’m trying to grow a photography business on a very small shoestring budget. What should I do?”

As a small business owner, “shoestring” automatically becomes a word commonly used in your vocabulary. Times are tight and when you have a very limited budget, you attempt to do whatever you can at the lowest cost possible.

With a photography business, it takes more than a camera and a computer to run it. You need many different things to make it both functional and profitable. So if “fast” “easy” and “cheap” are now permanently ingrained in your vocabulary, take a look at some of these tools and tricks for running a business on a budget. You may find some new ideas that are perfect for you to move forward with this year.

Google Voice

A virtual phone center to run your business from anywhere in the world. Google Voice offers a wide array of services. Start by choosing your area code, then use the system to help you with everything from budgeting your time by setting up “do not call” hours, to sending multiple SMS messages at a time. Read my review to learn even more.

Gliffy

Gliffy is an easy to use processing system for graphics, diagrams and flow carts. With easy to use formatting, you can create dynamic presentations for your website or presentations.

Animoto

Animoto offers an easy way to produce your images into an elegant slide presentation, perfect for your website or for presentation to your clients and prospects. Animoto offers a free version to give it a try. Once you are sold on the idea, you can have your own branded player for one low cost. You’ll quickly see how this will be a necessity for your business.

Smartsheet or Basecamp

Do you have virtual employees or contractors? Maybe a retoucher in another part of town, or a processor and editor in another state? Smartsheet and Basecamp both offer a great way of keeping track of everything in one convenient place. We even use it as a husband/wife team, as it helps us manage projects we are working on together – without having to add the “nag” factor of “did you do that yet?” We simply login and see the status.

Fiverr

Want something done for cheap? If you have $5, you can hire someone on Fiverr to do just about anything. They’ll research your target market, or look up and deliver resources for your next project. Search through their current open projects and you’ll quickly come up with a variety of ideas you can pay $5 to have someone else perform.

Square

If you already live the virtual lifestyle, meeting your clients in coffee shops and cafes, why not make taking credit cards even easier? Square is an easy way to turn your smart phone into a credit card processor, with one simple rate and the ability to take all major credit cards.

SurveyMonkey

I’ve used this system for years. They have a basic, free option to start with, then grow from there. You can survey your customers, prospects, employees – whenever you want to collect data, you can quickly put together a SurveyMonkey survey to find out the answers.

Wave Accounting

I’ve used several different accounting programs over the years and have loved the idea of keeping my accounting online as opposed to on my hard drive. Its nice being able to connect up anywhere you have Internet access. What I don’t like is paying money year after year for a simple system – I don’t need the bells and whistles with payroll functions and large corporate options. When I found Wave, I was hooked. And the best part – its free!

FreshBooks

When you are ready to take your business to the next level, combine FreshBooks with Wave and you’ll have a dynamic workflow system. FreshBooks adds many things on to the Wave platform, connects seamlessly with it, and provides you with upgraded tools, like helping you with the tax process and organizing your expenses.

HostGator

Hosting your blog/website yourself? While its easy to focus on going with the “big” name hosting companies that offer cheap hosting, remember this is your business. Can people easily pull your site up without having to worry about load time? Are they reliable or do you share a server with hundreds of questionable sites that may bring your site down at any minute? We’ve used HostGator for years and find them to be reliable and great at customer service too.

According to many of the top SEO companies that study social impact, the two things that matter most when using Facebook to gain authority within the search engines is:

1. The number of Facebook shares you have

2. The authority of your sharers

Which means if you want to rank well under your keywords and search terms, Facebook can help you do so… if you understand how to use Facebook. Its more than adding a few posts here and there. Facebook offers a wide array of tools that help you build your authority and get people interacting as well.

1. Implement the Facebook Like buttons

To make your blog posts more shareable, make sure you add the Facebook plugin to implement Like buttons both at the top and the bottom of each post. While the standard Facebook icon is acceptable, look into newer options as well. You can now incorporate other options into your Like options, including:

• Versions that show thumbnails of friends

• Widgets that allow people to add comments both to your blog and to Facebook

Make sure you put Like buttons both at the beginning and the end of your posts, and also include it next to highly visual content, such as videos and photographs. People are more likely to click the Like button if you give them a reason to do so.

2. Add a Facebook comments plugin

If you are a regular on any blog, you know one of the benefits of blogging is the ability to have comments at the end of each post. They allow interaction amongst your visitors and can really help you educate your readers just be carrying on normal conversations.

Blog comments are great to help you grow your blog, yet they do little for external growth. By incorporating a Facebook comments plugin into your blog, you can allow the interaction to flow between platforms.

3. Always respond to Facebook comments

When you respond to comments on your blog, it shows people you are interactive and care about building relationships. When you comment on Facebook comments, it takes that to a whole new level as your comments could possibly be seen by more eyes as it moves through the newsfeeds.

4. Be more engaging with your Facebook followers

Posting once per week isn’t going to give your followers a reason to interact with you. Instead, build up a plan to post at least several times per day, and change the way you post and what you post about. Questions work well. And quotes seem to get a variety of people chiming in on what you do. What what your statistics are and give your viewers what they want.

5. Use @Tags

You can use @Tags in your Facebook posts similar to how you use them in Twitter. It’s a great way of giving credit, acknowledgment, thanks, etc.

6. Give away a free gift

Set up a give away for a free gift for people that follow you regularly on your Facebook page. Run the contest regularly to keep people interested and coming back – monthly is usually a good draw. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or even related to your business – people love Starbucks or Amazon gift cards. Build mini-baskets of products and enjoy brightening someones day. (If they have to stop by your studio to pick up the prize, you don’t have to worry about not including a free portrait. Just the connection may lead to turning them into clients.)

7. Do live events on your Facebook page

You can create fun topics or ask your readers what they are interested in. Don’t make it about you; instead offer advice to your readers. It’s a great way to generate traffic, especially if you hold it on a regular basis. Choose a service like Vpype or Ustream.

8. Post directly to your Facebook page

Its easy to want to automate things you do to free up time in your life. Yet for some things, its simply better if you take the time to work at building relationships in the direct way. Yes, you can connect your RSS feed from your blog to automatically drop in your posts on your Facebook. And you can use services like TweetDeck instead of visiting the Facebook site. Yet if you don’t send the post out correctly, attach photographs and make sure your links are directly clickable, you will lose valuable traffic. Your goal is always to be visible in as many ways as possible.

Is Facebook marketing worth it? Definitely. But you have to be willing to work at it. Its like any other form of marketing; it takes time to build and time to work. Don’t try and do it the wrong way, or attempt to spam the system to see how much you can get in the shortest time possible. Spend the time learning how to do it the right way and making sure you are building a strong marketing tool for your future.

Pinterest is definitely looking like it will be the social media darling of 2012 if the first month of the year is any indication. Not only has it found its way into the top 10 websites in the social media category, its also scoring over 40 times the number of total visits in had just six months ago.

Dig Deeper: How To Boost Your Photography Business With Pinterest

The site is perfect for photographers because its target market user group is women between the ages of 25 and 44, and it’s a visual media form. Early users of this site were brides to be, as they could develop numerous pinboards for every aspect of their wedding, from planning the decorations to choosing wedding attire. Now we’re seeing a wide variety of visual businesses use Pinterest on a regular basis, from photographers to graphic designers and other artisans. If you are in a visual field, Pinterest is the place to be.

Pinterest is all about eye candy. Its about creating things in such a way that people are attracted to it and like or pin it themselves – over and over again. The more likes or pins, the more traffic.

The first step is creating your Pin Boards. Be creatively descriptive when designing your boards:

Think visual – how do you want to showcase different ideas within your business?

Tell the story – as a photographer, you can share ideas from beginning to end. Tell stories all the time and let your followers discover more depth to what you have to offer.

Stretch to show your expertise – its not all about you. When you discover other sites, resources, images that convey your ideas, don’t be afraid to share them.

Consistency is the key – just like every other social site you ever used, you have to be consistent both in your posting schedule and with what you are posting.

The second step is pinning to your boards:

Develop regular pins – maybe a coupon twice per month, or a video “how to” in which you talk directly to your followers.

Post your flyers, brochures and business cards – the idea is to showcase what you do in a very visual way.

How about a QR code? Create a special landing page with content, photos and videos. Use the QR code to send them directly to your page.

Want some more ideas? Here are several great ideas I found while searching through Pinterest.

Katerina Fort
I love her board names and the way she uses them to present ideas to people following her.

Sam Knox
What a great idea – use Pinterest boards to give your clients ideas on how to dress for photo shoots and tips on what to expect.

Sara Quinnett
Sara has 72 boards so its hard not to get inspired by browsing through her pins. But one thing that caught my eye were her idea boards – how about a board on ways to display your photography? Great idea.

Jenn LaBelle
I loved looking through her boards at all the ideas she has. Her photography board is filled with so much content – checklists, tutorials, videos – it’s a great place to get inspired.

Tiffany Vo
This is another great way of showcasing your ideas for each niche you are specializing in.

Monica Calderin
I loved the titles of some of her boards. What a great way to put together ideas for concepts you are working on, or ways to keep ideas in place for the future when you need to develop a new promotion.

Lori O’Brien Photography
Another in depth Pinterest display with 61 boards and a ton of ideas. I especially loved the Photo Fun and Display ideas.

Marla Meridith
Pinterest is for all types of photography, any ideas you can come up with. Showcase your portraits or your food photography, as you’ll find here. She has many boards that focus on food photography, from Fresh Cooking to Sippity Soups.

Jennifer Warfel
Pinterest is growing at the rate it is because of the inspiration it provides. So why not name your boards “inspiration”. Then fill it with ideas you can share and motivate your clients with.

Olga Sola
This is the perfect site to share your inspiration with people no matter where they are in the world. This proves you can find familiarity and commonality with just a little search.

Follow us on Pinterest: PhotoshopTips and Lori Osterberg

Have any other recommendations?

People hate being sold to. But they love to buy.

People don’t buy with their heads; they buy with their hearts. All decisions are based on emotion. If you use emotion to sell what people want – not what you think they want – you’ll have success every time.

Yes, all of this is actually true. And in reality it’s the heart of being an entrepreneur; master this thought process and you’ll run a successful business.

We all fundamentally make our decisions based on emotion. We don’t NEED the new pair of pants or the new television for the living room. Yet when emotion kicks in, we can talk ourselves into anything.

“I’m going to interview for the new job and my old pants are worn out. This pair will make me feel more professional, and more importantly, look more professional. I HAVE to have them to get this job.”

Yep, its all down hill from there. Once your emotions start kicking in and you begin reasoning with yourself on why you need something, you may as well hand over the credit card.

While I’m sure you can think of dozens of examples where you played the emotion game with yourself, its not something you alone play. Its actually one of the greatest strategies a sales person can learn. If a business owner markets without emotion, he will undoubtedly fail every time. But when you learn to develop just a few methods of selling with emotion, you’re sales rate will increase. And you’ll have a lot more fun in your business.

Don’t Be Boring

One hundred years ago, marketing was a novelty. People didn’t experience different forms of advertising much, so anything “new” was noticed and acted upon. Not so today. Today we are bombarded with messages every day, all day long. When you get up and brush your teeth, you are “advertised” to by taking the top off of the toothpaste and glancing at the brand name. You turn on the news and you’ll hear dozens of commercials within a half hour show. And on it goes all day long.

The world is a busy, cluttered place filled with advertisements and messages. If you are boring and say what everyone else is, you don’t stand a chance.

Find The Pressure Point

The easiest way to escape the boredom is to find what people truly want from your photography and sell that feature.

• What do they love?

• What do they hate?

• What keeps them up at night?

• What do they worry about?

• What do they rave about to their friends?

When you know and understand what your prospects are thinking, you can sell that point to them over and over again.

No Hype Allowed

There is a difference between emotion  and hype. The definition of hype is to create interest through extravagant, intensive or flamboyant publicity or promotion. When we think of hype, we think of late night television commercials or the stereotypical used car salesman.

When people sell by using hype, they usually don’t believe in their product/service and are only trying to make a quick buck.

When people sell by using emotion, they believe in their product/service 110 percent. They have passion for it and would gladly talk about it whether they were giving it away for free or making a million dollars.

Do you believe in your products/services?

If you are in business for yourself, you must do every task necessary for your business. That includes everything from photographing your clients to taking out the trash. You don’t get to pick and choose what you want to do; instead everything is equally important when it comes to building a success business.

Which means every business owner must be a self promoter too – unless you have the ability to pay someone else to do it. If that’s not you, spreading the word is your task. Not to be confused with marketing, publicity gets others talking about you. And while many people think publicity comes with age – only the more established, more profitable companies need to worry about publicity – in fact its great to build your PR plan as early as possible.

Here are some ideas to help you develop a strong publicity program.

1. Choose what media outlets you would like to be featured in

What do you want out of your publicity? Are you trying to prove your expertise? Or are you trying to attract new clients? People look to articles in magazines as more authoritative than those that place ads. If you’re in an article, you must have something to say. Find a few sources where you would like to be featured and start gathering contact information. In order to pitch an article, you’ll need either a writer/reporter or the editor, depending on the size of the publication. Make sure you get contact information: names, email, addresses, web addresses. In many cases if you head online, you’ll find specific information for submitting ideas. I keep an excel file filled with this information, so its easy to create things and get them into the appropriate hands immediately.

2. Use resources like HARO

Want a great way to get to reporters looking for you? Try out a service like HARO – Help A Reporter Out. Sign up for their free service and you’ll be put on the mailing list in which you’ll receive emails three times a day listing opportunities. Follow up on the ones that you connect with and will bring you in potential exposure to your client base. While you can start with their free service – I’ve been using it for years – they also have pay models in which you can build profiles, filter your alert and even get a head start on responding.

3. Develop a sound pitch

Your pitch shouldn’t read like a sales letter. A reporter would never write a story on your products or services. Instead, they are looking for human interest stories; things that will make their readers or viewers interested in what they have to say. They would never write a story on your portrait sessions, unless you added a twist. What if you specialized in creating portraits in unique locations with unique clientele – maybe of the local teams’ players? People love seeing the star quarterback in any situation; a business that focused in on giving the top players in the industry special memories would be great front page business news. The key is thinking from the reporters standpoint. What do they want to showcase to their readers?

4. Add personality to it

Don’t send any pitch to “whom it may concern”. Instead choose specific people and learn what they report on regularly. Then customize your pitch to fit in with what they like to write/talk about. You’ll be more likely to attract attention if they have to do little thinking/planning for the article itself.

5. Send information in the desired format

One of the quickest ways to be deleted from the opportunity is to not follow directions. If they only like emailed inquiries, email your release. If they like snail mail, mail it in. If they use an online form, submit it in the desired format. Don’t be eliminated for not following directions. And never think you’ll get extra exposure if you try something new – its just a reason to delete what you’ve sent in.

6. Be creative

Can you imagine reading release after release, all day long? Boring. Reporters like the WOW factor just like anyone else. They like to be surprised. They like to find things that are different and new. Why not create a three minute YouTube video and include the link in your release? While its no guarantee, it may work, depending on what you are pitching.

7. Do not call

Many people have the automatic assumption that when you mail one thing in to a reporter, you’ll get an instant response. Remember these people are bombarded with many things during their day. They may be pitched from dozens of angles, all while trying to follow up on a breaking story. If something doesn’t capture their eye today, try it again. But don’t call. They will find you when its of interest.

8. Using social – the new way of grabbing attention

While reporters read through the press release files every day, they also spend a great deal of time online. They almost always have social accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. And they read and follow things just like you and I do. The key is getting on their radar. If you follow them, they may follow you. If you provide lots of useful content, they may take an interest. While they might not answer you right away, it’s a matter of time. When you do something interesting and they take notice, you may have a friend – and an opportunity – for life.

Facebook has announced that profiles will soon be disappearing, being replaced by Facebook Timeline. It’s a new interface equipped with multiple features, all of which are supposed to make your experience on Facebook easier and more beneficial for you and your friends.

Facebook is implementing it on a rollout schedule. Depending on what part of the world you are in, you may have already converted. If not, it will happen soon – they are hoping to have rollout completed in the next few weeks.

When you login, you will be notified you now have Timeline and will have seven days to complete it the way you choose before it goes live for your friends to see ( you can publish it earlier if you have it complete). Keep in mind Timeline is the new Profile – you won’t be able to go back and Profiles will disappear whether you convert or not.

While Timeline will not affect your Pages, it is important to keep in mind that when people look for you personally, your Timeline is what they will see. Choose what you want to show and what you want to hide – here are some tips for understanding the new Timeline.

1. Start With The Introduction

The quickest way to learn about Facebook Timeline is to head over and read through the Introduction feature. You’ll find a quick help section that will show you the new features and give you some tips to use on your own design.

2. Build your Timeline

When you are used to something, making a change can seem difficult. But in many ways Timeline is more intuitive and will help you quickly add, build and see what is most important to you.

Start by adding a cover photo. You can choose something you have in your photos, or upload something new. Change it around and showcase what you currently are doing.

Under your cover photo is your “control panel” – you’ll see your information on the left and your activity on the right. Click on update info to make changes, or your activity log to see all of your posts and activity since you’ve joined. Review things and make changes easily with just a click.

Then scroll down. Your content will be displayed in chronological order. It will show you (and others) what you’ve added while you’ve been on Facebook. This is a great way to review your posts – especially your early posts when you were just starting out. If you like a post, hover over it and click the star to expand it to full widescreen. Or click the pencil to hide or delete the post all together.

3. Your published – adding is easy

Once you publish your Timeline, you’ll be able to quickly add with the Timeline toolbar. For the most part, its still familiar and works the same way your Profile worked. If you want to post a comment, click on the Status. Update your photos to the Photo section. Click on Place if you want to let people know where you are. And for all others, click on the Life Event.

The Life Event area gives you a lot of options – and also gives room to allow you to add too much information that you really don’t want the world knowing.

In the Relationship area, you can add that you are engaged or married, added a new family member or a pet, or even selecting “loss of a loved one”.

In the Travel and Experiences area, you can add that you speak a new language, have a new tattoo, or are celebrating “firsts”, such as a first word or a first kiss.

In the Health and Wellness section, let people know you are celebrating a weight loss or have a broken bone.

Again, too much info for the online world? Maybe. Make sure you think twice before revealing your secrets to the world.

Keep in mind that you can choose public or private options as you are adding each event.

What do you think of Timeline? Have you seen any cool cover designs?

Last night we were watching a little TV and a commercial came on I couldn’t help but notice.

It was for a major yellow pages business. They were advertising their services, stating they could help a variety of buisnesses in many manners. They could provide you with a host of advertising methods, including the hard copy phone book and online resources. What really caught my eye was the industries they were targeting: weddings. They were speaking directly to people within the wedding industry, venues, planners, photographers, etc, stating they could help you reach out to your potential customers and give you top results with the people who are looking for you.

Really?

I’m sure a ton of people buy into this. I know they do; I meet them all the time.

Yet if you take the time to think about it, you can quickly see why this is a complete waste of money and time.

Lets start with a target market. If you are targeting weddings, predominately you are targeting people 20-ish to 40-ish. 20 somethings grew up with computers and utilize technology every day. Even 40 somethings have spent most of their adult lives using technology and probably have a good understanding of how to capture information.

I seriously doubt if most of this audience has a phone book in their homes. And I also doubt if they head online, and go to the yellow pages directory to find what they are looking for. They Google what they want and rely on natural search results.

Which brings me to my next point. The yellow pages company offers online services in the form of pay per clicks. They will offer you a great package deal in which you get a listing in the phone book, a custom site they control, and lots of traffic they buy using pay per click technology. If you pay, you get the traffic. If you don’t, its gone immediately. And even if you do pay, its in the form of sponsored ads – yep, those great little ads you see on the side of your search results. Do people click on them? Yes. But in a lot less frequency then they do a great position on the natural placement.

So are you better off spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on advertising with old, traditional methods that don’t have much weight in your target community?

Or are you better off spending time learning how to capture natural placement, spending a small amount of money increasing your understanding of online marketing?

Before you jump into any type of advertising, think first. Make sure your clientele uses whatever you are thinking about investing in. Make sure they rely on it as a resource. If you’re not sure, ask.

Then make a smart, informed decision. Go to where your audience is. Never expect them to come to you.

The more you give them what they want, the more business you will attract.

On any given day, do you have a gazillion things running past you, and just as many windows opened up on your computer? I know I do.

So when you start in on a new client, or have someone call up with questions on images, your mind quickly scrambles to come up with where the image files are located and how to find them quickly.

You may want to try Fundy Image Finder – a brand new tool that makes finding and pulling images quick and easy. Its not a sophisticated program; just a simple workflow utility to help photographers pull images for print and album orders in the most efficient way possible.

(And best of all, its 100% free – so you have to go download it now!)

What it is

A simple tool for quickly finding a batch of images.

Why it rocks

Ever have a print or album order with a list of images you have to find?  We’ve made the job of finding them fast and snappy!  Image Finder was designed to do one very specific task, and do it well.  Like the name of the product, it finds images.  That’s it.

How it works

Cut and paste a list of image files into the finder window, and hit go.  It will search a folder and/or subfolders for the images and bring them up in the queue.  From there, you can open the files up in Photoshop or quickly create copies for editing.  That’s it!  It just takes a simple step in your workflow and makes it lightning fast. Watch this video to see just how fast it is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-30vtgHHws

How much is it?

Brace yourself.  It’s FREE.  Yeah, how cool is that?  Fundy Software is all about making the Photographer’s workflow faster and easier.  This was such a simple tool to develop we were amazed nobody had made it yet, so we busted it out and are making it available completely free.

Grab your copy of it here.