Click-IT Newsletter Aug 2010

Click-ITNEWS August 2010

Inside this month...

The new ePortfolio publishing revolution Website page layout guide PopITLinX Master Class What’s New - Upgrade News Website Makeovers

W

elcome to the first edition of our new monthly newsletter.

It is intended to provide you with the latest news on upgrades on our Pro-Gallery system, as well as introduce new features and tutorials that will help you get the most from your website.

This newsletter is designed in-house using our new ePublishing service, which is the subject of this month's main feature. A new concept in eMarketing in a user-friendly magazine style, which allows more flexibility in layouts and formats than any website.

This month’s spotlight...

Re me mb e r , p e o p le alw ays j udg e a b o o k b y it s co ve r , so if yo ur p r e se n t at io n lo o ks like an amat e ur , t h e y w ill t h in k yo u ar e an amat e ur , an d e xp e ct amat e ur r at e s.

Marketing involves all manner of PR activities such as advertising, direct mail, networking, exhibitions as well as websites.

Magazines are now looking at ePublishing to advertise their titles, and businesses are seeing the advantage of this with viral marketing.

All of it is all geared to one thing... spreading the news about your services, and attracting new business.

Find out what this means for the photographer with our new ePortfolio service.

Editorial...

T

he photography market has always been competitive, and never more so than now, with the proliferation of cheap digital cameras making it relatively inexpensive to start up a photo service. This often generates frustration among established pro's who find their customers being tempted away by those newbies who charge insanely low rates.

However, this same situation has always been around, even 30 years ago when I was a commercial photographer. Nothing has or will ever change. There will always be newbies that step in and take the crumbs, and most of us started that way, so we can't blame them. It's a free market out there.

The only thing a pro photographer can do is fight back with better quality, better service, and a professional presentation on

their website and promotional material. Remember, people always judge a book by its cover, so if your presentation looks like an amateur, they will think you are an amateur, and expect amateur rates.

With this in mind, we have published a page layout guide book, and now offer website makeover services to help those of you who need assistance creating a professional presentation on your website. Read on for more info.

I hope you find our newsletter useful and informative. If any of you would like to contribute a few words about your own experiences or if you can offer advice on any area of the photography business, then I will be happy to add them to a new contributors section in future editions.

This issue we talk about the advantages of ePublishing for the photographer

ePortfolios – the new marketing revolution The website companion or competition?

W

ebsites have long been the only option for exhibiting your work online to potential clients, and they are still an essential tool for every photographer. However, there is now a new kid on the block, and you are reading an example of it right now.

The website replaces the need to travel with a portfolio, but it loses the creative impact that a portfolio provided. Viewing a book or magazine is much easier and more impressive than browsing a website. There are no restrictions on the use of fonts or layout styles, you can view them in full screen, and you don't have to scroll to read it.

You don't even need to have a website to use ePortfolios because they are 'portable’.

This means that they are not hosted or uploaded onto your website. You display them simply by adding a link to any website or blog, or even on emails. So, even if you change your website, your ePortfolio stays with you wherever you go, and the link never changes.

At first it may seem like a novelty, but that is the way all new innovations are seen, before they become an essential part of everyday business marketing. Think of the popularity of smart phones like the iPhone and the latest Android phones, and the iPad and

other portable devices. These are being used for reading books and magazines online, and are much easier than websites to view.

Magazines and newspapers are already using this technology, and other businesses are using it to publish brochures and sales literature for anyone to view and distribute on-line.

Ok, so what is the downside?

Well, not a lot, other than the physical act and cost of getting your portfolio designed and published, which is where we come in at Click-IT. After many years of specialising in websites for photographers and artists we are now offering design and publishing services for anyone who wants a professional on-line ePortfolio or eBrochure.

You send us your photos and any text you want to include (using our file transfer facility) and we will assemble them into a professional ePortfolio that you can display on your website, blog, FaceBook etc, or send via emails.

Over the coming months we will introduce examples of how you can use this facility to generate more business, sell advertising space, attract collectors, print hard copies for direct sale, promote yourself locally, and even offer your own publishing services, etc etc.

Visit our website for more details.

S

tanding out from the crowd of other photographers is the holy grail of your website. This is your shop window, and it needs to be smartly dressed if it stands any hope of attracting customers into your studio or buying your services.

First of all, remember the phrase... "Mutton dressed as lamb". This means that no matter how well your website pages are laid out, low impact pics will rarely attract much attention.

These are just a few display techniques that can make the difference between getting noticed and being forgotten.

Adding dramatic images to your website is a very effective way of attracting attention, but it is how you display them that will define your professional status.

To give you inspiration we have published an illustrated guide to professional website page layouts.

All of them can be applied to any website, no matter what template you are using, so take a look at what can be achieved using some simple layout techniques, and give your website the X factor.

We take a look at the films that will be walking the red carpet this autumn.

New features available in the latest version of our Pro-Gallery website system.

We have al w ays been dr i ven by custom er dem and, w hi ch i s w hy our Pr oG al l er y system i s constantl y evol vi ng w i th new featur es. A l l our custom er s get the l atest m aj or upgr ades fr ee after thei r hosti ng r enew al .

New Image Uploader

Price Range Manager

Image Navigation

D

his now allows you to create and sell products such as framed prints, canvas prints and anything that requires multiple choice, such as sizes and colours etc.

T

T

Now you can create a product with up to five options, and each option with unlimited choices.

The price is then set according to the options selected.

having

ue to the problems many were having using FileZilla and FTP to upload photos into the galleries, there is a new image uploader that works within the gallery wizard.

This replaces the need to use FTP and unlocking FTP accounts.

It allows you to select multiple images from your computer and upload them. As always, however, it is best to limit each upload batch to around a hundred photos (in case your browser times-out during the conversion process).

gallery

now

photos display

navigation controls

when

enlarged

(when

the mouse is over the image)

so

that

the

viewer can easily view the next photo without to

move

the

image. It also displays a slide

show

button

on

each photo. In fact, you can even start multiple slide shows.

A

Anything that you can apply a photo to, and comes in multiple options, you can now sell via the gallery.

he

thumbnail

row

also

appears at the foot of the screen to allow easy selection of any images on the page.

PopIT Gallery Images

MasterClass This feature was introduced in a previous upgrade, and it has been growing ever since.

Did you know that every image you upload into your galleries is assigned a unique image ID? This allows you to display any image anywhere on any page as a thumbnail that enlarges when clicked on (just like in the galleries). You can also make any text on your page a link to popup any image from a gallery.

We use it extensively on our own websites, and a few customers have started to use it on theirs, but it is still largely under-used considering the power it provides.

To find your image ID's open the gallery manager in the wizard and click the [edit] button in the section where it says 'Photos in this gallery'. You will then see the ID above the filenames.

Each edition of our newsletter will include an explanation of a PopITLinX feature that you can try on your own website..

On the page where you want to insert your photos, simply enter this popit code at the place where you want the thumbnail to appear (you can even insert them inside a table cell)... [[G3254]]

These will include...

Adding a slide show Random image display Display Flash video Popup pages Scrolling text areas Tabbed pages Buy Now buttons

PopIT Tip 1:

This will display the photo with an ID of 3254 as the thumbnail, and when clicked, it will enlarge to the full size. Just change the ID number to your own image ID. If you want to use text instead of the thumbnail as the link to view the photo then add the following parameter to the code... [[G3254:txt=click to view]] This will display the words 'click to view' as a link that pops up the image when clicked.

There are other parameters that you can use, and full instructions can be found on the support site.

All PopIT codes start with double open square brackets and they all end with double closing square brackets

[[ ... popit code goes in here ... ]]

Reference C l i ck t he books bel ow t o vi ew t hem

If you would like to improve your website, but you don't have the inclination, time or ability to do it yourself, then what can you do?

I nt ro t o ePort f ol i os

D em o ePort f ol i o

For those customers we can provide help in the form of our new makeover service.

Page l ayout G ui debook

You send us the photos you want to display on your web pages, plus any text that you want to include, and we will create the page layouts for you.

We can even edit and crop your photos where appropriate to create the best possible effect.

All this for ÂŁ3.95 per page.

Now there is no excuse for not getting your website in shape, and ready for business.

Call or email support for details.

You can send your images and text files via our file transfer facility on the support site.

Weddi ng ePort f ol i o

Guest Portfolios A selection of ePortfolios by other pho to gra phers to gi v e y o u so me idea of the scale of this new dy na mi c medi um.

That’s it folk’s

September 2010 Issue Ÿ Basic tips on SEO search engine marketing Ÿ PopITLinX MasterClass: adding a random photo to any page Ÿ Using eBrochures to generate local marketing Ÿ Best image presentation techniques