need your valued opinions again....pleeeeease

[eNZee]

Originally Posted by PowerPix

Hello eNZee!!

The layout is off when I view it. That could be turning people away. How to fix it? Someone other than myself might be able to help better. But, I think it depends on what platforms people are using. I have found that when I did ads in the past, I had to intentionally have a bad format from the beginning and when I posted it it came out right. In other words, I purposely pushed this line out and pulled this line in sort of thing. As to your comment about when you click to view how many views and then do it again and it still does not change, sometimes it takes a while before it refreshes the view count.

Edit: Gosh that's a mishmash! Let me know if you don't understand.

ha, i figured out why its displaying stupid on this computer im using at the moment.
hmmmm im thinking to scrap that whole section all together. and just use my blurb and "Encourage" people to visit my site for prices and portfolio

any thoughts????

[eNZee]

Originally Posted by rt80639

Ads are pretty worthless in general, so don't expect much. Marketing is way more than just advertising...you need a strategy.

My experience with ads for my photo booth business has been crappy at best. We keep track of where we get all of our business from, and have so far booked about 50 jobs (performed 40, 10 scheduled for next year). Our marketing has gone to:

2 bridal shows, $400/each
1 print ad, distribution of 200K, value $600 (actually exchanged the ad for a job).
Web site $10/month
Facebook ad ~$20
Facebook page, Gathering Guide, weddingbee, other free web ads - Free
Charity events $20/event

From that, we got one person through Facebook, a couple through Gathering guide, and NONE from the print ad. 95% of our business is from referals, charity events, bridal shows, and our website. I can't say what percentage, because they all build off one another. For instance, one customer might see us at a bridal show, book us, and then we get three more jobs (referals) based on the work we did for that customer.

thats great thinking. i was thinking that way in the back of my head - just started so i was making my way towards some of those pointers. im definately going to get into bridal shows but i just cant do it yet because i dont have enough in my portfolio to be pleasing to potential customers. so you say you get it from your website - i dont know what you mean by that - can you elaborate a bit??? do they just find you online by fluke? or how did you have that work for you??

Originally Posted by eNZee

thats great thinking. i was thinking that way in the back of my head - just started so i was making my way towards some of those pointers. im definately going to get into bridal shows but i just cant do it yet because i dont have enough in my portfolio to be pleasing to potential customers. so you say you get it from your website - i dont know what you mean by that - can you elaborate a bit??? do they just find you online by fluke? or how did you have that work for you??

Yeah, google and yahoo are your friends Being a photo booth business, there aren't a lot of us in Eastern Iowa, so we're usually one of the top searches. And even though ads aren't worth crap, your website is VERY important. It's where most of your customers will get 90% of their information, and your work will be judged on the quality of your website. If you can't present that information well, your business will suffer (btw, this is not a critique on your website, just an observation in general).

I met a photographer at a wedding recently that is a prime example of bad marketting. She was very nice in person, and knew her stuff. Had a lovely 5dMarkII and L-glass, and knew how to use it. But:

I asked for a card...she didn't have one on her, and had to go get one out of her bag (bad). Her card was flimsy crap (probably Vistaprint) with greyish coloring and pink text, which made it hard to read. She then had to explain that the photo on the card was not her, but a senior portrait that looked a lot like her (FAIL). And here's the big one: no website. Instead, she had the address of her flickr site.

She is a prime example of why photography businesses fail. You can have the best photos in the world, but without proper marketing and business sense: FAIL!

[Niresangwa]

OK, now I see your ad. I think a better strategy may be to put up your marketing blurb and redirect to your website. The text is a bit lengthy on an already busy page...and if they end up on your site I think they're going to trawl your gallery...much better than the 4 little thumbnails in the ad to show off your brilliant work!

I can only echo what RT said about the quality of the website. Currently I'm a step r two behind you eNZee, and am gathering as many links to local/peer photographers as possible to formulate my own business plan. If they don't have a website to speak of or it's poor quality, I don't even bookmark their information to go through later ...and if i'm doing that, I can only guess that potential clients are doing that too.

(For what it's worth, your site did make my bookmarks folder!)

[eNZee]

Originally Posted by rt80639

I met a photographer at a wedding recently that is a prime example of bad marketting. She was very nice in person, and knew her stuff. Had a lovely 5dMarkII and L-glass, and knew how to use it. But:

I asked for a card...she didn't have one on her, and had to go get one out of her bag (bad). Her card was flimsy crap (probably Vistaprint) with greyish coloring and pink text, which made it hard to read. She then had to explain that the photo on the card was not her, but a senior portrait that looked a lot like her (FAIL). And here's the big one: no website. Instead, she had the address of her flickr site.

hey hey whats wrong with vistaprint lol i got prints from there and they turned out really good. i can honestly say its not flimsy - depends on the type of paper selected??? anyways thats besides the point.
well im glad that i dont have the issues that girl has.
as for mysite - im working to revamp it. my main issue that bothered me most was the slow load of my portfolio but im workign on that. i never had a problem but too many people have told me they had a slow load time and its driving me insane.
anyways, thanks for those tips

as far as the ad - since its for free - im not going to scrap that - should i keep it simple and eliminate all the pricing and only have samples and a little blurb about the company? how did you do yours?

I'd keep it simple. A few sample photos and a link to your website for pricing. That way if you change your pricing, you don't have to track down all your ads and change them

[eNZee]

Originally Posted by rt80639

I'd keep it simple. A few sample photos and a link to your website for pricing. That way if you change your pricing, you don't have to track down all your ads and change them

true, good point
in anycase, i cut it all out and just left a little blurb with 3 sample shots with my contact information.

ahh this marketing stuff aint easy. and i ahve a hard time doing things for free like you were saying in an earlier post....do you ever feel like people take advantage of you???

Originally Posted by eNZee

true, good point
in anycase, i cut it all out and just left a little blurb with 3 sample shots with my contact information.

ahh this marketing stuff aint easy. and i ahve a hard time doing things for free like you were saying in an earlier post....do you ever feel like people take advantage of you???

Yes, but we all have to start somewhere. A lot of photographers will say "Don't work for free" or "Don't give away digital photos". I say the opposite.

Time is money, and vice versa. Paying for ad equals the same amount of work you'd do to pay for that ad. So instead of paying $300 for an ad that is gone in a week, give away $300 worth of services and encourage distribution. If you perform well, your photos will show up on Facebook, Flickr, e-mails, computer desktops...your exposure will be far greater.

My pricing structure is going to be a bit different than most...I'm giving away all the photos for free and only charging for my time. I've talked to customers...that's what they want. They want to display photos on Facebook. They want to e-mail photos to Grandma. They don't understand why they pay a photographer $1500 to shoot photos and then have to pay more for the actual photos. I say give the customer what they want.

[FoG]

Originally Posted by eNZee

so your think i should scrap all the pricing and packages on there????
so how come it registered your two views but it didnt when i tried it???

ps. dont worry about the pics, im still working on the rest

perhaps cos it is your comp that registered the ad it ignores your IP when you view?