Archive for website

Google Wants Your Photography Website to be Mobile-friendly

By Trevor Current
Sunday, April 5th, 2015

Google LogoMobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are everywhere. We all have them, and we use them everyday (all day). Your clients and prospects are using these devices as well. Brides are sitting on the couch watching TV and searching for their florist, reception hall, and yes, even their wedding photographer.

Google-Responsive-TestThis is not news, but if you have an old Flash powered website you already know it won’t display or function properly on iOS devices, and performance is sketchy at best on Android and Windows Phone devices. So if those Brides are searching for a wedding photographer and your site doesn’t display, they will move on to your competitor who has a mobile-friendly website.

Google and the other search engines see the value in mobile-friendly websites as well. In fact, Google has been pushing for the use of “responsive design” for quite some time now. They have even stated that they prefer a responsive website as opposed to a separate mobile website, as this helps them assign authority to one site only rather than having to choose between the two.

Google will be expanding the use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact on search results.

Basically what they are saying, if your site is mobile-friendly you will get higher organic search ranking than if your site is not mobile-friendly.

So what should you do? First head over to this post on Google Webmaster Central. Give it a read and then test your current site to see if it is mobile-friendly. If it is, awesome, you’re all set! If not, you should really think about updating your website to a more modern responsive design.

If you need help with a new website for your photography business, be sure to check out our Websites for Photographers service. Our awesome mobile-friendly designs will make your business look great and help you get found in the search engines.

Categories : Grow Your Business
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A Photographer’s Diary, Is My Message Clear? I Need Your Help

By Ruth Bayley
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

There is something that has been playing on my mind for the last couple of weeks, is the message of my website clear? If you don’t know, or don’t have a full understanding of what it is that I do, would you be able to clearly ascertain the nature of my work and the benefits to you as a person if you went on one of my courses? I would be very grateful if you would take a look at my website, have a good read through and then use the contact us tab to let me know if you have understood what my company does and how it can help.  www.healingwithphotography.com

This subject has been on my mind for a couple of weeks as I have been making the odd tweak to the website, tightening up the wording to make it punchier whilst hopefully making it more self-explanatory.

Whilst I have been looking at other company’s websites as I’ve been looking for contact details of people who might wish to run my courses, I have been left bemused and frustrated by some of them. If I didn’t already know what some companies do I certainly wouldn’t be any wiser by reading their website. Sometimes there is just too much industry related language for the layman to cut through.

Just as I started to write this article I came across yet another company who is, I think, telling me that they run courses though it’s not at all clear what type of courses they run as there is too much industry related jargon. Read More→

Categories : Inspiration, Make Better Photographs
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OSXcellence – JPEGmini Lite

By Mark Myerson
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

I imagine many of you reading this review take quite a lot of pictures. Some of you will upload your pictures to Flickr or Facebook, but many of you will have your own website. And some of you with some technical nous may prefer to self-host and will be aware of the limitations on storage space web hosts often impose. This means that the number of high quality images you can upload to your website can be severely limited. JPEGmini is a service which is likely to relieve these pains, and now, it comes in a Mac flavour. Or should I say two Mac flavours, Lite and Full; today, I’m looking at the Lite version.

The premise of JPEGmini is pretty simple – to reduce the file size of jpegs. The service has been going a while now, online, and doesn’t seem that revolutionary on paper. Only when you look at the results, however, will you see what the fuss is about. In many cases, JPEGmini can reduce the file size of an image by 4 times, yet there are no visible signs of image degradation. A few examples can be seen on JPEGmini’s home page. Whilst JPEGmini’s website does a fine job, it does require a process of upload, wait for processing, then download – the app version bypasses this hassle, and, as a result, is far more convenient. Today, I’m looking at the Lite version. The difference between Lite and Full is that Lite restricts the number of images you can process to 20 per day. Both versions, however, have the ability to take jpegs up to 17MP in size (a.k.a. MASSIVE). Read More→

Categories : Computers & Software, Mac Apps, News and Reviews
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Starting a Photography Business: Part 52 – Birthday Celebrations

By Ruth Bayley
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

A year ago I nervously started writing this column with the focus on the starting of the photography business and getting the photography website up and running. Yet in the background, out of sight the idea for Healing with Photography had already happened. So it feels kind of fitting that on the birthday celebration of this column, with a little cake thrown in for good measure that a new business starts to take shape in the form of a website.

Essential Props

The website design for Healing with Photography has started in earnest now, I am using the same web development company as I used for my photography website; SmartDeCat have over last few months been working hard to bring new software to the market that makes the whole process so much easier. Seriously, I cannot believe how easy it now is to create my website. Menus have been made slicker and more compact, and everything is easy to find.

Plus of course, it’s a whole lot quicker putting this website together rather than the photography website, as it doesn’t involve me adding lots of photos. Though previous experience didn’t prevent me from making a basic error and printing my companies email address on the about page. Thankfully my web designer pointed it out to me and reminded that the reason you never do this is because spam robots go around collecting this data to later spam your email address.

Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Starting a Business
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Friday Business Challenge – Week 4: "Must Do" SEO Tactics for Photographers

By Guest
Friday, August 12th, 2011

Welcome to week four of the Friday Business Challenge bought to you by Current Photographer and Today is Different. Not sure what The Challenge is about? Click here to find out: Welcome to the Friday Business Challenge.

So how did you go with last week’s challenge? Did you do it? Don’t worry if you haven’t yet, just go back and do it any time before the challenge ends.

We want to give a big shout out to Toni Aull for participating in the Friday Business Challenge for Week 3. Be sure to check out Toni’s Flickr stream to view her work and to learn more about her.

So on to week number four.

7 Basic “Must Do” SEO Tactics for Photographers

SEO is a large and complex topic. You can pay someone to do it for you or you can immerse yourself in all of the technical information trying to figure out how to optimize your site.

The truth is you may need to adopt one or the other of the options above. But before you do, try these tactics and make some small adjustments, and most likely you will see improved rankings quite rapidly.

The Challenge & the Reward

We want to see you succeed in your photography business. Participating in the 7 weeks of challenges will help you focus on taking action towards making your business the best it can be.

Sharing your experiences with others is also a great benefit to the community, so we want to hear from you. Tell us how you did with the weeks challenge in the comments below. In return we want to give you a little promotion (and who doesn’t want that?) Be sure to include links to your website, blog, Twitter profile, Facebook Page, LinkedIn and any other profile you’d like to share with the community.

We’ll select the best, most thought out comments to be featured in next weeks challenge along with a post on the Today Is Different blog. Just think of all those wonderful links you’ll get to help your SEO!

As an additional incentive we are offering you a chance to get one of your favorite photographs featured at the top of CurrentPhotographer.com. We’ll include your image, your name or company name along with your website url. When the graphic is clicked the viewer will be taken directly to your website. Nice way to get a little extra attention huh?

So how do you get your image featured you ask? It’s simple, just click the “Tweet & Get It” button below. You’ll automatically tweet the special phrase and get immediate access to a free e-book that Trevor has put together titled “How to Pimp Out Your Twitter Profile in 4 Easy Steps”.

We’ll pick 4 random Twitter followers who tweet the special phrase and send them a Direct Message with details on how to submit their photo and information.

At the end of the 7 weeks we’ll have a special gift for all those who participated and commented. Trevor and I have put together a couple of great e-books that we’d like to give to you for FREE just to say thanks.

So keep participating in the challenges, keep the comments coming and share your accomplishments with your friends on Twitter and Facebook to let them know “you’re in it to win it!”

See you next Friday for Seven Steps to Designing a Referral Program…

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I am a portrait photographer and a workshop facilitator. I am passionate about what I do and thrive amongst people who are innovative and love what they do. I am in my element in the midst of conversations where ideas are spread and opportunities are discovered.

Today is Different provides workshops, retreats and consulting for professional photographers in Sydney, Australia.

We help you to:

  • Find your uniqueness and your fantabulousness
  • Stop selling products and services and start providing
    an experience
  • Find clients that you love and that love you right back
  • Simplify by focusing on what is truly important

Today is Different

Company: Today is Different
Phone: +61 403 500 801
Email: robyn@todayisdifferent.net
Website: http://www.todayisdifferent.com.au/
Blog: http://www.todayisdifferent.com.au/blog
Twitter: @RobynMayne
Facebook: http://facebook.com/TodayIsDifferent

© 2017 Robyn Mayne

Here’s how you can share your tips, techniques and tutorials on CurrentPhotographer.com

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Categories : Friday Business Challenge, Grow Your Business, Guest Bloggers, Search Engine Optimization
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Starting a Photography Business: Part 46 – Art Wins Again!

By Ruth Bayley
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

I have been taking my time deciding what type of photo and logo to use on the new website for Healing with Photography. For me the lotus flower has been over worked and it isn’t unique now to associate it with healing, and beyond anything, the core role of the courses are photography and I wanted it to reflect some beautiful photography too. Yes I know, a little bit of ego creeping in there!

I browsed the templates of the web design company at SmartDeCat and was very taken with one that had a photo of the sea; and it was easy for me to take a similar photo. Yet on looking around on the internet, a calming sea is also pretty much well used in the healing genre, and did this truly reflect the photography element other than it was a photo of water.

Also, to take this scene involved a two hour journey to get to a coast, which has blue sea water, rather than the brown estuary water which is closest to me. Do you know it wasn’t until I went to the south coast of the UK on holiday a good few years ago that I realised that blue sea water actually existed in this country.

The fact I kept putting the trip off suggested to me that it wasn’t quite what I wanted, I wasn’t connecting with it. So the other day quite by accident I came upon the ideal banner photo and an image that I can use on business cards and all marketing material for Healing with Photography.

Having a relaxing afternoon in the garden with my drawing pad and charcoal I sat down to draw the star gazer lilies, my favourite of all my lilies, though I don’t tell the others that; I tell them they are all beautiful! The fragrance that comes from these lilies is just hypnotic, I could inhale them all day. I took a break from my drawing and looked down at the page and realised how beautiful they looked, how again, just as I did when I drew the Faraglioni rocks of Capri, I was connected heart and soul to the image.

Healing with Photography logo

Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Starting a Business
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