I'm a bit frustrated! We have two new initiatives to launch but we can't get either out until next week, so I thought I'd try and clear up a few misconceptions about SEO... SEO comes to mind for two reasons. First, in Ian's 14 Tips post a while back he said (rather carelessly!), "10. Link to the venues, florists, dressmakers and other vendors who were connected to the event - another Workspace feature. They'll love you for it, and linking is great for SEO." Someone commented, "Yes, linking is great for SEO, but for the [site] you are linking to, not for you… I'm always wary about linking to…vendors' To View More >>

I'm often told that brides do all their research online and communicate with photographers only by email. And that it's normal to book a photographer based on such minimal interaction: "Stephen it's no use. They just want a price. It's all about the deal, so I just give them one and hope." I don't believe it. Or at least, I don't believe it's the only possibility. I wasn't going to start these posts this way, but maybe a simple response to this challenge is useful, something you can use immediately. Anyway, here's how I would reply. Rewrite it in your own words of course, but I hope it helps engage To View More >>

Interesting question from Sergey on my Opportunities post. What do you do if people want this cool album that they've never seen before – but they want to postpone the purchase, maybe until their first anniversary. Here's what we think. As they say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I'd look for a way to sweeten the deal and get a commitment now. OK, we hate the D word, but maybe a discount would do the trick. Or arrange monthly payments via credit card, preferably with a deposit to cover your costs. Anyway, try hard for a commitment now, and get the album out there working for you. To View More >>

Here's why our New Year's resolution is to get on Facebook. Besides being a long time Queensberry client, Australian photographer Greg Mace is a friend and all-round good guy ... and we're not the only ones who think so. To prove that all you have to do is click on Greg's new Facebook page. Better yet, friend him and click "Just Fans". In June '09 6.1m Australians (out of 21m) visited Facebook. In fact three out of four Aussies visited a social networking site of some sort. Same here in New Zealand: almost a quarter of us have used Facebook. Those are big numbers, and of course once people start To View More >>

You might remember a post called "the secret life of wedding photographers" on ISPWP a few years ago. Apparently photographers lead a great life – you get to spend your time taking pictures, travelling to exotic locations and partying like rockstars! Of course the sad reality is often quite different. This fertile little meme has got a lot more airtime recently because APE and now Seth Godin have posted about it. As always, Seth's post is well worth the read. He makes the point that everyone has a choice: get together the "guts and resources" too do what you were born to do, or spend your time To View More >>