Hey Everybody,

 

We’ve got some changes coming to the newsletter that will affect how you and future newsletter subscribers get and find the information I’m sharing with you.

 

But first!

 

The promotional post from last week’s newsletter is up and it can be found at Meet 7 Marvelous Photographers.  Head over to that post and Tweet it, Stumble it, Digg it, etc… Why do we do this?  It’s about paying it forward.  These photographers took time out of their day to submit their work and get a link to their websites with the idea that those links will help to increase overall exposure on the Internet.  

 

“a rising tide lifts all boats“

 

Even if you were not one of the photographers whose work is being showcased, check out the post and spread the word.  I’m willing to bet those photographers would appreciate the support and are likely to reciprocate on the next go around even when their work is not included.

 

A Correction

 

Ever have one of those days?  You sit at your computer to edit your latest photos only to find that they came out a little grainier than they should have.  You left the ISO at 800 for today’s shoot because last night something worth photographing was happening in a dimly lit situation.  Doh!

 

Last week we talked about the words you use in your on-line marketing in and surrounding your “hyper text”.  What I meant to use, as a proper term, was “anchor text”.  The “anchor text” is the visible, click-able text in a hyperlink.  It’s the word/words title the link to the website being linked to.  Trivial?  Perhaps, but in need of correction nonetheless. 

 

More on Paying it Forward

 

I’m a big believer in paying it forward.  You could consider it “building Karma points” or following the “golden rule”.  Whatever.  It’s all the same.  The idea is that if you help other people accomplish goals, then your goals will be more easily accomplished with the help from a whole different set of others.   Some will be directly reciprocated, some won’t, but it’s still good to help out people when you can.

 

This isn’t new.  It goes back to 1784 and Benjamin Franklin. 

 

“I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”

 

So how does this translate to you, your photography, and the promotion of your photography?  The promotional posts where we show off your work is one way in which I choose to give to those whose needs I can immediately help.  Further, these newsletters have turned into a different sort of “photo tips” in that I’m lending my knowledge on on-line and social networking marketing to you for the use of promoting your work around the Internet.  I’ll continue to share with you what works for me, what doesn’t, what my thoughts are on why things work or why not and in which situations it may work for you.

As the newsletter grows so does our reach as a whole.  Photographers helping photographers.  That’s the idea here.  The more of you that are out there spreading the word for each other the more we all benefit. 

 

Progress

 

I’m one of those people who can’t sit still, well mentally anyway.  I’m always thinking and pondering what ifs and playing out ideas in my head.

 

What started out as a newsletter to simply promote your work on my website has now turned into a weekly newsletter with photographer promotional tips.  That’s a good thing.  You get more information to use and more ideas and ways to implement new technologies and such. 

 

But I ran into a problem.  Archiving.  Why is archiving important?  Well we’ve already talked about a few key ingredients to SEO and links and will continue to do so.  We’ll talk about Twitter and Facebook and whether you should be marketing globally or locally and how.

 

But what if you just signed up?  You missed the past couple of newsletters. And what about the photographers that sign up a month from now?  A year from now?

 

Solution

 

We’ll be archiving the newsletters in a separate blog.  That way you have more options.  You can subscribe to the RSS, the Twitter feed, or the newsletter.  It will probably grow into something that I can’t quite foresee, but it’s needed at this point.  The archiving is important or I’ll be fielding more and more questions about things we’ve already covered.  Not a bad thing, but it’d be much easier for most of you to just have a dedicated site for finding all this information.

It’s partially up and I’ve a few bugs to fix but you’ll get notified when it goes “live”. 

 

Quick tip on promotion