Project 365 - Half Way Mark!

When my business partner/friend and I started our journey 3 years ago we never 'pictured' all of the wonderful friends we would make along the way.  We didn't know how our lives would change with the many photos we have taken and what we would learn about this incredible business of clicking.

We have reached a fun milestone in that road.  We embarked on Project 365 on January 1, 2011.  We haven't stopped clicking since.  And I'm happy to say that we've been faithful to the project and have 6 months worth of photos from our lives to chronicle our experience.

We would love to see anyone else's Project 365 photos, send us your link in the comments section.  Cheers - have a happy Fourth of July in the states!

Click on both of the albums to view simultaneously!

          Kristina's Album                              Tina's Album

      

Tiny Prints: We Are Open For Business!

[caption id="attachment_277" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Click to see our Tiny Prints Store!"][/caption]

As photographers, my business partner and I are always looking for ways to offer wonderful new products to our customers.  We have our favorite photo lab just 30 minutes south of us in Santa Cruz, and now we have our favorite custom card and photo album company just north of us in Mountain View.

From our perspective, we respect that both of these companies that we do business with started out small, just like our photography business.  They "get" us; they know what we are going through as a small company.  Their customer service is excellent and they also understand what our customers want to see in their products.

Last year, as our studio was growing, we became affiliates of Tiny Prints.  In our second year of doing business with them we've seen some great programs.  They make it so easy to create a storefront and show off our favorite cards from their vast selection of designs.  From holidays to baby announcements, to customer invites - you name we have it, at Tiny Prints!

Check out this link to view some of the best of their holiday cards.  www.tinyprints.com/photo-cards.htm.  And, more importantly, check out our new Tiny Prints Storefront:  www.tinyprints.com/storefront/ptf (PTF is for Picture This Fundraising).

We are offering our friends, family and customers a wonderful 20% discount.  To get the CODE, drop us an email at: caserustphotography@me.com.  The coupon is good through 12/31/2010, so hurry and get your cards ready before anyone else you know and impress them with beautifully made, custom photo cards from Tiny Prints!

P.S. Oh, the other fun fact about Tiny Prints is the co-founder, Kelly Burger, attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, just like my business partner.  There's something about those Midwesterners and their never-ending supply of creativity and having an eye for great shots!

SmugMug vs. Zenfolio

My business partner and I have tested out various photography sites including the two highest rated, SmugMugPro and Zenfolio. My partner did most of the initial testing with Zenfolio, so by the time I entered the site I had a good comparison with SmugMug, which I had tested for a day.

I have to admit, from the reading and investigation I did initially, I was expecting a lot out of SMUG. I read how thoroughly they tested their chosen lab (Bay Photo), against the rest, and their various levels from amateur to pro. I read up on what photographers had to say about it, and much was positive.

However, to my surprise, I found after a day playing with Smug, Zen turned out to be more intuitive. I have a long running background with Microsoft products, and Zen seems to follow that line of thinking.

Being locked into the online ordering process has some concerns for us too. Both Zen and SMUG lock you in to some degree. While Smug uses our preferred lab (Bay) you cannot take advantage of the sales they run throughout the year if your customers order online. It makes me wonder if the one-on-one we offer our clients and extend in our sales is a better option.

Zenfolio's pricing is more competitive, I guess when you're number 2 you have to be. But you also tend to try harder, and in Zen's case, it shows. Their customer support is outstanding. While it does seem to be all by email, they get back within an hour of any inquiry we posed to them, which was plenty.

No doubt Smug's customer support is outstanding, just as it states on their site (24/7/365). They also got back to us in record time.

So, when it comes down to it, it's about comfort level, ease-of-use, - and for us - pricing. So our choice at the moment is Zenfolio. Smug was so close, but their 15% MINIMUM pricing, inability to extend lab sales during the year to our customers (or us), unintuitive interface tipped us over the Zen edge.

If you have a strong opinion on either of these two photography sites, we'd love to hear your take and perhaps see if you can sway us one way or the other. We still have a week before we make our final decision, but this is where it's heading right now.

Setting Up an Online Shop

This week my business partner and I have been spending a lot of time researching photo hosting sites.  We are trying to figure out the best way to share our galleries and sell prints.  So far the companies that are in the running are Zenfolio, Smug Mug, and InstaProofs.

We'd love to hear your recommendations.