Holiday Gift Ideas for Your Clients

by Kristina Rust Photography

I love giving my clients a little something extra during the holidays...something unexpected to thank them for choosing me to photograph their families.   This year my go to items have been metal ornaments, personalized notebooks and mini-canvas photos.  With all the great holiday promotions going on right now, most of these gifts can be purchased for under $20.

I realize now as I write this post, that I should have taken photos before I packed up all my goodies and delivered them to clients.  But I was too excited to go out and spread my photo cheer and forgot....oh well.

But here are the sites I ordered from (note some of these are affiliate links) and if you hurry you can still get these great gifts in time for Christmas too. 

Tiny Prints:  I ordered personalized notebooks and metal ornaments from Tiny Prints.  I was very happy with the quality of both products and so were my excited clients.  

I actually ordered the metal ornaments from Shutterfly (Tiny Prints, parent company) and instead of putting the family name I added the year.  It's the perfect keepsake! And right now you can save 40% using the code OURFAVS (offer expires 12/11/2014 so act fast). 

Photobucket: Their 5x7 mini-canvases were the perfect way to share a favorite photo with my clients.  I used the code CANVAS70 and purchased these well made gifts for under $10.  

Holiday Cards from @Photobucket

by:  Kristina Rust Photography

Last week I wrote about the new holiday card offering from Photobucket.  Yes, Photobucket, the photo hosting site that many of us know and love is now offering a variety of different photo products.  You can now find calendars, canvases, phone cases, holiday cards and more in their new online shop.

I had the opportunity to try out their cards and have to say I am quite impressed.  The card stock is nice and thick, the colors are rich and I really love the finish.  It is not glossy but not matte...I'd call it a satin finish.  These cards are a great value at only 99 cents each (introductory offer).   While the card design selection is not as robust as their competitors, the options they do offer are very cute.  You can see their various designs here.

Here is an example of the card I created to send to my clients.  It's of a photo I took last year while visiting my parents in Illinois (here in Silicon Valley we don't get any snow).  I love the simple design and that the focus is on the photo.

Give them a try and let us know what you think!

Holiday Cards from Photobucket

Did you know that Photobucket offers holiday cards?  If you are like me, you probably think of Photobucket as mainly a photo hosting and sharing site but guess what... they now also offer beautiful cards, home decor, and photo gifts.  

And right now they have an amazing deal!  You can get 75% off your 5x7  holiday cards by using the code: F4VODMM, (this includes envelopes and their is no limit).   But you must hurry as this offer expires Saturday, November 15.  

Oh and be sure to check out their canvas prints too.  There is an insider deal going on right now where you can save 70% using the code CANVAS70.  And this offer expires November 15 too!  

So hurry on over and get shopping! 

Creating a Welcome Page on Facebook

Creating a Welcome landing page for your photography business on Facebook is a easier than it looks and is great way to encourage visitors to "like" your page as well as let them know what your business page is about.  You can also use the same steps outlined below to create a link to a coupon.   Here's our Facebook link http://www.facebook.com/momswhoclick.  If you're already a fan, click on "Welcome!" on the left-hand side.

• You will need to create your image—this is the fun part that can be time consuming only because of all the options you have to design a page.  You can use the Facebook Welcome Page we created which is a basic, customizable psd file. The key to remember is your image should not be wider than 520 pixels.   The length can vary but keep in mind you don’t want to make your vistors scroll down to see all of your info.  Once you have designed your image, save it as a Jpeg file and load your image to a photo-hosting site. There are many free options including Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, etc.  
• For this example, we used Photobucket (note: I’ve had trouble using Flickr).  Using your Photobucket account upload your photo.  Once your photo is loaded, click on the photo and copy the direct link code located in the Share this Photo box located on the right sidebar. 
• 

• Next go to FB and open up your business page.
• Go to the search box on Facebook and type in FBML.  Once on the FBML page, click Add to My Page located on the left.  A window will pop up with the pages you administer and click Add to Page.
• Once you’ve added the Static FBML application, go to your business page and click on Edit Page on the right.
• When you are on the Edit screen of your business page, click on the Apps link on the left. You will see a list of applications that you’ve added/were added by default.

• Look for FBML application from the list, and click on the Go to App link.
• You will be taken to Edit FBML page where you can change the Tab title to “Welcome” and paste the following code along with your direct link code from Photobucket into the box.  The Photobucket code goes in between the “ “. <img src="http://photobucketimagecode”border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
• Click Save Changes and then go to your home page and the Welcome link will be listed in the left side bar.
• Click Welcome and your new page should appear. 
• If you would like to change the default landing page to the Welcome page go to Edit Page and change the Default Landing Tab to Welcome.

Here is a video that shows how to set up a FBML tab that may also be of help.