My journeys into the desert are usually one of solace and being one with nature. This last trip was quite different.
I was asked by the Vegas Pictage User Group to speak to them about WordPress and Search Engine Optimization for photographers.

WordPress and S.E.O. are a couple topics I’ve been speaking about more and more. It’s really been so much fun teaching and sharing this kind of knowledge with others. I feel like the whole thing is snowballing into something really great and a wonderful expression that I enjoy more and more.
As I move into creating a new business as a web developer/designer/marketer, the workshops and teaching it all makes sense.

The future of William Bay Photographic Arts
Since I’m forming this new web development business, the though may arise “will you still do wedding and portrait photography and a business too?”
And the answer is yes.
But, the great part is that no I get to be very selective about who I want to work with, and I get to do things ‘my way’ without any compromises to my artistic vision.

This year is one of freedom. And I’m in love with that.

William Bay is a Las Vegas Workshop.

How to make Wedding Photography Green

It seems I got some Photographer’s knickers in a bunch with a post about how we as wedding photographers and the photography industry in general fail in the realm of environmental responsibility, and how their are a few Photographers that take advantage of the word “Green” in their marketing.
Most of the upset e-mails and comments I got were from photographers that do quite a bit in their lives and business to reduce their carbon footprints. But there were two points that were obviously lost on them:

1. My problem isn’t with those “trying their best”, it’s those that are making claims that they are Green Photographers without anything to back it up. So if you aren’t making those claims, I really don’t understand the animosity.
2. It takes far more energy to bring the “oh so drool worthy” cameras and lenses to our doors, and to power our computers, which we spend the vast majority of our time when we aren’t shooting, than most people even consider.

Solution = Education and Standards

There were a few photographers that brought up a really good point; There is no accountability or standards posed for such claims in the photographic world. Truth be told, there are not many standards out there in the way of promoting your business as “Green.” The only certification program I know of myself is through LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). I know of LEED from my previous career in Architecture.
With a LEED Certified Architect, each client obtains a great deal of education about the importance of the standards and why to utilize certain products over others.
With a certification system for Photographers, we can be assured that Green Photographers meet certain standards themselves and are providing their clients with accurate information, as well as protecting customers.

LEED ranks each building into Silver, Gold and Platinum based on how well they meet certain criteria. So, in the spirit of LEED standards for Green buildings, I propose the following Standards for “Green Photographers.” I would recommend that the PPA (Professional Photographers Association) be the organization to champion this program, as their reach goes out to Photographers of every type, worldwide.

Silver:

• Maintains a home or office that consumes less than 6,600 kW/hrs per year. (This is approximately 25% less than the average household).
• You may use Carbon Offsets to offset up to 15% of the above figure.
• Products offered must be packaged in recycled and recyclable packaging and purchased from U.S. made sources in bulk to reduce shipping.
• Offsets must be purchased for the delivery of products (prints, and albums) from out of area (over 100 miles).
• Purchasing Offsets for your yearly Carbon Footprint (includes car travel, air travel, etc).
• Monthly participation in community events that benefit the environment, (Beach clean-ups, recycling drives, etc.).

Gold:

• Everything from Silver, plus:
• Maintains a home or office that produces less than 4,500 kW/hrs per year. (This is approximately 50% less than the average household).
• You may use Carbon Offsets to offset up to 5% of the above figure.
• Purchase camera equipment and business equipment from Non-Corporate sources within 100 miles of a radius to you. This supports your local economy, and keeps people near you employed. (No mail order).
• Website and Print Fulfillment site run on a Green Hosting company (Solar panels used for electricity, rain-water used for server cooling).
• Track energy usage of your website visitors and purchase Offsets (based on average 150 watt computer * Hours of use on your site / 1000=kW/hr).
• Print orders and albums must be scheduled for monthly delivery to reduce shipping.
• Non-Leather Albums alternatives must be provided for your clients.

Platinum:

• Everything from Gold, plus:
• Place of business shall be either maintain a LEED Platinum, Gold or Silver certification, or meet the requirements for any of those levels.
• Maintains a home or office that produces less than 1,800 kW/hrs per year. (This is approximately 80% less than the average household).
• Offsetting will not be eligible as a substitution in this category. And any additional energy requirements must be provided by non-public energy (i.e. solar panels, personal wind turbines, etc).
• Purchases either only U.S. manufactured cameras, or second hand cameras bought locally.
• Supplies only non-leather albums content from companies utilizing recycled materials, and that source their materials from within a 100 mile radius of their location of manufacture.

*Just a note: There are obviously certain criteria in the Platinum category that will currently be unachievable. This was done on purpose, so we can pressure manufactures to fill in the missing pieces.
And this is obviously skewed towards wedding photographers, some of these would obviously not apply to other photographers, and there would be additional requirements for them as well.

These are just preliminary ideas and thoughts. These of course should be reviewed and discussed with leading Environmentalists, Manufacturers, and Photographers to come to a conclusion on what standards should be adopted for each category. But, I do believe that these are great milestones for anyone in their own business whether or not you care about a certification, and just care about our One Sweet World.

If you have your own thoughts please include them below for others to read. If you are so inclined, I would appreciate if you would use the Share buttons below, pass this along to other photographers, and if you have connections with organizations like PPA, please let them know it’s time to make a difference in our industry.

I really make no claims to be a Green person (I have a tremendous knowledge of it due to my old Architectural life), but as I was researching these last couple articles I have seen for myself that I am a tremendous waster and through this I have made my own resolve to watch my own personal habits and may be incorporating some of these ideas into my own practice. (Don’t worry, I won’t call myself a Green Photographer now).

As a final note, I’d like to thank Green LA Girl whose talk at WordCamp LA on Saturday, is where I received a few ideas that have been incorporated into the different certification levels. Thanks for all the great info Siel.

William Bay is a Standards for Green Photographers.

Hey Big Business,

I know you’ve laid off lot’s of people in the past few months. And as an entrepreneur, I understand the need to control costs. But what if you could control your costs, keep your employees (even strengthen their loyalty to your company), and possibly increase your revenue during this slow down?

How?

Eliminate your advertising budget. Then proclaim to your employees your undying devotion to keeping them on staff. While you’re at it, let every media channel know what you’re doing.

Here’s the benefits:

• Increased employee loyalty: If you were to hold a company wide televised meeting, and tell each and every employee that their job is safe, you will develop a safe culture where your employees will be able to focus on helping your customers, and not on fear.
• Those loyal employees can serve as your evangelists: What’s more powerful? Seeing a splashy Target ad on TV, or having the entire 200 Target employee force, sharing how great the store is to all of their friends? That’s Viral Marketing! Facebook and Twitter not needed.
• Happier American Culture: I blame corporate retail super centers for the decline in American intelligence and morale. If your store were to bank the future of the company on your employees, educate them, and empower them you would be affecting the nation’s people in a positive direction at the same time.
• Image enhancement: Let’s face it. There are a lot of us that revolt from retail corporations (It might have something to do with removing money from local economies – Sorry, I know I’m trying to help here not criticize). Imagine what the benefit would be for your company image? If you declared that 50 jobs in a some town would be spared, the loyalty to your brand would be immensely strengthened.

Who needs ads when you can have a huge sales force?

What would it cost? Well let’s look at the numbers:
Walmart has an advertising budget of Half a Billion Dollars a year.

$500,000,000 (yes, lot’s of zero’s)
Divide that by:
$ 25,000 (salary of someone making $12.50/hr)

=20,000 Employees!!!

That’s 20,000 employees you can save. That’s 20,000 people that won’t be afraid about losing their job. That’s 20,000 people that can be loyal to you and be trained to be a positive sales force for your company!!! BTW, if you want some customer service/selling training done, I’ll make a DVD and hold weekly conference calls for a year for a $100k, I’ll even throw in a T-shirt.

What about advertising agencies you ask? Well… Do you really think there are many businesses that have the balls to try something like this?

…Didn’t think so.

I think the advertising agencies will be alright.

William Bay is a How to Smooth Out the Recession for Big Business.

I agree with Seth Godin‘s marketing mantra of “You can’t buy attention.” And since all print advertising is doing is shouting “Look at me, look at me,” you have as much a chance of becoming a big name photographer as a five year old. So first, here is what I personally will not participate in*:

• Print ads in local, or national wedding magazines. (You will fall through the cracks, while making the magazine richer, as you are drained of your hard earned resources).
• Paid ads in online places such as The Knot, again, unless you are in an untapped region, you will be a drop in the bucket with a plethora of other photographers all competing for the same brides as you, save your money.
• Mailings? Even worse. If you are lucky, you get 1/2% response rate from everyone you mail to. Assuming a run of 500, theoretically you would end up with 2.5 inquires. I have done this before and have not received one.

*Perhaps when I feel I’m ready to launch nationally, I may begin advertising, (but probably not).

OK, Let’s look at the things you could do that would be more efficient:

1. Make lots of new friends and be generous:
   Like I said before, I spent most of my 20′s burning bridges. Now, I find that I am repairing the old, and building brand new ones. The people that I meet now, I make it a point to find out what interests them, what their passions are, what resources do I have that could benefit them.
   I rarely turn down a conversation anymore, you never know who is a person of influence, or where your relationship will go.
2. Begin relationships with Wedding Coordinators and Venues:
   While Coordinators and Venues will more than likely already have some photographers they have worked with before, if you want to make a splash in your town and want to have your name/studio name permeate and be well known, you are going to have to hit the pavement and do the “dog and pony” show with your work. Show them you are interested in their work or facility. They are more than happy to meet with other industry people.
   It’s important to note while you are meeting these people, that you aren’t selling your photography, you are selling you and your personality. So turn on the charm.
3. Bridal shows:
   I am slowly changing my mind on this one. I have bought into the stories of low-budget brides just shopping for prices. But the more I think about it and discuss the notion with my confidant, the more it makes sense to do the more larger shows.
   I’ve been reassured that there are brides that range all kinds of budgets. And the key factor is that there are brides there, my target market! As someone that is swearing off advertising, it’s imperitive to be actively engaging with them, and obtaining information from those potential brides for consultations rather than just being a human brochure and spouting off prices and packages.
   –I’ll keep you with results from my first one, (which may be in June).
4. Join PPA or other photographic networking group:
   “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member” – Groucho Marx
   Here is the ultimate sign that hell has frozen over – I’m joining a club… Yeah, It hurts a little bit.
   Trying to maintain an outcast image has hurt me in the business world.  Now, I see that I can attempt to stand out in a targeted niche group.
   I was brought to a PPA meeting by a good friend of mine as a guest and met David Willis of Leather Craftsmen, and Ross Benton, a very well known wedding photographer from San Antonio. These relationships are just the beginning of what could be a significant boost to launch my career. I’m sure there will be more special speakers, but, I think the real juice lies in the potential referrals that could come by knowing your fellow members in the PPA (or whatever networking groups you decide to join).
   
5. Teach:
   The more you are in the public eye the better. And teaching other photographers makes you generous, an expert, and your students can end up as your most loyal evangelists. Plus, if you have a deep knowledge base of one particular subject, imagine how powerfully you can effect the photographic community you belong to, which makes you an influential figure.
   I am working on putting together a Customer Service workshop. It may not be the most sexiest of workshops, but I believe it’s the most vital to growing a business.
6. Cause a controversy:
   I was kicked out of the Tribeza Bridal Show. It may not be a big deal in the local news or anything, (I did rather wish some police or security was involved for greater exposure), but it did raise a few eyebrows with photographers and vendors. As long as the name William Bay is on the lips of people in the wedding industry, I’m happy. And if the buzz is edgy and controversial, that’s even better. I want crazy rumors floating around about me. “Did you hear that a Bridesmaid at a wedding slipped William Bay a rufi?”
   It’s alleged that Ozzy Osbourne bit off the head of a bat! Crazy, huh? It never happened, but look at the buzz that he has around him.
   What can you personally stir up in your photographic community. Is it as extreme as me?
   No? OK how about challenging the most well known photographer in your area. If he says one thing, say the complete opposite (as long as you believe it). Say you could outshoot them blindfolded, then back it up. Make sure there are lots of witnesses.
7. Blockparty:
   Remember the postcard mailers I discussed earlier, in the what not to do section. The postcards would have run you about $80 for 500 at Overnight Prints. The postage would have been about $150. That totals $230 to have people quickly glance at your well designed card before they toss it in their recycle bin.
   Instead, take that $230 (this may run you some more actually), and go to Costco, pick up enough food to feed 50 people and hold yourself a blockparty. Run flyers 3 weeks out and make sure people RSVP. People love free food and good music.
   Spend your time meeting your neighbors, getting to know them, letting them know that you are a photographer, and take pictures of everybody. Post them on your website for everyone to download. (Yes, I said download).
8. Find an office:
   Since I have moved in to my tiny little office in the back of my friends floral shop, I have met a ton of people. So the networking possibilities are endless. At $300/month, the expense is not bad, and having a legitimate place to meet clients, an area that I can work semi-uninterrupted, access to potential clientele, and the loyalty of the shop owner by providing free photos of her floral arrangments is truly priceless.
9. Get published:
   I’m working on this one right now. I swung for the fence, by trying to get into Grace Ormonde – Wedding Style. If I get in, I will be truly stoked, if not I will keep trying. I already have my next shoots lined up and the ideas are just bursting at the seams ready to jump out and into the camera.
   The important thing is to get into real publications, not the ones where you have to advertise to get some editorial work.
10. Top Secret:
    Yeah, I know… I tricked you. Hey, I’ve got to keep some trade secrets.

I do hope you got some value out of this. And remember the general rule of thumb in marketing is that all your efforts will provide you with about 5% returns.
You must be prepared to put forth a great deal of energy and effort to obtain each and every customer. Keep it in perspective too, this should not be about getting clients quick, it should be about building your future.

Be relentless, be positive, and always be thinking about the future, not the next booking.

William Bay is a 10 Marketing Techniques for Wedding Photographers.

What’s next? Well, Maybe top five… There are definitely some strong photographers here in Austin, and I’m delighted to be mentioned in the top ten group. I think I will sit down a year from now to re-evaluate my position in the pantheon of wedding photographers here in our beautiful Hill Country and see where I am then.

William Bay is a In the top ten!!!.

So I had mentioned that there were two pieces of great news a couple of weeks ago. The first, the t-shirts and clothing line of my photos was a huge hit. Everyone loved the shirts and they look great, I’m actually wearing my Dunes at Sunrise in Death Valley shirt now. I hope to at some point in a few months offer posters as well. I think that will be a great alternative for people that like my work but cannot afford one of my fine art prints.

The next big piece of news is that I have hired a Salesperson to book my weddings and portrait work. Her name is Sandy Hargrove. A wonderful person that has been in the Austin area for years and has a number of great connections that we are hoping to tap into.
Sandy’s background is really strong in marketing and sales, and currently runs her own business in the Spa industry. She is a welcomed addition to my business and should prove to be invaluable.

Great Shots

While I tend to market my Headshot Photography separately from my Wedding and Portrait work here, I just had to put these images up that I took today. This is Holly. She is a Conductor for a choral group in Austin. These are my two favorite photos from todays shoot. They turned out so lovely. And they haven’t had any retouching yet. Straight Out Of Camera, cropped to 8×10 and uploaded.

Thanks for looking!

William Bay is a Great News & Great Shots.