Photography can be one of the most crucial aspects of a campaign. Ultimately, some campaigns are literally all about the photos and would not work without them. It is crucial, therefore, to spend the dollars up front to get good, strong imagery. It is one of the most important items for marketing. Take the time, spend the money, choose your models, and plan your photo list so that you can build a photo library that is consistent and truly shows off your product or property.

Here are some basic steps to developing a successful photoshoot.

1) Work with your designer to determine the photo needs and develop a list.
2) Determine a budget to determine how many photos on your list can be done effectively.
3) Determine the style of the photos, then select your photographer based on that style. The most expensive is not necessarily the best, nor is the least expensive. Also, some photographers can shoot video as well as still. Consider adding video for future needs.
4) If you need people in your images, choose models that fit your demographic. Decide what type of models to use as far as age, general look, sex, and the number of models needed. And keep in mind that if you are using multiple photos, you will need different models in the shoots.
5) Coordinate clothing, location, and general “attitude of the” of the models so the photos convey what you & your designer pre-determined.
6) Be available during the shoot to make certain the photographer clearly understands your needs and is capturing the style & the photos you want for your library.

I find photoshoots to be one of the most time intensive projects to coordinate. If possible, I highly recommend hiring an agency, such as smith+jones, to develop and manage the shoot. In the end, the amount of time & energy it saves to use a professional agency will seem very worth it!

A wedding day is one of the defining moments of a woman’s life. She spends hours upon hours researching each and every detail. According to Carley Roney, The Knot’s Editor-in-Chief,  90% of brides use the Internet to plan their weddings. They are one of the most “engaged” set of Internet users.

There’s an abundance of information online, easily accessed at the click of a mouse. They’re searching everything from venues to DJ’s and consulting with other brides in online chat rooms. Information moves quickly and decisions are made with confidence, backed by testimonials and reviews from other brides. In this age of information overload, how do you set yourself apart?

The cardinal rule – follow-up quickly. You are not the only vendor vying for her wedding. Make the communication personal. Avoid mass emails or cliches. Refer to an anecdote, even if shared briefly and in passing. Or make reference to a specific detail she requested. By personalizing your follow-up communication, you are reminding the bride who you are and letting her know you care which could result in booking a site-tour or dress fitting. If additional communication takes place by e-mail, make it quick and easy. Don’t forget they’re online because of the convenience.

For tips on how your business can capitalize on the wedding industry, read the interview with Carley Roney.

In the not so distant past, selecting a typeface to use in website design was a choice between form and function. Either you selected a font matching the client’s identity that would potentially not be seen by search engines, or you compromised by using a font that has only a minor connection to the brand or design.

Thanks to recent arrival of web fonts, it’s no longer necessary to choose between searchable text and creative freedom. There are already over 10,000 web fonts available and the list is quickly growing. Most are available in multiple languages and supported by popular browsers, including mobile.

Of course there are almost always additional costs involved with new technology and the aesthetic advantages of web fonts are no exception. Current subscription rates are based on page views and font quantity and range from a very affordable $0 to $160 per month.

Although a designer and brand manager’s dream, web fonts may not make sense for every site. However, if design consistency is a priority for your business or organization, they are worth considering when developing your new web strategy or updating your existing web presence.

Curious? Check out this You Tube video.

Early in the redesign process of the new GoTahoeNorth.com site, the decision was made to integrate the latest technology and user behavior while still featuring imagery to sell the destination. The homepage programming was converted from Flash to JQuery, improving performance, ease of maintenance, data capture and browser compatibility. Now all mobile devices and our small but growing iPad audience (80 million tablets by 2012 according to JP Morgan) can get the full homepage experience. To further enhance the visitors experience, we created a content slider that promotes the latest events, weather and video (which you can easily minimize to better see the imagery). We also built our social media feeds directly into the homepage content, bringing the latest user content front and center.

The JQuery JavaScript library allows us to take functions previously done in Flash and execute them in JavaScript.  Many simple Flash animations like slideshows can now be handled quickly in JavaScript. While the JQuery library has been around since 2006 it did not see its usage grow dramatically until Apple chose not to support Flash on the iPhone and iPad platforms. As these two devices have gained marketshare it has pushed programmers to find alternative solutions to Flash for their animation. While cross platform support is a big plus, JQuery also provides the benefits of less resource usage and eliminates the need to have a flash programmer to make updates.  Check out this article for a quick comparison of Flash and JQuery.

Google local or Google Place Search has changed up its layout.  The abbreviated initial list or “7-pack”  is gone and the map has been pushed to the right column.  This pulls the standard organic rankings back up above the fold.   While it’s a benefit for the deserving organic listings I liked the old 7-pack condensed results, especially when your next step is to call.

google places new look

Greg Sterling at SearchEngineLand gets into the details.  And there is a typical vague response from Google, when Greg Sterling asks an either / or question on the algorithm change, Google says, “yes.”