This week: Rosh shares a few thoughts  about the new Google images, digg and Facebook.

• New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
• Time: 17:02
• Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
• This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
• Topics on this week’s show: New Google Images, Facebook 500 million users, Google Wave and email,  thinking about digg – is it still relevant? Be like Lindsay Adler, happy customers,  DPexperience series.
• New media photographer audio comment link love: none
• Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
• Become a fan on Facebook
• New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
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• Comment line 206 202 3568
• Email New Media Photographer
• New Media Photographer
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• The Rosh Group, Inc.
• Prosperous Artists
• The Driven Business
• Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
• Do  you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
• e-mail

Why don’t people buy from you?  Does your industry have a negative reputation? If so, why?  What is the No. 1 complaint you hear from your customers?

These questions hold the answers to improving your business and separating yourself from the pack.

People often tell me that when it comes to photography they don’t want to pay for work they can do themselves.

Digital technology makes it easy for a beginner to pick up a basic SLR camera and create images with sharp focus and proper exposure.

This means you as the professional photographer have to work harder.

Maybe you’re in a different creative industry.  Chances are your business has been affected by technology, too.  It doesn’t always take the new technology to improve a business model hurt by current technology.  Sometimes the ability to deliver quickly and on time will set you apart.

Don’t fall for the lowest price trap.  Everyone wants a lower price. Lower prices will quickly drive you out of business. It is often better to add value before reducing prices.

The answers are found in other industries, too. What have those sectors done to add value to their products and services?

The solutions are all around you, but you won’t hear them from your happy customers. Satisfied customers already are sold on you. They are not the key to rising above your competition.

As I stood in a bookstore the other day, I suddenly became overwhelmed.  Not as a customer trying to find the right book, but as an author trying to sell a book.

Wow, there are a lot of books on the market.  Two floors of books vying for the customer’s dollar. How do authors and publishers get the book buyer’s attention?

My next thought : There are far more blogs online than books in a bookstore competing for readers’ attention.  How do you get noticed?

I know this: If you are an author, you will not attract new readers by standing in a bookstore thinking about your book. The same goes for your office. You will not accomplish much if you sit at your desk waiting for the sales to happen.

The only way to develop a following is to get out in the world, knock on doors, and look for new opportunities online and offline.  You also can inquire about speaking engagements, opportunities to write articles and exchanging blog posts to introduce yourself to new audiences.

I’ve been very impressed with my co-author, Lindsay Adler, who got our first book deal The Linked Photographer’s Guide. She earned the first book on social media for photographers not because she was the most well-known social media expert. The opportunity came to her because she asked.

She writes for major photography magazines not because she has two decades in the business. She gets published because she asks.  She speaks at conferences and workshops about fashion photography and social media not because organizers were knocking down her door after she graduated college. She presents because she asks for the opportunity.

As I spend more time working with small companies making a big splash, I’ve found they all have something in common: they are active in their communities.  One three-person team is selling its wares on QVC. They have an excellent product but the TV shopping network didn’t find them.  How did they get on QVC?  They asked.  A photography client had its first product (using my photos) reviewed on The Today Show a couple of weeks ago. How did they get on The Today Show?  They knocked on the right doors.

If you have a blog, product, book or business and want to grow your audience, be like Lindsay.  Knock on doors. Develop relationships. Don’t wait for world to discover you.

This week: Rosh talks with photographer Ralph Velasco about travel photography.

• New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
• Time: 35:00
• Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
• This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
• Topics on this week’s show: Rosh’s speaking schedule, interview with Ralph Valesco, photographing montenegro, photographing Chicago, Scott Kelby’s world wide photo walk, Photowalkingtours.com, TravelPhotographyPodcast.com, working with social media, audio and photography, Picasa and Picnic, Tasko, should you have signature with your texts, a key to blogging, What is a new media photographer, have a book idea? Linked photographer on Kindle.
• New media photographer audio comment link love: @pictrade
• Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
• Become a fan on Facebook
• New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
• Tumblr.com New Media Photographer
• Itunes New Media Photographer subscription
• Comment line 206 202 3568
• Email New Media Photographer
• New Media Photographer
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• The Rosh Group, Inc.
• Prosperous Artists
• The Driven Business
• Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
• Do  you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
• e-mail

I was looking through some forums to see if I could figure out how to change the text signature on my Droid Incredible cell phone.  I want to customize it.

While reading the forums I noticed a lot of people asking why anyone would really need a signature.  It’s dumb, they said.  People know who you are, the commenters further explained, and would only need your information sent to them once.

I’m going to assume these people are young or not independent business people, because they couldn’t be more incorrect.

If  texting is between friends, there is no need for a signature.  But, business people need their information available for real and potential clients.

Whenever you think anyone “should” do something,  you are mistaken.

People often receive requests for quick information from prospects or clients.  It is common these days for the request to come via a text message rather than a phone call.  I’ve often found it easier to text the information quickly rather than wait until I have time or find myself in an appropriate location to make a phone call.

Having a signature is as important on a text as it is on an e-mail.

Ask yourself how often you take the time to import all the information from a text or an e-mail from a vendor.  Some people are better than others.  If the information you need is not in your system, then you look for the last communication.

Many phones now recognize phone numbers and allow you to make a call no matter where you find the number.  It could be in an e-mail, text or your notes.

If I were to take the advice of the commenters on the forum and only provide my information once, I would have made a poor assumption. My information would not be available to a prospect or client in need.

Don’t overdo your signatures. (This is a “do as I say, not as I do” statement.) Make sure you consider including your name, e-mail, phone, Web site, and your core social media hangout.  If you want to keep your text signatures simple, pick two easy ways in which someone can communicate with you.

By the way.  I’ve not found my answer. If you know how to adjust the signature on the Android platform, please e-mail me.

Rosh

This week: Rosh talks with Brian Matiash about HDR photography (and of course a little social media).

• New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
• Time: 45:00
• Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
• This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
• Topics on this week’s show: Creative commons video, internet marketing club, DPexperience , Interview with Brian Matiash, No more gifts from the facebook store, a salute to social photo talk, It only takes one person.
• New media photographer audio comment link love: None
• Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
• Become a fan on Facebook
• New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
• Tumblr.com New Media Photographer
• Itunes New Media Photographer subscription
• Comment line 206 202 3568
• Email New Media Photographer
• New Media Photographer
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• The Rosh Group, Inc.
• Prosperous Artists
• The Driven Business
• Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
• Do  you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
• e-mail



Lawrence Lessig – April 21, 2010, New York: A fast paced entertaining presentation for ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) on creative commons and copyright. Well thought out, important and forward-looking for all photographers to consider. Do you agree or disagree?

This week: Facebook using face recognition, will that be helpful to photographers?

• New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
• Time: 20:25
• Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
• This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
• Topics on this week’s show: Chris Marshall Collected Comic Library, Facebook tagging, importance of search, Another Google social network!? inside facebook.  Send your image for the linked photographer page.
• New media photographer audio comment link love: None
• Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
• Become a fan on Facebook
• New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
• Tumblr.com New Media Photographer
• Itunes New Media Photographer subscription
• Comment line 206 202 3568
• Email New Media Photographer
• New Media Photographer
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• The Rosh Group, Inc.
• Prosperous Artists
• The Driven Business
• Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
• Do  you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
• e-mail

The Internet is where people look for information about your product or service. Companies such as Microsoft (Bing), Yahoo and Google have created programs to help make it easier to find what you are looking for among the millions of sites on the Web.

The Web is stitched together with links.  In the early days, following those links from page to page was the way to get more information on a topic. As the Web grew, a better search method was needed.  WebCrawler was the first full text search engine using meta data to rank Web pages.  I recall using Webcrawler for years until Yahoo, another meta data based ranking system, grabbed the attention of Web surfers.

Since the search engines were key-word based (meta data) the strategy was to use as many key words as possible to get your name to the top of the search results. In the late 1990s, Google came along and changed the search game.

I didn’t like Google’s search results in the beginning. Honestly,  I thought they were awful.  They based their results on links to a Web page using Google’s own formula called page rank.  The Google algorithm has improved over time and is updated continuously.   Recently Google released its newest incarnation of the algorithm called Caffeine.  This version places more influence on the freshness of content by indexing pages quicker.  This means not only do you need quality links coming to your site, but fresh content will play a greater role in were your Web page is listed in search results.

So, why is search important?  Because it is the most-used method on the Web for people to find your product or service.  If you are not thinking about how search engines can better find you and how you can become a more active member of the Web community.  You are losing money.

Here is a great a video created by Google featuring Matt Cutts explaining how Google search works.

This week: Photographer Pascal Depuhl is “catching the light” and sharing  great social media tips.

• New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
• Time: 45:00
• Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
• This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
• Topics on this week’s show:  Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Seesmic, dropico, Caffeine, Are you losing followers on Twitter – Is something wrong?, Smashing magazine – using photos to sell more online, email and social media, Interview with Pascal Depuhl, New facebook statistics, sharing your Web site, Your marketing filter, Hiring a photography representative,  Last show recorded in my home office.
• New media photographer audio comment link love: None
• Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
• Become a fan on Facebook
• New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
• Tumblr.com New Media Photographer
• Itunes New Media Photographer subscription
• Comment line 206 202 3568
• Email New Media Photographer
• New Media Photographer
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• The Rosh Group, Inc.
• Prosperous Artists
• The Driven Business
• Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
• Do  you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
• e-mail