Google’s job is to give you what you want when you want it. It would be completely contrary for them to give you organic results to anyone that hadn’t earned it in real life. The goal of becoming the #1 person for any industry is a great goal, even one I strive to obtain and maintain, but google doesn’t want to tell people you are the best choice unless you are. No company can change that without cheating.

the call

I got a call yesterday from an SEO/SEM company, “usaseopros.com” that immediately wanted to explain SEO to me. They stated that they had found me online and there were some things wrong with my keywords that they could help me with. In fact they would guarantee #1 results on all search engines, read what google says about this:

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

This was ironic considering that it was also the first day I had achieved first page results for a competitive keyword on google, “phoenix photographer” organically. I had lots of help in this endeavor and it wasn’t too long ago that this sales call would have probably caught my interest.

Then again I am so critical of sales that I still wouldn’t have bitten the bait.. They made two glaring mistakes right away. First was they introduced themselves under a different name than the URL they wanted me to visit. Second when I googled “usaseopros.com complaints” Check out the results coupling them with a scam.

When I called them out on this they became angry and hung up on me. I might have been a little abrassive (oops).

how I know

I am lucky because I have many friends and clients who I would consider SEO/SEM gurus. From architecture and building it right the first time fame Chuck Reynolds to the whole content/adwords/keywords package client Chase Granberry to SEO product manager for OrangeSoda based out of SLC Utah Rian Fowler. In fact now that I think about it I am surrounded by resources that I’ve learned from.  A former client Pearly Writes and Bump Interactive are active in the #phx community and specialize in organic search engine results.

So I definitely had the upper hand in this sales call, Chuck had already shared the google page on SEO with me prior and his work on my website was a huge part of me ranking in the top ten yesterday. This prior knowledge meant that as soon as the salesman stated the #1 guarantee I knew something was up.

avoid scams

If you want to get into the competitive race to the top results on google please read the article above and educate yourself about what is truely going to help your company. Remember it is googles job to serve relevant results. Once you understand that take the time to choose a company that understands the benefits and limitations of SEO/SEM. And maybe, just maybe being known in your community is more important than being #1 on google.

A pinewood derby is often confused with a soapbox race. There are vast differences. First off we will not be riding in our pinewood cars unless you happen to wight less than 5oz (the official race weight). So no hill is required and an event may be held in any space large enough to fit the amount of people attending. This is a first event so I expect less than a hundred participants. We have an eight lane track available to us for the race night and some highly experienced people to help us put on the derby.

You may have experience with a Pinewood derby

You may have even participated in a pinewood derby as a child and it was great fun watching our fathers compete by spending their nights carving, sanding drilling and painting our cars for the big day. Well our time has come to build our own cars and compete, if you are up for it. This time you get to build the car.

This is the point

I am helping organize and sponsor this event because I want to have a community and creative event for #phx. I expect greatness out of this community, after all we are the foundation for what is the greatest city ever.

Creatives, Families, Technical, Entrepreneur, All

Sign up, Build a car, Show up. It is that easy. Plus you get to have fun, eat, network and mingle with the best and the brightest Phoenix has to offer.

Organization

The finall things that need to be worked out are final registration, tshirt design, distribution of materials, event location. These things should all come together in the next two weeks and the launch date for full registration will be the 8th of Sept.

Love the idea and want to do more?

Twitter, blog and promote the event as much as you like. Events are more fun the more people that are there to participate so spread the word. Use the hashtag #phxpwd on twitter/plurk etc. Thanks to all that showed interest in this event from the beginning. There are already 25 people preregistered, lets see if we can make it even better, I know you can #phx.

I don’t know how you feel when shopping for photography but I bet usually its a lot like Beau (pictured). Between the copyrights, prints, post processing and managed rights it can be hard to tell what it is exactly that you are purchasing, if anything. I certainly know it can be confusing, hell it even confuses me sometimes and I do this everyday. So I figured it was time for me to define a couple things for us and to make our lives a little easier.

It is my feeling that a lot of photographers who are still operating on the up sell method of business take advantage of their client’s ignorance. Most notably are the studios around town who offer discounted sitting fees to get you in the door and then nickle and dime you to death buying a bunch of things that don’t have any real value ie: prints, mattes, finishes etc.

You would think when you get to the commercial market things would change drastically. Commercially, you may deal with the management of rights, expiration, distribution limits, reproduction methods, permissions etc. But it all boils down to the same thing. Get you in the door as cheap as possible then make you pay by reducing the value of the photos. Really what is the value of an image you can’t use?

All of this amounts to a poor customer experience and a confusing market where the value of photography swings wildly around from trade for prints (free) to upwards of $75,000 a day.

Business of photography definitions:

The following are what I consider the most important words to understand when purchasing photography.

Image: The digital file, negative or print that is the deliverable product. This can be confusing because the same image of Beau (pictured) can be delivered in more than one way and each way counts as a separate photograph.

Copyright: AKA © That little symbol still carries a lot of power (although maybe a little misguided at the moment) and it is the greatest tool a photographer has to control the value of their product. A firm and clear understanding of what copyright means is a great asset to anyone who hopes to purchase or sell photography.

Grant of Rights: The means by which the photographer sells the images from a photo session. Defines the manner in which the images maybe used by the client.

Managed Rights: If you have ever purchased a portrait session or bought prints from a photographer you have already experienced rights management. It is most easily understood as the restriction on the clients ability to copy or distribute the photos. In the commercial world all aspects can be defined and include expiration of rights, limited geographic distribution and even number, type and size of reproduction. Sometimes the client may even be required to check in with the photographer so they can approve any reproduction before it goes to press.

Exclusive: Means the rights granted are specific to the entity that purchased them, they cannot be transferred and you cannot sell the images to others.

Watermark: Traditionally: A logo or text that is overlaid on the image to discourage unauthorized reproduction. (example: when I post to flickr) Now: I use it as a way to lower the entry level to my photography, and hope that it is a discreetly placed logo and byline. I get the continued advertising and you get an entry level price.

Byline: Is a phrase on the photograph or accompanying the photograph that states legibly: “image by tyson crosbie”. Amy Lamp has an excellent example of an accompanying byline.

Time Value

It has been my intention from the beginning to run an open and transparent photography business; to place value on my own abilities instead of on the products or tools that I sell and use. Personally I value my time as a photographer and that is what I intend to spend the majority of my time doing. I know this makes for a much better customer experience and is exactly why I have a single rate. I don’t up sell anything, I let my clients manage themselves and my contract is only one page long.

I hope to have turned the photo market a little bit on its head by not managing my clients rights to the extent that I become a policeman and by being up front about what I believe my time is worth. It is by directly respecting clients and also valuing their time and intelligence that I have built a loyal and valuable clientele.

Comments

I’d love to hear any thoughts about your past, present or future experiences with the business of photography. Did I miss anything? Is there more I can do to simplify the client experience?

It’s about the personal brand.

There is a certain language that we are developing around business and our expectations as owners and customers. They include terms like relevancy, authenticity, and accountability. The days of hiding behind a logo or a companies policies are waning as more information, and the speed and accuracy of that information, becomes accessible not only to your customers but the whole world. It is more important than ever to look to the local community to build trust and develop relationships based on openness. Why? Because it can save your ass when you mess up, and you will mess up. These relationships will be that attachment to the human part of you that will allow for your customer to forgive you as a person. Really, lets face it, it is easy to hate a compnay (or a person) that claims no fault and easy to forgive your friends.

It’s about you.

As a photographer, it is the purpose of any portrait to capture that moment when you are most human, most yourself and exactly like you imagine yourself at your best. A good portrait will develop trust and convey meaning beyond what you can tell people about you or your brand, in this way a photo is a 1000 words. The avatar is this concept times a million, especially if you are involved in the communities on twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc. With people actively tweeting on average 10-20 times a day, that is a lot of seeing your poorly chopped and shopped photo for your followers and it makes a difference.

The deal.

I am the best portrait photographer in Phoenix and I want to photograph your avatar. I think it is vitally important to your business or personal brand especially if you are using any of the tools mentioned above. The normal price for personal portraits is $300.00+tax (see pricing page on tysoncrosbie.com for full details) and you get one image for use across all media from the session. I am offering an avatar session and one avatar image for use across all digital media for $150.00+tax. This isn’t entirely a discount, just a product I don’t normally offer. I am offering this product through the summer, it will end 08/31/08.  This is a chance to get a photo session from me at 50% the normal starting cost. Obviously if you want more of the images from the session they will always be available in whatever format you would like.

Ready? Call me at 602.254.2880 for an appointment.

Not ready yet? Check out the soft edits page if you want to see what the Phoenix community thinks about avatars.

If you are a past avatar session client please leave a comment on this post incase others need help deciding. Thanks.

A soft edit is usually the first step a photographer will take after a photo session. I like to wait a couple hours and return to the whole session and look over the images one by one. Being very particular about what is in and what is out. For me I usually eliminate about half the images on the first pass, so typical session with 60 to 100 images is now around 30. Since I prefer to converse with my subjects as I am photographing a lot of this is just what I call “closed eyes and open mouths.” If you have been following my experiment on flickr you may have noticed I like to include one of these bloopers in the set, partly for fun and partly to help the audience to understand the process of photographing a single subject.

Exceeding expectations:

I didn’t expect the response to soft edits that I’ve received, seriously my mom doesn’t even read my blog. So to have a community build up around such a simple idea really excites me. I notice both parties starting to learn and grow together and yet it remains accessible to experts and beginners. Since I started to treat my business with authenticity and transparency I’ve only seen positive results, now I don’t think I could ever go back.

Upcoming Special:

I’ve been toying around with the idea of having an avatar session special and I am very close to having all the details worked out. Stay tuned for more information.

Final thoughts:

I am always looking for ways to improve the experience. Any questions or suggestions for improvement are welcome in the comments below.

First up the badge that says “I look at the soft edits on flickr, comment on my favorites, and love it.”

Second badge says “I love your City 20 art work, I may have even bought a book.” *No purchase necessary*

Last but certainly not least, in fact maybe the most important badge of all. Says “I am a proud client of tyson crosbie photography.”

Collect all three!!

Seriously, thank you to all who read my blog, look at my work and support me in this community. I am constantly blown away by the talent and dedication to being good and supporting good that I’ve found here in Phoenix. You all make my dreams come true by allowing me to do what I love.

Thanks to @denthewise and @stevebelt For encouraging me to build this badge.

The new badge:

Just copy and paste this code into your widgets/blogs or anywhere else you would like to:

Thank you to all who view, comment and participate in the soft edit process. I am certainly grateful for your help and all those who have participated in crowd sourcing their own avatars have all loved the feedback. You have made a difference, and isn’t that the point of participating?

On Saturday, (yes I’ve been so busy since that I couldn’t post before now) Phoenix attended the event of the year: Tyson Crosbie’s (that’s me) book signing for his new book “Phoenix 20″.

I just want to thank everyone that attended. Phoenix continues to surprise me, in a good way. We had 25-30 people show up and watch me talk about my work and my connection to this city. I had good conversations with nearly everyone that was there and it is my hope that some new relationships were formed between the guests. It isn’t just a marketing phrase or gimmick for me, I really think the events main focus was about community. If I get to sell some books and prints along the way that is just a bonus. It just happens that I sold out of all available books and left some people wanting one. Which is a testiment to the kind of community that exists here already.

Erica Lucci and Chris Altman purchased their first art piece together as a married couple, and were gracious enough to let me unveil it at the event and show off a little bit.

This was the draft for my speech:

I started working abstractly in college in the beginning it was just about learning compositional rules and practicing observing the world around me. About the time I traveled to Mexico, about a year later, the work had begun to evolve into something a lot closer to abstract expressionism, in that I wasn’t able to disconnect the experiences I was having personally from the work that I was producing. I continued practicing and developing the work over the next several years. I never really gave too much credit to the work and still considered it just an exercise even though the images were becoming increasingly complex, and I was starting to get noticed at shows, I still didn’t feel like it was completely ready. When I moved to Phoenix in July I didn’t want to be here and went into a quite severe depression as I looked for work and essentially felt trapped in my house during the summer months. The few times I went out to photograph I couldn’t find the same complexity and depth that I had been previously working on in Austin. It was like hell for a color abstractionist with all the stucco and sandstone bricks. I almost gave up on it completely, and started looking for a temporary job.
It eventually cooled off and I started to attend first fridays I was absolutely blown away by the event. Here was an entire emerging art culture right on my front step, all I had to do was get to work. I started to go out photographing again and it took a long time to find what I was looking for in the sea of brown. But there it was a little spot of color and then another and another. One of the major hurdles I had to get used to was driving a lot further and taking little field trips into the city that may or may not result in usable material.
It was a strange coincidence that as I started photographing the streets of Phoenix and the work became more accessible I started to connect with the community of people in the city as well. I started my own business and decided the work was ready to be something. That thing was a series of 20 images that related as much to my experiences moving here as it was a reflection of what Phoenix is as a city. I worked toward publishing this book and it took a couple months but here it is and I am so happy that you all are here to share it with me.

This is a question for anyone who attended: What was the signing like for you?

I intentionally focused locally because it was never my intent to build an empire. I knew from looking at the market in Phoenix I could easily compete at the highest level of photography. So I started to build my bridges not at all by traditional means. First thing I did was start this blog, then began building my network through linkedin and extensively using twitter and facebook to build bridges into the community. I started following the daily rants and raves of the Phoenix twitter community and attending events that were more social in nature and less network business card race inspired.

This is what I was looking for and how the Chamber had failed me, this was a group of people that understood the benefit in having a long conversation even if that person never bought or sold you anything. It became a requirement for me when meeting someone new to converse with them and not just hand them my card and grab theirs. I’d like to continue to differentiate between networking and bridge building because at some point the work I did became a process of resource sharing instead of resource guarding. Networking in most instances becomes an unmanageable list of resources that may buy or sell to you. A bridge for me refers to something local, immediatley useful and built to facilitate two way communication.

PodCampAZ is one of the first great sucesses for my business. I found out about PodCampAZ on twitter and became involved with the planning process by just showing up and offering my services where ever I could as a volunteer. At PodCampAZ I continue to work with some of the most intelligent people I’ve  ever met and after a couple weeks found them starting to use me and share me as a resource within their communities. In social media it seems that when you give a little you really do get a lot back.

Results: And I’ve just begun.

1. My self published book “Phoenix 20″ is going to be in the hands of the Mayor after my book signing.
2. I have a partnership with Mighty Imaging to sell prints from their art store.
3. I have about 100 local contacts that follow me on twitter and most of those I would consider friends and some of them are even clients now.
4. Almost any event I attend lately someone knows my name before they meet me. (and they’ve already heard good things about my photography)
5. I have a community of people who comment and learn about my business by following my recent work on flickr.
6. I will have a billboard of my fine arts work on display on the 202 in Chandler in partnership with oibillboards.com by the end of this week.

Social media pays. Even my wife is starting to believe.

Do you have any similar experiences or did you find social media to be a waste of time? Feel free to share with my community in the comments below.

The age old business system for art is grant based, creating an unhealthy system of elitism, politics and homogenization. Which is the normal outcome when a few make decisions for many. However it is too early in the morning for me to take on that dinosaur. I’ll just say to all involved: Stop it. It doesn’t help art, the public or the artist.

How am I going to change things? By working hard, by working locally and not trying to change the whole world, just mine. I’ve been getting some excellent feedback on my efforts. Check out these articles about Tyson Crosbie Photography:
Tyson Crosbie - Photographer at Large
Art Review: Phoenix 20
I’d love to hear your thoughts: How am I doing? Where can I improve?