Two months ago, I had the privilege of sharing what I had learned about strategic online marketing with many photographers ranging from top 10 in the world to those with less than [...]]]> How do you market your business? There are many ways to market yourself, but you can read about how I did it below.

Two months ago, I had the privilege of sharing what I had learned about strategic online marketing with many photographers ranging from top 10 in the world to those with less than 10 months in business.

My workshop focused on two items:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – being found on Google
2. Blogging Techniques – converting traffic into inquiries (examples)

Reasons Why I Chose SEO

The traditional form of advertisement (word of mouth) is only effective amongst the current client base. Outside that circle of influence, there is a large audience that is untapped. The goal is to be found by those who do not know you.

Why This?

There is probably a ton of options out there all claiming to be SEO experts, but when it all boils down, I can prove it with my inquiries and online ranking. Plus, it’s more than just SEO that makes a sale.

Being found is only half of the battle. The rest is strategic marketing (sample) through blogging, which will convert traffic into clients.

Some Testimonials

I didn’t have the chance to put together everyone’s testimonials, so it’s incomplete and a bit scattered.

Lots Of My Heroes

Aaron Dieppa, Becker, Ann Hamilton

Jasmine Star

Gene Higa, Keats Elliot, Catherine Hall

Dane Sanders

Sara France, Jose Villa

Mike Colon

Robert Evans, Doug Boutwell, Shaun Austin, Peter Garr, and more…

Catherine Hall

Tiffany Fosnight (Adeline & Grace Photography)

Doug Boutwell (Totally Rad Actions)

Kameron & Lyndsay (Shooting Gallery)

Kara Schultz

If Interested…

There will be a digital download coming very very soon so subscribe!

1. SEO Volume I and Volume II
2. Blogging Techniques (sample)

Invest into your business by arming yourself with new marketing strategies (auspiciously for the new year).

Sincerely,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. If there is one thing you could get for XMAS, what would it be? My Honda Civic is looking a bit bleh… Hmmm…

As you might know, I am leaving for Europe for six weeks. If it piques your interest, read the following article for all of the countries I am visiting! I will try to tweet / post here and there, but know that I undergo great lengths to find a cyber cafe to [...]]]> Hello everyone,

As you might know, I am leaving for Europe for six weeks. If it piques your interest, read the following article for all of the countries I am visiting! I will try to tweet / post here and there, but know that I undergo great lengths to find a cyber cafe to say “hello!”

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Did you know that Tofurious started a WordPress blog in February 2009?

I am not saying that I am an expert blogger, but I’ve learned a thing or two over the years. And most of my knowledge was acquired by observing successful bloggers (especially those within our own photography industry). So the first step toward becoming an effective blogger is to…

Observe Successful Bloggers

I use the word “successful” loosely, but what I really mean is “effective” [bloggers]. Just like photography, we study images that “work” and with time create our own styles. I will be listing a number of blogs that I have learned from, but it does not limit them to only that trait.

Interview Someone

When I think of interviews, I immediately think of Jules Bianchi’s Cafe; interviews by her lovely sister Joy – @joybianchibrown. Using the informality of coffee breaks, Jules interviews various industry leaders at Jules Cafe.

What does this establish?

• It creates a relationship between the interviewer and interviewee
• The interviewee will promote said interview, thus promoting the interviewer
• Creates community

This is a good way for both parties to promote each other. Additionally, the interview will provide good content for readers, which is sort of the point. So…try to get interviewed, or interview someone (like me)! No one has interviewed me yet and it makes me sad.

Twitter

If you do not have twitter, go to www.twitter.com and register for an account. After that, follow @tofurious (that’s me) hehe!

Zack Arias @zarias recently wrote an interesting article about Twitter and “Six Degrees” of separation.

…helped the photography industry build community. Both virtual and real. Twitter is a key to my marketing plans over the next year but beyond that, it keeps me in touch with so many people that I would normally fall out of touch with due to time or distance. Not to mention how many new friends I have thanks to social networking.

In a nutshell, Twitter allows for a number of things, but not limited to what’s listed below:

• Follow activities of people through an instant feed of 140 characters
• You can connect with others
• Others can connect with you
• Spreading of ideas through #, RT, etc.

Less Is More

Jose Villa is the epitome of “less.” I was given the great pleasure of designing his new blog (not public yet) recently and his ideas truly inspired me. As a search engine specialist, I kept pushing for certain elements for his blog, but Jose dimissed them all. And I admire him for that.

So how does this apply to us photographers? Vu Bui once told me over breakfast that he discourages people to post more than 10 images on their blogs.

Vu preached that everyone has the same images over and over again. So rather than creating the same sink hole of bandwidth-sucking blog posts, post only 10 images that would knock the socks off of viewers. After that, post your 100+ images in a slideshow or something.

Jose uses minimalism in his photography artwork. He is, after all, one of the “Top 10 Wedding Photographers” in the world, so he is doing something right.

Transparency

I once asked Aaron Dieppa about something in his personal life, which I read on his website. “It’s something private, but it’s cool that you shared it.”

“Yeah, I believe in transparency. I want my clients to know me for me,” responded Aaron.

I had this similar conversation with [B]ecker and his poker aspirations. He and Jessica Claire are the only two people I know that post publicly their love for poker on their business websites.

Does this help / harm them? It’s relative. However, I believe that it helps them more than anything. By posting about one’s personal life, viewers can get to know the blogger on a personal level.

How does this apply to photographers? Brides have booked me [and the aforementioned] to shoot various weddings without even meeting in person. Great, isn’t it? Brides do this because they already have this informal / personal relationship with us. Before they even email or call us, they already have a good feeling how we operate as professionals and as regular individuals.

Take away the occupational titles, we are just humans. And humans like
to connect with other humans. We build bridges through common grounds, so express them!

Consistency

Have you ever read a blog post by Jasmine Star? She is one of the most eloquent writers I know [of]. (I hope to change “know of” to just “know” because I hear she is a fabulous person). All of Jasmine’s articles are like tiny excerpts of her clients’s lives.

Rather than telling a story only with pictures, Jasmine precedes it with a text-based story. And she consistently delivers every time!

So how does this apply? If you are consistent with a certain style, readers will expect it over time. However, I am not saying that you should not try new things. Just imagine cooking… Always bake your delicious cookies at the same temperature, but try throwing in raisins or chocolate chips to spice things up!

Cheers,

Lawrence

P.S. Transparency: I tried getting a pedicure for the first time on Wednesday. I liked it! I even got my eyebrows waxed. I liked that too! I think I will be visiting this one salon quite often now. By chance, you might bump into me

Honey Nail Spa – they ROCK

626-844-7299

563 S. Lake Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

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Thank you everyone who could make it out! We had local photographers from Orange County to super cool ones from far away – San Francisco, San Jose, San Antonio(Texas).

Due to overwhelming interest, the beginner’s workshop sold out in a few hours. Intermediate and advanced ones coming [...]]]> Greetings,

subscribe | follow @tofurious

Thank you everyone who could make it out! We had local photographers from Orange County to super cool ones from far away – San Francisco, San Jose, San Antonio(Texas).

Due to overwhelming interest, the beginner’s workshop sold out in a few hours. Intermediate and advanced ones coming in the near future. They will be much smaller than this one because of the technical aspects of learning creative lighting.

Beginners – 3 hours

• Understand what equipment to use
• Get a feel of the difference between studio strobes and mobile lighting kits
• Locate sources of ambient light and how to angle / compensate for them

Goal: Student will be able to setup a 2-3 point lighting scenario and properly calibrate for subjects

Intermediate – 5 hours

• Learn how to frame an image effectively
• Use of harsh / creative shadows
• Understand how to reflect or deflect light
• Play with ring lights, barn doors, honeycombs, grids, etc.

Goal: Student will be able to use creative lighting setups and calibrate for virtually any scenario in a matter of a few minutes

Advanced – 5 hours

• Must have strong grasp of lighting
• Use of snoots for pin-point lighting
• Advanced level post production
• Learn how to fashionably pose subjects

Goal: Student will be able to book badass gigs based on flippin’ sweet lighting setups

Models Information

Need a model or makeup artist? In fact, they can even do their own makeup and hair so it saves you the trouble!

Tracie Cotta – model / makeup artist

http://traciecotta.com

http://modelmayhem.com/ivebeenshot

traciecotta@gmail.com
@traciecotta

Kyuri – model

http://www.modelmayhem.com/880296

headcase.kyur@gmail.com

Some Student Work

The first image (my fave) is by Jenny Liu Photography (Orange County photographer)

All images taken at Ritz Carlton (Laguna Niguel) after marketing workshop

Cheers,

Lawrence

P.S. You all ROCKED! Just too bad, I did not take any pictures myself boo…

The plugin is done! Please visit here

My buddies at Made By Simple created a trial plug-in for WordPress. Here are the limitations:

The future version will have unlimited images and there will be more sizes to pick from to fit your [...]]]> Howdy,

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The plugin is done! Please visit here

My buddies at Made By Simple created a trial plug-in for WordPress. Here are the limitations:

1. limited images
2. limited sizes (small and large)
3. MBS tag

The future version will have unlimited images and there will be more sizes to pick from to fit your blog. This is an awesome addition because you do not have to individually add 80+ images or something anymore. Just add one line and it magically makes you a slideshow – can’t complain about that! 

By far, the coolest feature is FULL SCREEN! Imagine your brides or clients looking at their images as a screen saver.  This is definitely wicked – agree? Just make sure to upload larger sized images like 1600px wide and etc. It is based off a 3:2 ratio so standard 35mm cameras.

[mbspremium slideshow=1]

The images are from a recent trip I took to San Francisco where I photographed Aaron Dieppa’s engagement session with his spunky and beautiful fiance Barbara “soon to be” Dieppa.

We were very fortunate to have Gene Higa and Ann Hamilton come along with us! Just from watching the two of them shoot, I learned so much!

Anyway, you can get your own slideshow plugin from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/made-by-simple-slideshow

Make sure to import the zipped file through WordPress’ dashboard and follow the instructions from the link above. You can also rearrange pictures by hitting the “gallery” tab after uploading. The premium version is coming out shortly per our last conversation.

I will be heading to a wedding in San Jose tomorrow and then to Vancouver, so I will be gone for over a week. I know you all will miss me dearly (I hope haha), so please do not email me questions about how to use the plug-in. Read the instructions!

I will, however, make tweets so follow me on twitter – @tofurious as you know I will post pictures about my dining experiences hehe!

Also, please please please subscribe because my list is a little small and it makes me glum.

Have a good weekend,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. Please retweet to spread word –
RT @tofurious check out this awesome WP slideshow plugin! http://bit.ly/XFXsD

P.P.S. Got suggestions? Twitter / email me!

First off, thank you everyone for being so patient.  If I could clone myself, I would totally do it. There are over 3,000 people using my blog themes right now, so that can give you an idea of the amount of emails I have, so again thanks for being [...]]]> UPDATE: PHOTO BOOTH AVAILABLE HERE

First off, thank you everyone for being so patient.  If I could clone myself, I would totally do it. There are over 3,000 people using my blog themes right now, so that can give you an idea of the amount of emails I have, so again thanks for being patient

What a week! This was my first time attending WPPI and my first time ever having a booth – what a wicked experience. As much as I would have loved to peruse the convention floor, I had to rely on fellow mates to gather materials for me. For those who did not attend, Tofurious debuted a new photobooth software (created in conjunction with Made By Simple, LLC, which is another company I am partnered with) that had live view and touchscreen! It was encased in a full plexi-glass frame that was completely transparent. Why? We wanted to show how simple it was to create one – three items: camera, computer, [any] printer. We even let our competitor take pictures and video clips because we had nothing to hide.

Hopefully, in the near future I can have the booths mass produced in full sheet metal. The best part is that it will be collapsable. The last thing I want to do is to lug it around on a truck with hydraulics.

Last week’s theme: Digital Awesomeness

So many people came by to take pictures and so many people were ready to purchase a license right there and then! Unfortunately, there are still a few tweaks that need to be done before releasing it. I talked to an old buddy who works for UCLA and he was also interested in getting a few licenses for the university! I was like wow that would be stellar!

Anyway, due to a mountain of emails I am trying to respond to, I will just posting a recap video done by two genuinely cool friends – Aaron Dieppa and Brian Khang. Aaron is attempting to post one video a day for 365 days! It is like a television show that I tune in every night and I suggest you do the same Thanks Aaron for the recap video! Without this, all I have is one picture that I took for us.

Aside from that, I had lots of people come by to take pictures, many of which were posted on our clear photobooth. Check them out! I made them all black/white except for one that liked a lot.

Sorry I have to point this one out because it is so funny – hah look at Becker sticking his head in!