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Enter our Holiday Contest!
Photographers! Submit your favorite holiday jpeg in our contest!
Email your entry as an attachment to: holidaycontest@snapped4u.com. Include your name and the email address of your Snapped4U registration. A maximum of 3 entries per person will be allowed. You must be registered as a Snapped4U photographer to enter. Snapped4U will post a gallery of all entries on Thursday, November 10, but late arrivals will be welcome, too! Entries will be grouped in 3 categories: holiday subjects, winter scenes, and artwork-other-than-photos. Within each category, the entries will appear in the order they were received. Max file size is 4MB. Entries will be sold for $2 each, and for each $2 purchase, $1 will be donated to UNICEF. Photographers will not be paid for these sales, but a Not-So-Grand-Prize will be awarded to the photographer whose (single) entry receives the most sales. Sales will be tallied at midnight EST, Dec 20. Check out the sample gallery at http://snapped4u.com/galleries/1307. -
Holiday Contest Coming Soon!
Snapped4U will soon launch a Holiday Contest. Photographers will be invited to submit their favorite jpeg suitable for a holiday greeting card. A maximum of 3 entries per person will be allowed. Entries will be emailed to Snapped4U as attachments, and Snapped4U will create a gallery of the entries.
The entries will be sold for $2 each, and for each $2 purchase, $1 will be donated to UNICEF. Photographers will not be paid for these sales, but a Not-So-Grand-Prize will be awarded to the photographer whose (single) entry receives the most sales.
As entries, consider photos already in your portfolio depicting Christmas, Hanukkah, winter scenes, peaceful scenes, etc. Or create something new! Entries can be photos or jpeg files of other artwork, too.
Watch for further announcements!
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Recent Improvements :)
Not long ago we responded to requests from photographers and added a couple of features that seem to be quite popular.
First, there are now visit counters for each gallery. The count is of visits, not unique visitors. When a photographer is logged in, visits to his/her own gallery are not counted. The counts began on September 26.
Also, we now offer a message box for photographers to post messages to the customers. It is found as an option when creating a new gallery and/or editing an existing gallery. Previously, we suggested creating jpeg message files to upload with the photos, and that can still be done, but the message box should save a bit of time and our “PROOF” watermark will not interfere with the legibility.
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My apologies!
I have not been very good about keeping our Latest News up-to-date! I am much better with our facebook page! I will try to do better here, but if you “Like” us on fb, that’s a good way to stay current!
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Celebrating 3000 facebook Likes!
If you’re not one of them, Like us now!
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PROMOTE YOUR GALLERY!
The very best option is to post direct links (the gallery url) where customers will see them. This can be done even before the shoot. Just create your gallery to obtain the url, then upload the photos and post the gallery later.
Event gallery customers will be the people in the photos, and likely your only connection to them will be the event you shot, so post the link on a website or facebook page for the event itself or for the event’s sponsor. Better yet, keep an email list of the people you photograph (perhaps in your phone) and send the link as a reminder once the gallery is posted.
For certain gigs, especially fundraisers, ask the Event sponsor to promote your gallery in advertising and in the program, too.
Photographer’s Choice customers will likely be people interested in either the subject of your photos or in you personally, so post your url on websites, fb pages, or blogs pertaining to the subject of your photos and on your own fb page or website. And, be sure to email everyone in your address book, too!
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Update on Hello Bully’s Success
Over $600 has been raised by Pittsburgh rescue Hello Bully’s photo op with Hector the Pit Bull!
I am very happy for Hello Bully AND very happy for Snapped4U! I’ve been convinced for a long time that Snapped4U could be a good tool for photographers, fundraisers, and event-planners, and it’s nice to now have a real life example to crow about!
Raising over $600 from a 2-hour event gallery will probably not often be a realistic goal, but looking at how Hello Bully did what they did might help others maximize their efforts:
1. The featured guest provided a great photo op. Hector was exceptional, but other fundraisers could feature a book-signing author, a guest speaker, or possibly a guest like Hector, ie one not of the two-legged variety.
2. The photos are very good. People are posed and smiling and positioned close together.
3. The shoot was well planned. A “stage” makes lots of good photos easy to get quickly. Fewer adjustments to lighting, posing, and camera settings are needed when there is a designated backdrop.
4. The photographers took good combinations of the guests: Guest 1 had a couple of shots with Hector, and then Guest 2 joined for a couple more before Guest 1 stepped out. Variety in shot selection and lots of photos mean more choices for the customer which in turn leads to more sales.
5. The photo-taking was well advertised. The advance publicity announced: “Dinner and Photos.” Hello Bully also made great use of their facebook page to further promote the event and the photos.
6. The photos were posted promptly. It was a Thursday night event, and by noon Friday sales were already over $150.
7. It was a fundraiser. Guests were happy to purchase a nice keepsake of the event and were also happy to support the cause.
Once again — Kudos to Hello Bully and all involved!
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The New Improved Snapped4U!
Yesterday Snapped4U launched a whole new look with a special new feature! In addition to our galleries for photos of people out with friends and family at special events, we now offer a second type of gallery: Photographer’s Choice Galleries! These new galleries let the photographer choose the subject of the photos and the price/photo for the gallery. Now photographers can post old favorites and new artwork, not just people photos!
Check it out at www.snapped4u.com!
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Meet Hector, a Michael Vick rescue now serving as a trained therapy dog. Earlier this week Hector was the featured guest at a fundraising event sponsored by Hello Bully, a Pittsburgh pit bull rescue, and Snapped4U was happy to help out!
Hello Bully’s event included a photo op for guests with Hector, and then posted the photos for sale at Snapped4U. They did a fantastic job, and the result is the best-performing Snapped4U gallery ever! Check it out! http://snapped4u.com/galleries/917
Kudos to Hello Bully and all involved!
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Top Tips
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Improvements are underway!
Snapped4U is about to launch some great new features! So, check back soon!
Plus you can follow us on Twitter — www.twitter.com/snapped4u
And like us on facebook, too! — www.facebook.com/snapped4u
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Promote Your Galleries!
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Photographers! Here’s a new idea to promote sales. This will only work for certain types of venues, but perhaps it’s a fit for you. The result should be both more and larger orders.
The message above is just a sample. Each photographer should create his own message designating a minimum order, expiration date, eligible galleries, and email address. Your message must be a jpeg file and should be named so that it appears first or second when you upload it to your gallery. Files appear in alphanumeric order, so “0000” is a good choice. Or name a favorite venue shot “0000” and use “0001” for your message. Note that the awkward blank area prevents our gallery watermarking from interfering with the message.
Knowledge of a good collage tool is necessary. If you don’t already have a favorite, I recommend Picasa. It’s both free and easy to use. (See below.)
Feel free to contact me with your questions!
*Picasa allows you to
- set the dimensions of your collage,
- choose a background color (including custom colors),
- choose whether or not you want white borders on all, some, or none of your photos
- opt for a shadow effect,
- easily add, delete, and place the photos,
- easily change the size of each photo,
- easily change the angle of each photo,
- send a photo “to the top” or “to the bottom” of the other photos,
- add text
In addition to the photos purchased by your customer, select 3 or 4 venue shots to use as “stock” photos in all the custom collages. Do not use logos or trademarks without permission. Consider cropping some images to use one as two.
I suggest saving the final product both as a collage, which can later be edited, and also as a jpeg file to email to the customer.
