Slideroll is a photo slideshow maker that you can use to create slide shows with your photos. It lets you publish your slideshows on the internet, put them on your website, MySpace or YouTube, or e-mail them to clients. Click here to check out the Slideshow Creator demo. It’s kind of fun.

Think of all those Ken Burns documentaries he does for PBS. Yeah, it looks just like that.

What I like is that with Slideroll Videomaker, you can turn your slideshows into flash videos that you can easily post on your website. What a great way to add some visual interest to an old website for a minimal expense.

Did I mention it was free? I haven’t figured out is how they offer this kind of stuff for free yet, but it’s pretty cool that someone does.

Wall groupings can be as profitable as large prints

As families begin to downsize into smaller homes or apartments, you may hear a new objection when selling large canvas wraps: “I love that image, but I don’t have anywhere to hang it.” Fortunately, with a little advanced planning you can offer your customers a modern alternative that looks great in any size room, and that you can retail for almost the same amount as one large print.

The trick is to visualize an image as a banner. Banners are the horizontal advertising images at the top of many web sites. To make them, web designers slice a 7:1 horizontal strip out of a larger 4:5 or 5:7 ratio image (see red box in the example). You can use this same idea to easily create a series of 3 or more images from a single one.

In this example, I started with a 4×5 ratio landscape image in ROES, selected an 8×10” portrait canvas wrap from the Gallery Wraps Prints catalog, dropped in the image, and zoomed in until their was enough image remaining on both sides to fill a left and right 8×10” print.

After ordering the center image, I selected the 8×10” canvas wrap again, dropped in the same image, and repeated the process for the left and right side prints. By playing with the zoom, I made sure that the “wrap” on the center image did not include the boat on the left. The canvas wrap crop lines in ROES made it easy, and the entire process took me less than 5 minutes.

Here’s a tip: if you are setting up a shot with a great background, use a tripod, have the subjects step out of the frame and shoot the background again, or you can slightly rotate your camera and shoot to the left and right. Then you have even more room to adjust the images. Just keep the zoom level the same in ROES so that the prints match.

Obviously, not all images can be used this way. For example, you should never cut the subject or a group of people in half using this technique. In addition, you need enough pixels in the original image to let you zoom while maintaining image quality.

However, offering an alternative to a large canvas wrap print can be the perfect solution to the objection, “I don’t have anywhere to hang it.” With a wall grouping, now they will.

Eventually every professional photographer considers selling his or her work as fine art. I don’t blame them. I have seen prints in my customer’s studios that I would gladly display in the lab, or even in my home. And today the Internet makes it easy to sell fine art online.

However, selling online is the last step in the process. Think of any famous artist: they developed a unique style, created an exciting and desirable “body of work” (an art term), and presented it to influential buyers. The same rules apply to fine art prints.

To build your body of work, I believe you should start by making a commitment to yourself to become a Master Photographer. Becoming a Master is not about the title or the ribbons — it is about honing your craft as an artist. The skills you learn will both improve your fine art prints, and make your photography more valuable to your business.

Once you have a body of work, you need to show it to buyers. According to Nancy Markoe, faculty lecturer at the Art Business Institute, the only way is to exhibit at retail art shows and galleries. Although difficult and time-consuming, talking directly to buyers will teach you which colors and themes are desirable, and how much people will pay for your prints. One of the most exciting jobs at our lab is to make fine art prints for a photographer’s first competition or show.

While the Internet made it easy to put your photography in front of thousands of customers, the same old rules still apply: it takes years of work and effort to become a successful (and profitable) artist.

I went to a marketing seminar entitled, Capture the Mind of your Customers by Tony Rubleski, and thought I would share the notes I took. If you need any more details on any of these ideas, I encourage you to purchase Tony’s book or attend his seminar.

1. Focus on referrals. This was a big part of the seminar. Tony reminds us what we already know: the best marketing is an unpaid endorsement by a trusted source (think testimonials). A referral is a tacit endorsement by your customer to one of their friends. They should be the logical conclusion of every sale. My notes include:

a. Ask for referrals

• Call them “introductions” and ask for one whenever you get a complement from a customer.
• Your customer’s friends and relatives have a relationship with them, piggyback off it.
• Ask for specific introductions to your customer’s friends, relatives, customers, 2-3 at most.

b. Network

• Go places your customers will be
• Send referrals to your clients business (called B2B or businee-to-business)
• Make a list of your “famous” clients to show to potential customers

c. Reward customers who refer others to you – a free something makes a direct cause-effect relationship in their mind.

d. Cheat – collect kid’s address, send them a card or a coupon to hook mom/dad.

• Kids love snail mail and to win something
• Example: color a picture to win

2. Be fun. Make working for you fun, not boring. Tony showed examples of business cards with caracatures instead of photographs to add a note of whimsy to his business. Anything to make people happy or smile is positive for your brand.

3. Collect and share great stories. If you have a story about a bride who’s wedding you saved or an impossible order you were able to get out for a charity, memorize that story and tell it to your customers or anytime you talk about photography. The story will subtly tell people why they should do business with you.

4. 87% of potential home buyers Googled their realtor before they called. Where are you in Google? If you aren’t on the first page for your keywords, either learn how to make it happen or hire someone who can. Marketing online is no longer an option.

5. Great website content. Your website has to showcase the very best work you do. Quantity is not important. Quality is.

6. Use special mailings, offers, promos. Tony’s research tells him that the most likely mailing to be opened is a lumpy, red envelope with handwritten labels and a real, first-class stamp. Although this may cost more up front, it will result in 2-3 times more of your mail being read.

7. “Cause” marketing. Pick a charity. Volunteer time, your skills, and a little money. Feature them on your website. Mention that a portion of each sale goes to the charity. Customers want to feel good about spending money with you, and sharing the glow of a popular charity is a great way to do it. Charities expect this and know how to promote your business along with their cause, which is why so many large corporations have a charity tie-in. Also, every time you give a charity money, get a photo and use it on your website.

8. Survey your customers. You need to know what your business is doing right and wrong. Send customers a letter asking how they were treated after the sale. Reward people for their time. If you staple a dollar bill to a survey and include a stamped, return envelope you’ll be amazed at how many people will feel obligated to complete the survey.