Archive for the ‘News and Information’ Category

One way to increase your studio sales is to work with clients to get them to think outside the box. For example, a Soft Wrap display, like the one pictured above, is a great way for your clients to show off multiple images from their session to make a beautiful wall grouping for their home. The Soft Wrap is a new unique option in displaying images, designed for meeting the needs of those that wish to exhibit images without frames, or for those occasions where the decor needs to be more minimalist.

The wall grouping pictured consists of the following sizes (2) 16×20′s, (2) 11×14′s, and (4) 8×10′s.

Don’t miss the New Press Products in CPQ’s lineup! Included are Curvy Cards, Unique Units, Bookmarks….. all with color palette options.

Available for Studio as well as School and Sports Photographers.

Want to increase sales and profits with no extra work? Consider online secondary sales from the newest web sales solution!  No upload fees, unlimited images for an unlimited time.  “Hands off” total fulfillment from your spring and fall shoots. Call for details!

Green screen technology has come a long way to allow School and Sports photographers to produce excellent results from volume shooting.  Let us help you be more versatile and profitable in offering parents more choices! 

CPQ School & Sports features the industry’s highest quality products at the most competitive prices to meet all you school and sports needs.

Contact our School & Sports Team:

Don Dawkins  ddawkins@cpq.com  1.800.537.8399 ext. 267

Terry Sweeney  tsweeney@cpq.com  1.800.537.8399 ext. 207

When ranking a website, Google considers more than 200 variables or signals to help them rank the best sites at the top. Their method is complex, but their goal is quite simple; to provide the absolute best result for a search query. Read that last sentence again. Every effort you make toward a better ranking on Google must be filtered through the idea of providing an excellent solution to a search query.

Today, I’d like to share an SEO tip with you that can really contribute to your search engine ranking. Granted, this is just one of the 200 points to be considered by Google, but I have found it to be an important factor in determining a site’s ranking. I’m talking about the idea of your web site’s theme.

When I use the term web site theme, I’m referring to the big picture or overall concept that a search engine gathers from your site and from the sites that link to you. For a high ranking on Google, you need a strong on-site and off-site theme that communicates a clear and focused message.

Most photographers use gallery-based web sites. This presents both an opportunity and a problem. The opportunity is that you have a fantastic chance to make a great first impression by showcasing your best work. The problem, however, is that search engines read text, not images. Therefore, ranking high with a website that’s almost entirely made of images can present a special challenge for photographers. The good news is that a strong web site theme can help you overcome this obstacle.

Creating a focused theme for your web site
So, how is a web site theme created? The truth is that your web site has had a theme, of some kind, from the moment you put it together. The question is; how clear of a message does your site communicate and is your message telling the search engine the right story?

As I mentioned previously, there are two kinds of themes that you should pay attention to; your on-site theme and your off-site theme.

Building your on-site theme
Since Google’s crawling software (a.k.a. Goolebot) can’t read images; it needs text to capture the essence of your site. There are many ways that you can help Google get the right message about you. Here are four:

1. Name the images on your site with subject and/or geography-related names. For instance, an image named San_Antonio_wedding.jpg has a much clearer meaning than one called image_50136.jpg

2. Use descriptive text near your images when you can–surrounding it with relevant copy that relates to your theme. For example, you could write, A recent shot from one of our weddings on the San Antonio River Walk to describe a new photo. Can you see how this would help Google know that you’d like to be ranked as a photographer working in the San Antonio area?

3. Use ALT tags when possible and when it makes sense. Just don’t go overboard and repeat “wedding photography” in 100 different ALT tags. Google knows when you’re trying to trick it into a better ranking. This is called keyword-stuffing and can yield harsh penalties from the search engine giant. Instead, use the first three or four ALT tags on each page and go with a variety of wording like “San Antonio Engagement Photo” for one and something like “Engagement Photo on the River Walk” for another.

4. Another way to contribute to your on-site theme is to make sure that your page copy correlates with your most important keyword phrases. In other words, if you shoot in San Antonio, then write about weddings and wedding photography in San Antonio. By the way, if your blog has the same URL as your site, (ex: www.mysite.com/blog) you have a perfect opportunity to constantly add new, related content–that can help boost your site ranking– and Google loves new content!

The takeaway: Your page copy and appropriately named images contribute to your on-site theme. Make sure you’re using them in a focused manner. 

How to bolster you off-site theme
Your off-site theme is just as important as your on-site theme. That’s because the off-site theme is built through incoming links from other sites—something Google really likes to see. If you have a good number of incoming links from subject-related sites, it can really boost your ranking. However, if a number of your incoming links arrive from web sites containing lots of unrelated content, you’re probably sending a watered-down, conflicting message to Google. A conflicting message creates a weak theme and a weak theme hinders ranking.

If I wanted to rank high under the keyword phrase, Wedding Photography in San Antonio, I would not want a lot of incoming links from unrelated pages. Google notes the central idea of the pages linking to your site and includes this information in its ranking calculations. The overall theme of those incoming links will either contribute or take away from your own theme and consequently, your ranking.

In conclusion
Be careful who you link to and who links to you. Create a singularly focused message in your page copy and in the copy surrounding your images. The real question to ask, as you review your site, is this: Is my message clear and am I offering the absolute best result for a search query?

Learn more about out press printed albums and soft prints:

CPQ wants to give you a $100 lab credit…for doing the thing you love: Photography!  We are looking for YOUR images on OUR products for use in web, print and other media advertising.  Simply create a great product and  take a great shot of it, then send it to us!  If we use it, we’ll give you a $100 lab credit!

All the details can be found at: http://www.cpq.com/advertising/

CPQ Professional Imaging will be closed the for the following observances:

Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 26th
Christmas Eve – Thursday, December 24th
Christmas Day – Friday, December 25th
New Year’s Day – Friday, January 1st

December Holiday Deadlines

Print Only Orders
For Color By You, Color By CPQ, or any other print-only order service, the Lab must receive these by Tuesday, December 22nd in order to ship in time for Christmas delivery. Overnight shipping costs may apply.

Custom Albums
Custom Cover Album orders must be received by Friday, December 9th in order to ship in time for Christmas delivery.

Non-Retouch Orders
For Orders NOT requiring retouching or artwork, the Lab must receive these orders by Friday, December 18th in order to ship in time for Christmas delivery.

Digital Retouch/Artwork
For Orders requiring retouching or other artwork (traditional or digital), the Lab must receive these orders by Tuesday, December 16th in order to ship in time for Christmas Delivery.

Proofing Service
For Proofing Service, these orders must be received by Monday, December 21st in order to ship in time for Christmas delivery.

Press Services
For all Press Services, orders must be received by noon on Monday, December 21st in order to ship in time for Christmas delivery.

Due to the continued decline of film usage among photographers, CPQ Management has made the decision to discontinue all Film Processing at CPQ effective December 31^st 2009. 

We apologize for any inconvienance this may cause. If you have any questions on this matter, please contact us.