Installation just got easier
Posted on 12. Sep, 2010 by Luke in Latest news
We’re constantly trying to make Photography Orders a better product for photographers.
As part of that, we’ve just updated our install process to cut out a few steps and make it easier.
Instead of messing around updating files, there’s now an install script that does all the configuration for you.
Here’s a screenshot:
Configuration screen
We hope this new addition makes installation easier for our new customers.
How to use Private Galleries and Public Galleries in Photography Orders
Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Luke in How tos
In this video tutorial I look at the difference between private galleries and public galleries. Which ones you should use, how to add them as a photographer, and how your clients can view the photos in them.
Cheers,
Luke
How to: Change the look and design of Photography Orders
Posted on 23. May, 2010 by Luke in How tos
It’s important for your branding to be consistent. Your design should look the same in all your materials – your brochures, business cards, website, and of course, shopping cart.
Now with the latest version (1.4) of Photography Orders, you can easily change the way it looks.
Here’s a video demonstration of me using the new features for going from the default (new) Royal Dark theme, to a red design.
Announcing Photography Orders version 1.4
Posted on 14. May, 2010 by Luke in Latest news
We’re happy to announce we’ve just released version 1.4 of Photography Orders.
In 1.4 we wanted to give more options to how you display your Photography Business.
Themes
The biggest addition to Photography Orders are themes. We’ve redesigned Photography Orders and come up with three themes, black/dark, grey, and light. We’ve also made it so you can easily go in and modify the look and feel of Photography Orders.
We’re sure you’ll love this addition, and that you’ll have no problems matching Photography Orders to your existing branding.
Choose from 3 default themes, then customize them
By default, the selected theme ‘Royal Dark’.
Content Blocks
Another inclusion in this update is a feature that allows you to add notes. When your client first logs in, you can display content to them. Also, on each gallery, you can write notes that the client will see. In these blocks, you can promote specials, tell a story behind the gallery, put dates, etc.
Display notes to your customers
Minor features and fixes
We’ve also added support for tax, fixed quite a few bugs and made little enhancements here and there.
Available now
1.4 is now live and available for purchase. Existing customers can download v1.4 for free from their original download link, and can purchase a ticket from here for an upgrade service.
We hope you like v1.4, as always, leave your feedback in the forums.
Version 1.3 released
Posted on 15. Apr, 2010 by Luke in Latest news
We’re happy to announce we’ve just released version 1.3!
We have received a lot of customer feedback, and the goal in version 1.3 was to make Photography Orders more robust and expand its usefulness.
Here’s a list of what we’ve done.
Public Galleries
Public galleries was a hotly requested feature. Public galleries allow event photographers to create galleries without the need to create a client first.
Payment options, checkout and order processing
The major part of v1.3 was to move order processing from offsite (Paypal/Google Checkout), into Photography Orders. Now customers checkout in Photography Orders before being paying.
You can now offer more than one payment option at a time. We’ve added support for Moneybookers, which is an alternative to Paypal, especially for countries and currencies where Paypal doesn’t service. We’ve also added support for offline payment methods. You can choose to allow customers to pay offline/later.
Orders are now saved in Photography Orders. You can view orders you’ve received and update their status/comments, rather than just receiving an email with the order details.
Navigation and design improvements
- Prev/next buttons on the show photo page mean customers can now move forward and backward in a gallery without having to go back to the gallery
- Caching of photos means customers load photos once, and after that, they load instantly. This creates a much faster and nicer experience
- Watermarking can now be selectively used. Previously, you could only toggle the watermark for all photos. In 1.3, the watermark setting determines if a watermark will be placed on newly uploaded photos.
- Pagination of photos. Galleries are now split over several pages, with 32 photos per page. Previously, photos would all load on the one page
- Minor improvements to the interface.
- Go back buttons have been reworded and
We hope you like version 1.3. If you have any feedback, questions, praise or found bugs, please let us know in our forums.
Cheers,
Luke
Upcoming features in v1.3
Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Luke in Latest news
We’re currently working on version 1.3 of Photography Orders. The goal for 1.3 was to flesh out a lot of the features, and expand the scope of what Photography Orders can do.
Better checkout and order processing
In v1.2, the checkout is handled either at Paypal or Google Checkout. In 1.3, the checkout is handled by Photography Orders, and the customer is then sent off to pay after completing the order on your site. Coupled with that, orders are now saved so you can process them from within Photography Orders.
We’re adding more payment options, including offline payment and Moneybookers.
Better gallery navigation for your customers
In 1.3 we’ve made some improvements to the customer interface including pagination, and the ability to go from one photo to the next without having to go back to the gallery overview. We’ve also added some aesthetic changes, for example, galleries now have a thumbnail of the first photo inside the gallery.
Public galleries
Event photographers will be able to upload galleries without the need to password protect them.
We’re looking forward to releasing v1.3 within the next couple of weeks. If any existing customers are interested in beta testing, shoot an email to info@photographyorders.com.
7 free wordpress themes for professional photographers
Posted on 26. Mar, 2010 by Luke in Articles
For a photographer looking to create a website cheaply, wordpress presents itself as one of the best options.
- It’s free
- It allows you to look professional
- You can set it up yourself
Unfortunately, looking through all of the free themes available out there is a time consuming process. Lucky for you, I’ve looked through the complete wordpress theme directory and found these 7 to be the best.
I’m only looking at free themes in this post. Premium themes offer much more in terms of design and funtionality, and it would definitely be worth considering some premium themes when you’re creating your blog.
The themes I’ve chosen aren’t necessarily photo blogs – blogs that feature a photo each day. Those blogs are great, but what we’re looking for here are themes that are suited for a website to promote a small photography business. The themes here all include a place to list and show off your different services – wedding photography, portrait photography, etc.
Without any further ado, let’s dig in.
Studiopress Black
Simplistic and sharp. Great room for a large image that showcases your work. I like how the pages are featured along the top, so you can easily create a page for each of your services.
Studiopress black
More info and download from http://www.geckoandfly.com/2008/05/10/studiopress-black-photography-wordpress-theme/
Station
Another dark theme. Again, pages are prominently featured so galleries and information can be added to the site in the traditional way.
Station professional photographer wordpress theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/station
Tune
Another simple theme. This one isn’t so universal. Most photographers like black or dark themes because pretty much any picture works on a dark background. If you’ve got branding that matches this teal colour, Tune is definitely worth a look.
Tune photographer wordpress theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/wptune
Dark Relief
A striking theme that will suit those that want a bit of extra flair.
Dark relief professional photography theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/dark-relief
Autumn
If you can change the photo at the top left to a striking photo of your own, this is a fantastic looking theme for a photographer’s website and blog.
autumn professional photographer wordpress theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/seasons-theme-autumn
Dark Smoke
Simple and clean.
Dark smoke professional photographer wordpress theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/dark-smoke
Charcoal
A change from all the dark themes. This theme has a white background and looks quite stylish.
Charcoal wordpress theme
More info and download: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/charcoal
Once you have your website setup, take a look at our report on online photo sales. Find out a bit more about what’s involved in selling your photos online.
Installing Photography Orders on your web host
Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by Luke in How tos
Update 12/9/2010: Please note the installation process has changed since this video. Some steps below are no longer necessary. We are working on an updated video. Please follow the written installation instructions and ONLY use this video as a guide
We’re trying to make it easier for people to install Photography Orders. To be able to install Photography Orders, you need a general idea of how to use your web hosts control panel and how to upload files.
You can view the installation instructions here.
Some people are visual learners, so we’ve recorded a video of the installation process.
Don’t worry if you don’t think you can install Photography Orders – our installation service is only $30. Simply select option 2 on the order page.
Integrating Photography Orders with your website
Posted on 21. Mar, 2010 by Luke in How tos
We often get questions from photographers about the best way to integrate Photography Orders with their websites.
As a result of the feedback, we’ve just released a new tool that allows you to easily build a form for your website. The form allows your clients to login directly from your website, instead of having to go to a new page to login.
The form creator tool can be used for free from http://customer.photographyorders.com/form-creator/
Here’s a demonstration video that shows how to use it. Many thanks to our fantastic customer John de Garis Photography for letting us use his site for the demonstration.
Increasing Wedding Photography Sales
Posted on 20. Mar, 2010 by Cam in Articles
Wedding photographers can increase sales of wedding photographs by enabling wedding guests to view and purchase selected photographs.
The Problem
The problem is that increasingly wedding guests travel from far and wide to attend a wedding. Meaning that they can not attend your studio or even the lucky couples house to view the photographs.
This inability to view the photographs means lost sales
Solution
The solution is consists of two parts:
1. Let the guests view, select and purchase photographs online in a secure area; and
2. Secondly be able to do it with the minimum of costs and effort to you, the wedding photographer.
Photography Orders enables you to do this, providing a secure area to view, select and sell photos, whilst enabling you to provide this service with the minimum of effort.
Additional Benefits
Photography Orders software can be easily linked to your website. Providing clients with a secure log in link directly from your website.
Then let your married couple and their immediate family promote the site and link to their friends and family!
This means you can promote your website to wedding guests as the landing point to log in to view photographs. This delivers two benefits:
1. Increased web traffic to your site – always good to help search engine rankings, and
2. Opportunity to promote yourself to the wedding guests, a starting point for word of mouth marketing.
FREE Report: Photo Buying Habits
We conducted a survey asking recent photo buyers questions about buying photos from a photographer.
- What are photographers currently doing?
- What do buyers want from photographers?
- What are the hurdles that an online ordering system must overcome?
All photographers should sign up for free below to receive the results or find out more about it.
We respect your privacy. We will never sell or rent your email address