Living the dream with fashion label The Fortunate Sun
October 5th, 20091. Can you tell me a little about your background? - Born and bread in the heartland of America, (Columbus Ohio) I grew up with a healthy curiosity for the outlandish, ... read more
What is a Picaholic?
September 7th, 2009TELL US YOUR INTERPRETATION OF A PICAHOLIC….
Introducing the SIDEBAR
September 4th, 2009
We are pleased to announce our newly developed and very much anticipated SIDEBAR. Its main role is to contain anything that is considered “Secondary Navigation” such as Footer Information, Copyright, Audio controls and Image Navigation. With the popularity of Social Sites, it also acts as the home for custom links to your blog, social media sites.
In the near future you will have the ability to load your own custom icons and set its own behavior.
SIDEBAR FEATURES:
- Support up to 7 icons: Each icon can be either simple text, link to an external site, or have its own HTML code that (for now) will show up as a pop-up.
- Clean new Icons: Icon sets will be added regularly giving you the ability to interchange them with a simple click of a button.
- Animated Slide-Out on Rollover: When a user rolls over a button with their mouse, the button will slide out and will display the buttons name.
- Color: Control both the idle and rollover color of the side bar.
- Custom Links: Create up to 7 custom footer links. These links can have: a. Simple Text on rollover b. Link to external sites such as Facebook or sponsors sites c. Its own Flash or HTML file that plays on rollover. Eg PAYPAL show cart.
- Audio Tab: The new audio tab will soon act as a multiple track player. Place up to 4 tracks in the background giving your site visitors to select tracks and link back to the original artists site
ACCESSING AND CONTROLLING THE SIDEBAR:
CONFIGURE > SIDEBAR tab.
Using video to market yourself online
September 2nd, 2009
How do you reach a worldwide audience without spending a fortune? The answer is online video. It is the most popular way to reach your target audience and create brand awareness with a small amount of effort. Communicate your values and vision directly to your audience so that it gives more depth about who you are. Add this to your marketing strategy and watch the results come pouring in!
Videos create an instant rapport with your audience. To do this successfully, you should give as much valuable information as you possibly can. Anything that will help your audience is going to invoke trust and we all know that we buy something from someone we like. The main thing to remember is what message are you trying to get across to your audience and in which way. Is it meant to be light hearted or serious? It’s always best to be yourself and keep it real as if you are talking to your clients face to face.
So you must create trust and rapport in order to capture qualified individuals who want more of the same content and can spread the word about your business virally for you. Other highlights that can make your video more compelling are, studio tours, client testimonials, and videos and images from an actual shoot.
So how do you get started?
This question depends on how you want to present your image and your brand. A more effective video will need to have a professional approach. Some of you are tech savvy and can use your webcam and video editing tools to create a professional video. However, if you are not technical and not sure how to produce a video yourself, it’s best to talk to someone who does such as a video producer.
Where do I post my video once created?
Once you have produced your video you should add it to your website. Then proceed to post your video on top social sites such as You Tube and Digg. Don’t forget that you will need to spend a lot of time building a friend base and networking with people who are interested in your content as much as you are theirs.
Take a look at what Kenneth Dolin used video on his website:
http://www.kennethdolin.com/about
So what are you waiting for?
Whether it is through your webcam or a professional video producer, get out there and create a video that will connect you to your clients. This can ultimately result in more bookings and sales and who knows a long lasting relationship!
Are you using video to market yourself? Tell us how it has helped you.
I spy with my little eye…
August 13th, 2009
I had the pleasure of interviewing the founder, Kate Vandermeer, of ispystyle a cool new website that allows creative individuals to join forces with other like-minded people in their community. Enjoy!
What is iSpyStyle?
iSpyStyle was created to establish a community between like-minded individuals who share a passion for the creative design industry. We wanted to begin a resource that would “spy” on the industry with insightful, educational interviews and connect the established industry leaders with the emerging design talent of the future.
Who is your main target audience?
The design industry at large. Anyone who appreciates the creative worlds of fashion, Visual Merchandising, PR & Media, Graphic Design, Photography, Advertising, Illustration, Events etc. We believe that most of these disciplines tend to blend together. We also wanted to aim iSpyStyle at those who appreciate the creative and business worlds as they rely on each other.
We also cater for the emerging design talent and students of the design industry who want to learn more about the industry, get some expert advice etc.
How long have you been operating for?
We are very new! Conception was mid last year - birth April this year and only recently we soft launched the website with an official launch in the coming month.
Can you explain the concept of Style Sessions a little more?
The Style Sessions were born of a desire to offer students and those who wish to enter the design industry some face time with some inspiring individuals who have led interesting careers thus far. Often seminars can be quite dull, the speaker can waffle on too long and the environment can be uninspiring.
Style Sessions will offer an exciting, interactive space to listen to and contribute to discussions about design. They will be broken up into various disciplines and initially begin in Melbourne and then make their way around other capital cities.
What advice did you wish you knew before you started?
I wish I knew when I was a student that its okay to try lots of different things in your career, forget the judgment from others and yourself and just enjoy each experience and take the ups and downs and remember its all for a reason. I’ve just recently had the light bulb moment where I’ve realised that all my dips into various areas, in big business and small have helped me become a well rounded, better person. I’ve also realised my personality suits working for myself and I’m so much happier now knowing my destiny is in my hands.
What are your top 3 suggestions for online businesses?
1. Have a POD (point of difference). Literally any brilliant idea you have has already been thought of somewhere in the world wide web, so make sure whatever you do has a part of you in it. That way your personality makes it unique.
2. Consumer Necessity & Ease. Does your idea really solve problems for your consumer and offer efficiency. Will your consumer connect to your idea?
3. Be authentic. I believe the popularity of twitter is in part due to the fact it’s so transparent. You can really learn about your fave celebrity, industry crush and brands because a real person tweets. In the online space, be authentic and offer a real point of view and admit when you’ve stuffed up and often it will endear your customer to you rather than hide behind a business.
Best business experience so far?
Hmm… that’s tricky. I would say now. I am my own boss, I am being asked to speak at many events (which I love), I get to write articles for great magazines and online sites, I get to investigate brands I admire and profile interesting people and I am trend forecasting for WGSN which is something I’ve wanted to do since I was 18. I think I’m literally living my dream right now! Pinch me!
Visit the site ispystyle.net
A Guide to Google Analytics and Useful Tools
July 23rd, 2009
A VERY GOOD ARTICLE TO READ…
Google Analytics is undoubtedly the most widely used web analytics application. Emerged from and based upon the analytics-package developed by Urchin Software Corporation (which was bought by Google in April 2005), the tool has become publicly available for free under the new flagship of Google Analytics. In May 2007 the application was heavily edited, developed and released; the design was simplified and more advanced featured were added. Over years Google Analytics managed to gain on popularity because of its simplicity and many advanced features for curious site owners and professional marketers.
For read more click here
Capturing an online audience | Picaholic speaks at Creative Sydney
June 3rd, 2009
Last night I was invited to speak at Creative Sydney - a festival celebrating the wealth and diversity of the city’s creative talents. It was at the beautiful Museum of Contemporary Art where I used to spend my days admiring the art.
When I arrived to an empty room of 350 seats, the nerves started to settle in.
Empty room at the Museum of Contemporary Art
I was then introduced to the other speakers and we had drink to calm the nerves.
Talking to other speakers before the discussion began
Crowd quickly arrives.
Crowd arrives
It was finally my turn to speak and as the spotlight turned to me, it was all systems go. I explained my role and what Picaholic is all about.
Introduction slide for Picaholic
Then discussed 6 main factors that are vital to your website - which we at Picaholic adhere to.
1. Compelling – The first thing your site needs to be is compelling. If your site does not leave an impression, your audience will not be interested in hearing from you in person.
Make your website compelling
2. Easy to use - Many creatives fall into the trap that their site needs to be complicated in order to make it engaging. In reality, users hate guessing, they’re there to see your work - so let them get to it quickly and easily.
Websites should be easy to use
3. Search Engine Friendly - A site that cannot be indexed by major search engines such as Google and Yahoo is simply not a site. A good site will allow you to index more than just your domain. It should allow you to index every page as well as all the content within it.
Search engine friendly websites
4. Browser and Screen Compatible - With so many browsers and screen sizes on the market, its important that your site is designed to be optimized on all browsers and different screen sizes. This is were Flash is an ideal platform as it is compatible with all browsers and its functionality can allow to resize for each screen size.
Websites should all be browser & screen compatible
5. Mobile Enabled - With the popularity of phones such as the iPhone and Blackberry, many of your visitors could potentially visit your site on their mobile, so its vital that your site is mobile enabled.
Websites viewed on mobile phones
6. Integration with live feeds and social media sites - Social Media sites offer powerful marketing opportunities, but most creative people find it difficult to figure out an entrance point from a professional perspective. Therefore, integration with Social Media sites offers an easy way to let your fans know what you do for money and lets them engage with your content either on your site or on your social page.
Integration with live feeds and social media
It got to the end of the discussion and it was amazing to see the response from the crowd. I left some flyers behind which went like hotcakes!
A big thank you to everyone at Creative Sydney, it was an amazing experience to be a part of. If anyone wants to know more information about the event, click here.
Welcome 2009…goodbye 2008
March 11th, 2009
2008 marked the launch of Picaholic 2nd Generation. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support and feedback. Whilst we are in the midst of developing some new and exciting features, we are keen to share with you a few of the improvements that will be delivered in the next few months.
ADVANCED SERVER TECHNOLOGY
Your Picaholic site will soon reside on new hosting technology, enabling us to commission tens, hundreds or even thousands of servers simultaneously. In basic terms, we can scale up before the traffic does, and serve your site FAST.
FULL SCREEN IMAGE GALLERY
Display your images the way they should be viewed: FULL SCREEN. One of our coolest features to be deployed will support Full Screen viewing preserving the quality and emotion of the image. A little zoom tool will also be added for that extra detail – perfect for Fashion designers, Photographers and Artists.
FONT LIBRARY
Typography is the foundation of visual communication. Soon you will be able to choose from a list of pre-defined fonts, giving your site that extra finesse.
IPHONE & BLACKBERRY COMPATIBLE
With the popularity of people surfing the net using their handheld devices, your Picaholic site will automatically render and format your content to perfectly fit iPhone and Blackberry screen sizes.
CUSTOM PRELOADERS
When trying to wow your site visitors with full screen images, videos, and background music, file sizes are often larger than those used on a standard HTML sites. Consequently, load time could take a little longer as well. We are working on a small engine that will enable the use of custom pre-loaders.
REFERRAL REWARD PROGRAM
The success of Picaholic is really a tribute to all our members who have referred family and friends. We are now integrating a robust referral engine, that will enable us to track referrals and pay you promptly. For more information please send us an email to resellers@picaholic.com
Picaholic co-founder profiled on SNOBS
January 28th, 2009
Don’t mistake the site for us being SNOBS, but if any of you are interested to know more about my involvement in the business, feel free to read the below. Also good for anyone wanting to be profiled themselves.
Click here to read more.
Look out for more interviews over the coming months.
New features deployed
November 12th, 2008
Picaholic has deployed a few new features to the admin area - please read below for the update:
1. PUBLISH - CACHING SERVERS
Publish
Your admin area now resides on a dedicated CMS server. All content is saved and backed-up every 15 minutes. However, content that is uploaded in your admin area will NOT be visible on your front-end until you PUBLISH your site.
Caching Servers
By Publishing your site, you are pushing content to our Cached servers, visible
to your clients. Our caching engine dramatically accelerates your frontend speed as well as SEO exposure.
2. PAGE SPECIFIC SEO TOOLS
We have updated our Page Specific SEO tools. On the EDIT PAGE tab of each page your will find the following:
2.1. META TITLE
This is a title you give your page within the meta. Keywords should be used in this title because search engines will use the words in the title to help index your page.
what is the “best” possible title tag?
“keyword phrase” : site title
http://www.wolf-howl.com/seo/optimal-titles-seo-case-study
2.2. META DESCRIPTION
Meta description is one of the most important SEO tools. It has three primary uses:
1. Describe the content of the page accurately and succinctly1.
2. Serve as a short, text “advertisement” in the search results2.
3. Display targeted keywords, not for ranking purposes, but to indicate the 3. content to searchers.
- Always describe your content honestly.
- Character limits - currently Google displays up to 160 characters, Yahoo! - up to 165 and MSN up to 200+ (they’ll go to three vertical lines in some cases). Stick with the smallest - Google - and keep those descriptions at 160 characters (including spaces) or less.
- Write with as much sizzle as you can while staying descriptive - the perfect - meta description is like the perfect ad - compelling and informative.
- It’s extremely important to have your keywords in the meta tag.
2.3. META TAGS (keywords)
Meta Tags are “snippets” of the page description, and offer additional information
about a webpage. We recommend using the Google Keyword Tool to help identify keywords.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
3. BULK DELETE OPTION
Probably our most anticipated update, is the Bulk Delete option. The system will now enable you to select multiple images, or even an enitre page with a single click. Next to each item (page, image, video etc) there is a Delete Checkbox. Simply check the boxes for items you wish to delete and press the “DELETE CHECKED” button.
