So, we’re getting ready to create some new videos for NextProof. Not tutorials, but customer testimonials and spotlights.

We’re looking for a photographer or two who is using NextProof to boost their sales and business. Of course the focus is NextProof, but we also want to know how you shoot, what your workflow is like, and how you market your business.

So, if you’ve got a good story and don’t mind being on the other end of the camera, send your pitch to Mike (mike[at]bigfolio[dot]com). If we pick you, our trusty video guy will fly out and film you in your natural habitat. We might even throw in a new website or other prize to sweeten the deal.

This will happen over the next few months. Even if you haven’t used NextProof, you’ve got a chance. Create an account and get started.

We love WordPress here at BIG Folio. If you use WordPress for your blog, here’s some good news. We’ve developed a simple plugin for WordPress. The plugin displays your most recent NextProof event links right on your blog’s sidebar.

How to Use the NextProof Sidebar Plugin

1. Download and unzip the plugin .zip file below
2. Upload the nextproof-sidebar folder to your WordPress plugins folder (in wp-content/plugins/)
3. Access your WordPress admin
4. Navigate to the Plugins page and activate the NextProof Sidebar plugin
5. Navigate to the Design tab and select the Widgets page
6. Drag the NextProof Sidebar widget to your Current Widgets
7. Click the edit link and enter your NextProof URL (including the http://) and a heading
8. Click Save Changes

That’s it. Your event links will dynamically show up on your sidebar.

Download NextProof Plugin for WordPress

Requires WordPress version 2.3 or higher

UPDATE: We pushed back our migration date due to some configuration issues with the new server. The update is now planned for this Tuesday at 9pm. Do not start any uploads after 8pm.

UPDATE: We pushed back our migration date due to some configuration issues with the new server. The update is now planned for Tuesday at 9pm.

We will be performing a server migration this Tuesday (Aug 5) at 9pm PDT. Friday at 9pm PDT. The procedure will take approximately 1 hour, during which time NextProof will be unavailable.

We recommend not beginning any image uploads after 8pm PDT.

want your moolah to get to your faster? if you have made sales, instead of us sending you a check, we can transfer the money direct to your checking or savings account. 

so, if you prefer this method (much faster & more convenient) please:
a. log into your NextProof account
b. chose Account & Billing in the upper right corner
c. chose update checking account information in the right column.

after that, anytime a disbursement is due (end of the month) we will do a transfer as opposed to sending the Pony Express out to deliver your money.  

Sorry for the short notice, but we’re increasing the local storage capacity on the NextProof server–and this will require a quick restart. This should take place in about an hour.

by Mike Caston

The crew here at NextProof has decided all paying customers should enjoy the benefits of using FTP for image upload. That said, all new and existing Basic Plan users now have full FTP access to upload images to events. 

by Erik Dungan

I’ve got a new baby coming Tuesday morning, so I won’t be blogging here this week. If you have any questions or issues, make sure to submit a support ticket instead of emailing me directly or leaving comments here.

Check my blog Tuesday evening for sappy baby pictures.

by Erik Dungan

In part I of this little experiment I talked about how I created 4×6 prints with an engagement image and link to the event. After a bit of procrastination, I finally finished editing the wedding and launched the gallery.

ProDPI Special

First, I want to point out that ProDPI has a Promo Pack special which allows you to order 100 of the same 4×6 print for $15 (or 5×7s for $25). This is ideal for printing these promo handouts.

Registrations

My wedding was fairly small. I’d guess about 100-125 guests. Three weeks after the wedding, I had 21 people register to see the images. That’s about 17-20%, which I’ll call “fair” for lack of experience. If anyone else has a better idea of a “good” response rate, please leave some comments.

The Email Blast

I used the NextProof email tool to email everyone who registered. I could have also used a separate mailing list tool like campaign monitor or mad mimi if I wanted to track response rates with more detail. But I have to eat my own dog food, plus 21 people isn’t enough for me to worry about.

Here’s the email message I sent:

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for allowing me to be part of Nicole and Nohel’s wonderful wedding. It was a pleasure meeting some of you. I’m excited to let you know the images are now available online.

You can view them here:
http://erikdungan.nextproof.com/galleries/nicole-nohel/

- Registration is required to view the images
- Use the links on the right to browse by category
- Click the “Featured Images” tab to see my personal favorites
- You can mark any image as your “favorite” and come back to it later
- SPECIAL: use the coupon code SAVE10 to save $10 off any print order (through July 14)

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at erik.dungan@gmail.com

Thanks,

Erik Dungan
Photographer
erikdungan.com

Take note that I did create a coupon code which expires soon. My hope is to encourage some immediate purchases. I also added a few instructional points (making sure people know they have to register, how to see featured images, etc.).

Statistics

The email just went out Friday, so no purchases yet. But looking at Google Analytics, I can see a few things.

First, only 53 visits but over 2,500 pageviews. This is good. While I’ve only had a handful of visitors, they are visiting a lot of pages (i.e. they are browsing a lot of images in the gallery). Also, the average time on site is close to 10 minutes. Also good. Once the gallery has been up for a couple weeks, we should see a lot more visits (and hopefully some orders).

More to Come

I’ll continue to report on the progress of this gallery. Comments are welcome. The biggest takeaway from this should be: (1) take advantage of the ProDPI promo pack, and (2) make sure to get your stats in your galleries asap.

Cheers.

by Erik Dungan

We deployed 2 small updates late last night. First, there is a search form when viewing your orders. This will come in handy once the orders start accumulating over time.

Also, we’ve added a field to your Account & Billing settings. The Extra Information field will be displayed on the right-hand column of your galleries and on the order confirmation screen (once your customers complete an order).

The Extra Information field allows you to present details, policies, terms, and additional information to your customers. For example, if you are using NextProof to sell stock images or digital negatives, you may want to display or link to your usage/rights policies. You could use the field to display a coupon code to all galleries (say, during the holidays). There are tons of possibilities. The field supports HTML, allowing you to add links or images.

I will be posting some tutorials on how to use the Extra Information field effectively.