Archives

Updated Website

Jan17

It was slow coming, but I finally decided to upgrade my Godaddy website builder to version 7.  I am a creature of habit and as I get older, I it is apparent I don’t like change.  When I go to a restaurant and find something I like, that’s all I order from that point forward.  I have had the same hair style since I can remember, with the only change being the length different from one to two inches.  So, when I decided to upgrade my Godaddy website, this was  huge step for me.

When my good friends moved to Arizona from Colorado, they started a business called Arizona Commercial Surplus.  I had referred her to godaddy.com and when she created her website, she had to have version 7.  I understood version 6 quite well so when she asked me for help on 7, I had no idea what to do.  After that, I was even more hesitant to convert over.

After much thought, I bit the bullet and upgraded.  I love the way my new website looks.  The slideshows seem to bring out my website and I am able to showcase my pictures much easier.  The important thing is to get the visibility I previously had with Google, Bing, and other search engines.  I think the last thing I have to learn is how to create alt attributes and title attributes on my pictures.  I have been doing a lot of research but I am mostly finding out about what this is instead of how to create it.

Marketing our Photo Station Company

Jun20

My suggestion to anyone who wants to start any type of business is to have a good business model and market why your business is unique and different.  The pricing also has to be competitive.  I have been told by more than one person that our prices are the best in town.  So why, then, isn’t our phone ringing off the hook?  The answer is money .  We don’t have an abundant amount of money for advertising, but we are also busy three our of four weekends per month.

This business has given my husband and I some alone time, as well.  We actually work very well together, whether we are doing working on a project or our business.  With all things being said and done, we’re pretty fortunate.  Is the business going like I would like it to?  Not right at this moment, but it has also been only six months since we did our first job.  After every job, I have an idea of how to simplify or change how something is done.  My long-term goal is to be booked one year in advance.

I will admit that when I first proposed starting a photo station with my husband, I knew that this would have to be marketed but I didn’t realize how competitive this concept actually is.  Everyone seems to know a photo booth is.  The biggest obstacle I face is getting the word out about what a photo is.

Photo Booth

I wouldn’t give up this experience and love what we do but starting any business is a lot of work.  We purchased our equipment and started marketing our company 15 months ago and soon after that, we booked our first job.Now, 15 months later, our business is doing great, and I believe it is because our business model is different than photo booth companies.  To tell you the truth, I really thought that when we did the bridal show in January, we would be booked every weekend and would be turning people down left and right.  Although we have some weekends off, and have had to turn down some jobs, for the most part, I am happy with how far we have progressed.

Picture of our photo station

For the life of me, I can’t understand why someone would think a photo booth would be more fun than our photo station.  Look at all of the room people have to get in and out?  To the right is the prop table.  Below is a picture with a large group of people at the same photo station.

This was the biggest group of people at the party and they’re not holding props, but if you look at the pictures of the birthday party from our website, you will see that everyone had a lot of fun. We were lucky for the area we had here because we had a huge corner and used all of it.  We can also fit into smaller spaces, too.