| TURNKEY E-COMMERCE WHY US? PRICING QUICK TOUR FAQ REQUEST INFO DOWNLOADS |
The FAQ's
Frequently Asked Questions
| Your Company Logo / Branding Here |
| TURNKEY E-COMMERCE WHY US? PRICING QUICK TOUR FAQ REQUEST INFO DOWNLOADS |
System
> Where is the site hosted?> What is my site's URL/Web Address? > Will my site look like everyone else's? > Can I get a custom designed website? > How many images can I put in an event? > What if I already have my own web site? > Does your system work on a Mac? > What browsers are compatible with your system? > Can you collect email addresses for future mailing?
Registration
> Do I need special software to use your system?> How do I make money using your system? > How much does it cost? > How and when do I get paid? > What if I forgot my username or password?
Privacy & Security
> Do you ever sell customer email addresses?> Why is your e-commerce system so safe? > Don't want to accept credit card information on the Internet?
Site Setup
> What are the system requirements?> What materials do I need to setup a site? > How does it work? > How do I set up my Portfolio?
Digitizing Images
> How do I get my images digitized?> What file formats are supported? > What's the best file format for transferring images? > How big can the file be? > What dimensions should the image be? > At what resolution should I scan? > Do I need to crop the image? > Can I use your system if I shoot traditional film?
FTP Information
> What is FTP?> Do I need to use an FTP Program?
Maintenance
> How long can I keep a photo event on my Internet storefront?> What do you do to protect and secure my photos? > How long does it take to publish a photo event?
Customizing Events
> Can different events have different prices/products?> Can I delete images? > Must events be password protected? > How do I let customers know about the site, event name and password?
Marketing
> Can I get website statistics?> How up-to-date are these reports? > What if I want to cancel the stats service?
System
A. Your images will be hosted on our server system. Our servers
are connected via a DS3 line and three redundant T-1 lines, offering you continuous
high-speed access and nearly zero downtime.
Q. What is my site's URL/Web Address? A. We have different ways to accommodate your needs. Please contact us for more information.Q. Will my site look like everyone else's? A. No. Although your site is created with our Website Creator, you have control over layouts, colors, and content. Your Internet storefront will be complete with your company logo, contact information, sample portfolio, and published events. The entire storefront is designed to promote you, the photographer.Q. Can I get a custom designed website? A. Absolutely. We offer custom designed websites that promote your photography style with class, and creativity.Q. How many images can I put in an event? A. You can put as many images as you like in a given event. Of course, at some point it doesn't make sense to continue adding images to an event because it becomes too cumbersome for your customers to navigate. As a rule of thumb, you should not put more than 1000 images in any given event. It's also possible to place an event to the web in sections based on subject matter, and have the same password for each section. A. It is literally as simple as 1,2,3,4.Step 1: Digitize Your Photos If you shoot with traditional film, simply take the pictures, scan them from prints or negatives or take them to a lab to be digitized and put on a CD. This, we have found, is the easiest way to archive your photographs. If you use a digital camera, simply shoot the photos and archive them. Step 2: Publish Your Photos Publish the digitized photos to your own Internet storefront at http://www.YourStudio.com, using our PhotoManager software, which is included in the subscription cost. Step 3: Receive the Order After previewing their photos, customers can order them instantly in a variety of custom options, simply by logging on to your site. Step 4: Fulfill the Orders Send your orders to us and enjoy the quality you have come to expect! Q. What if I already have my own web site? A. Many of our customers have a custom web site. Whether you choose to keep your current hosting company or host with us, you can keep your custom site. Once you have been set up, just add links to you web page that point to your Events list and Portfolio pages. These will be supplied in your new registration email. The links are:http://YourDomainName.com/mp_client/pictures.asp http://YourDomainName.com/mp_client/portfolio02.asp This provides your customers with easy access to their photos from your existing web site. In order for our program to work, we need to either host your site, or we can create a subdomain to redirect to from your main site. Q. Does your system work on a Mac? A. Yes. You will need the following:
Q. What Internet browsers are compatible with your system? A. The following web browsers are compatible with PhotoManager:
Q. Can you collect Email addresses for future mailing? You will be able to collect email addresses from customers who purchase from you. However we do not require email addresses to view pictures on our system because we believe that sending out email to those who are just looking at pictures would be considered SPAM (junk email that people did not ask for) and might upset your potential customers.
Registration
Q. Do I need special software to use your system? A. Your subscription comes complete with our PhotoManager software, which allows you to easily set-up and maintain your Internet storefront, as well as publish your photos online.Q. How do I make money using your system? A. The advertising value of having people take notice of your work is the main draw to our system. You make money by selling your photos online 24-hours a day, seven days a week to your customers. You are in complete control. You define the photo packages and determine the pricing. More options and greater service and convenience to your customer translates into more business for your studio. Our system takes care of the business hassles and lets photographers do what they like to do best, take pictures.Q. How much does your system cost? A. Please contact us for pricing.Q. How and when do I get paid? A. The photographer is paid directly from the customers via accepted forms of payment. If you have an existing merchant account and would like to do real-time processing (verifies and processes credit card payment upon checkout) we are currently integrated with Authorize.net, PlugnPay, or DirectOne (Australian customers). If you need a merchant account go to www.photosignup.com. SpeedChex and PayPal also available.Q. What if I forgot my username or password? A. E-mail us and include your Business name and contact name. We will get your password out after verification.
Privacy & Security
Q. Do you ever sell customer email addresses? A. We do not sell our customers email addresses. In fact, we do not share any kind of information about you in any manner.Q. Why is your e-commerce system so safe? A. Safe Technology: Our Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Thawte Server software enables us to provide the highest industry standard of 128-bit-encryption. It is among the best and strongest of the software available today for secure online commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your customer's personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read.Q. Don't want to accept credit card information on the Internet? A. No problem. When you set up your acceptable billing information - choose the "check" option in the online order form or define you own description of payment.
Site Setup
Q. What are the system requirements? A. Our system does not require that you have any special hardware or software to create, host and maintain a site. In order to operate and manage our program the following system requirements are needed:To use our software you will need the following if you are using a PC:
Q. What materials do I need to setup a site? A. Creating your site is easy- it just requires providing us with information. about your company. You will need:
Q. How do I set up my Portfolio?
Digitizing Images
Q. How do I get my images digitized? A. Today, there are a myriad of options: shoot digitally or scan film/slides/prints.Q. What type of digital photo files can I publish? A. PhotoManager can publish the following digital photo files:
Q. What's the best file format for transferring images? A. Any file format listed above can be imported into PhotoManager. When images are being uploaded to the web, they are converted into a .JPG file and compressed to about a 26K file.Q. At what resolution should I scan? A. For web display, it is generally not necessary to scan images at resolutions lower than 600 dpi. Scanning at lower resolutions creates smaller file sizes but has a noticeably poor display quality. A. The software used to upload images to your website is called PhotoManager. PhotoManager reads each image in a folder, makes a copy of it, and then resizes that copy to 600x600 pixels (1200x1200 pixels if using the zoom feature) maintaining the aspect ratio of the image. Therefore, the source image can be any reasonable size.Q. What dimensions should the image be? A. Imported images are used to create two files: a thumbnail, and a full size. Ideally, uploaded files should be no larger than 5,000 by 5,000 pixels. Pick the resolution that yields the highest quality picture, and PhotoManager will do the rest.Q. Do I need to crop the image? A. If the picture needs any cropping, this should be done before importing into PhotoManager. What you upload should resemble what you are selling.Q. Can I use your system if I shoot traditional film? A. Certainly. Our system is designed for traditional photographers, as well as digital photographers. However, your photos must be digitized in order to be published to your Internet storefront for sales.
FTP Information
A. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP simply allows Internet users
to move files from one computer to another. Using FTP is just like using
the web; you need a software program (called an FTP client program) that
lets you connect to FTP hosts (just as a web browser allows you to connect
to http hosts).
Q. Do I need to use an FTP Program? A. PhotoManager utilizes an FTP type file transfer to send your files to the web. We made it easy for the photographer to handle the uploading and manipulation of photographs on our site so photographers can do what they like doing best, taking pictures. No need for an FTP Program. However, if you are doing your own site design, you would need an FTP program. There are many FTP client programs and any will work, but we recommend CuteFTP for PC's. CuteFTP is made by GlobalSCAPE.
Maintenance
Q. How long can I keep a photo event on my Internet storefront? A. There is no time limit for photo events that have been published on your Internet storefront. However, we suggest that you remove any photo events that are no longer being requested by your customers. This will allow new customers to find more recent events quicker and increase order efficiency.In our months of testing trials, events listed for 30 days got more orders then events that were listed for 60 days. Testing showed an overall 20% average decrease in total sales for 60 days event listings compared to 30 day listings. Discount pricing almost DOUBLED our orders, based on a 20% discount for the first two weeks of a 30 day posted event and 10% discount on portrait photographers for the first two weeks of a 30 day posted event. Q. What do you do to protect and secure my photos? A. The published photograph is approximately 26K in size and specifically designed to maximize viewing quality for your customers while protecting you against unauthorized copying. Right-click ability has been removed, and all preview photos viewed online are protected using a "digital" watermark, thus further protecting your copyrighted photos from unauthorized use.Q. How long does it take to publish a photo event? A. The time necessary to publish a photo event depends on two things; the number of photos in the event and the speed of your Internet connection. Below is a list of approximate times to publish a single photo to your Internet storefront.* Actual results may vary *
Customizing Events
Q. Can different events have different prices/products? Q. Can I delete images? Q. Must events be password protected? Q. How do I let customers know about the site, event name and password?
Marketing
Q. Can I get website statistics? A. Yes, you can get an easy to read report with tables and graphics to analysis information on your website visitors. A. These reports are compiled nightly, so every day you can see updated stats information. This is a great way to keep track of a special mailing, promotional or other marketing efforts. A. This is a prepaid monthly service, so if you would like to cancel, you can do so at anytime and you will not be charged for the next month's service reports. |
System Requirements Our system does not require that you have any special hardware or software to create, host and maintain a site. To use the software you will need the following if you are using a PC:
Mac Users:
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Photos provided by FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Back to Top