Bound By Grace Ministries Thrift Store

A couple weeks back I went to a seminar on Internet marketing for small businesses, and it gave me an idea for a service I could provide (see that post here). Just the other day, I went to a Tallassee Chamber of Commerce event (see that post here), and there I ran into Debbie Lusk of Bound By Grace Ministries which runs a thrift store in Tallassee.

I said to myself, "Self, that's a store that could use a better Internet presence." And as often happens, I agreed. So I told Mrs. Lusk that I was going to come take pictures of her store, and that I was going to do it for free. She felt quite special. Then I told her that I was using their store as a guinea pig, and she didn't feel so special anymore. Oops. You should always err on the side of leaving people feeling special.

These pics are now visible in their Google+ Local listing. I've posted my top five here, go see the rest on there. I have also posted them on my @PEaCe Photography Facebook page.

They have a lot of really interesting stuff. I was there half an hour longer than I had intended to be because I keep getting distracted by looking at their wide variety of...well...everything. Thanks Mike and Debbie for letting me shoot some sample pics in your store. I hope it helps us both.

Photography and Internet Marketing

Along with a number of Tallassee area small business owners (plus one pastor), I attended a seminar about marketing and the importance of managing your presence in digital and social media. Michael Blinder of Blinder Media Group spent just under two hours talking to us about current trends in both traditional and digital advertising. We learned about a number of things with great acronyms like SoLoMo, RoBO, SEO, and more. It was fascinating stuff, and I'm not being sarcastic.

Besides photography and ministry, I'm also a communication theory nerd and a computer geek. The majority of the seminar was a reminder of things I already knew or applying familiar concepts in ways that were new to me. On the tech side, I learned some great things about the way Internet searches and digital ad serving has changed in the past few years. Again, fascinating stuff.

But why am I posting this on my photography blog?

One of the things he talked a lot about toward the end of his presentation was how vital it is for companies to claim their listings in the most significant directories and to keep that data consistent. He mentioned specifically Google+ Places and how it affects where your business shows up in Google Maps results. What interests me as a photographer looking for revenue streams is that most small businesses have really bad pictures on their websites, Facebook pages, etc. OR that they have none at all--which might actually be better.

Look for a small business social media photo package to be detailed in a post later. For now, thanks to The Tallassee Tribune for bringing Mr. Binder in, and to 1220 Cafe for hosting us (those cookies were AMAZING).