Rangefinder Magazine
April 2006

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First Exposure Peter Kotsinadelis
BIG Folio: A One-stop Shop

Joe Buissink says about BIG Folio, “With all that I’m hearing about other website producers, BIG Folio’s designs and customer service are second to none! I have been totally satisfied with all that BIG Folio has done for me.”

“YOU DON’T GET A SECOND chance to make a first impression!” It’s an old saying we often hear but one that applies more than ever in today’s world of digital photography. BIG Folio is a company that offers photographers the ability to make a good first impression through BIG Folio’s website services, specifically tailored for photographers. As BIG Folio’s founder Mike Caston is quick to point out, “We provide the photographer with a way to make a great first impression without the need to be a programmer or designer.” The company’s web services allow the photographer to establish a customizable website, using their own images and identity, in a matter of a few hours.

Leveraging their experience writing academic software, Mike and co-founder Erik Dungan have created a simple means for photographers to manage their own website content. As Mike explains, “We fully understand that to a working photographer, time is money. What we provide is a way to significantly reduce the time required to get a quality website up and running.” Mike primarily focuses on the business side of BIG Folio, while Erik manages the technical aspects of the business. “With Erik’s background in computer science and photography, it was a natural fit to provide web services for photographers.” Aside from a fast set-up time, BIG Folio provides a wide variety of hosting plans to meet the needs of the photographer. An assortment of templates with varying price structure offers even demanding photographers a way to meet their needs and budget.

Bambi Cantrell is also a BIG Folio fan. She says, “The site is easy to navigate, very professional, and great to work with.”

A major benefit of a BIGFolio. com website is the advanced administrative tool, which they provide with every package offered. “With this tool, photographers can control every aspect of their site including text, images, etc.” A photographer can easily upload individual images, or a ZIP file to save time, for display in the galleries on their website. The advanced administrative tool also provides the user with the capability to add and rename pages or galleries, add and edit text, add a logo and choose placement, change colors, add keywords for search-engine optimization, upload PDF documents, add music and more. This virtually eliminates the time that would otherwise be required to learn and use programs like Adobe’s Dreamweaver or Flash. Wedding planners, such as San Francisco-based Social Circles Event Production (www.social circles.biz), have also taken advantage of BIG Folio’s offerings.

Owner Gigi Gonzales notes, “BIG Folio has to be one of the best investments I’ve made for my business. Their templates are beautiful and, most importantly for us nontechnical types, very easy to use. Since we started using BIGFolio. com, we’ve received many compliments on our website design”.

BIG Folio’s admin tools are all web-based and do not require additional software downloads or programming skills.

BIG Folio also takes pride in its customer service, something their clients never fail to mention. Customer service questions can be sent to BIG Folio staff using AOL Instant Messaging throughout the day, with requests handled in a very timely manner. Gonzalez adds, “I would have to give them an A+ for customer service. It truly is excellent!”.

Mike goes on to mention another type of customer support: “Frantic Service is a key benefit to our service that we offer every customer.” When asked what he means by this, he explains, “All emails, Instant Message questions and phone calls we receive from our customers are addressed immediately. We believe that this high level of service is something that sets us apart from our competitors”.

BIGFolio’s gallery display has earned Social Circles many compliments on their website, www.socialcircles.biz.

One customer that attested to this was Michael Barnholdt of Michael B. Weddings (www. michaelbweddings.com). “I have had three websites designed in the past five years, and the one that BIG Folio produced was by far the fastest and most creative, with service that is second to none”.

For photographers that require online proofing, BIG Folio offers a list of recommended online proofing companies. Tight integration with several of the leading proofing companies provides the capability to automatically update the events list on the client website whenever a change is made at the proofing company. For example, when an event is added, removed or renamed, the change immediately appears on the client’s website. Alongside BIGFolio.com is WEDShooter.com. Launched in January of this year, WED Shooter is an online resource for professional wedding photographers. The site provides visitors with a weblog (or “blog”) of informative articles written by several well known photographers. Fresh content ranging from shooting techniques to sales and marketing is added regularly, and all contributors maintain a personal blog available from WED Shooter’s homepage. According to Mike, “We’ve positioned WEDshooter.com to be more than just commentary. We are in the process of building a library of indepth resources that photographers can easily access”.

Thumbnails alongside the main image provide a simple means to select images for larger display.

Another exciting resource available at WED Shooter is their wedding photography wiki. A wiki (taken from wiki wiki, the Hawaiian phrase for “quick”) is a website that can be edited by any visitor. Much like the popular Wikipedia online encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org), WED Shooter’s wiki is growing into a comprehensive guide with information on virtually any topic related to wedding photography. “We feel our blog contributors are some of the best wedding photographers in the world,” says Erik, “but there are countless more wonderful photographers out there with years of experience. Our wiki allows them to share their knowledge.

For example, one person may share their expertise in lighting, while another shares techniques in using Photoshop. Everyone learns, and that is a great thing.” For those photographers looking for a unique, one-of-a-kind website, BIGFolio.com operates a specialized division under the name of Tenbricks.com. This division offers photographers exclusive services and design templates that are licensed to no more than five photographers per state. The limit of templates per state allows the photographer to partially remove themselves from the “template site” world. “Knowing that their site will not be used by many photographers in the same state provides them some piece of mind”.

Thumbnails at the bottom offer a greater number of images that users can select for display.

Tenbricks.com clients also get BIG Folio’s website management tool for total control over their site. The websites include built-in Flash introductions controlled by the photographer through the management tool. Mike notes, “The attention to detail, refinement of functionality, larger images in galleries and improved user interface allow the photographer to instantly obtain a highend feel to their business”.

Websites offer the ability to market a variety of services and present prospective clients a view of the photographer’s work. With websites becoming as commonplace as cell phones, BIG Folio believes the only way to distinguish one website from the rest is to make sure it makes a lasting impression. “We know first impressions are important,” says Mike. “But we also know a lasting impression is what really helps build a long-lasting business”.

BIG Folio provides the Michael B Weddings site (www. michaelbweddings. com) with image viewing in galleries at 900 (wide) x 600 (high) pixels.