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As a note of interest to anyone considering having a website designed, there are a few things to always make sure you avoid. As a FYI, I have listed some of the common mistakes companies make with their website.

1. Poorly designed AND coded website
--- We all have a cousin or a kid next door that knows how to make a website. They’ve probably made a site or two for some friends on MySpace and now think that they can now design and code a website. Or you probably have taken a Website Development 101 class down at the local college and think that you can now make a website from scratch. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. There are many website and graphic design best practices that exist to make surfing the internet (and hopefully) viewing your website, a pleasant experience. These best practices (and there’s plenty of them) cannot be learned on MySpace or in a course or two in web development. They take time (and experience) to learn simply because they involve so many different aspects of web design. Although you can probably crank out a basic, informational website with some training, you are not ready for the demands that a large, complex website can require. Think of it this way, you may be very proficient with a hammer and nail but just because you know the basics, are you ready to build a house? When it comes to web design, let the people that live and breathe website design, do your website’s design. You are then freed up to concentrate on the things that you are the expert on such as your business.

2. No website marketing.
--- Having a website is a very important part of your business’s strategy ---However if no one knows about your website, you have basically missed out on a very vital marketing piece.
There are several things you need to do to always make your website visible to potential clients:
--------- Make sure that ANY marketing piece you send out doesn't leave the printer without having your website address on it.
--------- In your email signatures for business AND personal, make sure you always include your website information.
--------- Look at your business card. Go ahead, take it out and look. Do you have your website address prominently displayed? This is the only marketing material you will have in informal meeting situations. Make sure someone can find you easily if needed.
--------- Are you listed in the major search engines? Actually do a search using keywords specific to your business. Where do you come up in the listings? If you’re not in the first page of listings, you need to consult with a SEO wizard and change that.
--------- Marketing your website is good but people have to remember your website. Do you have a domain name (the name you type in a browser to get to your website) that is easy to remember AND spell. If you verbally tell someone visit your website at “cool clothes dot com” and your domain name is actually spelled “koolclothes.com” do you think they will every find you?

3. Old information.
--- The only website that can get away with having old information available is the Internet Archive. Nice to know but since you most likely aren’t the owner of the Internet Archive, this next point will apply to you. As website owners, we are all guilty of this at some point in time. It is very important to keep fresh and relevant material on your website to attract new viewers AND to keep current viewers looking for more. Fresh content should be added at least weekly. Blogs, due to their nature, should be updated at a minimum of twice a week. The search engines love updates and rank you higher if you constantly have new material flowing in and out.

4. Website statistics? What’s that?
--- Website statistics tell you about the specifics of your website viewers. Think of it as having a private detective that can tell you whatever you need to know about a person. With statistics, you can learn where your visitors came from and how they found your website. This information is important as it can tell you where you need to concentrate your marketing efforts and if they were cost-effective or not.

5. Having broken links or a website that doesn’t consistently work.
--- Have you ever visited a website to check on something and it didn’t work? Very frustrating isn’t it? Don’t put your potential clients through that same frustration. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of competitors on that internet that do have working websites. Don’t let them get that next order that you should have gotten instead.
]]> http://www.markellisonstudios.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080727-181958 Internal Error 2739. Contact Customer Support.” Well, if you need the solution, then I got the answer for you.

Find out what type of a system you are using; if it is Vista 32 or 64, then follow the instructions below.

For 32bit systems, the process is laid out below:

1. Choose Start > All Programs > Accessories.

Right-click on Command Prompt> select Run As Administrator, and log-in with an admin username/password if needed. At command prompt, You will see the text:

C:\Windows\System32>

2. After the prompt, type " regsvr32 jscript.dll " with no quotes. At this point, your command line should look like the line below:

C:\Windows\System32>regsvr32 jscript.dll

3. Press the Enter/Return key (new school/old school)

4. A dialog box that says “ DllRegisterServer in jscript.dll succeeded ” should appear, click the OK button.

5. Install your Adobe program to your heart's content.


64bit Vista is a little bit different:

1. Choose Start > All Programs > Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt> select Run As Administrator, and log-in with an admin username/password if needed.

2. Go to your Windows\SysWow64 folder/directory (old school/new school). At command prompt, You will see the text:

C:\Windows\SysWow64>

3. After the prompt, type " regsvr32 jscript.dll " with no quotes. At this point, your command line should look like the line below

C:\Windows\SysWow64>regsvr32 jscript.dll

4. Press the Enter/Return key

5. A dialog box that says “ DllRegisterServer in jscript.dll succeeded ” should appear, click the OK button.

6. Install your Adobe program to your heart's content.]]> http://www.markellisonstudios.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080405-125815


As photographers, we are really eliminating a MAJOR source of income from our business revenue stream by avoiding the correct use of usage licenses. For the uninitiated, a usage license is a license given to a client that allows them to use a photograph under very particular conditions. You will notice that the key word here is “use” and not own. This difference means that the photographer doesn't sell the actual image; they sell the legal right to use the image according to the specific terms of the license. The photographer is still the legal copyright owner for the image but is allowing it to be used.



The cost of a usage license is affected by several things. What they are and why is listed below:



Duration – Duration is the length of time that you can legally use the image in question. Examples are one-time use, for one year, or in perpetuity.



Frequency – Frequency is the specific number of times that the image may be used. An example would be usage that allows an image to be used one time in twelve separate issues of a monthly magazine.



Views – Views is an important one as I feel it’s the one changed most often by clients behind duration. Views are all of the different ways that your image will be viewed during the license duration. Some examples are via website, via magazines, via newspapers, television, or even a combination of views such as via website and magazine. Although it plays a smaller part, you would also take into consideration things such as a magazine’s circulation numbers, or the number of times an image will be printed when determining usage fees.



Size/Placement – Size and placement are relatively simple to understand. It’s based on how large the image is. It does take into consideration the size of the media that it appears on because an image that is 80ft2 in total has a different “Wow” factor on a magazine page versus that same size on a billboard alongside a highway somewhere. The location or placement in the media also plays a major part. The front cover of a magazine is much more valuable then buried deep inside the magazine, never to be found.



Exclusiveness – The more unique your image is the more it is worth. If you happen to have an image of an elephant, you probably won’t get much, if anything, for it. Every time I go to the zoo, I take a picture of the elephants. It’s nothing exclusive because everybody else probably has one too. Now, if you happen to be at the zoo and that same elephant breaks out of its cage and smashes every camera except yours that day (elephants hate ambient lighting and your luckily using on-camera flash that day) and you manage to get a rather nice backlit portrait of the elephant, how much do you think that elephant image will be worth to news reporters, Fox News, and “When Animals Attack Pt. 22“.



Importance – The one is a rather difficult one to take in consideration because most times, you really have no ideal of an mages importance until AFTER the contracts have been signed, payments have been made, and media feedback starts to pour in. In short, importance is the value that a particular image adds to the overall end product. Quite difficult to define at times but something that should be considered also when determining usage fees.



There are several ways to determine your usage fees. You can use software, use the various organizational charts that are available or even search online for online versions. I have several links below that lead to calculators below that may help to guide you in the right direction regarding your usage license fee and other photography related costs in general.



NPPA.org's Cost of Doing Business Calculator



EditorialPhoto.com's Editorial Estimator v1.10

]]> http://www.markellisonstudios.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080315-115620



What... no bookmarks in IE7 due to an "Unspecified Error". Now that's an error message that is truly helpful (not to mention, prevents you from saving some mighty-fine reading for later such as this article)



What I'm talking about is a unique (can you say aggravating) issue dealing with Vista and something called "Integrity Level".



The problem occurs in Internet Explorer whenever a person tries to creat a bookmark. Usually a message would pop up stating that IE is "Unable to create [URL]. Unspecified error".



Now the nitty gritty as to why the error happens is somewhat simple in nature to explain. In Windows Vista, a new concept called "Integrity Level" is used. It means that every single process running on your computer is assigned a certain access level and a process cannot interact with another process that has a higher Integrity Level.



Now by default, most all files allow "Medium" or higher level applications to modify them. That's fine and dandy and works out great in most cases. Internet Explorer (in Protected Mode) however, runs at a "Low" level meaning that IE can only directly work with files with a matching "Low" integrity level. Nice theory but since most files and processes are set to "Medium by default, IE is stuck in a bad situation of needing access to something that's of a higher level. That's the gist of it all but more details can be found at:



Wikipedia - Mandatory Integrity Control



Microsoft MSDN - Understanding and Working in Protected Mode Internet Explorer





Anyway, the cure is actually quite simple. Windows has a command line utility named "icacls" that has a way for you to set the integrity level of something. To resolve the issue:



Open up a command prompt window by selecting "Run..." from your "Start Menu".



Navigate to C:\users\USERNAME (replace USERNAME with your login name unless your real name is Username at which case you have more serious issues in life to worry about than this) and run the following command on your favorites folder:



icacls Favorites /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)low



Do remember that it is case and space sensitive so if you're having trouble, I would recommend you copy and past the text above into your open command prompt window.



BTW, the "(OI)" and "(CI)" are switches that allow your permissions to propagate (think inheriting) on a object and on a container (basically everything and anything). They officially stand for "object inherit" and "container inherit" for the techno-geeks. The "low" is the level assigned and in this particular case, we want a "low" level assigned to match IE in protected mode.]]> http://www.markellisonstudios.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080310-150224


This is NOT meant to be a place to bash but instead to inform each other in a informal yet effective manner.



IF you know of a organization of any form that participates in unfair rights grabs, post a comment here. Please include the company name, website, some minor details such as dates to inform others (IN A NON PREJUDICIAL MANNER) and (most importantly) a copy of the incriminating terms and a web link. Basically, you better be able to back up what you say with proof and not just say what you think about some company because you don't like them.



If you know of any more, send them to me via the comments and I'll check them out and post them here.]]> http://www.markellisonstudios.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080225-144638


FaceBook has joined the fray recently by adding the following clause to their Terms of Use language:



"By posting user content to any part of the site, you automatically grant … an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license … to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such user content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise. … Facebook does not assert any ownership over your user content."



They are not the first and unfortunately, they will not be the last to equate having a membership on their website as a free license to use any of their member's content for their own personal use. And to be fair to Facebook, they state that:



"FaceBook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content."



meaning that you are still the copyright owner of your content HOWEVER, they have given themselves the rights (and I mean all rights) to your work, even the right to sublicense those rights to people of their choosing.



I unfortunately have accounts on FaceBook and several other networking sites that I will make some major changes to over the next few days. Unfortunately, it won't be a change for the better. I can guarantee you though that it's made a change in me... a change to start reading the fine print in detail.



To read all of Facebook's Terms for yourself, click the related link here and look for the section titled ""User Content Posted on the Site.

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