In case you missed my blog post yesterday about charging for telephone quotes, it’s not because I’m arrogant, nor is it because I’m running low on cell phone minutes.  It’s really because my wife is giving birth in the next 24 hours!

I’m now driving to Paradise Valley Hospital with my wife Lynda to (help) deliver my first girl.  Acmebaby v3.0 which  has been in development for the past forty weeks. We are ready to release the new addition to our family of Acme’s.

If you’d like to follow our progress this weekend, please follow me on twitter. You can watch these accounts.

@AcmePhoto – My main account
@acmeBaby – Yes my daughter like social media.
I might work 1/2 days for a few days our baby is delivered, however I should have time to reply to any requests for photography quotes.  I have one more mouth to feed, so l free to fill out the estimate form at the bottom of this post.

C ya online!

~Adam Nollmeyer
Phoenix Photographer
Follow me on twitter

I came home yesterday to see this flier my Arizona  “lawn” also know as a rock garden including  1/2 dead weeds because I sprayed them and have not yet taken the time to remove them.  I guess Phil thought I was too lazy to pull the weeds in my own front yard.

I’ve decided that Acme Photography is not going to not be like all the other guys.   I’ve seen many general contractors, lawyers, and builders in Phoenix not charge for an estimate or consultation.  From small business to large corporations, this is a very common practice.

In evaluating my photography business and I’m pleased to announce that I’ll have options for those who would like a paid quote and those who would prefer the free quote.  We’ll  test this and see how it works.  This policy is trial and will be evaluated after 1-2 weeks based on your feedback and our analyisis.*

* UPDATE* – This test run is now over…..
The real reason I didn’t want to be bothered for a week is because AcmeWife & I were  expecting  acmeBaby v3.0.  Izzy arrived safe and sound.

You may now call for a quote.

—-

The rules are simple

Rules:

• Phone Estimates & consultations are a paid service and will incur a fee.
• Phone Estimates have tiered rates, standard rate & peak rate.
• Internet / email & twitter quotes will remain free.

Rates:

• Standard Phone rate:  $25 / 10 min.
• Peak Phone Rate: $40/ 5 min.
• Holiday rate:  $50 / min.

Fine Print:

• Prepay via payal -  adam [at] acmephotography.net
• If you think it might be  peak rate, it probably is.  (weekend or nights)
• We might call you back when you submit an email request, however it’s on our schedule not  yours.
• Filling out the web form below will help us understand your project.  (free quote option)
• If my wife is in active labor phone time be billed at the holiday rate.

IF you prefer the free quote option,  please feel free to fill out the form below and a representative will contact you.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Acme Phone Estimate

Standard rate / 10 min $25.00 Peak rate / 5 min $40.00 Holiday rate / 1 min $50.00

Enter your Phone number

After paying, wait for our call or simply click the button below.
_________________________

Please drop a comment below with your thoughts on this new concept!

Adam Nollmeyer
http://AcmePhotography.net
@acmePhoto – twitter

For the third year we are pleased to be a part of Zoofari, the Annual Black tie fund raiser benefit  for the Phoenix Zoo.  Last year our partnership helped raised over $2K which directly benefited the Phoenix Zoo.

DATE/TIME
Friday, October 3, 2008
VIP Early Admission at 6:30pm
Event Hours 7:00pm-11:00pm LOCATION
The Phoenix Zoo
455 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, AZ 85008
602.273.1341

Event Portrait Photography - Zoofari

If are planning on attending Zoofari 2008 please stop by the Photography Booth and have a portrait created.  A photo of you in your “monkey suit” will help to Save the Orangutans as we are again donating proceeds back to the Phoenix Zoo.

2 FREE TICKETS Giveaway:

($450 value)

We have a pair of tickets which we will give away to a client or online friend.  If you are friends with  “@AcmePhoto” on twitter Just reply “@acmephoto” I’d like your tickets to Zoofari 2008″ and You’ll be automatically entered in the drawing.  No catch, it’s that easy.  You can also drop a note on my facebook page, or a comment below if you don’t quite “get” these other social media websites.   If you are a friend on twitter you will loose 10 cool points however if you only comment here on not on twitter.  Do both and you get 10 points however.

HURRY…. because we’ll be picking a winner for the two free tickets late Tuesday night, or possibly Wednesday Morning.

Good luck and I hope to see you at Zoofari this Friday!

Adam Nollmeyer
Photographer in Phoenix AZ
acmephotography.net

Groundswell by Charlene Li

YOU CAN WIN FREE TICKETS on this blog post!

Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell and Vice President at Forrester Research is speaking in Tempe Arizona on September 18th, 2008.  She will present practical consumer based strategies for companies to harness  the power of social media technologies.  Blogs, facebook, youtube, &  twitter will be sure to be on the agenda.

• Strategies for surviving the groundswell.
• Social media best practices and pitfalls.
• How to get started.

This event is being sponsored by Sitewire an interactive marketing agency.  Last year they helped bring Seth Godin to the Phoenix Area to speak about his book book The Dip.

When: Thurs Sept 18th
Where Tempe Center for the Arts – Lakeside Room
700 W Rio Salado Pkwy Tempe, AZ 85281

Cost: $60  If you don’t win my free tickets. Info / Purchase tickets here.
Group discounts (save $10) available info here.
PRweb Press release.

*UPDATE* -  Wed meetup Because I’m a great stalker social media guru, I read on Charlene’s blog about an  Informal Wednesday Meetup at Borders store in Tempe.  The address is 699 South Mill Avenue.  5-6pm.

FREE tickets?

More good news… I have TWO extra tickets and I’m going to give them away.
Follow these easy steps.

1. You enter by picking a number between 1 and 100.
   I’ll use  a random number generator from random.org  to pick.
2. Post a comment on this blog post (below) using this format,
   ” I choose the best number which is  ___”
3. You may enter TWICE,  Once on the acmephotography.net blog  as well as one time on the Acme Photography’s Facebook fan page . (anywhere is fine, on the wall, on the imported note, etc

Contest will close at TOMORROW, end of Tuesday Sept 16th at midnight local Arizona time.  If you are going feel free to enter and use the ticket to invite a friend.

Adam Nollmeyer
Phoenix Arizona Photographer
acmephotography.net

PS: I’d put some fine print here but you wouldn’t read it anyway!

9/2/08 – Airport Hilton [map] 47th Street, Phoenix AZ, 85034  | 6PM Networking, 7PM meeting.
(Aspiring / student photographers are encouraged and welcome to attend as well!)

I’ve been invited to speak at AzPPA‘s – Arizona Professional Photographers Association meeting next Tuesday, September 2nd and I wanted to personally invite fellow photographers and friends to attend this meeting.  I was asked me to talk about the photography that I create.  I spoke on this last year at AZPPA so I’m going to touch on this a bit then describe the process in making creative photography, showing lighting setups for available light photography as well as studio lighting (strobe) for on location work.

THEN…

I’m going to share about something that I’m very passionate about: Social Media.  If the word “social media” confuses you it’s a fancy word for “playing on the internet”.  You know “what the kids do”  Facebook, Twitter, Flickr Myspace,  Viddler, LinkedIN, Friendfeed, etc.  The news is you don’t have to be young to do this, and if done properly it can help your business.   Do you blog?  This is great, however  there’s more to the game then blogging.  Learn how you can:

• Keep in touch with existing clients while creating loyal “fans” for your business.
• Obtain  higher search engine rankings simply by being active online and sharing content.
• Generate web traffic without spending money for paid Goggle Ad Sense or Yahoo campaigns.
• Meet new friends who you can help and who will gladly help you when you are in a jam.

…. All for FREE, or dirt cheap.

Understanding how to leverage the “cool websites” to help build your brand is not as simple as signing up and spamming a message to people in your network.   Using social media properly involves understanding normal human relationships.  I’ll break this down with some simple examples to help you understand how relationships work, then apply it to online activities.

FINALLY…

Why your website sucks (and how to fix it)
If you rely on people typing your website into the web browser from the business card you personally handed them then your website is failing.  If the only traffic you get is from paid directories then you need help.

Learn some simple tips to improve your search engine ranking and make your web site your primary source of leads, instead of a compliment to your other marketing efforts.

I’ll see you at the AZPPA Monthly Meeting September 2, 2008

First meeting is FREE if you’re new.
(Tell ‘em if it’s your first time, along with where you heard about AZPPA and it’s on me!  )

Non-members $25
Phoenix Airport Hilton 2435 S. 47th Street Phoenix, AZ
Social Hangout: 6PM
Meeting – 7PM
Autographs – 9PM

Drop a comment below if you are coming.
See you!

Adam Nollmeyer
Phoenix Arizona  Photographer

http://acmephotography.net

About six months ago she asked me for some photo advice. Some of her fellow Stanford track & field friends were thinking about doing some fitness modeling. I’ve been to California several times this year for photo assignments and we both hoped that I could get to the San Francisco area on assignment and also photograph Leila and friends.

Fast forward to the other week. I thought I had a last minute wedding south of San Francisco, but the job fell through. I knew that Leila had made the trials for the Olympics and still needed some photos. She wanted to document her physique and have, “Something to show the grandkids someday.”

I messaged a friend and fellow photographer Gene X Hwang of Orange Photography – San Francisco to see if he could help.

Gene was able to help Leila and here are two of his studio photos:

© 2008 Orange Photography - Woman Olympic Athlete Pole Vault - Leila Ben-Youssef

Check out Gene’s blog post on the Orange Photography Blog to see some other photos. While I would have loved to photograph Leila, It was nice to connect two people I know and Gene did an awesome job at photographing Leila.

Gene met me while searching for a photographer to help with an assignment in Scottsdale Arizona. He googled and found my flickr photos and website. After meeting Gene in person at the corporate event we have keep in touch online as well. Gene has hired me several times to cover some Orange photography projects in the Phoenix area.

If you’re watching the Beijing Summer 2008 Olympics look for Leila. She’s representing Tunisia. I guess she’s was too good to make the USA team!

I’m off to goggle for “gym membership in Phoenix, AZ”.

Adam Nollmeyer
Arizona Photographer

http://acmephotography.net

Yeah! (if you are reading this text….. then our move to the new site is complete)

If you need to email me today, use adam [at] nollmeyer.net
if you are getting a bounce back from an acmephotography.net email

This post is here to let you know that this site may be 1/2 up and 1/2 down as the DNS propagates to a new host, everything will look the same, except that this post will not be there…

….unless I republish it.

*edited…. I’ve decided to keep this post up, because I would be upset if I signed up for a lousy host because someone deleted a well deserved post.

I’ve been with Host Department for over 5 years I believe. I was never a power user, but recently their hosting services has been more of a “non-service” than a service. I believe this web host goes by hostdepartment.com and hostdepartment.net The supposed owner / chairman is Jimmy Tanzil.

I subscribed to some different “uptime” tracking tools and every week they would be down for 1/2hr to 2 hours at least one day per week. In fact last week they were down for…. 3 hours one day and 14 hours another. Here is a report via HostTracker.com

Total uptime:96.57% Downtime:21 hour(s) 14 min(s)

Weekly uptime:88.76% (fail in my book) Downtime:18 hour(s) 52 min(s)

Day 2008-05-04 Uptime:100.00%
Day 2008-05-03 Uptime:37.78% Downtime:14 hour(s) 55 min(s) = maga FAIL
Day 2008-05-02 Uptime:100.00%
Day 2008-05-01 Uptime:83.55% Downtime:3 hour(s) 56 min(s) = another failure
Day 2008-04-30 Uptime:100.00%
Day 2008-04-29 Uptime:100.00%
Day 2008-04-28 Uptime:100.00%

What’s almost as bad as this type of downtime is their “Uptime Guarantee”

99.99% Uptime Guarantee

We guarantee that your website will be up all through the year! However, if your website uptime should be lower than 89.9%, we will give you a full refund of your hosting charges for that particular effected month. Please see your Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for additional details.

So they say that they are, or rather should be at 99.99%, yet they really only mean 90% uptime. Say what you mean Host Department, or go back to school to learn better math!

This blog post is not meant as a review however if you are wondering which web host to use, I can tell you that host department sucks.

Who should you use? I hate to sound political, but ANYONE BUT HOSTDEPARTMENT ( also 1&1 stinks too) They both suck and are evil.

See you on the flip side.* I’ll probably flip the switch later tonight.

(*Edited…. Yeah, if you see this text we’re already on the new host)

Adam Nollmeyer
http://acmephotography.net