Amy Cuttino of Huntersville, NC was recently named winner of Kodak's Picture of the Day Contest. Her candid picture has been splashed around news websites and papers because after all, she's a local who was recognized on the national level. As prize, her picture will be on display in Time Square, New York, NY for all the world to see on May 28. Quite a prize indeed, and a promising boost of advertising.
After I heard the newsstory, I dug around a bit to find out more about this local wonder. WRAL radio had mentioned her company's name: Photography and Art Blossoms. A short Google later, I popped onto their website to see if Huntersville was harboring the next world's greatest family photographer.
Their website was fairly basic but served the purposes of an amateur photographer. It had plenty of galleries and contact information. After spending a short time navigating the links, I glanced up at the url bar: http://www.phartblossoms.com.
Seriously?! Do you really want the word "phart" in your url address? Stunned, I looked at the pictures and saw cute family photography. Lots of candid shots of kids and parents and brides. The url address and the content just seemed inconsistent. (I am adding an update to this blog post due to a reader comment that the word 'phart blossom' is a local phrase used as a term of endearment) I still maintain, that to an outsider, it's confusing.
This experience reminded me that we (all business owners, especially small business owners) should be on the look out for opportunities of fame. Little contests and accolade ops that would take our business to the next level. After all, one big break like this could take an amateur photographer and make them a star. Being careful not to spend too much time filling out contest entry forms, we should search out plausible opportunities for free advertising. Once you find that perfect contest however, please make sure that you are ready to receive attention. Check through your website, fix broken links, swap out low-res images, update your blog, and for goodness sakes, don't use any words like "phart."
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