3 years after the inception of our main site ProPhotoResource.com we are proud to announce our new parent site ProPhotoNet.com. ProPhotoNet.com is the launching point for all sites in the ProPhoto Network including the release of 2 new websites online and ready for viewing today!

PHOTOWEBGUY.COM
From the creator of ProPhotoResource.com and Photographershandbook.com, Cris Mitchell is happy to bring you PhotoWebGuy.com. PhotoWebGuy offers personalized professional online coaching and consulting with Cris Mitchell himself. If you are a Photographer trying to do business on the internet PhotoWebGuy is here to help get you on track and online in the least amount of time possible. From website design to how to use social media networking to increase the visibility of your business online, Cris is here to help you every step of the way.

APERTUREHOST.COM
ApertureHost.com was created to solve the web hosting needs of photographers and creative professionals. If you’re tired of dealing with the large impersonal web hosting companies that don’t care about anything other than taking your money than ApertureHost is just what your looking for. Beyond our rock solid hardware and our generous offerings, ApertureHost offers technical assistance unparalleled in the industry. The support staff at ApetureHost.com is available to help each of our clients with all your photo hosting needs, everything from WordPress blog installations to full blown Photo Gallery deployment. This is a hosting company specifically built from the ground up for Photographers by Photographers.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M ON A PRO PHOTO NETWORK SITE
Starting today you’ll notice the addition of the ProPhotoNetwork Toolbar at the top of every site in our network
Including:

• www.prophotonet.com
• www.prophotoresource.com
• www.photographershandbook.com
• www.photowebguy.com
• www.aperturehost.com

Will all proudly display the Network Toolbar allowing you to jump from site to site in our network with ease.

WHATS NEXT
We aren’t stopping here! In February we will be launching new photography related sites to our network so if you want to stay up to date and in the know just add your email address to the “Stay in the Know” Mailing list in the sidebar and you’ll be the first to know what is happening in the ProPhoto Network.

We are proud to announce that PhotographersHandbook.com is off and running and is going strong. To celebrate this we wanted to run a New Years Giveaway with some AMAZING PRIZES!

Entering this contest couldn’t be easier! Simply enter your email address into the “Sign up for the Handbook Email Newsletter” area in the sidebar then click Subscribe.

That’s all there is to it.

As always, we will never sell or give you email addresses away, however we may on occasion send out an email announcement with some usual information for helping you market your photography business online. You can cancel anytime.

So what are you waiting for Sign Up Now and take a chance at winning some of these great Prizes by our fantastic sponsors Amherst Media, BorrowLenses.com and Picture Code. Prizes after the Jump (more…)

I’m happy to to be able to provide an audio playback of my interview with Rodney Washington of Photo Marketing Mentor. This interview originally aired January 8, 2009.

[audio:show109.mp3]
To download the audio file visit BlogTalkRadio.

Today the folks that at WordPress.org have released a major upgrade to their blogging platform with the release of version 2.7. From what i can tell they have made some major structural changes to the backend administration area, which might take some getting use to if your a longtime WordPress user.

One new feature that caught my attention is the the ability to automagically upgrade when incremental updates are released. If you ever had the pleasure to update previous versions you know that it can be a little dicey.

For a full list of updates, requirements or to download visit www.wordpress.org.

I’ll download a copy and install it on my testing server and provide a full review soon.

In an previous post we covered two of the pioneering microblogging platforms, Twitter and Pownce. It was announced today that Pownce will be closing it’s doors after just one year of operation. Pownce was acquired by Six Apart developers of TypePad and Moveable Type.

If you are a current Pownce user, they have created an export service to transfer all your pownce posts to TypePad, WordPress or Vox.

December 15, 2008 will be the final day of service so make sure you get your posts out before then.