JWU Photography by James Wu

December 6

2016Abstract: JWU Photography is a photography service started by a family-owned business to experiment with the photography business and to sell photography services. I will discuss about the advantages of doing business online, significance of setting up a website, and JWU Photography’s business plan.

1

What is the importance of websites for business?

Websites are locations that are connected to the Internet and have one or more

webpages on the World Wide Web containing information. The World Wide Web is an

information system of servers on the Internet that allows documents to be connected to other

documents by hypertext links. Thus, the user can search for information on search engines,

such as Google, by moving from one document to another.

Information is processed data and information is meaningful if it is accurate, organized,

and perceived useful by the user or audience.

The webpages on the websites are typically written in HTML (Hypertext Markup

Language). It is a standardized system for the World Wide Web pages. The following are some

of the things we can do with HTML code: create a slider, background color, background image,

hyperlinks, layout, design, etc. However, there are other languages too that can write

webpages such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), JavaScript, XML (Extensible Markup Language),

etc.

Websites are great resources that can do limitless things. For instance, we can establish

and publish information for users, sell services and products online, online transactions, create

an online presence, etc.

It is a modern, efficient, and effective way of doing business. We can do business

cheaply now because we can do business online without establishing a physical location and

can save thousands on investments and cut other expenses too.

All we have to do is buy a domain name, have a hosting provider that provides us with

the desired storage space, or host it ourselves by purchasing a reseller account. Then, we need

2

to install a customer management system (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. CMS

are meant to manage web content, digital content, make a website with no coding experience,

and can potentially establish customer relationships. These are important because web content

enables us to do business by interacting with and attracting our customers.

Even though all these platforms offer a variety of customizations and features such as

plugins and widgets, we will be discussing the key differences among these three CMS.

WordPress is the most popular because it is easy to use. We don’t have to learn or do

any coding thanks to plugins however some plugins are not free. Examples of plugins are event

scheduler, responsive sliders, and SEO plugins to name a few. We can also select a theme such

as SDK IT or Lens. Similarly, some WordPress themes are not free either. It especially suit small

to medium sized websites, blogs, and small e-commerce stores.

Joomla is a great and powerful tool. It’s well-suited for e-commerce or social networking

websites, but it requires some computer skills. It is also the second most used CMS.

Drupal is the most powerful CMS that can run a lot of websites; nonetheless it is the

most difficult since it requires us to be familiar with HTML, CSS, PHP, and other common coding

languages (Mening, 2016, Retrieved from https://websitesetup.org/cms-comparison-

wordpress-vs-joomla-drupal/).

What is JWU Photography?

What defines photography? Photography is a visual art form, a passion, is creativity, a

hobby enjoyed by many, and a practice to create beautiful, meaningful, lasting, and durable

images. JWU Photography is a startup family-owned photography business, and we are very

3

passionate at what we do. Whether it’s for birthday parties, weddings, banquets, ceremonies,

baby showers, or graduations, we specialize in taking photos for all occasions and events.

It is located at the domain name www.jwu94.com and will expire in September 2017.

Note: The website was deleted because it was intended to be a class project that I did last

semester.

4

What are the potential segments?

Our targeted segments are married people, university students, and mothers because

there will be demand for maternity, university graduations, and wedding photoshoots to some

extent. We determined that the demographic age will be 18-30+ since the college and marriage

age lie somewhere around the mid-20s.

Based on my observations of many weddings I went to, many wed couples hire

professional photographers. Hiring photographers for weddings is expensive because it is

5

moderately demanding, but it can be challenging since there are many other competitors too.

Maternity photoshoots are very popular too among mothers.

For graduation ceremonies, I feel that demand won’t be high but moderate. However, I

observed on some CSULA Facebook groups, some students are willing to pay for a

photographer to take photos at their graduations.

What is the pricing strategy?

We utilize a combination of competitive and penetration pricing. Since we are new and

are amateurs in this profession, it is important to not price too high and start low to attract

customers. If there is a lot of demand, than we will use a competitive pricing approach such as

matching the market value. However, our pricing strategy may vary depending on the market.

6

7

What is the promotional strategy?

After we finished making our website presentable, we will promote it to generate online

web traffic. How do we do this? We can create business pages and promote it through social

media platforms and streaming sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Hulu.

These platforms are essential because they allow word-of-mouth according to an article

called Social Media Versus Traditional Media by Angela Hausman. For example, traditional

marketing uses traditional media such as radio, broadcast, prints, or signage. But, it does not

enable consumers to give feedback, endorsements, or likes.

Ninety-two percent of current consumers do not believe in name brands in a sense that

it does not provide better quality than other less-recognized brands because consumers see no

distinction among the same products of various brands. Thus, it is difficult to promote our

product if we have a lack of engagement and that there are many competitors or copycats.

8

Whereas, when we post on social media; consumers can like, share on groups, friend’s wall,

their timeline, comment to give feedback, or see reviews. Therefore, it is essential for us to

keep our social media pages updated and post regularly to keep our followers or visitors up to

date of our current activities and events. To attain more followers on Facebook, we may want

to share other contents rather than posts that markets themselves (it should be fun, simple,

and offer incentives to followers but does not lose focus on its mission such as concise yet

informative, imaginative, short, and simple video clips that empathizes the simplicity of use, the

collaborative, and carpooling aspects of it), post in open groups that allow business

advertisements/opportunities, spread advertisements (should be detailed yet concise,

distinctive, and stand out) that are displayed in newsfeed (Hausman, 2014, Retrieved from

https://www.hausmanmarketingletter.com/social-media-versus-traditional-media/).

From my observation, Instagram is the most effective in marketing even though it may

not be the most popular social media platform. This is because of the use of hashtags which can

attract an audience that is particularly interested in the certain subject and hashtags used.

We can have a guest blogger or re-blog it. This can help us be introduced to a new

audience, make connections, and ultimately generate web traffic.

We can submit the website to high-traffic search engines such as Google, Bing, and

Yahoo. This allows our website to be indexed in their search engines if approved. We can also

make business directories such as Yellow Pages and Yelp.

Lastly, we can use free SEO tools offered by Attracta or any other SEO provider. Some of

the tools available are website auditing, submitting maps, etc. (33 Free Places to Promote Your

Website Online, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/33-free-places-to-

9

promote-your-website-online/). Additionally, we will offer a free session for the first 10 clients

as a promotional offer.

In addition, we will promote though networking events found at www.meetup.com,

emails sent through phpList, and different avenues. I will also consult and discuss with my

network of friends and professionals to see if they can refer a potential client.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

Flexible hours

Able to accommodate if there’s a schedule conflict

Continuing to learn

Have many connections

Technical, professionalism, social media, organizational, interpersonal skills

Open-minded and follows direction well

Weaknesses

Amateur photographer

Inexperienced with Photoshop

Inadequate portfolio

No blogging experience

Lack marketing skills

Opportunities

Opportunity to network with more people

Opportunity to compete

10

Threats

Highly competitive

Promotions may take some time

Absence of actors and other incidents may occur

Technological change

11

Works Cited

33 Free Places to Promote Your Website Online. (June 23, 2014). Retrieved December 06, 2016

from http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/33-free-places-to-promote-your-website-online/

Hausman, A. (October 6, 2014). Social Media Versus Traditional Media. Retrieved December 06,

2016 from https://www.hausmanmarketingletter.com/social-media-versus-traditional-media/

Mening, R. (November 23, 2016). WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal? Retrieved December 06,

2016 from https://websitesetup.org/cms-comparison-wordpress-vs-joomla-drupal/