Web pages in general

kmjt1021

kmjt1021

Member
This thought has been bouncing around in my head for a while.
Wouldn't it be nice to make the pictures that we take of our jobs available to the customer? Most of what we do, kitchen Exhaust, is out of site, i.e. the ductwork and the fans on the roof.
How hard would it be to make pictures of our jobs, that our crews already take "mostly for my piece of mind” available to the customer. We often get calls asking to explain some problem that has been written up on a follow up report.
It just seems it would be nice for them to be able to just go to a web site and get access to the pictures. I'm thinking it would work like this. I put them where ever they need to go to make this work, and our customer can access them with their account number, I leave them there for say a week, then they are rotated out as new pictures are posted.
Does anyone know what is involved here, or have any idea how much this would cost.
 
We have a photo album on our site. The pages load and turn automatically. You can click back through them, add text about the photo, etc. I think there are about a dozen photos in ours now and I have a stack of photos to scan and upload. I can make the album larger if I like or change the color. I offer it to those I build pages for too if they want it on their site.

I don't have accounts set up, but you could create pages and give the client the unique URL to see their own before and after photos.

Beth
 
This is probably a dumb question but are there any legal issues about using pictures of another companies truck (that I wash) on a web site, or even a business card??

The reason I ask is because I have been told not to do it by a company I wash for.
 
Beth
What I would Like to do is to make specific pictures available, not just general pictures, so a customer could look at the pictures from a job we just did two days ago for instance.
I was thinking I could file them under a account number which all of our customers already have, and they could go to the web site, click on a link that would take them to the pictures, and they could search for their pictures with their account number.
Has anyone heard of or seen anything like this, it is sort of like calling the phone company, getting in the automated system with your account number to get info.
 
booyaa said:
This is probably a dumb question but are there any legal issues about using pictures of another companies truck (that I wash) on a web site, or even a business card??

The reason I ask is because I have been told not to do it by a company I wash for.
Click to expand...

Well, you could always use photo editing software to just blur out the name on the truck.
 
Chuck,
Some companies are leary of letting someone else use their company name in advertising. The reason is that they are worried that it will not be used in a way that corresponds witht he companies image. Or to put in a another way, they do not want to risk their image by being associated with you. As you know, it is easier to have a blanket policy of no, than it is to give permission to one person.

Scott
 
You should get written permission to use photos like that, but as Mike says if you remove the company name on the side of the vehicle, you should be ok.

You could have a template that you insert photos into. All you would need is to have the file name be unique, and the photos be unique, say with account number, and upload the files. then you could give the client a link and since it would not be off the main part of the site it would be a private URL. You would have to do this manually. I don't know of anything that will auto create this, but as I said, with a template, all you need to do is rename the same file each time and the images associates with it, and VIOLA! Five to ten minutes tops for a days worth of decks, say 4 jobs. Most time consuming thing woul dbe scanning photos but if you have a digital camera, you save time there too.

Once you have a base site built, you could handle this yourself without incurring additional expense. I would have to think about how much somethign like that would cost....Probably most cost effective if you did the updates from a template that you had built for that. Easily done though.

Beth
 
For those of you that have websites, did you ask permission from your customers to put in a picture of there deck,house,fence etc.

I would think its no big deal to put there picture in without there permission. If they seen your website afterwords and they objected to having there picture in it then I would take it out.

Another thought I would tell them when I did there deck again that I put a picture of it on my website because I was so proud of the way it came out. They would probably most likely be honored.
 
We have written testimonials from those whose photos are online. So yes...we have permission.

Beth
 
Put an authorization right into your contract with the people you are working for so you don't even have to ask for it.

If they have a problem with it and you get the job, cross that clause of your terms and conditions off and initial it so they know you don't intend to use their photos without their specific permission.

We've never had a problem with anybody not wanting us to take before and after photos of their jobs. Most customers are flattered that you would want their job on your web site or in materials, etc.

Commercial business is usually another story though. Most are ok with it as long as you ask before you use it. We tell them it's free advertising for them because we'll probably use it on our web site or in our marketing materials and usually they are ok with that.
 
customer pictures

I take before and afters for me and the customers. I have a sony dig camera that has a 3 1/2" floppy. I put them in folders on a zip disk and reuse the floppys. If a customer wants them I give them a floppy or print them on regular paper. The cost is very low and it is worth it. If the customer is present I can show them any problem areas they cant see with the camera right then, for example, fan belts, duct work, ect. I can stick the camera in places i cant see to get a glimpse also. Pretty neat thing to have.
 
Walter
We do the same thing, Olympus Digital Cameras, The camera come with a smart card and I have a reader for the card, makes downloading the pictures almost instantaneous. Card holds about 122 pics, and I can get bigger cards.
have you ever had a customer ask for copies of the pictures, and you had to either print them out or deliver them or email them, it can be a pain. I just thought it would be nice if they could go look at them, just as a customer service thing.
I'm just not sure if I want to commit the time to do it every day and I was just checking out my options.
I have a guy I can talk to about it, he's kinda weird and I don't want to involve him until I have to. I think he has no friends except his computer, and once he gets in you almost have to be rude to get rid of him. Hew sure can do some neat stuff with the computer though.
 
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