[0:00:00] Natalie Jennings: Hi, Audrey.

[0:00:02] Audrey Nicole: Hi.

[0:00:03] Natalie Jennings: The best part about today's episode is that you don't know what I'm going to tell you.

[0:00:09] Audrey Nicole: Yep. But I'm ready for it.

[0:00:10] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, this is big. So this is a special episode dedicated to all things pick time and how amazing it is. You use pick time? I use pick time. We love it. I can't stress enough how much I love it. What is your favorite thing about pick time?

[0:00:27] Audrey Nicole: I love the way it looks on the clients and I think it's beautiful. I love the shop that's attached because it's so easy to use. I love that I can send coupons really easily and I love everything else.

[0:00:42] Natalie Jennings: I love all of those things too. And you can easily create slideshows so they make it super easy. It's an emotional experience when you create a slideshow for folks. I love that it used to be like ten years ago it was oh my gosh. It was such an adventure to try and get my wedding clients a slideshow. I had it hosted on Amazon as three. I was doing like six different it was wild trying to get this to happen. And now it's all in picktime, which is amazing. Plus their automations are amazing here. I want pick time to send my clients emails every week for four weeks to announce a sale I'm having. It's just so easy. It makes so much sense. And I have beta access to this. They are dropping this really soon for pick time users. If you are a paid pick time user, an unpaid and you upgrade to a paid plan, you get a month free if you use the code photo biz help.

[0:01:40] Natalie Jennings: So that's huge. So if you want to upgrade and be a part of this, I'm just going to announce this right now. I'll tell you at the end to go to pick time and use code photo biz help when you upgrade because you'll get a free month. All that said, they are releasing integrated blog posts now. This is insane for so many reasons. Literally to not this is how it works. And then like looking at it in real time. I've tested this. If you go to Jennings Photo and you go to my blog, the first couple of blog posts that you see are done with pick time. You just go to a gallery in Picktime. So you click on Katie's Gallery and then you go to Photos so you can see all the photos that you've delivered to this person. And then there's up at the top two options. Create a slideshow or a blog post. So then you click on blog post. Just wait though.

[0:02:33] Natalie Jennings: This is where it gets really cool. There's a few different like, looks. There's an organized editorial in full and they're all beautiful. So just pick one and hit continue. And then you can customize all the things. You can customize colors, fonts, all the things. So palettes, all that kind of stuff. You select the images you want to go into the blog post. I am going to just select a scene and add photos and doing this kind of as we're talking here.

[0:03:02] Audrey Nicole: So you can pick which images. It's not the whole gallery.

[0:03:05] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, you don't have to use the whole gallery if you don't want to.

[0:03:07] Audrey Nicole: Perfect.

[0:03:07] Natalie Jennings: Then you're in the blog editor and it lays it out for you. It's beautiful. Each thing is in like a little block that you can edit separately. So it's not one big thing. You can move each of the blocks. Each block might be two photos or one photo or a little photo with text. You can move those around in the sidebar so that you can change the order of the blog post. So that's really helpful for weddings, especially if you're trying to tell a story. Any story you're trying to tell is helpful. But it's basically popped all of these photos in this beautiful blog post that I can scroll through all the way to the bottom on the left side and then I can dig in and edit, like I said, font, color palette, style, all that stuff in the main editor. Then this is the best part. This is like literally blog post in 2 seconds. You can check it on mobile so you can click the little phone icon and see how it looks on mobile. Looks awesome on mobile. Great.

[0:03:59] Natalie Jennings: Then you can go to share and SEO. When it looks the way you want it, you go to Share and SEO and hang on, I'm waiting for it to load. So there's an option to set up your SEO and that just opens up a little window where you can do the alt tags. And let's see here. You first want to check allow indexing of this page. That way it's being processed for SEO. So you have the blog name, the SEO description. It shows you all of the images that are in the post. You can write a short description of them and then you can do a file name. But if you go through and do a short description of each image and then click auto rename files, it'll name the file based on the description. So you're skipping a whole step.

[0:04:46] Audrey Nicole: Oh my gosh.

[0:04:48] Natalie Jennings: And you don't want to be super redundant about descriptions. You want to actually say like a couple sitting on a couch, a couple in Minneapolis, a couple, you know, kissing in Minneapolis or whatever. Like they don't have to be wildly creative. But the more time you spend on this, the better. And then if you click image file names and Auto rename, all the files will then reflect what you've put for the alt text.

[0:05:12] Audrey Nicole: So you type in the alt text for each image like you would normally for SEO. But you don't have to write in the file name because it will automate a file name for you.

[0:05:25] Natalie Jennings: Right? So give me, like okay, there's a couple sitting on a couch. Let's say a couple sitting on a couch in Minneapolis. Engagement or something, right? Engagement session. So that's like my kind of poor that's a really bad description, but that's what they're doing. And then if I do auto rename files now, the name of the file is coupled sitting on couch. So it's like it's the file name now.

[0:05:59] Audrey Nicole: Okay.

[0:06:00] Natalie Jennings: It's taking every word you use in the description and turning it into a file name automatically. So in other words, you just have to go through and do the descriptions it will go through and make the file names for you, which is huge for SEO.

[0:06:12] Audrey Nicole: And then backing up a step to when you had the layout of the images, you said they're blocks that you can move around.

[0:06:20] Natalie Jennings: Yes.

[0:06:20] Audrey Nicole: Can you change how many photos are in a block? Like, say one has three, but you just want one image. Can you separate them out?

[0:06:29] Natalie Jennings: That's a great question. Let me see. So I'm just looking at a block with a bunch of images in it, and yes, you just click block layout, and you can change it to a bajillion different options. So this block has six photos in it, and it's like a cute little series. But I can go to block layout in that block, not the whole blog post. And it shows me a bajillion different grids. One photo grids, two photographs, three photographs. And then it gives you grids with text, which is so cute.

[0:07:03] Audrey Nicole: So then you could put text in between the photos.

[0:07:06] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, you can make it look like a little article. Okay.

[0:07:09] Audrey Nicole: They're so smart.

[0:07:10] Natalie Jennings: But wait.

[0:07:12] Audrey Nicole: Oh, stop.

[0:07:13] Natalie Jennings: All right, so you've created your beautiful blog post from the gallery that you've already published with your clients. So if there's no additional finding the images, uploading the images. It's so easy to choose the images because they let you choose it right there. You choose the style, literally. If you're going quickly, you can have the blog post ready to share it in, like five minutes.

[0:07:34] Audrey Nicole: I feel emotional.

[0:07:35] Natalie Jennings: I was because I did it for many sessions and I was like, what is going on?

[0:07:40] Audrey Nicole: Because blogging for a lot of people is so blogging is such a thing sometimes, and especially if you've already delivered the gallery and you have to go back to the session, there's just something energetically that's like about it.

[0:07:53] Natalie Jennings: Yeah.

[0:07:54] Audrey Nicole: And this is just oh, it makes me emotional.

[0:07:57] Natalie Jennings: Yeah.

[0:07:58] Audrey Nicole: What a nerd.

[0:07:59] Natalie Jennings: I'm going to plug my own stuff just because I can. But if you go to Jennings Photo and then click on the blog, there's a post I just did called what does a Full Mini Gallery Look Like? And this post was done using the pick time interface, and I tried purposely to do it in like, five minutes. So anything that you see that's just a little wonky or not quite lined up. I did this in less than five minutes. I have, like, a little quote. I'm pretty sure he wore it best. You'll see, it's not a great example of a great blog post, but it is a great example of a five minute job.

[0:08:37] Audrey Nicole: The first blog post that you did.

[0:08:39] Natalie Jennings: Where it says, what does a full mini gallery look like? And there's a cute little kiddo and suspenders. Yeah.

[0:08:45] Audrey Nicole: Looking at it right now. Okay, so this was done through Pick.

[0:08:48] Natalie Jennings: Time in less than five minutes. This is great, but, I mean, you can see how I would want to change it. I just threw text in in certain places just to test. But my point is, it still does the job. So even if you just throw it up in five minutes, you're still getting every single session that you do. You can put it in your workflow. You send the photos to the clients, and you schedule ten minutes for yourself to create a blog post, or 15 minutes, and it's done. And it's part of your whole thing. But let me finish with the best part. This is my favorite. This part freaked me out when they told me about this. So you've created a blog post in Picktime. If you don't have a website that's, like, easy to use or set up even, and you're just confused by how it works, you can just get the link to the blog post and share it. You could share it in an email, for example. You could send your client and say, hey, I put your images together in a blog post, so it tells the story a little better.

[0:09:39] Natalie Jennings: Here's a link to that post, and it'll bring them back to Pick time to see the blog post.

[0:09:43] Audrey Nicole: Okay?

[0:09:44] Natalie Jennings: For those of us that are super concerned about SEO and want people to come to our sites, you can also just get an embed code of the blog post and embed it into the HTML of your site. And that's what I did. So it's like, literally in five minutes, the blog post I just told you about, I had those photos already uploaded. I just threw them into a blog post really quick, added a little bit of text, grabbed the embed code, embedded it on my site, and I had a blog post. It was insane.

[0:10:17] Audrey Nicole: I can't even find the words.

[0:10:19] Natalie Jennings: I mean, I could go through every let's see, I probably have, like, a few hundred clients now in Picktime since I switched over. I could probably get all of those blogged in a week. Yeah, if I wanted to. I mean, of course you might not want to, but the point is, it would be silly not to try this, and I think Pick time has just blown it out of the process. I'm not just saying this because they're a sponsor I love. I freak out. They are the most amazing company.

[0:10:44] Audrey Nicole: They're brilliant. They're so good.

[0:10:46] Natalie Jennings: If you are trying, I think there's like a free option or you may have to upgrade for the blog option, I'm not sure. But our offer with the podcast is that if you upgrade to a paid option, use code Photobiz help at checkout and you get a full month free. So even if you're on the fence here or you're on a budget, you can try it and you can quit, but I don't think you'll want to.

[0:11:07] Audrey Nicole: That's all.

[0:11:08] Natalie Jennings: Yeah, it's really amazing.

[0:11:10] Audrey Nicole: Do you know when they're launching this?

[0:11:14] Natalie Jennings: It should be out probably right around the time that you're hearing this right now. So if you're hearing this, we're recording on Valentine's Day. It's supposed to be out between now and early March.

[0:11:24] Audrey Nicole: I feel so special that I know about this.

[0:11:28] Natalie Jennings: Well, everyone go rush to pick time. Use code photo Help. Like I said, if you go to my site and you check out that blog post I mentioned, Jennings Photoblog, it is not a bad post at all. No, it's a little kiddo. And like I said, suspenders. It says, what does a full mini session look like? Yeah, I just challenged myself to do it super fast and I can see.

[0:11:52] Audrey Nicole: What you mean with the spacing and stuff, wanting it to be more uniform, but that's an entirely like a personal preference thing. Anybody else seeing this would be like, this is beautiful, right?

[0:12:03] Natalie Jennings: And the people that are going to be looking through it really fast on their phone, I mean, it's doing the job. It's doing the job of showing people what you do. And if you're crunched for time, if you hate blogging because it's just like it used to take forever to put a blog post together. If you're a wedding photographer and you're listening to me, if you decide to forego the pick time option, I would be shocked. Because the only advantage to not doing this is that you're depending on pick time. Right? So that is the only advantage. It's connected to pick time. But I can't see really why that matters if you're going to use pick time anyway.

[0:12:47] Audrey Nicole: Well, and I'm using an external blogger, I use something called Narrative, which has made blogging easier, but it's not this easy by any means.

[0:12:57] Natalie Jennings: Yeah.

[0:12:58] Audrey Nicole: So I would much rather if all my photos are going to be stored inside of picktime, I would so much rather have my blog post also be connected to that.

[0:13:06] Natalie Jennings: And if it makes you feel better, do a blog natively on your website and do five in picktime and then do one natively on your website and do five in picktime, just in case you're feeling weird about it. But I use picktime for every part of my workflow now and I don't anticipate ever not using it, so I can't imagine. It just seems like such an amazing option.

[0:13:26] Audrey Nicole: Mind is blown. Officially, you blew it.

[0:13:30] Natalie Jennings: Well, I mean, the whole time that I was sitting on the call with them, I was like, what, were you.

[0:13:36] Audrey Nicole: Like rocking back and forth? I would literally be like rocking back and forth like, oh my God, right now I'm logged into my Picktime account. I'm like looking. I'm like, come on, refresh, where is it?

[0:13:46] Natalie Jennings: I know, I couldn't believe it. And again, I still can't even just walking all of you through this. And I know you can't see it, and I know that's frustrating and we probably should switch to doing video at some point for this podcast, but for the most part, I think I explained it pretty well. It just takes 2 seconds, that's it.

[0:14:04] Audrey Nicole: This is going to be a game changer. People are going to fork out because.

[0:14:08] Natalie Jennings: You don't have to have a different software. You can do it all in one when it comes to a workflow, like, okay, I'm uploading, they're proofing, I'm editing, I'm delivering, they're purchasing. I'm doing an automation app, I'm doing a little slideshow for them so they get excited to buy something or maybe anomy's simple sales system, whatever you're doing it's all in Pick time. And then that blog post can be just an extra ten minutes on your workflow. And now you are not the person that's like, oh God, I need to blog. You're no longer that person.

[0:14:40] Audrey Nicole: I'm like literally speechless.

[0:14:41] Natalie Jennings: I know. I can see your I wish you could see Audrey's face.

[0:14:45] Audrey Nicole: I know. I'm thinking my eyes are like twitching back and forth. I'm just like, I can't process all this. It makes me wonder what else they have up their sleeve. Like a culling software down the line. Like all of it just beautiful. I'm so excited.

[0:15:01] Natalie Jennings: And they're lovely people. They're absolutely lovely people. They've been a joy to work with. So I am excited for so many reasons to support them. It's always a joy for me. For example, I used Pick time before they became a sponsor. And so that is the best relationship you can possibly have with a sponsor. It's like to already be genuinely excited about it. They want to get the word out because they're making cool shit. I'm happy to just tell everybody about it because you can probably hear in my voice how mind blown I am. But once again, I have to say this just to remind you. If you upgrade to a paid version of Picktime, you get a month free if you use code photo biz help. So don't forget the code. Use that, check it out. And this should be just keep your eye out for when they drop this because it's going to change your whole life.

[0:15:44] Natalie Jennings: And you can move into spring and summer and fall and busy season and just be showing your best work. And you could literally sit down for Sunday and show twelve sessions or more. Audrey flight.

[0:15:58] Audrey Nicole: I know I'm disassociating right now. I'm thinking about this fall. I'm like, I can actually blog in the fall time, I'll deliver, and then I'll just go right into the blog and I'll blog.

[0:16:13] Natalie Jennings: Yes.

[0:16:13] Audrey Nicole: And it won't be two separate things. It's just part of the thing. You know what I'm saying?

[0:16:19] Natalie Jennings: What's so brilliant for me is, like, for the shoots, that I offer proofing. So if someone does head photo with me and they proof and they choose their 15 favorites, then I edit those 15 favorites. Those are a different scene in pick time. You can break up galleries into scenes in picktime. So when I go to create a blog post, all I have to do is click on that beautiful scene that I know they love, that I know I've spent a ton of time editing, and I don't have to sift through all the other photos. It's just like it's right there. It's ready for me. Now it's a blog post. Now it's on my blog. In fact, I think it'd be really fun if people time themselves and just wrote in and told us it took me 30 seconds.

[0:17:00] Audrey Nicole: It just makes me love my sometimes I just have these moments where I'm like, I can't even believe this is my job. It's so fun.

[0:17:08] Natalie Jennings: Thank you, Pick time.

[0:17:09] Audrey Nicole: I am also a huge nerd, but thanks, pick time. You're the best.

[0:17:16] Natalie Jennings: You made us smile today. I feel like I haven't stopped smiling. I'm like, Ah, this is maybe one of those episodes that should have been video, but maybe it's better you can.

[0:17:26] Audrey Nicole: See me, just like, you know, that meme where the math equations are floating past the person and they're just, like, trying to figure it out. I feel like that was me just now. Just like E equals MC squared. What?

[0:17:41] Natalie Jennings: Mind blowing. All right, well, we got a role, but use code photo biz help when you upgrade to your paid pick time account, and you will get a month free. So there's really no reason not to do this if you're on the fence, even just mess around with the next session or two you do and just see how it feels. But I just don't think anybody's going to not like pick time once they get rolling. So thanks for listening to me explain this, Audrey.

[0:18:05] Audrey Nicole: Thank you for making my life.

[0:18:07] Natalie Jennings: And thanks to all of you for listening. We'll be back next week.

[0:18:11] Audrey Nicole: Bye.