New features across all account levels help photographers display, market and sell their work

New York, NY, June 10, 2010 – PhotoShelter, the leader in photography websites, photo sales and archiving tools for photographers, today announced a series of product enhancements designed to help more photographers successfully grow their businesses online using PhotoShelter. PhotoShelter’s latest upgrades include:

• the introduction of a single configurable website theme for Free and Basic ($9.99/mo) accounts, replacing their PhotoShelter-branded image galleries,

• automatic submission of web page and image sitemaps to Google Webmaster, designed to increase Google Images indexing, support SEO, and drive unsolicited search visits,

• simplified website setup, customization, and gallery management, enabling photographers to easily publish, sell, and distribute images via their websites in minutes with no coding skills required,

• and many more new features including two additional customizable website pages, a new HTML editor for easy website edits in key areas, and shorter, cleaner URLs in keeping with industry best practices.

“By giving our entry-level accounts an affordable, pro-grade website template backed by PhotoShelter’s powerful photo business tools, we’re addressing the growing market of emerging photographers who demand a high-quality website plus the critical features and support necessary to build their photography businesses,” said PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi. “The additional upgrades were influenced by user feedback to simplify the product, give a wider range of website functionality, and get our photographers’ images found by Google.’”

PhotoShelter continues to distinguish itself among photography website vendors and hosting providers by offering the only complete business solution designed to provide serious photographers with the tools and guidance they need to build thriving photo businesses online. PhotoShelter gives photographers advanced marketing tools to attract new visitors with Search Engine Optimization and social sharing capabilities, convert visitors into paying clients with a flexible e-commerce platform for print sales and image licensing, and provide outstanding client service with fully searchable image archives and multiple image delivery and distribution options.

“Nobody else in the industry combines elegant websites, a full set of business tools, and the extensive educational resources that photographers can use to succeed online amidst a changing industry,” added Murabayashi.

Previously, PhotoShelter's introductory product levels (e.g. Free & Basic) received a PhotoShelter-branded page for hosting photography online, while higher level accounts (e.g. Standard & Pro) had access to 9 different website themes and manual design customization features. Now, the Free and Basic accounts will have access to a full-featured photography website theme that can be easily launched and updated with unlimited image galleries, custom branding for the individual photographer, control of image sizes, static and slideshow display, and all of PhotoShelter's robust tools like image search, e-commerce, SEO and built-in social sharing features.

PhotoShelter’s switch to automatic submission of website and image sitemaps to Google Webmaster fully complies with Google’s recently announced image sitemap protocol – the first-ever guidance provided by Google on how to facilitate indexing by Google Image Search. By providing Google with enhanced visibility to individual PhotoShelter member images, PhotoShelter members gain an edge in attracting new, unsolicited site visitors who use Google image search to source photography and find photographers. Coupled with PhotoShelter’s SEO Grader tool, which scans, evaluates and makes recommendations for improvements across 30 factors a photographer can control on their websites, PhotoShelter members have the industry’s most powerful and unique resources to harness search engine traffic and generate new business.

“Our ambitious schedule of additional product upgrades throughout the remainder of 2010 will focus on adding more powerful tools for photographers and improving the usability of our current features,” said Murabayashi. “We want photographers at all levels to see PhotoShelter as a valuable partner committed to helping them build their photography business online, on their terms.”

PhotoShelter is currently offering $1 trial accounts for 14 days at every product level to enable photographers to experience PhotoShelter websites and tools with no long term commitment. To learn more and try a PhotoShelter account for $1, visit http://www.photoshelter.com/tour.

About PhotoShelter
PhotoShelter is the leader in portfolio websites, photo sales, marketing and archiving tools for photographers.

Over 60,000 photographers worldwide use PhotoShelter to power their success online, with customizable website templates, searchable photo galleries, e-commerce capabilities, and bulletproof image storage. Photographers can create a professional PhotoShelter website in under five minutes, or customize PhotoShelter to power their existing photography website. A true solution designed to make the business of photography easier to manage - PhotoShelter offers image security, global accessibility, and advanced marketing tools like SEO and social media sharing capabilities so photographers can make their images work harder for them. To join our community, visit http://www.photoshelter.com.

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