You’ve seen the newsletter sponsorships. You’ve seen the Photograph of the Month sponsorships. Now read an interview with Mike Caston of BIGFolio.

BIG Folio has grown quite a bit over the past couple of years – tell me a little bit about the history of BIG Folio: who you are, and how you got started.

BIG Folio was started in May of 2004. BIG Folio, Inc. began with Mike Caston and Erik Dungan after the sale of their educational software business, Teaching Gear. BIG Folio built a simple content management system to allow a local photographer control over his website content. The idea was then presented to a small group of photographers of which Bambi Cantrell was one. Bambi became our biggest advocate and really helped refer a large clientele as well as provide us instant validity.

What services do you currently offer? Where is Big Folio heading – what can we expect out of Big Folio over the next little while?

Websites are our main offering. Between BIG Folio and TEN Bricks we have over 35 template designs for our clients to choose from. All of our sites are designed by our top notch Flash developers. All sites allow the client to control most aspects of the site. From color changes, to adding and removing images, adding a logo, adding music, adding links, adding PDF files, and more– the client has the reins. Future plans for the BIG Folio sites are to allow much more ease of addition of video to the sites as well as the continued release of new designs for clients to choose from.

BIG Show is an online slideshow builder/ presentation tool. With the BIG Show you can add the slideshow to your website, email to wedding guests immediately following the wedding, link to sales, link to the photographers’ website and more. The solution allows for 20 images to be uploaded with music and a brief message related to the particular slideshow. Plans for the BIG Show in the immediate future are to introduce new designs/ players and to allow for 50 images instead of 20.

The BIG Folio blog is a blogging solution created with the photographer in mind. We’ve made blogging simple, effective, and beautiful - with a focus on the clients’ images and business. The solution allows for adding a single image, collage of images, links, articles, listing of Recent Events, and all the standard blog features you will find elsewhere. As far as ‘what can we expect’ for the blog solution, I think you will see more themes/ designs and improved controls on the administrative side.

BIG Folio just introduced our Website Optimization service. The service is available to anyone with a website. People are out there trying to find photographers for all kinds of areas of photography. We want to help the photographers be found. Contrary to what many believe, having a beautiful Flash website does not mean your site will be inaccessible to some or that your search engine rankings have to suffer.

At BIG Folio, we know Flash websites and how to optimize them. Our optimization service helps attract more potential customers. We will analyze the Flash site, make necessary optimization changes, and deliver a plan for ongoing improvements.

Drop Proof is on open source online proofing and sales solution. The solution is built on PHP and is designed to be lightweight and easy to setup. The tool is tied into PayPal for easy payment processing and order taking.

Why would a photographer, specifically an amateur photographer, want their own website? Why would an amateur photographer choose a BIG Folio website over a free photo-hosting site like Flickr or Picasa by Google (or even The Corner Galleries)?

I think an amateur photographer would want their own website if they plan on becoming a professional photographer. In all honesty, sites like Flickr are both functional and valuable for those who do not require a full website solution.

You’ve recently sponsored the February 2007, March 2007 & April 2007 Photograph of the Month contests here on the Corner, offering a free website to each of the winners (SWEET, thanks!). What products/services do you offer that you would specifically recommend to members of PhotographyCorner (with the majority being amateur and pre-pro photographers)?

I recommend any/ all of our solutions to a photographer who is just starting out. Specifically, blogs help make a connection on a personal level with your clients. A website allows the professionalism required to get the bookings. The slideshows are nice as a marketing piece for referrals as well as a great quick follow up to a shoot.

There are now quite a few companies that cater their web design services to the photographer market. What makes BIG Folio stand out above the rest? What services do you offer than make BIG Folio unique?

I think what makes BIG Folio stand out above the rest is two different things. First off we are becoming the one stop for all things web- based a photographer needs. You can come to us to get a site and add on a slideshow tool, a blog, a sales tool, and get your site optimized for search engines in one stop. Second, and probably more important is we put a major emphasis on our customer support. We call our support ‘frantic’ or ‘rabid’. You will receive immediate response during normal business hours to all phone calls and email. We also have staff available on iChat for support.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Mike. I’m looking forward to seeing BIGFolio sites in the signatures of numerous PhotographyCorner members.