The Chambers of Commerce

The Clovis Chamber of Commerce and the Fresno Chamber of Commerce are fixtures in the Central San Joaquin Valley business community. They both have long and grand histories advocating for and promoting local businesses.

• The Clovis District Chamber of Commerce has been a key participant in building the Clovis community by connecting its business members to create The Clovis Way of Life since 1924.

• The Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce has been working hard to encourage growth and identify needs and opportunities of the business community since 1885. 

The Clovis Chamber of Commerce

The Fresno Chamber of Commerce

Clawson Honda of Fresno and Clawson Motorsports

Clawson is a familiar business name in the Fresno area.  Jack Clawson established it back in 1936 as Clawson Boatworks. Today the name lives on in Clawson Honda of Fresno and Clawson Motorsports -- both known for their commitment to customer service, their employees and the community.   ParleyShot Commercial Photography is very proud to be part of their long, revered history.

Here are their exceptional showrooms..

A Photography Solution for Small Business - The Google Business View virtual tour

When speaking with business owners about Google Business View virtual tours they often believe that a Google virtual tour of their business is a nice thing to have but not really essential to their marketing plan.

What I hope to get them to understand is that Google Business tours help to remove the uncertainty about their business as consumers search online. New customers can see that you are legitimate, professional, and well-run and that delivers to them the confidence they need in you.

But it's much more than that. It's how you are now seen.

When you began your business, you probably didn't consider the ROI on the business sign that people would look for on your place of business. I was simply necessary for you to be found by your customers. Without it, they would simply go to the next business that had what you offered. A Google Business tour is no different.

Over 90% of adults are online. Nearly 64% use Google daily. Your Google business listing is often the first impression they'll see of you and simply a map showing where you are says very little about you.

The US Small Business Administration cites the following reasons for having a business sign:
• Signs are the most effective, yet least expensive, form of advertising for the small business.
• A sign is your introduction and handshake with those passing by, identifying your business to existing and potential customers.
• Signs are always on the job for you, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• People often judge a business by how it looks on the sign.
• Many merchants increase their business measurably just by adding a good sign. Conversely, many have gone out of business because they simply were not identified well, so not enough potential customers knew of their existence. As one sign industry professional put it, “”A business without a sign is a sign of no business.””
• We live in a mobile society. According to the United States Census Bureau, 18% of households relocate each year. As your customers move, you need to replace them by attracting new customers

 All of these reasons are just as relevant for your online ‘sign’ as they are for your brick and mortar sign. Actually, even more so, given that your Google listing is most likely the first point of contact consumers will have with your business.

So to answer the question, what problem does a Google business tour solve for my business? In short, it shows potential customers you are a business worth visiting.

Good Form

I saw the legendary California photographer Ed Lawrence at the Ram Tap Horse Trials event in Highway City. There he was again, down as low in the dirt as he could position himself, shooting just one frame off as the horse made it's jump.  

His timing was incredible. He'd always catch the horse on it's way up, the back legs had just left the ground, rider in either the right or wrong position that would determine if the horse would land properly or not. Ed was a photographer. The working kind. 

I'd actually met Ed years before when I was a photo lab tech at a west Fresno Kinko's Copies. He used to bring me his film to develop because, as he put it one day, "I like how you print my stuff, kid". There was no higher honor.

For decades, he and his wife used to process the 50 or so rolls of film he'd shoot in the day into prints, on-site, right out of the back of his station wagon before one-hour photolabs made that a ridiculous way to spend all your sleeping hours.

The next day of the two-day events, his wife would have a table out with all the 5"x7" and 8"x10" prints from the previous day's trials for the riders and their family's to buy up. They did. Nobody was getting what Ed was getting and nobody was doing was Ed and his wife were doing. 

The next to last time I ever saw Ed was after I'd processed forty-eight 24-exposure rolls of Kodak professional Portra 160 into three sets of 5"x7"s. He picked them up later that night and slipped me $100.00 in a photo order envelope as he left. He hadn't done that before. The season was ending, he and his wife were heading back home, and I suppose this was another way of saying he liked the way I printed his stuff. 

I left Kinko's shortly after that, never to run into Ed again, until I had the Ram Tap horse trials photo assignment for The Fresno Bee some ten years later. As I arrived to the event, I thought to myself, "I wonder if I'll see Ed Lawrence? Wouldn't that be a thrill!"

And there he was again. Low in the dirt, still getting the shot. He was old now. He was old when I first met him. There's no retirement plan for most working photographers. He was a little slower. He remembered me, but not like I remembered him.

I hung out next to Ed for a bit. Just enough to make him lose his rhythm, so I left. I went fifty yards over, got low in the dirt and waited for the horse's back legs to just leave the ground. 

See more of the legendary Ed Lawrence's work at his site:
http://edlawrencephotocom.zenfolio.com/p151434745

A story on Ed Lawrence reproduced from the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.venturacountytrails.org/WP/page/14/