How to spark more sales...

Bishop Gideon

That's the big question and I'm looking for advice. What do *you* do to make more sales?

I just got done this weekend shooting a lawnmower race. I told everyone there about the pictures, even printed some out with my website name on them and handed them out to key racers. (Key racers, to me, are the ones that everyone talks to and respects.)

I posted on all the forums that the pictures would be up at a certain price for 1 month, then I would raise the prices to cover and "archive" fee. Ya know, just a little something to push the "Oh! A Sale! I better buy now!" mentality.

It's only been since Monday that I put the photos up, but I've gotten plenty of people looking at the photos. Only 1 person bought anything, but of course, I was expecting many more sales. I even got some really good shots, in my opinion.

My only thoughts are:

1. The site is too confusing... But, some people have bought things, so that may be a cop out on my end.
B. My pricing is too high... I really don't think this is the case. My prices are very low, probably too low. But I'm trying to see what the market will allow.
III. Maybe my shots aren't as good as I think they are... but being the man that I am, I know they are great shots. So that can't be it.

What do you guys (and gals) think? What's the best way to "push" people to buy?

Oh, in case you're wondering, the shots are here: http://www.digitalfreeze.com/lawnmower%20racing (under Illinois Triple Header)

Thanks everyone...

mbellot

Bishop Gideon wrote:

My only thoughts are:

1. The site is too confusing... But, some people have bought things, so that may be a cop out on my end.

Could be. One thing I've started doing is using vanity URLs for events. Zero navigation, the customer puts in the simple url and they are immediately brought to the pictures.

One comment/opinion, I think square thumbs is hurting you. Many of your pictures are 90% dirt and hay when just looking at the thumb.

Bishop Gideon wrote:

B. My pricing is too high... I really don't think this is the case. My prices are very low, probably too low. But I'm trying to see what the market will allow.

Opinions will vary wildly on this, pricing can be an inflammatory topic.

FWIW, your prices aren't far off mine.

Bishop Gideon wrote:

III. Maybe my shots aren't as good as I think they are... but being the man that I am, I know they are great shots. So that can't be it.

Some are pretty good, others maybe not (especially the ones with lots of dust in the air). Did you post everything, or is this "the best of the best"?

When I shoot an event I end up with less than 50% (many times closer to 30%) that actually get posted so I'm only showing the best quality shots.

Bishop Gideon wrote:

What do you guys (and gals) think? What's the best way to "push" people to buy?

You can't "push", only make it as enticing as possible.

Bishop Gideon

mbellot wrote:

One comment/opinion, I think square thumbs is hurting you. Many of your pictures are 90% dirt and hay when just looking at the thumb.

Hmmm that's an idea... maybe I should use original instead of square thumbs. I think I'll change that when I send out a reminder.

mbellot wrote:

Some are pretty good, others maybe not (especially the ones with lots of dust in the air). Did you post everything, or is this "the best of the best"?

The dust is unavoidable. Some races are better than others in keeping down the dust, but these were terrible. I had to try and catch people within the first couple laps or I was in trouble. But then, I also tried to catch 99% of the people so everyone would have some shots of themselves to look at. It's just really rough when you're dealing with track officials who don't care about the dust too much. So I posted the "best of the best" but with a few "this is the only shot I have of that guy, might as well put it up..."

mbellot wrote:

When I shoot an event I end up with less than 50% (many times closer to 30%) that actually get posted so I'm only showing the best quality shots.

I took about 350 shots that weekend and only posted about 150 or so. Then I went through these and narrowed them down again. The other hard part is that I need to get ready to race also! So I have to do a bit of running around during certain parts of the races. I know it's not the best idea, I should either race or take pictures, but I love both, so I split my time up as best as possible.

mbellot wrote:

You can't "push", only make it as enticing as possible.

Maybe I should try threatening people. "Buy my pictures or I'll flatten your tires before the next race!" nah... probably not the best idea.

chuckinsocal

Hi Guys,

IMHO, SmugMug doesn't make it real obvious that prints can be purchased with just that little "Buy Photo" link over the photo buried among the other link buttons. People just don't notice it.

Perhaps creating your own more obvious shopping cart link in the caption section would attract more sales. Something like "Order a Print of this Photo". The actual link would be something like Order a Print of this Photo</*html>. You could even use different font styles and colors to make it more attractive, etc.

It's a little more work 'cause you'd have to do it for each photo but you could do it in bulk captions with a quick copy and paste thing.

Worth a try?

swintonphoto

One thing I started doing this past year was attending a local business networking group. I get a lot of business from it. It is part of an international organization that has chapters just about everywhere. It is called BNI.
http://www.bni.com/

Word of mouth does more than anything.

Also, if you do weddings I pay for some banner ads on some wedding websites like wedj.com. They pay off big. I get most of my business through my internet advertising.

foxwizard

Bishop Gideon wrote:

That's the big question and I'm looking for advice. What do *you* do to make more sales?

I just got done this weekend shooting a lawnmower race. I told everyone there about the pictures, even printed some out with my website name on them and handed them out to key racers. (Key racers, to me, are the ones that everyone talks to and respects.)

I posted on all the forums that the pictures would be up at a certain price for 1 month, then I would raise the prices to cover and "archive" fee. Ya know, just a little something to push the "Oh! A Sale! I better buy now!" mentality.

It's only been since Monday that I put the photos up, but I've gotten plenty of people looking at the photos. Only 1 person bought anything, but of course, I was expecting many more sales. I even got some really good shots, in my opinion.

My only thoughts are:

1. The site is too confusing... But, some people have bought things, so that may be a cop out on my end.
B. My pricing is too high... I really don't think this is the case. My prices are very low, probably too low. But I'm trying to see what the market will allow.
III. Maybe my shots aren't as good as I think they are... but being the man that I am, I know they are great shots. So that can't be it.

What do you guys (and gals) think? What's the best way to "push" people to buy?

Oh, in case you're wondering, the shots are here: http://www.digitalfreeze.com/lawnmower%20racing (under Illinois Triple Header)

Thanks everyone...

Just an observation, but you can right-click your photos and save the images; many people don't even use prints anymore, and the capture is just as good as your image file on a monitor. Might want to protect tthose.

mercphoto

Bishop Gideon wrote:

III. Maybe my shots aren't as good as I think they are... but being the man that I am, I know they are great shots. So that can't be it.

Well, I went over your gallery and I really think you need to be way more selective about what you post and what you toss. I also think you need to get a more shallow depth-of-field, or make your backgrounds work for you better. Lastly even a little bit of post processing would go a long way to making the images "pop", even given the dust problem. In other words, sorry, but I don't agree they are great shots. You have some work to do. Both in capture and in post.

Now this is a good shot, but I do question if there is a white balance issue:
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344707328_sDDqK

Many though are just not compelling images. For example, many look like this image here, where I can't honestly tell if the tractor is even moving, is it just posed for the shot? Is it on a race track? Is it racing? And the background is way too crisp and sharp and distracting as a result:
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344712553_Rj8R5

You have some images up that should have landed in the trash bin rather than put up for sale. Like this one: http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344706693_6bSK4
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#P-4-30

nsignia

word of mouth is huge I think in any business. I am a screen printer and despite my best marketing practices and website, when I ask a client where they heard of me it is almost always some connection to someone I know, (like my freinds, freinds, sisters, cousin, etc...)

I think the best thing you can do for your business is go out and tell everyone you know! and dont forget to give some freebies away to people who know alot of people

as for smug mug, maybe make up some business cards and make it clear on them that photos may be purchased through your website.

mrcoons

chuckinsocal wrote:

Hi Guys,

IMHO, SmugMug doesn't make it real obvious that prints can be purchased with just that little "Buy Photo" link over the photo buried among the other link buttons. People just don't notice it.

Perhaps creating your own more obvious shopping cart link in the caption section would attract more sales. Something like "Order a Print of this Photo". The actual link would be something like <h*tml><a href="javascript:addCartSingle(ImageID,ImageKey)">Order a Print of this Photo</a></*html>. You could even use different font styles and colors to make it more attractive, etc.

It's a little more work 'cause you'd have to do it for each photo but you could do it in bulk captions with a quick copy and paste thing.

Worth a try?

This is a great point and one I agree with 100%. I added notices all over my site that all photos were for sale and the next couple of events I did the sales went up. Could be they would have bought anyway but every little bit helps.

Coupons and packages will be a big boost to all event photographers I would think. But I've been wrong before! <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/headscratch.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

Bishop Gideon

mercphoto wrote:

Well, I went over your gallery and I really think you need to be way more selective about what you post and what you toss. I also think you need to get a more shallow depth-of-field, or make your backgrounds work for you better. Lastly even a little bit of post processing would go a long way to making the images "pop", even given the dust problem. In other words, sorry, but I don't agree they are great shots. You have some work to do. Both in capture and in post.

Thank's for the comments. Critisism can be helpful and I agree with alot of your points. Especially the depth of field. I think I need to reign that in a little bit to bring the focus on the one subject.

mercphoto wrote:

Now this is a good shot, but I do question if there is a white balance issue:
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344707328_sDDqK

To be honest, I try to keep the shots how I saw them before I took the picture. That was a very bright area to begin with and I think that maybe I could tone it down a bit, but it looked like I saw it, so I decided to leave it be. I'm begining to think I shouldn't necessarily leave shots like I saw them, but make them better than what I saw.

mercphoto wrote:

Many though are just not compelling images. For example, many look like this image here, where I can't honestly tell if the tractor is even moving, is it just posed for the shot? Is it on a race track? Is it racing? And the background is way too crisp and sharp and distracting as a result:
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344712553_Rj8R5

Interesting shot you picked. They were moving around the track, but that is the slowest class. It's really hard to do any type of panning with them to get any type of motion blur. But, also, I think, that if you know what you're looking at (ie, the racer) you'll be more apt to understand the shot. But I also think you're right about the background. I have a bad habit of taking everything in focus and I need to work on that.

mercphoto wrote:

You have some images up that should have landed in the trash bin rather than put up for sale. Like this one: http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#344706693_6bSK4
http://digitalfreeze.smugmug.com/gallery/5616469_sB5mo#P-4-30

You're correct with those two. I shouldn't have included them. For the life of me I'm not sure why I left them in. I can distinctly remember looking, at least at the helmet shot, and saying "I have better shots than these, I better take them out." And tada, there they are.

Thanks for that advice. I think I have 1 or 2 more races coming up this year that I'm not going to race in. So I can spend more time making my shots better.

Bishop Gideon

foxwizard wrote:

Just an observation, but you can right-click your photos and save the images; many people don't even use prints anymore, and the capture is just as good as your image file on a monitor. Might want to protect tthose.

I just checked and the gallery in question is right-click protected. At least according to the SmugMug panel thingy. I just went in and checked them out also, and I got the warning message.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place... could you link to the gallery or photo in question?

Thanks!

mercphoto

Bishop Gideon wrote:

I'm begining to think I shouldn't necessarily leave shots like I saw them, but make them better than what I saw.

To quote a portrait photographer I know, "its not my job to make people look the way they look, my job is to make them look great.". I tried to do the same with my kart and MX photography.

Any spectator can take a snapshot, dump it off the card, and there they are. If you want to sell shots, get them something they can't (or won't or don't know how to) get themself. Part of that will be good post-processing of the shot -- making the captured image look better still.

Interesting shot you picked. They were moving around the track, but that is the slowest class. It's really hard to do any type of panning with them to get any type of motion blur. But, also, I think, that if you know what you're looking at (ie, the racer) you'll be more apt to understand the shot. But I also think you're right about the background. I have a bad habit of taking everything in focus and I need to work on that.

Not all is lost then if the vehicles are slow, and thus hard to pan with. Try a more interesting composition. Sorry, the shot I picked is just plain boring, but lots of things could make it better. Get lower, even lie on the ground, change the background by shooting somewhere else, use less depth of field, use a wide-angle and get in close, wait for them in a turn, etc.

Good luck with it!

dkoyanagi

Bishop Gideon wrote:

I just checked and the gallery in question is right-click protected. At least according to the SmugMug panel thingy. I just went in and checked them out also, and I got the warning message.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place... could you link to the gallery or photo in question?

Thanks!

Hi Bishop

Your photos are right click protected, but you also have sharing enabled. If you click on the "share photo" link, and cut and paste the url into a new browser window, you can right click to download the photo. You might want to disable sharing on your sales galleries and create a second shared unlisted gallery for forum posts.

Bishop Gideon

dkoyanagi wrote:

Hi Bishop

Your photos are right click protected, but you also have sharing enabled. If you click on the "share photo" link, and cut and paste the url into a new browser window, you can right click to download the photo. You might want to disable sharing on your sales galleries and create a second shared unlisted gallery for forum posts.

Ah! Thank you! I didn't even really "see" what that did when I created my galleries. Looks like I better go back and make some changes in all my galleries.

Biffbradford

dkoyanagi wrote:

Hi Bishop

Your photos are right click protected, but you also have sharing enabled. If you click on the "share photo" link, and cut and paste the url into a new browser window, you can right click to download the photo. You might want to disable sharing on your sales galleries and create a second shared unlisted gallery for forum posts.

Now there's a good tip!

Changing mine too!

I've gotten emails with my own right click protected, watermarked photo inserted asking "do you have anything bigger so I can make a poster??"

I get traffic too, but sales are tuff!

Stuggi

Some of your images have a sort of bleached greyish look that can very easily be corrected in PS using levels, might wanna check that out. If you don't have PS, use picasa to increase contrast and enhance shadows and highlights for the same effect (not quite as good as PS, but close)