Selling Prints: Display Question

geraldfinnegan

Any advice?: I have about 100 photos, presently divided into two categories, Nature and City. There evenutally will be about 250, of various shots from places in several countries. In terms of organization for potential customers (Smugmug customers), is it better to have numerous photos in fewer categories/galleries, or the reverse: many specific categories? The former seems to engender viewing fatigue if there are many shots over many pages, but the latter - dividing into 5 or 6 categories - means frequent clicking and moving around the site, something some would find irritating. Any thoughts?

A larger question would be: is it better to have a smaller number of pixes on the whole site? This wouldn't seem to be good for keyword-searching considerations, but once a viewer/customer got to the site, they might see more of a varied selection and be willing to hang in there for a smaller sampling of one's work.
Lastly, I use Elegant for my own views, and "Viewer Controlled" for visitors, but is there any particular Viewing-Style that others here find better to "force" for viewing, relative to selling?
Thanks for any feedback,
Jerry

Matthew Saville

http://www.muenchphotography.com/printgallery/index.html

Some pros aren't afraid to just line 'em all up! There's over a hundred photos in this print gallery, and I don't think it would have mattered how he categorized them. If your photos are good enough, people will look at them, so don't worry!

Personally I'd reccomend a simple middle ground; create a "portfolio" category for your images that you'd like to sell, and then another category for images that you just want to have online, whether for your own use (using an in invisible gallery) or just for the public to see...

In your portfolio category it's a safe bet to create maybe 2, 3, or 4 galleries in which you categorize your landscapes and architectural photos. Maybe if you have a substantial enough collection, you could split up photos even more by categorizing the water / ocean photos separate from the land / mountainous photos, but I don't know if I'd reccomend that. I try to stay away from subcategories when I'm attempting to sell images...

The most important thing is to just make sure you're putting your best work forward; I myself at least once a month find an image in my gallery that just isn't up to my standards anymore so I go ahead and delete it or move it to an invisible "storage" gallery for safe keeping...

Good luck!
-Matt-

geraldfinnegan

Re: Question

Matthew Saville wrote:

http://www.muenchphotography.com/printgallery/index.html

Some pros aren't afraid to just line 'em all up! There's over a hundred photos in this print gallery, and I don't think it would have mattered how he categorized them. If your photos are good enough, people will look at them, so don't worry!

Personally I'd reccomend a simple middle ground; create a "portfolio" category for your images that you'd like to sell, and then another category for images that you just want to have online, whether for your own use (using an in invisible gallery) or just for the public to see...

In your portfolio category it's a safe bet to create maybe 2, 3, or 4 galleries in which you categorize your landscapes and architectural photos. Maybe if you have a substantial enough collection, you could split up photos even more by categorizing the water / ocean photos separate from the land / mountainous photos, but I don't know if I'd reccomend that. I try to stay away from subcategories when I'm attempting to sell images...

The most important thing is to just make sure you're putting your best work forward; I myself at least once a month find an image in my gallery that just isn't up to my standards anymore so I go ahead and delete it or move it to an invisible "storage" gallery for safe keeping...

Good luck!
-Matt-

Thanks for the repsonse; it's very common sense, and especially your point that the important factor is the quality of one's choices. Thanks again.
jerry