I'm baffled -- PLEASE HELP

LauraLynn

I'm a newspaper photographer just setting out on my own. I shot my first event Sunday, got the word out, posted several hundred photos, and so far I've had about 5,000 hits. The result? Five prints sold -four 4x6 and one 5x7

I wasn't expecting to make a million bucks, but I'm feeling pretty discouraged. My photos are decent--better than some "event" photos I've seen, and they're priced low. Watermarked, right-click protected and originals blocked, too.

Do this many people look and not buy? Are they planning to come back later?

I'd be eternally grateful for ANY insight.

Thanks,
Laura
PictureThisPix.com

Cygnus Studios

LauraLynn wrote:

I'm a newspaper photographer just setting out on my own. I shot my first event Sunday, got the word out, posted several hundred photos, and so far I've had about 5,000 hits. The result? Five prints sold -four 4x6 and one 5x7

I wasn't expecting to make a million bucks, but I'm feeling pretty discouraged. My photos are decent--better than some "event" photos I've seen, and they're priced low. Watermarked, right-click protected and originals blocked, too.

Do this many people look and not buy? Are they planning to come back later?

I have found that people rarely purchase random event pics. Organizers, newspapers, community groups, buy them for little to nothing.
Events are nice for getting your name out, but I would never count on them for making money from the general public in attendance.
You may get some viewers who come back for portrait work, or may even book some paid shoots for events.

Tango

LauraLynn wrote:

I'm a newspaper photographer just setting out on my own. I shot my first event Sunday, got the word out, posted several hundred photos, and so far I've had about 5,000 hits. The result? Five prints sold -four 4x6 and one 5x7

I wasn't expecting to make a million bucks, but I'm feeling pretty discouraged. My photos are decent--better than some "event" photos I've seen, and they're priced low. Watermarked, right-click protected and originals blocked, too.

Do this many people look and not buy? Are they planning to come back later?

I'd be eternally grateful for ANY insight.

Thanks,
Laura
PictureThisPix.com

if they think they can come back and look at the pics anytime and link grandama to the shot they wont buy.... put a count down to deletion in there and see if that helps...(but dont really delete, just unlist the gallery)

Ive had people approach me months after and ask to purchase the images they saw...
I print them out and they pick them up that night for alot more than I was selling them for in the first place. but im in small town usa... btw, my events, any and all sales have been this way....

snaptie2002

What kind of event?

Marty

nipprdog

AaronNelson wrote:

if they think they can come back and look at the pics anytime and link grandama to the shot they wont buy.... put a count down to deletion in there and see if that helps...(but dont really delete, just unlist the gallery)

Agreed. Mine is 60 days.

Also, don't expect a lot of sales, three days after the event.

Nikolai

5 purchases by a random strangers out of several hundred? You're doing great!
In all honesty, these days when everybody and their lolcat has a 10mp+ camera, I'm surprised people still buy this kind of stuff. Unless you got some exclusive material and highly desired material no one else was able to get I wouldn't count on any sales at all. But that's me.

James H

Hi Laura, I just visited your site to see what kind of events you were shooting. One BIG problem I noticed right away with your site is the lack of any site navigation links in your galleries. Once a person is in one of your galleries there is no way for them to get back to your home page or to another gallery. I had to reenter your site address in the browser each time to get back. No potential customer is going to do that, they'll just leave. Now I see you've been customizing things, so maybe I caught you while some changes were being made, but if not then I'd get that fixed asap.

As for the lack of sales, don't be too surprised with the low numbers. I've discovered the same thing and I usually have contact lists for most of the folks who I've shot. Anyone else who has shot public events will likely tell you a similar story. Unless you're shooting a really big event that everyone wants a memento of, you're just not going to draw many buyers from these things. Don't let it discourage you though. Use the events to hone your skills, hand out cards, and make some contacts.

denisegoldberg

I agree with James H about the lack of navigation in your galleries. But I believe that is caused by... Your competition galleries are coming up with www.smugmug.com as the URL instead of your site url. That usually happens when hide owner is set to yes. You also should check that your galleries are set to appearance custom, not smugmug.

Even changing to appearance custom and fixing the problem that is causing your identity to be hidden, your site does not have a professional look to it. It doesn't need to be fancy, but you should have a consistent look. Changing backgrounds from page to page doesn't help the look. And using an aol email address does not give a professional feel either. You have your own domain name. You should to set up an email address on that domain.

On your Oh Babies page, you need to change the color of the text as it isn't really readable.

You should change to use the mini-footer, not the full smugmug footer. Again, this contributes to the non-professional feel.

I think the others are right though - photos don't sell just by making them available on the web.

--- Denise

Mohamed.Ghuloom

No wondering why I actually got no sale for a recent event I shot for, and they weren't just normal photos. I really worked hard on that event, take a look
http://www.lens-bh.com/gallery/8420550_Y4sig

Many promised they will buy their photos, but they didn't.

About the countdown, does it really work? How can I implement that professionally?

Tango

Mohamed, I dont know if it will help or not... I just tell people the images will be on my site for a week.
(by stats I see they do go look)
All I know is that the very few sales from events that I covered the people contacted me or approched me later, months later, inquiring about a specific image of their Son or Daughter they viewed on my site from a specific event and really wanted it after all that time... but see, I am always seeing the same people over and over and taking shots of the same people over and over... many of my shots people will want in a few years when they realize they have zero images of their kid playing sports or whatever.... not like Im going to hold anything ransom, but the price at least doubles if I have to go find it in my files and print it...

so the key is get them to look after the event, if they dont buy then, they will remember it and maybe buy later.....

bendruckerphoto

Nikolai wrote:

these days when everybody and their lolcat has a 10mp+ camera

That's one I hadn't heard. Everyone and their lolcat. Had a good laugh while imagining a lolcat holding a D3 w/ 70-200 VR.

Anyhow, I wouldn't expect people to buy lots of prints. I get times where my own clients only buy $20 worth of prints. Look to make your money on the shoot and selling print credit. Print sales are a bad way to try to earn money.