getting anything sold

Wiren

So, I have been trying to promote my Pro SM site. Business cards to all I speak to, hanging shots in local coffee shops, trying to sell to local physicians (I hate that so many of them have a photography hobby ) and have not been able to get anything sold!

It is hard in this day and age where everybody views photos on social networking sites and don't really care to buy them since they can just enjoy the "online" version (one reason why I don't allow sharing links to my photo's). And so many business owners who would put nice artwork up are successful enough to put their own photographs up since it is there hobby also.

SOOOO, my ex-brother in law who lost a co-worker to a tragic accident is having an auction to raise funds for the widow. I decided to take one of my 20x24 prints that is very nicely framed (my cost was about $200 to put it together) and has been used in the coffee shop showings and give it to his auction effort. My hope is that one of the affluent folks attending the auction will buy it and hang it in their place of business, thus maybe getting me some sort of advertising while supporting a great cause at the same time.

Anybody else having trouble getting any decent sales? I have sold about $60 worth of action/soccer shots to my sons soccer teams, but mostly those were 4x6's with some 5x7's scattered in.

Do you have any other ideas on making sales in this hard market without spending a wad a cash up front? I need some helpful hints so I can sell my work, it is not the best work out there, but nice enough imnsho.

Cheers

Lee

ColoradoSkier

There is no link, so I don't know what type of photos you are selling. That said, while I have landscape and macros as my photos for sale in my public galleries, the only ones that have sold have been the portraits I shoot for people (in hidden galleries of course). Given this reality, I am expanding the portrait side of my business.

Sam

Personally I wouldn't worry about any future business from a charity auction. If you think the auction is for a good cause and you want to help, then do it!

If something comes back, great, if not, great again.

OH....and don't even compare the the price an item may sell for at an event like this with the real world.

Also a link to your website would help as well.

Sam

Wiren

link
Sorry about that guys. Here is the link to my site.

www.onthewallphoto.net

I am not really expecting any sales following this auction, heck, I will be suprised if my photo sells for anywhere near what I put into it. I am willfully supporting the cause of this local fallen hero. He was a county worker who stopped to help a mom having car issues and was struck by a 3rd car who passed to close as he was at the mom's car window, he left behind a young wife and a beautiful newborn daughter. This young man was a good friend and co-worker of my brother in law and I respect a lot what he is putting together an awful lot.

But on the other side of the coin, if anybody does purchase the photo I am donating and decides; "wow, nice work, maybe i'll buy more", I would love to have that opportunity, it would be a win/win situation.

Although at the rate things go, I don't expect anything and am willing to give away a photo that I have been trying to sell at $400 retail.

I would gladly take any C&C of my photo's and my site that you may have.

thanks for looking and the help.

Lee

zoomer

If you were expecting to get a lot of photo sales from your site....the reality is that is probably not going to happen.
Unless your photos are world class and you have good marketing skills it is very tough....even then.
You are competing on the world market with the best when you start trying to sell your photos on the internet.

kdog

That huge, unimaginative watermark across the middle of all your images is a real turn-off.

Wiren

Yeah, I don't like it. But when some of the parents were viewing the soccer shots of their kids, my son stated that one player was bragging about his mom getting shots for free. When he inquired as to how, he was told that they were just using screen shots from my website so that they could post to their own family blogs and social netrworking sites. I was a bit dismayed by that, and felt that the only way to stop that practice is to use a watermark.

I don't have PS or any other expensive or non-user friendly software to make a nice one, and really, if you want to be academic about it, one WM is the same as another......isn't it? One may look better, but a horse is a horse is a horse, so it's either WM or no WM - my personal preference is WM, YMMV.

Sorry about the ugliness of my WM, I hope and assume that folks know the photo's don't get printed with the WM on the shot they order.

Lee

denisegoldberg

Wiren wrote:

Yeah, I don't like it. But when some of the parents were viewing the ...if you want to be academic about it, one WM is the same as another......isn't it?

Actually, one watermark isn't the same as another. I understand the need to watermark across the photo (as opposed to on the edge) if you are shooting in an environment where the photos are likely to be lifted, but a tasteful watermark is a lot different than the text you have chosen to use. You can use a watermark to carry your name so if someone sees a photo and wants a copy they will know where to go. I've seen plenty of watermarks that are repeated across images yet look professional and distract less than yours does.

On the sales front...

As has been said already, it is very difficult to sell photos just because they are shown on a web site. You need to do marketing in addition to posting your photos. You need to identify an audience. You need to reach out to people. Your own comment "...my work, it is not the best work out there, but nice enough..." in your first post doesn't do much to promote yourself either.

This is a bit blunt, but... Your website is not one that says "professional" to me. Instead, it looks like it was thrown together, with no thought given to design. In addition you have locked your galleries into traditional style which does a poor job of showing off your photos. And it appears that you have attempted to block people from clicking on the photos to see a larger size. I discovered that clicking twice does bring up a bigger photo. With that style you are doing nothing to entice people to purchase your photos. Yes, I know, they can click on slideshow to see them bigger. But I would argue that is not a good way for someone to focus on specific photos.

Also, you might want to take a look at http://www.smugmug.com/help/search-engines and follow the recommendations there.

--- Denise

Wiren

Follow up of Auction Donation
So in my original post I stated that I was going to give my brother-in-law a framed landscape shot for an auction to help the widow of his recently deceased co-worker.

He called me today to state that they had put my photo in the raffle part of the auction (they raffled some items, did a blind auction and a live auction). They ended up raising $36,000 that all went to the widow, my photo came in as the 2nd highest raffle item (behind some rifles) and raised $375, it had cost me about $180 to prep it for sale a year ago, and I feel great that it was able to help raise even this much to help the widow.

My brother-in-law had printed 100 fliers with my website info to set near the photo and he stated that every single one of them went out and people were still asking him where he got the shot from, so he was giving out the site info verbally as well. I have seen a lot of traffic in the last couple days to the website and can only hope that somebody from the auction decides to purchase a print or two.

Anyhoo, just wanted to update the thread, not expecting any sales, like I said, I mainly did it to support his cause and feel great that it was a success.

Lee

deb22

LEE, I am an amature photographer with a totally different style than most. You like it or you don't. I sell matted prints for hundreds and framed for up to $650.00 , the key here is to use this site as a future reference for prospective buyers to see. If you can go to even one large event [show,farmers market,exhibition etc then you can have the traffic to hand out your card with your domain name site. This will allow them to see your work printed which really makes a HUGE difference and when their freinds see what they are looking to buy they send them to your site and your rep grows. This is why you should keep your site and don't worry about sales on the site concentrate on your exposure elsewhere and then as that grows more will come to your site. GOOD LUCK TO YOU:D PS if you can donate to your local charities or favorite gov agency,or anywhere they have live or silent auctions the exposure is well worth the effort.

Art Scott

As to WM'ing..........A copyright type watemark is alright if done properly....yours is not and gives you no course for legal action in court.......

Also if you use a proper copyright notice as your watermark it proves beyond a doubt it is yours.......to beable and collect damages you need to keep all of your images registered with the Copyright Office in Washington DC.....so it electronically and you can do thousands for one low cost......

A copyright notice would be like: ©2010WirenPhotography all rights reserved.

The © symbol is produced by holding down the alt key (windows) and pressing the 0...1....6....and 9 numerial keys

A a great watermark is using your web address.........instead of what you have.............if you use your web address then everyone that sees a stolen photos of yours knows where it came from......the only thing your current WM detours is sales.....Mine is big bold and colorful and I have gotten praises from Publishing companies for it......even tho I catch crap about it on here and other forums...............

Good Luck

coldclimb

Art Scott wrote:

A a great watermark is using your web address.........instead of what you have.............if you use your web address then everyone that sees a stolen photos of yours knows where it came from......the only thing your current WM detours is sales.....Mine is big bold and colorful and I have gotten praises from Publishing companies for it......even tho I catch crap about it on here and other forums...............<br />
<br />
Good Luck

Good thoughts...

One point of view for watermarking is that you can accept that people WILL steal low-res versions of your photos online. I was doing that when I was twelve, and there is no way to prevent it. If they can see it on the screen, they can get it. What you CAN do is use that to your advantage. Make your watermark nice, clean, and appealing, but also hard to erase or crop out, and anywhere your photo gets used is automatically free advertising. Win! If they want prints they'll still have to come to you, but if they stick the photos on facebook and spread them around, you've just scored a bunch of free advertising.

poker

Wiren wrote:

They ended up raising $36,000 that all went to the widow, my photo came in as the 2nd highest raffle item (behind some rifles) and raised $375, it had cost me about $180 to prep it for sale a year ago, and I feel great that it was able to help raise even this much to help the widow.

Congrats. I'm sure it feel satisfying. Good luck with future efforts.

JohnBiggs

I like your photos. I agree with many of the suggestions here. Fix the site, watermark, etc.

chrisjohnson

One thing I like about your marketing is that you have decided what you want to sell - images to hang on the wall. Your site should reflect this - perhaps some photos of pictures hanging on walls.

Internet is not the best way to sell this concept - people looking for something for the wall go to galleries, interior shops, gift shops, etc. Perhaps you should frame a few of your favourites and offer them to suitable outlets on commission - they only pay you when and if they sell. The store keepers will probably tell you what will and won't sell to their customers - so show them a portfolio of 10-20 alternatives before making the big prints and doing the framing.

rgphoto

goldenballs wrote:

One thing I like about your marketing is that you have decided what you want to sell - images to hang on the wall. Your site should reflect this - perhaps some photos of pictures hanging on walls.

Internet is not the best way to sell this concept - people looking for something for the wall go to galleries, interior shops, gift shops, etc. Perhaps you should frame a few of your favourites and offer them to suitable outlets on commission - they only pay you when and if they sell. The store keepers will probably tell you what will and won't sell to their customers - so show them a portfolio of 10-20 alternatives before making the big prints and doing the framing.

I agree with every bit of this.

People who just want to buy a print will go to major companies, such as art.com, or even stock photo websites. People who are looking to buy art, and value it as a piece of art, will not buy through a website. They want to meet the artist. The only sales I have ever made through my website are from people I have met in person.