Purchases of Photos

Karenl39

Hi,

I am brand new to this. So far I really like Smugmug. I have a standard account, not a pro account. I am wondering if there is any way to know if anybody purchases one of your photos.

I am also wondering if people search for photos or images on google if they'll be directed to our site.

Thank you,

Karen

www.karenlynch.smugmug.com

marlinspike

There is no way to know if somebody bought your photos without a pro account, and even then you don't find out unless you charge more than the standard price.

Karenl39

marlinspike wrote:

There is no way to know if somebody bought your photos without a pro account, and even then you don't find out unless you charge more than the standard price.

Do you have a pro account? Is it worth having one?

Karen

marlinspike

I do have a pro account. I like having it, but in my experience, unless you have a specific audience to market your photos to, don't plan on making sales, i.e. I haven't sold a single photo except for my sports photos, and I only sell sports photos to players, their parents, and their boyfriend/girlfriend (ok, well technically that's because I only give the passwords to players and their parents...and I guess somebody tells the girlfriend, but even if I didn't password protect them, I doubt anybody else would buy them). I think smugmug is the most complete solution for a photographer looking to sell photos though. The fact that they handle everything is nice.

Matthew Saville

Karenl39 wrote:

Do you have a pro account? Is it worth having one?

Karen

Karen, if you're very much into photography, and you like to show other people (friends / family) your photos, then you'd love the "power" account.

Personally, I have a pro account, but I did not buy it right away. I had a power account for a long time, and I think that it is perfect for 90% of users. You get customizability, and tons of it. I only upgracded to a pro account because I started shooting weddings, plays, and misc. events that I wanted to be able to sell to the participants, just like marlinspike. Of course I love nature photography but to be honest, unless you're already a very talented, well known nature photographer, you are not going to sell many photos to "the general public" at all, simply because right now digital photography is so popular and the marketplace is flooded with prints-for-sale...

So, if you're the kind of person who really loves capturing and sharing lots and lots of photos, either the standard or the power account are for you. One benefit of the power account is the added bandwidth allowance, which you will need if you have a ton of relatives frequently browsing your galleries, and ESPECIALLY if you decide to allow "original" viewing, cause that just GOBBLES up bandwidth... Personally bandwidth isn't too much of a problem because I'm pretty much the only person who looks at my galleries 90% of the time, but I could NOT do without the customization that smugmug allows. The power account is the sweet spot as far as customizability and price is concerned... You may just need standard if you're not too keen on trying to learn all this scripting stuff, or you may need a pro account if you're definitely going to be uploading lots of photos with a SPECIFIC customer group in mind...

-Matt-