SmugMug, meet Fine Art America

Mesenko

I'm writing this after a few hrs of frustration on SM today (or maybe I was actually redefining insanity). I should have been and would much rather have been out shooting. :cry

I believe if SmugMug and Fine Art America would meet :lust and have a baby, there'd be some very happy fine art photographers.

FAA knows how to sell people's work. Super intuitive for buyers, previews of frames and mats, to the point of having an external app that allows buyers to preview framed work on their wall. Very cool. Framing is ultra-important since no one in the real world can buy frames off the shelf that fit the sizes of prints most of us produce. FAA even pays out 5% on frame sales. Selling greeting or note cards is a snap and affordable. They also have widgets for incorporating their shopping experience into other sites... They obviously believe and follow the KISS principle.

All awesome, but... (why is there always a but?) FAA only has one preview size with the option of a 100% magnifier (let me pick the %, almost nothing looks good 100%), they give you a personal site, but don't allow custom domain names, and they don't tell you who your customers are. There's no Lightroom plugin. There's no expedited shipping as far as I can tell. It's these simple things that keep me on the fence.

FAA site design is generic, but who flippin' cares, really? it is simple, understandable, efficient and IT'S A SELLING MACHINE. That's what we want, right? To sell stuff and make money? What good is a flashy big imaged slide-showy thing that wastes hundreds of hours of photographers' time to make work if customers can't even figure out how to see a next page let alone order something? I would rather be out shooting than playing "try to hack the software" and answering emails of confused buyers.

I put up 6 images on FAA and sold one within 3 days from organic FAA traffic. The person bought a large print with a frame and mat and they know exactly what it's going to look like. Dumb luck probably, but the point is that it was smooth sailing.

Cost for FAA is $30/yr. HELLO... Newsflash... if your customers are selling their work, then you don't need to charge them up the ying-yang. If the photographers are successful, then smugmug is successful, right?

Why in the world hasn't someone created something that has the best of these two worlds?

Anyway, that is my feature request and rant rolled all in to one! I feel better now, though still extremely frustrated.

ghostwinds

Def with ya on this one. Found out today we are moving all our corporate sites away from SM for just that reason. My own acct I just dropped here from a business acct to just a simple gallery. This new release was sposed to ne so great - and all everyone is doing is spending time away from shooting to figure out hacks to mske their site look different...? Why? Because no matter what the template, we all have the exact same box of tools and too many sites are looking like cookie-cutter sites unless you have the time to fart around with the code. This release got pushed out the door far too early...they cannot even get a full screen slide-show together yet for the homepage...I have this timy, puny, sickly little thing that looks like a 3 year old created it......yes, time to move on.

Mesenko

ghostwinds wrote: »

Def with ya on this one. Found out today we are moving all our corporate sites away from SM for just that reason. My own acct I just dropped here from a business acct to just a simple gallery. This new release was sposed to ne so great - and all everyone is doing is spending time away from shooting to figure out hacks to mske their site look different...? Why? Because no matter what the template, we all have the exact same box of tools and too many sites are looking like cookie-cutter sites unless you have the time to fart around with the code. This release got pushed out the door far too early...they cannot even get a full screen slide-show together yet for the homepage...I have this timy, puny, sickly little thing that looks like a 3 year old created it......yes, time to move on.

I remember the old SNL line "It is better to look good than to be good, and you loook marvelous..."

d3needshelp

I use FAA with SM
I use FAA for my shopping cart and blog and use the menu links feature to open a new page for each. Kind of a headache for users and would love it was more integrated.
The reason I use FAA (artistwebsites.com) is because of all of the print mounting options (hundreds). SM shopping cart isn't quite as flexible.

Cheers!

Soul Gaze Photography

I have both FAA and SmugMug. I've actually sold more on FAA, but a lot of that is my own fault for not advertising more and not focusing more attention on my legacy SmugMug site. There's also a catch - FAA is making a TON of money off our sales. I made a little over $100 off a sale that the visitor paid over $300 for. Think about that...I'd rather my work be purchased via my SmugMug website where I can get nearly all the profit minus the printing costs and minimal SmugMug markup than help FAA continue to profit. SmugMug also offers an amazing return guarantee. I'm working to finish my new SmugMug and then I am planning to focus on driving sales to my actual site instead. I may leave my FAA open just with a couple of my best to help draw attention, but that's about it.

Of course, you can actually use both sites if you still want to. Use SmugMug as your main website and portal to also have unlimited storage and backup while still having FAA for your needs. FAA now has your entire gallery available as a link or site embed. I've not tried the site embed yet, but the link could be used in your SmugMug menu, via a custom button or text link. Good luck!

Also, don't run from SmugMug yet. There's still alot of awesomeness yet to be released. Stay tuned!

Soul Gaze Photography

ghostwinds wrote: »

Def with ya on this one. Found out today we are moving all our corporate sites away from SM for just that reason. My own acct I just dropped here from a business acct to just a simple gallery. This new release was sposed to ne so great - and all everyone is doing is spending time away from shooting to figure out hacks to mske their site look different...? Why? Because no matter what the template, we all have the exact same box of tools and too many sites are looking like cookie-cutter sites unless you have the time to fart around with the code. This release got pushed out the door far too early...they cannot even get a full screen slide-show together yet for the homepage...I have this timy, puny, sickly little thing that looks like a 3 year old created it......yes, time to move on.

Ghostwinds, I'm sorry you're still having trouble. I replied to your request for help via another thread, but never heard back from you. I'm still here and I'm still happy to help!

mbonocore

Thanks for your feedback. Shopping experience is high on our priority list, believe me. That said, we are not just a print sales site. That is one aspect of our tools, but as you said, FAA doesn't let you have any freedom with look or customization, or give you the ability to host your full fledge photography website. I have always said time and time again, every provider out there fits the needs of different photographers. I know some photographers who FAA fits there needs perfectly, whereas I know alot who say SM fits their needs perfectly. Some, like Amber stated, have multiple solutions (but would love to be able to merge them all into one as the OP said)

But yes, the shopping experience is high on our list

Mesenko

mbonocore wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback. Shopping experience is high on our priority list, believe me. That said, we are not just a print sales site. That is one aspect of our tools, but as you said, FAA doesn't let you have any freedom with look or customization, or give you the ability to host your full fledge photography website. I have always said time and time again, every provider out there fits the needs of different photographers. I know some photographers who FAA fits there needs perfectly, whereas I know alot who say SM fits their needs perfectly. Some, like Amber stated, have multiple solutions (but would love to be able to merge them all into one as the OP said)

But yes, the shopping experience is high on our list

Right now if someone emails me about framing options, I upload the image they're interested in to FAA so they can purchase it there. In fact, when I need a framed image for myself, I do the same thing.

I hope that some day that SM can be a one-stop shop.

Thanks for the response.

mbonocore

Mesenko wrote: »

Right now if someone emails me about framing options, I upload the image they're interested in to FAA so they can purchase it there. In fact, when I need a framed image for myself, I do the same thing.

I hope that some day that SM can be a one-stop shop.

Thanks for the response.

You are very welcome. I appreciate your honest, and well thought out feedback!

mishenka

mbonocore wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback. Shopping experience is high on our priority list...

Michael, a small, but I believe an important, suggestion as you are working on improving shopping experience, please. It would be great if as you are working in the shopping cart area, collecting images, cropping, selecting quantities, etc. - PLEASE, save the cart for this session on servers so the customer can continue the session later. Simply save the cart for a a few days at least. Please.

Also, provide a confirmation dialog if an Empty Cart button is pressed.

Thank you.

larslentz

Moving
I've tried both and I'm moving to FAA. More sales, better user experience, easier set-up, lower cost, and more time for me to be out shooting. They win.

tomoscott

mbonocore wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback. Shopping experience is high on our priority list, believe me. That said, we are not just a print sales site. That is one aspect of our tools, but as you said, FAA doesn't let you have any freedom with look or customization, or give you the ability to host your full fledge photography website. I have always said time and time again, every provider out there fits the needs of different photographers. I know some photographers who FAA fits there needs perfectly, whereas I know alot who say SM fits their needs perfectly. Some, like Amber stated, have multiple solutions (but would love to be able to merge them all into one as the OP said)

But yes, the shopping experience is high on our list

Speaking of your "list," it would be really nice if SM published some sort of list. I'm a software developer myself, so I know you can't get too exact or precise about these things, but right now, it appears there is nothing out there to indicate what you guys think is important and what you think is fluff. That, IMO, is not a great strategy. From decades in the corporate world, I learned that in the absence of information, people assume the worst, not the best.