Monetizing SM

floridalightchaser

Hello SmugMug community! I'm contemplating SM to license my photos. I've been shooting travel, interiors & architecture for over 20 years and look forward to discussions around this topic. Based on my cursory research, SM is at the top of my list because of the high split, creator control over pricing and content, and unlimited storage space. I'm also curious as to how these offerings translate in real life and how SM draws buyers to our website. If they don't, how do users maximize their own exposure. Lastly, what to expect in terms of sales volume & predictability. Any words of wisdom you choose to share, pro & con, about your monetizing experience, are appreciated (muchisisisimo!!!). Gracias.

hazelh

Hi I've been with smugmug for a short while so I'm no expert but I am not aware of any promotion by Smugmug to sell your images for you except for the search box where buyers may come across your images through keywording. Therefore marketing is very much up to you. I am able through social media to get visitors to my images but sadly this isn't translating into sales. This maybe my images aren't appealing enough (although people are clicking through from facebook so there must be some interest there) but having started to look at the buyer's experience I don't think this helps. Text blocks are difficult to insert and so to me it just seems like a sell, sell , sell feeling rather than having some sort of relationship with the buyer. At present, I am seriously thinking of moving my images elsewhere as I am paying a subscription fee and not getting anything back.

Will be really interested to see if anybody else has a really positive experience of selling on Smugmug and give you any advice.