Can you help?

Aaron Wilson

What advantage does smugmug have over shutterpoint.com? I just got a new canon 20D and would like to sell some of my work to pay it off. I like smugmugs idea on selling the prints vs. the image, but at the same time I like the idea of shutterpoints way of getting you to be exposed. How do you get traffic to your page and sell prints? Would you do both or stick with just one site? all help would be great!:deal

wxwax

Aaron, I have never tried to sell anything, so I can only share thoughts based on the experiences that others have shared, and from looking at Shutterfly.

First, the sites. They appear to appeal to very different potential buyers. Shutterfly seems to be aimed at commercial users, not consumers. It looks like an online stock photo source, the business appeal being the low cost of the images. Why not send a message or two to folks who have their shots posted there, ask them what their experience has been been like? By contrast, Smugmug pro accounts seem to be oriented towards selling to the general public.

Which leads to the second point, a point which Andy here has been very clear about: you cannot rely on a website to sell your work. You have to be very aggressive about marketing it, about getting your name and your images out there. Otherwise, no-one will ever know you exist. Try searching for Andy and Marketing on this site - you may find his thoughts on the subject.

Bottom line: it takes work to sell your work.

Good luck, man.