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rwhdgrin
Registered Users Posts: 6 Beginner grinner
I am fairly new to SmugMug. I have set up my web site and have all of the settings set correctly (I think). In the past week I have had about 600 hits according to the Stats page, but no sales. I was wondering about how long it takes before the first sales start occurring and how many hits I should expect.
Like I said, I am new to this, so just bare with me if I sound really dumb.
Thanks,
Ron Hoff
www.rwhphotos.com
Like I said, I am new to this, so just bare with me if I sound really dumb.
Thanks,
Ron Hoff
www.rwhphotos.com
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Who is your target audience? Does your site include photos that your target audience would be likely to purchase?
What have you done to drive traffic to your site?
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
google. I'm not a marketing person and I would appreciate some tips on some of the things I could do that would help.
Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.
You also should take a hard look at your site. Right now it looks like a pretty standard photo sharing site. There is nothing to draw in a stranger, someone who doesn't already know you. There is no information about you. The site still has the standard smug header and footer which does nothing to contribute to a professional look.
Again, who is your target customer? You need to get in front of that customer, attract that individual to your site, and provide a product that they are interested in buying.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Do you have any inbound links to your site in places that would attract buyers?
While you have changed your site it still does not present anything (to me at least) that drives me to a particular section of your site and encourages me to make a purchase. It looks like you just changed the look of your site but you haven't done anything to drive sales.
Are you aware that there is a photo to the left of your name that is showing as a broken link? You should always view your site from a browser where you are not logged in to see it as a prospective customer would see the site.
Why haven't you removed the smugmug header and footer? That screams unprofessional and helps promote your site as a simple photo sharing site.
The couple of galleries on your site that I viewed allow access to the Originals. This means that no one needs to purchase anything from you - they can simply take the image. Oh, you have right click protection on? That is a poorly named feature - it doesn't protect anything. If I can view the image online it is in the browser cache and is easily available (for free). See the thread ORIGINALS = a gateway to free photos, & right click protection is NOT PROTECTION.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Right Click option needs to be ON
The size should not be "Original", but something else
Remove the Smugmug Header and Footer
Fix the broken link
Then I need to edit the site to drive customers to make a purchase (this may take a while, so I want to do the things in the list first).
The largest size should be something other than Original.
Editing the site won't drive customers to your site.
First, drive people to your site.
At the same time, make it enticing, give them direction on where to go.
Look at some of the sites referenced here as examples - http://blog.ivanmakarov.com/2013/08/10-beautiful-smugmug-sites/. Explore other people's sites and compare with yours.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I have changed my site. Gotten rid of the SmugMug menus, etc and made the page simple to navigate. I am now looking for ways to drive customers to my site. I am going to look at other sites and I have gotten active on Facebook and Google+. I am looking for other ideas that may help.
www.rwhphotos.com
Looking at your site I noticed one of your images (the fist one) on your header is not displaying. Make sure its public, and not private.
Who are you trying to focus on? Right now it looks like you are trying to focus on "everything". Looking at your site's title shows your name and 'Wildlife, Nature and Landscape'. I would remove your name. Nobody will search for your name. Instead, I would use your location, like 'Minnesota Wildlife, Nature, Landscape Photography'. In my case, if you search for 'California Landscape Photography' in Google, I'm on the first page. Depending on the keywords (Central California Landscape Photography) both my SM and WP sites show up.
You might want to read my SEO in my signature. Hope it helps.
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
Your site does not look inviting. It has a broken image on the home page, your header and bio info uses almost half of the available space, and your slideshow is tiny. If you're looking for purchasers you need a professional looking site. Step back and take a hard look at your site. Look at other photographer's sites and compare.
It looks like you have limited the size of the photos on your site to Medium. On today's large monitors people expect big photos - do you really think looking at a small image will entice someone to buy?
Is there a reason you haven't included a contact form on your site?
You said you're now active on Facebook and Google+ yet there is no link to your presence on those sites from your web site. Is there a link back to your smug site from Facebook and Google+? I looked for you on Google+ using your name and using your web site name - I didn't find you. What name are you using there?
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
It does make one question as to whether anyone has a lot of luck selling photos on SmugMug.
Thanks again, Ron
I don't think it matters which photo host you choose - you need to market yourself to sell. Just because something is available online doesn't often mean that it sells without an effort.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Like Denise and I already mentioned, Smugmug is NOT the magic wand. You MUST market yourself.
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
Ron,
As Denise and Hiking Mike have pointed out, simply having a website (doesn't matter who is the hosting co), will not generate sales.
First off you stated your new to web sites and photography. I believe your site demonstrates both.
Making money from photography is no easy task. It should come as no surprise your endeavor will require hard work and time.
I would suggest you look at other landscape photographers websites. Compare the images you are offering and ask yourself, "which image would I buy?"
You need to be honest with your self. As an example look at Mike's site. Now if you were looking for landscape photography which site would you spend time on, yours or his.
Look at the website. What are your first impressions? How does the site feel? Can you easily navigate around? Does it feel like quality and professionalism?
I have no idea what kind of photographer you will become. That is up to you, but I can say your not there yet.
This is not to discourage you but to try and be realistic with regard to your expectations, and to understand success does not come over night on a silver platter.
My first image were absolutely horrible! I damn near threw the camera off a bridge.
Sam
Please do read what Sam said, and read between the lines.
Here's the reality -- there's hundreds of full time and snowbird photographers down here, shooting birds, people sports, music, etc. They are everywhere. Camera clubs have regular contests with gorgeous photos from people, (almost) none of whom have figured out how to make money on them. Seems like about one in five who retire here take up photography at some point.
Of all the money making photographers I know here, not a single one makes money selling their work off a web site (yes, I am sure SOME do, but just saying none I know). Most that make money are either full time pros for a few papers, are self employed doing weddings and portraits, or are teaching photography. I know a LOT who try to make a go teaching even more people to take great photos who then (sorry) can't sell them. I live in Cape Coral; we have borrowing owls everywhere. There's a guy getting $119 per person to take people around in a car and teach them to take pictures of borrowing owls next weekend. He won't get rich on that, but he darn well will make a lot more than if he tried to sell yet-another borrowing owl picture he took!
It's a hugely over-populated market. Not everyone can take stunning photographs, but equipment is such that a huge percentage now can. So it is not enough to be stunning to get paid, you have to have some hook, some way to fill a niche no one else is in. The sad fact is that quality does not sell - content sells. Most people want shots for facebook and mobile devices - terrific resolution and stunning colors are irrelevant to them. They want shots OF THEM, and it has to be something they can't take by holding up their iPhone.
PRINTS are irrelevant to anyone under 30 or so, and a huge percentage over. Unless you have that one in a million talent (and 999,999 out of a million of us do not) you have to get shots of something that don't have look-a-likes on the web free, specific people , locations rarely visited, a unique event, a unique kind of offering/packaging, something.
Weddings pay well NOT because people want pictures of brides -- they want THEIR bride. OK, that's obvious, but it does extend to other things. You've got a nice batting shot of a Twins player -- how many thousand of those are on the internet (just google it)? Figure out what your hook is, why would someone buy THAT photo? You'll never get people to buy even good photos just because they are on the web. They have to either be spectacular and unique -- or of specific relevance to someone, or some other hook to draw them in.
Question: How many shots have you bought from the web from websites like yours?
Sorry if this comes across as cruel, I really do intend it constructively.