 Carol A. Morrison |
Being successful Before I invest money in getting a premium site, I would like to know how successful this site is as far as making profits on a premium site. How many people does this reach per day. What is the criteria for drawing people in and liking the photos that one has "out there". Is there one type of photo more popular than others. Do people like "abstract" as opposed to nature scenes...? This would be very helpful to know. Thanks.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
I'll make a guess here... (I have a premium gallery--the $22 option--so I assume you are considering the Deluxe or Pro options, higher up.) I don't believe either of those will suddenly bring sales to you. As far as I know, BP doesn't do any marketing of your gallery/site for you... if you're not out there building a customer base, directing folks to your new site, I don't see that folks are likely to magically stumble onto it while surfing the web. (Granted, a site like "carolmorrison.com" makes it easier for people who know you and your work, to find you... and BP Members might be more likely to surf your way deliberately.) I don't think anyone can really answer the question "how many people does it reach"---your deluxe/pro site is basically, just another page on the web, in that sense. As for types of photos that sell... another tricky one, because "people" aren't the same; otherwise we'd all shoot the same photos and hang the same ones in our homes. If you have customers currently, you may be able to form an idea of what subjects and styles of your work sell best. Or you may already have a portrait studio business out of your home, and know that is where your income will be generated... But I don't think there is an answer to give, of what sells best; I certainly don't buy art or prints based on some kind of "most popular" ranking... people buy what they love, and what grabs or moves them when they find the right image.
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Michael H. Cothran |
While your questions are legitimate in nature, I doubt if there is anyone who can answer them objectively. Your inquiries indicate to me that you are new to photography, or at least to image marketing. To use an analogy, and certainly not meant as an insult - you are nothing but another grain of sand in the Sahara desert. There are thousands and gazillions of photographers online, including the thousands of BP members, most with great aspirations of being financially successful at their craft. Digital photography and home printers have made it so easy for anyone at all owning a camera to produce and print decent photographs. I belong to another large online photographer's site called Webshots. They have about 7 million images posted online. I'm sure Better Photo also has quite a lot. If you plan to be financially successful with a camera, you'll need to come up with much better marketing ploys than a BP gallery. And I say that with no disrespect meant to BP - I enjoy being part of their system. But this is not the venue for attracting potential sales customers. Dare I say that the only viewers of your site will probably be other BP photographers. Good luck. Michael H. Cothran
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- Bob Cournoyer Contact Bob Cournoyer Bob Cournoyer's Gallery  |
You mean I'm spending $22 of my hard earned money and all it gets me is a years worth of giggles from reading Gregory La G?? Well worth it, I'd say...:-) Bob (Now back to your regular programming)
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Jenny D |
;o)
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Bob Cammarata |
A Gallery or Website is a showcase of what you have done and can generate sales...just not on it's own. As pointed out, you really need to have strong marketing skills and develope ways to direct traffic to your site. Also, it helps if the goods or services you are providing are truly salable. Exposure at BP.com can also generate sales. Quite a few photo files and prints have been sold to companies and individuals who saw the photos in the Contest pages, Newsletters,...even in this Q&A Forum.
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Robert M. Nicholson |
Your questions are way to broad...you need to do some research!!! (not to be rude or anything) In my experiences I believe that BP websites are a great deal. Cheap and easy. I decided to go with other route...purchased web hosting service and designed my site myself. I recently finished Jim Zuckerman's class "Making Money with your Photography” and learned so much! I highly recommend this class. He taught me so much about the ins and out of the money making side of photography. Personally I have not had to much success selling prints straight from my website. Most of my sales come from me going to local galleries and gift shops. My website is good to send prospective buyers and show my work off. After you get a website the most important thing is...you need a high volume of traffic to visit your site. Even then....people might still be reluctant to buy anything directly from your site...in these days of hacking and identity theft!! Also not many people Google photographs for sale or art prints..if they did you would be paying big bucks to Google, Yahoo and MSN for those top ranking spots!! My recommendation is to get an easy or catchy domain name and beef up your key words and the meta keywords for the smaller search engines. Then register on every free advertising site...marketingtool.com, craigslist.com, yahoo locals and even blogs!!!! The more traffic to your website the better chances you have of getting some buyers. Don’t forget to get out there to do some leg work, talking to galleries, gift shops and business. Rob
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