Updated 08/30/21, & still relevant today!
02/02/2008 – Here is an excellent post at Paul Lester’s Blog entitled “Business Decisions: Selling Prints Online” …. I’ll let you read it, but basically he’s comparing different websites that allow you to sell your photos online. It’s well-researched – Paul has done his homework!
I want to add some thoughts that popped into my mind while reading his post – I left the following as a comment on his site – read on….
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Paul,
Great post, as usual!
I’ve never had experience with the “canned” photos online systems, so I cannot comment on those…
However, there is an important axiom that needs to be mentioned here:
“If you build it, They probably won’t come…”
Unlike the movie, Field of Dreams”, If you build a website (and I
suspect this may be partially true of the “canned” sites), you simply
cannot rely on this as your sole marketing method – you will starve…Art
online does not sell well by itself – this is backed up by statistical
surveys – It is second-to-last behind buying furniture online….
In my experience, The ONLY way to use a website for selling photos,
be it “canned” or one you’ve put together yourself, is to funnel
potential buyers to your website…Think of your website as a “market
presence” rather than as a “sales channel” – it’s very similar to a magazine ad…
A good example of this is the way one of my clients, Aaron Chang (A
client of mine for over 30 years), sells prints… He is one of the
premiere surf photographers in the world, and even has his own line of
clothing…He FUNNELS people to his website after exposing them to his
work at trade shows, email marketing, galleries, brochures and so on…
Here’s his gallery website – – http://www.aaronchanggallery.com/
BTW, Aaron has it set up so he never actually sees the print that I
make and send to his client – – He receives the order and payment from
the client via email, sends me the order, then I make the print,
drop-ship it for him, and charge him for the print, shipping and my
time…
Now, granted, not everyone can afford this (I think this is where
your “canned” sites would be great!), or is as “famous” as Aaron, but
you can learn from the “big boys” how to make it work for you – –
Funnel people to your website after initial contact at galleries, trade
shows, art festivals, brochures, etc…
I hope this helps…
Thanks again, Paul, for an excellent post!
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Thx again, and cheers,
John Watts 🙂