If you are wondering about selling photography online the first thing you need to do, is decide exactly what you are trying to attain. You do have a lot of options and there's good money to be made selling photo images, but if you select the wrong system to do it, you won't make any money and you may probably suck all the joy out of your photography also.
Deciding what you want to do with your photography isn't simple. Obviously everyone wants to sell a whole lot of pictures and make a pile of cash, but you have to be realistic. You have to temper what you would like from all this with what you're actually prepared to do about it.
If you need serious money from selling your photography you need to approach it as proper business. If you need a bit of small change from your photography, then there's a few easier ways in which you can go at it, but if you are looking for career changing cashflow, you're in for plenty of work.
You'll have to invest time and effort and cash, and you shouldn't be expecting to quite the real job any time soon!
That said , a job in photography is as much about the way of living as the cash for most pros, so don't let that put you off if it's your passion. I only mention it to keep things practical.
As nice as a photography career might appear, it is a business like any other. It may take long-term time and effort, and like every other business, success is never always assured.
The good news is, it is one business that's particularly well suited to being developed part time, so a gifted and persistent photographer usually stands a better chance than somebody relying on their new business to put food on the table.
So what's the right option for you? Well obviously that is something you'll need to decide, but here are the 3 main ways folks are earning from photography right now.
Selling Stock Photos:
For the main part, this is best left to the more talented photographers. It is a super- cutthroat industry that has been completely deluged by average pictures lately. Unless you're bringing something new to the table, there's little point just adding more of the same.
Having said that , if you're talented and creative, and prepared to work at it, there is a bonafide opportunity developing to stand proud of the crowd and build a lucrative & sustainable business. To try this well you want to consistently look for new markets, identify potential buyers, examine their photo wishes and supply new and unique material.
Stock photography is no longer a matter of submitting thousands of random photographs to a library and waiting for sales. Those days are well past.
In the new market, you want to service explicit purchasers wishes better than anyone else with a continuing supply of very high quality original images. And if you're making that sort of investment, the smart photographers are leaving the Microstocks and demanding fair and reasonable payment for their work.
Photo Prints & Products
If you are not so determined to make life-changing income from your photography, photo prints and products can be a much better option. There are some wonderful photo-product and fulfilment services on the web now that make this a breeze.
Fundamentally you upload photographs, select product types and make a 'shop'. A number of these websites offer a range of print sizes, posters, canvas prints and all kinds of paper products like gift cards and calendars. Most also include gift items, office supplies and even clothing items, anything whatsoever that your stills can be imprinted on.
When the purchasers buy your products , the site accepts payment, prints your image on the necessary item, and then handles delivery.
For the non-professional photographer looking to make money from photography, this is the ideal platform. Once you upload photos and set up your store, you can chill out and wait, or it's possible to get proactive and plug your shop to drive even more focused visitors to view your offerings. If you're searching for where to sell photography, check for our fulfilment service suggestions at the end of this article.
Photography as Content
A final option that most people overlook is by utilising your photography as website content, and this may be a good option for the web-savvy photographer hoping to make some money online from their photography.
The unfortunate fact is, most photograph web sites do not make a cent, because most photography website owners never stop to consider who their guests are. The truth is, most visitors to photographer website are photographers themselves and they're never going to buy prints or other photo products. Unfortunately though, photo prints and photo products are the only monetisation most website owners implement.
So when I talk about photography-as-content, I am suggesting you use your photography to draw in visitors to your Site, and then use other methods to generate revenue from your internet site, in particular important affiliate marketing programmes and advertising options.
So how does one decide where to sell photography?
If you are an accomplished and creative shutter-bug, and you are prepared to work long-term to build a significant business, you can't go past stock photography. It's no longer a hands-free submit and wait business, but the rewards are a lot better than ever for those photographers prepared to do the hard yards.
If you're just looking for some extra cashflow from a pastime you love, I would have to recommend selling stills and photo products thru a fulfilment service. You can grow your earnings by adding more photographs and more products. And you can send it into over-drive by sending targeted internet traffic to your shop.
And if you're a flowering webmaster and a photographer, I would have to advocate the Instant Photo Web Sites approach using photography as content.
However you choose to start selling photo images, always remember why you're doing it. You got into this because you love making great photographs, so take care you never let the commercial aspects over power your enthusiasm for great photography.
Put simply, whichever approach you take, do not ever forget to switch the computer off regularly and get out to make some cool new images!
Deciding what you want to do with your photography isn't simple. Obviously everyone wants to sell a whole lot of pictures and make a pile of cash, but you have to be realistic. You have to temper what you would like from all this with what you're actually prepared to do about it.
If you need serious money from selling your photography you need to approach it as proper business. If you need a bit of small change from your photography, then there's a few easier ways in which you can go at it, but if you are looking for career changing cashflow, you're in for plenty of work.
You'll have to invest time and effort and cash, and you shouldn't be expecting to quite the real job any time soon!
That said , a job in photography is as much about the way of living as the cash for most pros, so don't let that put you off if it's your passion. I only mention it to keep things practical.
As nice as a photography career might appear, it is a business like any other. It may take long-term time and effort, and like every other business, success is never always assured.
The good news is, it is one business that's particularly well suited to being developed part time, so a gifted and persistent photographer usually stands a better chance than somebody relying on their new business to put food on the table.
So what's the right option for you? Well obviously that is something you'll need to decide, but here are the 3 main ways folks are earning from photography right now.
Selling Stock Photos:
For the main part, this is best left to the more talented photographers. It is a super- cutthroat industry that has been completely deluged by average pictures lately. Unless you're bringing something new to the table, there's little point just adding more of the same.
Having said that , if you're talented and creative, and prepared to work at it, there is a bonafide opportunity developing to stand proud of the crowd and build a lucrative & sustainable business. To try this well you want to consistently look for new markets, identify potential buyers, examine their photo wishes and supply new and unique material.
Stock photography is no longer a matter of submitting thousands of random photographs to a library and waiting for sales. Those days are well past.
In the new market, you want to service explicit purchasers wishes better than anyone else with a continuing supply of very high quality original images. And if you're making that sort of investment, the smart photographers are leaving the Microstocks and demanding fair and reasonable payment for their work.
Photo Prints & Products
If you are not so determined to make life-changing income from your photography, photo prints and products can be a much better option. There are some wonderful photo-product and fulfilment services on the web now that make this a breeze.
Fundamentally you upload photographs, select product types and make a 'shop'. A number of these websites offer a range of print sizes, posters, canvas prints and all kinds of paper products like gift cards and calendars. Most also include gift items, office supplies and even clothing items, anything whatsoever that your stills can be imprinted on.
When the purchasers buy your products , the site accepts payment, prints your image on the necessary item, and then handles delivery.
For the non-professional photographer looking to make money from photography, this is the ideal platform. Once you upload photos and set up your store, you can chill out and wait, or it's possible to get proactive and plug your shop to drive even more focused visitors to view your offerings. If you're searching for where to sell photography, check for our fulfilment service suggestions at the end of this article.
Photography as Content
A final option that most people overlook is by utilising your photography as website content, and this may be a good option for the web-savvy photographer hoping to make some money online from their photography.
The unfortunate fact is, most photograph web sites do not make a cent, because most photography website owners never stop to consider who their guests are. The truth is, most visitors to photographer website are photographers themselves and they're never going to buy prints or other photo products. Unfortunately though, photo prints and photo products are the only monetisation most website owners implement.
So when I talk about photography-as-content, I am suggesting you use your photography to draw in visitors to your Site, and then use other methods to generate revenue from your internet site, in particular important affiliate marketing programmes and advertising options.
So how does one decide where to sell photography?
If you are an accomplished and creative shutter-bug, and you are prepared to work long-term to build a significant business, you can't go past stock photography. It's no longer a hands-free submit and wait business, but the rewards are a lot better than ever for those photographers prepared to do the hard yards.
If you're just looking for some extra cashflow from a pastime you love, I would have to recommend selling stills and photo products thru a fulfilment service. You can grow your earnings by adding more photographs and more products. And you can send it into over-drive by sending targeted internet traffic to your shop.
And if you're a flowering webmaster and a photographer, I would have to advocate the Instant Photo Web Sites approach using photography as content.
However you choose to start selling photo images, always remember why you're doing it. You got into this because you love making great photographs, so take care you never let the commercial aspects over power your enthusiasm for great photography.
Put simply, whichever approach you take, do not ever forget to switch the computer off regularly and get out to make some cool new images!
About the Author:
Brad Stephens uses all of the methods in this article to sell photography online. He contributes to and recommends GlobalEye Photo Stock Agency, he likes to sell prints and photo products through Zazzle and he swears by the Instant Photo Web Sites approach using photography as content.
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