By Michael Connors
President and Co-Founder
How can photographers stop people from stealing their images? That’s a million dollar question! So let’s talk about different ways to deter image theft.
The only way to completely prevent image theft is never to upload your images. The problem with that solution is that you cannot sell them online! Here are some answers:
1. Watermark the images.
- A watermarked image has far less appeal to a thief. Who wants a print with a watermark on it?
2. Limit the time the images are online to only a few days.
Limiting the time helps in a couple of ways.
- It creates a sense of urgency to order.
- There’s less time potentially to have your images stolen.
3. Encourage your customers to purchase the minimal package BEFORE the images are displayed online.
- This can be done by setting up a pre-pay event.
- If feasible, have your customer visit the studio for a one-on-one presentation of a password protected event. Only you know the password. This way, your customers still get the fantastic purchasing experience our cart offers, with no chance of image theft. After a sale, you can always share the password with your customer so that they can share with friends and family.
4. Pay to Enter the event
- With a “Pay to Enter” event, your customer must first pay a fee to view the images. You can even offer a gift certificate that your customer can apply during checkout.
- The Pay to Enter fee could be the amount of a minimal package. Once your customer pays for access, our software can automatically issue a gift certificate in any amount you desire.
- Pay to Enter allows you to put any price on the event to enter it. You can offer them the credit of the initial price they paid to enter or not.
5. It’s about the numbers
- Shooting a marathon: perhaps you charge everyone $10 to $20 to enter the event and they can download any image for one day.
- At this point, it’s all about the numbers. Have 200 runners? 20% pay to see the images you make $800.
6. Try a combination
- Post for two days for free. After that, the customer must pay a fee to enter.
Want to learn more helpful tips? Check out our blog each month as we share strategies for your online photo business.
MorePhotos offers online solutions that include professional websites and a powerful e-commerce shopping cart. With our friendly and knowledgeable staff, we can assist you in creating an online presence that will attract traffic to your photography website.
