As a professional photographer, your photos of various events are one of your major assets. One of the best ways to maximize them is by selling these photos online. Doing so is a great way to create an ongoing revenue stream via your website. Here are 5 of the best practices to help you get the most out of your photos from every event.
1. Be Sure to Post your Images After an Event
If you have already been hired to photograph an event, then consider making photos from the event available online for those who attended. The best practice is to leave them online and available to view for free, but limit the timeframe for this free viewing to just one or two weeks after the event. Testing has shown that a 20% loss of sales results in leaving photos online up for more than 30 days.
Displaying your photos online can also give people an option to see your work before they hire you. These photo albums are an advertisement for your services and can be a great way to draw in new business. This also allows for more people (think friends of the people you are photographing) to see your work and when they need a photographer, they will have heard of you and seen your work.
2. Offer a Discount to Those Who Place Their Orders Within the First Few Days After the Event
When you offer a discount, people are more likely to buy prints and they will likely place a larger order. Our testing shows that with a discount, sales generally increased by between 6 and 10%. If you are worried about your bottom line, the best practice is to raise the print cost to include the amount of the discount first. Then when people see the discount, they will see it as a good will gesture to your customers.
3. Use Archiving Once the Free Period is Over
After your set free period, then you can put the photos into an archive by creating photo galleries. Archiving the events sets the customer up to order sooner to avoid having to pay to see the images later. Those archived events are still available, but only if individuals pay for access. The best practice is to set photos to automatically archive so you don’t have to worry about doing it manually. If you charge for archive access, then you can offer a credit to individuals who make a purchase to offset the archive charge. It can be as simple as a $10 credit at checkout for purchasing access to an archived event.
4. Use a Method That Requires People to Pay to See the Images from an Event
Another option is to make all the images from the event available online, but charge for access to them. This can be used to secure the images better or to make speculation sales a bit easier to profit from. The best practice we found is to charge for access, but again to offer a credit upon checkout. One photographer charged customers $10 to enter, gave another $10 credit and a three-day time limit to place orders. That photographer tripled his orders.
The days of images being available online for free will soon be gone. Charging for access is going to be a big part of the future of posting images online. Sell your photos online after each event, and it will help you to grow your business.
5. Remember to Create a Great Experience for Online Customers
You might never meet those online customers, but even if you have, it is important to make sure that you stand out from other photographers. With every order, include a thank you note, as well as a small card with your latest special or your event pricing. This small piece of marketing can encourage them to use you for their next special event and to share their experience with others looking for your services!
Another option is to include a coupon for a discount if they book with you within the next 30 days after the original event. An alternative would be to include a coupon for a family portrait photo shoot. A nice thank you can go a long way!
Using these tips, you can get your photos to work for you. Plus, your customers will enjoy being able to offer their guests the option of purchasing professional photos of their special events. If you are looking to expand your photography business to include online photo options, we can help you to create photography website templates with the right e-commerce option for you! Contact us for an evaluation of your website today.
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.