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Poll

POLL:  Do you sell direct through your own personal website?

Yes, I have my own website but sales are very slow
0 (0%)
Yes, I have my own website and I make as much as I do on some microstock agents
0 (0%)
Yes, but I'm thinking of quiting because it's too much work
0 (0%)
No, I'm happy selling through an agent
0 (0%)
No, but I'd like to sell direct in the future
0 (0%)
Yes, but I do not sell through my own site, I use a site like photoshelter.
0 (0%)
Yes, I sell through sites like photoshelter but am thinking of selling on my own site in the future
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 0

Author Topic: POLL: Do you sell direct through your own personal website?  (Read 18884 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« on: August 02, 2011, 20:49 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:08 by hasleftthebuilding »


PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2011, 20:57 »
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I'm using Photoshelter and like it. They've been improving it continually and it's pretty nice.

Sales are slow but promising. I've only had a few dozen images online and it's more than paid for itself with some print and stock sales.

I think if I had a few thousand images online I'd see some regular sales. I'm actually giving the agencies a break for a bit while I build up my personal site.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2011, 21:10 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:08 by hasleftthebuilding »

red

« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2011, 21:27 »
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Have you read this discussion? It might address some of your questions -
http://www.microstockgroup.com/selling-direct/places-and-ways-to-sell-your-images-direct/

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2011, 21:31 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:08 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2011, 01:22 »
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I do plan to get my own site one day but I never seem to get any time to work on it.  I'm also waiting for someone to come up with better ways for us to get together and sell direct to buyers.  What I want is for us all to have separate sites but be able to put images in to combined collections that will be more interesting to buyers than individual portfolios.  I would also like to see a way for buyers to only have to register once and be able to buy images from different portfolios.  I don't think my portfolio on its own is going to make many people sign up and download and it would probably be a waste of money to market it.

I thought that this would all be available by now but all the entrepreneurs seem fixated by the way the big sites have set things up.  Hopefully someone will take a risk and set up an alternative.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2011, 02:33 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:09 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2011, 02:56 »
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Unfortunately 80% wasn't enough for istock, they now take 83% off me.  Hopefully part of their downturn is due to their greed and other sites wont follow them.  If someone comes up with a better option to buy and sell stock images than we currently have, I don't think they will have to spend a penny on marketing, we will do it all for them via social networking etc.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2011, 03:24 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:09 by hasleftthebuilding »

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2011, 20:43 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:10 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2011, 20:51 »
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I decided to sell through WarmPicture - which isn't really direct, but pretty close.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2011, 21:24 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:10 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2011, 01:10 »
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I'm only put off by the fact that us all having our own sites with no universal search is going to be difficult for buyers.  I think we need to make their life easier, not harder.

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2011, 01:33 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:11 by hasleftthebuilding »

RacePhoto

« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2011, 13:50 »
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I'm only put off by the fact that us all having our own sites with no universal search is going to be difficult for buyers.  I think we need to make their life easier, not harder.

There will be a universal search :)

Right idea to both of you, it will make a big difference and some serious competition to the "big" sites. Instead of a bunch of pebbles being tossed into the ocean...

« Reply #15 on: August 04, 2011, 16:21 »
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I thought of doing it many times, but never took the time and investment. I do have a bit of this in my website, as Shutterpoint has HTML code to embed my galleries into my website, but then my website is not much popular... Other than that I sometimes put links to my images or Zazzle products. But a real store, not yet.

lisafx

« Reply #16 on: August 04, 2011, 16:49 »
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I have my own site (which you were kind enough to take a look at :) ).  So far only a couple of sales.  I haven't gotten around to marketing yet, though, so I wasn't really expecting much in the way of sales.  Still nice to have it.  Feels a bit like an insurance policy.

I am on Warmpicture too, and feel really positive about that.  A few sales so far, but Daniel is much more of a go-getter than I am and between him and some of the other inspired people there, I feel confident that some good traffic will eventually be generated.

rinderart

« Reply #17 on: August 04, 2011, 19:29 »
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I have my own site (which you were kind enough to take a look at :) ).  So far only a couple of sales.  I haven't gotten around to marketing yet, though, so I wasn't really expecting much in the way of sales.  Still nice to have it.  Feels a bit like an insurance policy.

I am on Warmpicture too, and feel really positive about that.  A few sales so far, but Daniel is much more of a go-getter than I am and between him and some of the other inspired people there, I feel confident that some good traffic will eventually be generated.

+1 Lisa. sold one last week. And I like Dan. I sell 4/5 on my personal site a month. I charge $65.00 for largest size. Don't care how they use it.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 19:33 by rinderart »

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #18 on: August 04, 2011, 22:48 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:11 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #19 on: August 04, 2011, 23:52 »
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I'm surprised actually, I thought there'd me a lot more already selling direct.  When I google, I find heaps of ktools stores so I can chase some of those people and ask if they want to participate... the more we have the better the SEO.


Yeah if you're doing any cross-promotional stuff, definitely shoot me an email. I'd mentioned doing blog interviews as link exchanges in another post, but all I got was crickets. I did one with Arena Creative ( http://www.mystockvectors.com/blog/?p=153 ), but I'd definitely love to do more. Although, I probably owe Lisa a freebie, since she already has links to my site. Anyway, a blog is a great promotional tool and easy to set up. I can probably help with a walk-through for setup or at least provide some links.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 23:55 by cthoman »

PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2011, 00:03 »
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Hi Paulie, thanks for voting and replying.  I'm actually more interested in the ones that sell on their own dot com where they get 100% of their own commissions but it's still interesting to hear from people that are using sites like photoshelter... so I've added a couple more options. 

They take 10% but I haven't found a better platform. I've done trials of a lot of sites and Photoshelter gets it. Ktools doesn't even have a trial. Sorry, but I'm not dropping a couple hundred bucks on something to see if I like it or not.

So what are you up to? You thinking about doing a co-op? Or offering SEO services?

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2011, 00:39 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:12 by hasleftthebuilding »

TheSmilingAssassin

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« Reply #22 on: August 05, 2011, 00:49 »
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« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 23:12 by hasleftthebuilding »

« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2011, 01:58 »
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*raises hand*

I'm one of those "No...but I'd like to in the future people"

My biggest thing is trying to get it started.  Right now I'm on a free webhost with limited space and only one db unless I upgrade (which I can't afford to do at the moment).  I'm not sure how I want to go about setting up a section what to use as far as payment gateways and whatnot.  How to handle licensing it's just a lot of things I don't really know about.  I did have a zen cart set up a few years ago but found the digital download part of it clunky and obtrusive and I'm not sure they've changed that part to run smoothly.  That and it was a pain to set up (couldn't argue with the free price though).

I also thought about trying to make artwork or take photos that aren't stockworthy but more artistic but I started out in stock and can't find my artistic ability at all  :P

I know how to layout a website and code just making it where it looks professional enough is throwing me.  That and it's pretty scary to boot.

« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2011, 09:36 »
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Cheers Cory, I do a lot of promoting already, so thank you, I'll keep that in mind.  Your blog is great, as is your site.  I'm a fair way from creating my own store even... it takes longer than they advertise for doesn't it? 

"PhotoStore allows you to setup a complete photo selling website on your server or hosting space and in just minutes you can start selling photos on your website." 

lol yeah right!  How long did it take you guys to set up?

Thanks. Yeah, it takes a while to setup. I think it was several weeks to get everything uploaded. A couple weeks for my initial design and a couple weeks for the redesign. Then, there are the tweaks.  ;D


 

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