Ok, back from vacation in Yellowstone.  Beefing up my Symbiostock site - www.dogfordstudios.com with 500 plus images at this point.  Blogging, linking, SEOing away.

One new idea for marketing that I've put into place is offering a few free images.  So far I just have one offered and its 72 dpi and limited to small size AND it has my URL on it.

My thinking is that it would give an interested party a way to test out my site without spending any money.

If anyone wants to test it out here is the link:   http://www.dogfordstudios.com/image-type/free-stock-photos-images/

Cheers!

Have you tried a test download yet when the price is $0.00? 

I tried to do a test dl on an image I set to 0 and PayPal told me to charge more than $0.00 whatever that was supposed to mean.

Yeah, Paypal of course wants their piece.  After initial setup I did a few test downloads from our site on images that I had set to .10 each. Because the purchase price was less than paypals threshold they kept all of the money. No big deal for what I was doing but it made me laugh.

As far as offering a few free images, it gives you a way to advertise and rank for "free images".  I'm not sure if anyone doing a search for free images can be turned into a customer or not?  As you say, however, it might give potential paying customers a way to check out a couple of your images and increase their confidence in purchasing either now or at a later date.

Are you sure you want to attract people who are looking for free images?

I wouldn't mind doing that sometime down the road if we can figure out a way to bypass PayPal all together.

Maybe edit the image to not live which will take away the download links on the right (If I remember correctly) and just add a download button for each size in the description.

Shouldn't be too hard to implement.

or just have the blog size download listed for free, with larger sizes keeping their pricing

Thanks for the feedback.  I upped my free offering to a quarter so PayPal can take their chunk.

The point of the "nearly free" offer is to have an image that can be downloaded as a trial.   Not necessarily to attract freebie hunters.

I'd encourage Symbiostock site to offer at least one "nearly free" image so that potential customers could try out the checkout system.

Quote from: Redneck on August 26, 2013, 23:00
Are you sure you want to attract people who are looking for free images?

It's worked well for the stock companies. The old StockXpert was built largely on traffic from their free site. Bring in the buyers for a free image, and many will stay and buy stuff.

Quote from: EmberMike on August 27, 2013, 22:22

Quote from: Redneck on August 26, 2013, 23:00
Are you sure you want to attract people who are looking for free images?

It's worked well for the stock companies. The old StockXpert was built largely on traffic from their free site. Bring in the buyers for a free image, and many will stay and buy stuff.

What I meant is that from "free image" searches you'll probably get a lot more people willing to steal your images instead of buying any.

Quote from: Bryan on August 26, 2013, 22:57

As far as offering a few free images, it gives you a way to advertise and rank for "free images".  I'm not sure if anyone doing a search for free images can be turned into a customer or not?  As you say, however, it might give potential paying customers a way to check out a couple of your images and increase their confidence in purchasing either now or at a later date.

Yes, at least i had one instant for sure that someone looked for "free medical images" landed on my site (because of royalty free ), and half an hour later ended up with over a 100$ purchase, and did not even used the promotion coupon i had advertised on every page. It was for an university so i guess they dont care much about how much they have to pay, but i could not get it why they look for "free" at the beginning, probably to report to their boss that they did look for free but none available?
Also, i guess people look for free first, why not, and then if they can not find what they want for free, a reasonable option would be next.

Quote

One new idea for marketing that I've put into place is offering a few free images.
My thinking is that it would give an interested party a way to test out my site without spending any money.

It's not new, and it's not wise. It reeks of desperation.
I would think that today anybody who ventures onto the online world, has used a Paypal shopping cart and he doesn't need to test that.
If you want to give out free images, put them on Flickr.

I remember a string a while back on giving away images- the majority were dead set against it! No Freebies! You worked hard making these images so get paid or at least put them in iStock and get $12 before they are 'Officially' free...

What we're trying here is a month's special offer of a popular file at $1.00 for all sizes. We'll probably run one every month, just to see what happens.

The current bargain is at http://www.picturemojo.co.nz/image/sydney-harbour-bridge-illuminated-at-twilight/

Quote from: Travelling-light on September 03, 2013, 00:31
What we're trying here is a month's special offer of a popular file at $1.00 for all sizes. We'll probably run one every month, just to see what happens.

The current bargain is at http://www.picturemojo.co.nz/image/sydney-harbour-bridge-illuminated-at-twilight/

That's an interesting approach. You're almost giving the photo away but they have to be willing to spend at least a buck to get it. Keeps the people who are never going to buy anything away because they won't even spend a dollar and gives legit buyers an opportunity to try out your site as well as see the quality of your product. Where are you advertising this special?

Nice image by the way!

Quote from: Travelling-light on September 03, 2013, 00:31
What we're trying here is a month's special offer of a popular file at $1.00 for all sizes. We'll probably run one every month, just to see what happens.

The current bargain is at http://www.picturemojo.co.nz/image/sydney-harbour-bridge-illuminated-at-twilight/

Interesting Idea.  Has it generated any traffic/hits/sales?

Might this be something some of us may want to offer across the network?  I know I could use the traffic.

It's only just gone up so it's a bit early to see anything happening. So far it's only been tweeted, but we'll find a few more ways to spread it around. Once Google pick up the front page banner as a change to the site, it'll be in the search for a while to bring people in, even if the offer image has changed.

It'll be an interesting experiment, and perhaps we can find a way to promote each other's special offers... Ideas?

Maybe a list on a site that get's tweeted and facebooked that lists the sites and the deals going on at each site.  Some kind of table with a couple of columns perhaps?