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!

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.

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.

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, 17:00

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.

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.

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/

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.

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?