to Show and Sell Your Photos

Transcription

1 Building a Photography Website to Show and Sell Your Photos WADE SHELDON CONTACT@SHELDONPHOTO.NET

2 Sharing on Social Media Facebook and Instagram convenient, but: Low image quality (very compressed) Minimal control over layout Strip EXIF/copyright metadata Grant other users image rights if they can see it, they can use it Can t directly sell images Ads, ads, ads Facebook Terms 2. Sharing Your Content and Information You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition: 1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it. Much better options for serious photo sharing

3 Free Photo Sharing Options Flickr ( Pros Cons Free 1TB storage (with ads) or Pro ($50/yr) Preserves quality, EXIF Large community with interest groups Image tagging and stats No control over layout Can t use your own domain name Only convenient selling is through Getty Images

4 Free Photo Sharing Options 500px ( Pros Free basic or paid Pro options ($36-$60/yr) Clean, beautiful interface Preserves quality, EXIF Image tagging and stats More selling options for pro accounts (Marketplace) Cons Free account has limited uploads (20/week) Can t use your own domain name Recently sold to Chinese company???

5 Personal Photography Website Options Many options depending on needs, skills and wallet Common options (in paid plans): Custom domain name (separate purchase) Large/unlimited photo and video storage Custom themes, page layouts for branding Add text pages, blog pages (e.g. bios, booking info, photo stories, price lists) E-commerce features (direct print/digital purchases with shopping cart) Image/gallery tagging with search-engine optimization/analytics support Costs: expect $50-100/yr for portfolio plans, $120-$350/yr for business plans

6 Personal Photography Website Options General Photography Sites (e.g. portfolio, galleries, photo stories): SmugMug (smugmug.com) Zenfolio (zenfolio.com) Format ( 22Slides (22slides.com) Commercial Photography Sites (e.g. client proof galleries) Photoshelter ( ShootProof ( Custom Website with Gallery (e.g. blog with photos, galleries) WordPress ( Wix ( SquareSpace (

7 SmugMug Popular full-featured photo hosting solution Unlimited photo storage in all plans Free themes, highly customizable Excellent image quality at all sizes Good performance, up-time, customer service Great e-commerce/cart with top print lab options Good mobile support and free IOS/Android App Plans: Basic (minimal customization) - $48/yr Power (customizable) - $72/yr Portfolio (for-profit sales) - $180/yr Business (full business features) - $360/yr

8 PC Web Browser iphone (Safari) iphone App

9 Browse Gallery Folders Image View with share/buy buttons

10 Photo Buying Options Add to Shopping Cart (with cropping)

11 Customizing Logging in adds a menubar for managing your site Access account settings Open the file organizer Customize site or gallery designs and themes Choose photo labs and set prices

12 Content and Design Customization Carousel Block Settings

13 Snow Theme Princess Theme

14 Custom Price List Site Statistics

15 SmugMug Lightroom Plugin

16 WordPress Popular content management system for building custom websites Started as a blogging platform, but now powers ~30% of websites (incl. APG!) Many options, from cheap/free to professionally managed e-commerce hosting Massive number of themes (free or paid) Massive number of plugins and customization options Many good options for photo gallery plugins: Envira Gallery, Upfront, NextGEN Gallery, WP Canvas, See

17 APG Home Page (WordPress on GoDaddy) Administrator Dashboard

18 Media Library Theme Page Settings

19 WordPress Hosting Most general web hosting companies offer WordPress plans Basic plans for DIY installs ($50+/yr) Premium plans with WP-specific set-up, maintenance and help ($100+/yr) Lots of premium options from wordpress.com, others too

20 How to Get Started Examine your goals and priorities (honestly) Photo archive/sharing gallery? (Smugmug, Zenfolio, 22Slides, ) Image proofing/selling for portrait/wedding business? (ShootProof, PhotoShelter, ) Blog site for photo storytelling, reviews with gallery? (WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, ) Decide if you need a custom domain name (~$15/yr, included with some plans) Visit photo website hosting sites, look at example sites, price plans and templates Sign up for a free 2-4 week trial and spend a weekend day playing around Plan your galleries ahead of time (Lightroom collections, computer folders) Jump in and ask lots of questions in help forums

21 Local Help Resources APG Facebook page Update APG member profiles on web? APG indoor fieldtrip/workshop? Others??

22 SmugMug Promotion Coupon for 20% off any SmugMug annual plan after 14 day trial: Comes with free coaching from Wade