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Matt Keys

10 Years Ago

Help/tips For Selling Please!

Hello everyone I haven't been on this site for long and I know that all of us wan't sales of course but it seems to be very hard to get even one these days. This is a shame as most of us put a lot of effort into our work and for some it's their way of living. I'm not a pro but I do take great pride in my work having taught myself from scratch and getting good grades (college) and comments from anyone that I have showed them to.

My question if you please is just how do I get sales on this site, does having a premium account help? And I think I have my name out there enough, my own site and facebook page etc. Maybe I need to look of ways closer to home in Guernsey but getting yourself known on this small island full of photographers is almost impossible. Thank-you in advance for viewing this any advice is valuable.

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Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

you have to advertise, and it takes longer than a month in real life just as it does here. premium allows you to upload more. and the more things you have, the better, provided they are well done. if your sitting and waiting for a sale - it will never happen.


you only have 9 images - that's an amount so small it would be missed if someone were glancing over. the people that sell here have well over a 1000. while people sell with less, you need variety, and most of your images look the same and look like they were taken all on the same trip. sunsets are a dime a 1000 here

Art Prints
you have very few keywords and /'s shouldn't be in the tags.

and just because you list it here, doesn't mean it will sell. selling art is hard to do.

if you type your name into google without quotes, what alternates come up? is there are? like artist? photographer? anything? with only 9 images your name won't be out there that far, and if your new to this, it will take even longer. basing by views alone, your not pushing it that hard. get a twitter account, get a large grouping of followers (think thousands), and advertise daily. and create different kinds of things. things you would hang in your own house.

Art Prints
this one has no keywords at all, you didn't ask for a critique so i won't say more than that. no one will find this. you have no description, barely much of a title. google won't even find this, it's also not that sharp up close.


i would drop the bio totally, and get rid of how you got into photography, about your camera etc - its no different than a chef going on and on about his knives. just tell people your from here, and you specialize in this. change your avatar so you don't look mean and grumpy, your the face people look at when they are in the store, it should look friendly, and less snap shot like. the avatar is the first introduction to your work, and it's what people may use to judge what kinds of images you do, and how you care for those images.


---Mike Savad

 

Delete Delete

10 Years Ago

Good advice Mike. :)

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

As an artist, half of the work is marketing yourself.

Here are some good links to discussions in our forum and elsewhere about marketing your work

http://1stangel.co.uk/downloads/ Dan Turner's 7 Keys To Selling Art Online
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=720538 The Art Of Social-network Marketing Available Online For Free
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1192902&targetid=1193015#1193015 Evaluating Your Own Work To Sell – By Mike Savad
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=908258 How to critique and edit your own work for better sales
http://1stangel.co.uk/fineartamerica/2011/07/12/tagging-or-keywords-and-descriptions Tagging, or Keywords and Descriptions
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=377664 Marketing Yourself
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=431967 Innovative Marketing for Artists - Challenge!
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=420132 Niche Marketing?
http://1stangel.co.uk/fineartamerica/2011/07/11/how-do-i-launch-a-local-art-show How Do I Launch A Local Art Show??
http://1stangel.co.uk/fineartamerica/2011/06/23/press-releases PRESS RELEASES what are they and how to use them
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=432109 YOUR Print Quality - Please Read
http://www.fineartamerica.com/newsletters/order-fulfillment-partner.html One of the newsletters with some good info on

Be sure to stay active on Fine Art America: join discussion, contests, etc.

We have an entire Marketing section for you to utilise to help sell your work. Try using those tools to help you.

But the best place to start is telling your friends and family.

 

Joseph C Hinson

10 Years Ago

Not that I have the greatest avatar by any stretch (I can only do so much with this face) but I'd redo my avatar if I were you so it would look more inviting and less like a selfie or a mug shot. Otherwise, what Mike offered was great advice.

Also, you've been a member for a month. That's a speck of time in the grand scheme of things. It's silly that folks, myself included, think all they have to do is create a FAA page and they will automatically start selling. It takes some time, some luck and some marketing to start making sells. Even after 18 months, I am no where near where I want to be,

 

Amanda Stadther

10 Years Ago

Hi Matt, I have been to Guernsey, I was there for a day and was pretty hungover at the time, but I do remember pretty little harbors, quaint stores and some secluded beaches...I think I remember seeing glass houses with lots of tomatoes...or was that somewhere else? Anyway, take photos of things that are uniquely Guernsey, the scenery you talk about in your bio. Yacht sunsets are nice but Guernsey is much more than that...if I recall. Good Luck.

Just remembered the cows..or were they Jersey Cows?

 

Edward Fielding

10 Years Ago

9 images are a drop in the ocean. If you want to sell, get serious about it.

 

Edward Fielding

10 Years Ago

"We’re somewhat limited over here with the pictures we can get"

You've had your SLR for five years now and the only subject you can think of to shoot is sunsets? Seriously stop thinking about selling your work and put some work into a 365 day project. Go out every single day and come back with at least one compelling image. Then after a year, narrow down that 365 images to 40 of the best, then try to sell them.

 

Matt Keys

10 Years Ago

Thank-you all for the feedback there's some great advice there so I'll get on it when I have a moment, luckily I'm going on holiday so should have plenty of time for editing, sorting out both websites and more pictures.

 

Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

just be sure that whatever you upload it's the best it can be. many think that the amount you have is a magic number and just fill it with random filler.


---Mike Savad

 

Matt Keys

10 Years Ago

Cheers Mike very true I may not have thousands of photos but I am working on the hundreds I have with Lightroom or Photoshop now as I improve my skills. In fact some of the photos I have up now I'm not happy with so I'm re-doing them, the same with my website I just think the lighting is off and not where I want it although at the time I hadn't got into Adobe programs which have proven to be a powerful tool.

 

Edward Fielding

10 Years Ago

tip - don't put up anything you are not proud of.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

Matt, loving the new avatar! Much better

 

This discussion is closed.