How Long Did It Take You To Make A Sell On This Site?

I've been on since April and so far all I have managed to sell is some cards last week.

Have you gotten a lot of views?

There is no 'typical.' Some people sell immediately (took me about a month), while others often say they've been on FAA for a year or more and haven't sold anything. It depends on the quality of the work, how well you tag, and how aggressively you market your images outside of FAA.

Views don't matter much, as most are bots.

Valerie

Nobody can really answer you as you really are asking, how long until I sell

It depends on many,many factors, mainly, obviously, your work and marketing of that work

FAA does not promote individual artists. As artists it has always been, unfortunately, our job to market us. When we do that then we have FAA to print our work for us but, FAA does not market us.

Creating the work is the first part. Getting buyers is the second.

Some people are saying their sales have dropped but others are saying their sales have doubled. For some it takes a day and for some it can take a year

Here are some great posts on the forum about marketing your work

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=377664 Marketing Yourself
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=358080 Promoting Your Art
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1601966


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2 weeks. but as said it really depends

how much work you have?
have a style people like?
advertising?
time of year when they started (summer means vacations)
how unique their images are (flowers are very common)
the list goes on.

---Mike Savad

It took me about 2 weeks. But it took me 6 years of shooting digital to accumulate the best 25 sellers that I posted. That's not counting the 12 years before that learning what sells and doesn't sell for prints and developing a niche. I also spent 5 years honing the keywords that went along with the first 25 images I uploaded. I still work on that plus now I use social media to drive visitors to my site.
Become an expert on all your subjects. You have a butterfly on a flower. If I were looking for a black swallowtail on a purple coneflower i might buy yours but only if I could find it. Inform the viewer a little bit.Tell them what kind of butterfly and flower in the description. What it is it doing? Use all the keywords a person might use that would lead them to see your image if they were looking for it. Include all synonyms and plurals. It helps to use descriptive titles. If you don't do the work of putting in the right words, the FAA search and Google and others are not going to help you.
After that you have to market yourself. It helps to have a lot of work for sale. Even if you do everything right it may take a while to get the first sale. But many that say they have been here a year really haven't because if you don't do all the basics you are just invisible.

Four months. I made the mistake in the beginning of thinking this was like regular gallery i.e. showing a group of similar images. After diversifying, promoting and having more inventory, I started to sell regularly after a few years.

You have to offer something unique. Everyone takes photos of their garden flowers.

It took me less than a week, but that doesn't mean a thing. It took me a while to sell again.

Too long.

I haven't made a sale yet and I've on here a year, of course I only have 25 images though.

What Bradford,Mike, Murray,Edward and others said in a nutshell. If you're doing this to make money you better be more innovative than everyone else here. Otherwise, join the crowd in the waiting room.

I'm dying laughing Debra, you couldn't have said it better. I make more money doing comissions. Though I still like this site because people all over the world see my art.

About sic months to sell 1 card and one phone case, havenīt sold anything else.

I wanted to start the same topic :)
Thanks for sharing your experiences.

3 months with no marketing - since i began more 'serious' marketing - none

After two weeks.

Three months for me. I have a day job, so I don't market. In four years this month, I've sold 31 images. But, like I said, I don't market at all.

About a year.

The question is completely irrelevant, as you can tell by the answers so far. By uploading art on sites like these, and then just hoping some random viewer comes in and buys one is not highly likely, has no bearing on future sales, is not measurable or really repeatable except for just hoping another random viewer comes in and purchases another piece.

I would be more curious as what everyone did, in order to get their first sale? Was your first buyer some one you knew personally? Was it someone that you had spoken with previously about your work? Did they come across your print randomly with key wording, or did you point them to your image through social media, newsletter etc etc? My first online sale through my own website took 1 year. This was from a person that was referred to me. All of my clients have come from having seen my work in person, at a show, or from some where else. FAA, to me is just a way to get a tiny tiny bit more web presence (very little if any at all) to get clients back to my main website. So don't just upload images here and think you will get sales, it takes TONS of work and isn't nearly as simple as that.

4 months.

--Roz Barron Abellera

I am fully aware of how much time and effort it takes. I only wanted others to share their experiences with me. I am thankful for all the comments that have been made to my question.

Thanks everyone!!

more often than not the first sale comes in 2 weeks, right after you ask the question in the forum - when do you get a sale or something like that. i think it's a manual overide to be shown on the front page. and there are some random inserts even right now. to answer - i didn't do anything other than to have great work. but its not when you get the first sale, it's when you get the second one that's more realistic.

without the stats that i need on this site, there is no way to really know what works and what doesn't.

part of getting the sale is luck, they still have to find you, and they have to like what they see.

---Mike Savad

I have been on since 2007 and have sold one card! I have been improving my tags and I am on Pinterest and twitter. The comments I get about my work have been positive! Maybe I need some strong critiques, which I would appreciate!

you would have to start a new thread if you want to be critiqued.


---Mike Savad

Barbara, you have great stuff!

One card since 2007? The is just, I don't know, astounding... I mean I can't see how that can be with such good work.

I would get rid of the watermark but that is only a small part of problem.

Almost every image I looked at have been featured in one, and some times 2 or 3 groups. People obviously like what the see.

I am just dumbfounded. I wish I had some answers for you.

It took me about 6 or 7 months to get my first sale (other than cards), but ever since then, I've sold regularly!

I got my first sale about 2 weeks after joining.

Here's something else that we need to take into consideration.

When I first joined I spent a lot of time tracking some things just for the sake of knowing the information in case the need to know was to come up at a latter time. One of the things I tracked was the names of the people showing up on the recently sold page.

Now lacking any previous experience with the page, I assumed that the recently sold was a steady stream of what just sold and by who and not a random or selective sampling.

One of the things I have noticed since then is that the names that came up over and over again most often are NOT the people that are posting in the threads to any great degree. Last I looked it ran about 80/20. 80% of the repeat sellers never make a post in the threads.

To me this means we are not really getting a true picture of what is and what is not happening on FAA because we are only hearing form about 20% (if that many) of the people here that are selling and we are NOT getting much at all form the most successful sellers.

There are a few that post on a regular bases but they are not the most frequent names showing up on the recent sales page. I am not necessarily talking about the large stock companies any more then the individual artists.

The other thing that you will see is that it is a crazy mixture of stuff that sells. That is why I cringe when someone out says this will not sell or that is nothing something anyone will buy. No one knows what will sell. If you watch that recently sold page you will see that almost anything will sell.

Just under a year, but recently sales are dead!

2 months...

Welcome! Feel free to also add your artwork and your 'story' in our "Newbies" thread here: http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1994867

its been a little over 3 weeks and still nothing.. its up to you to create your exposure. FAA is just the platform. eventually my day will come.. patience, faith and timing is key, I WILL PREVAIL! lol

Well,I have been here almost a year. I have purchased some of my work for my family but I am still waiting for my first real sale.I really like my images & thought I would sell a lot here but I guess my work isn't appreciated by most visitors who check my site out!

I've been here since fall. Nothing so far.