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Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

How Does A Person Get A Sale?

I've been a member since June of this year. I have over 8,000 views.. I tweet, fb, stumble, google+, pinterest.. I have set a 10% off code until December 1, and spread that around. I'm in multiple groups, and while I know I am not a top notch professional, I have been featured in many of the groups.
I've been lucky to have a friend purchase 2 items.. which I am ever so thankful for.. but what else can one do?
It seems like there are only specific people that get on the featured page when you first log in.. am I doing something wrong?
Constructive, not vindictive criticism is definitely welcome.. helpful hints etc. Thank you in advance for any responses.

Here is my link.. http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/debbie-nobile.html

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Martin Capek

9 Years Ago

You can have a great work, you can be advertising, but sometimes you just need a little bit of luck.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

features in groups won't give you sales, most groups are easy to get featured in.

trim the bio so it removes the threats at the bottom - just tell them it's copyrighted. that's enough. keep the bio simple to what you shoot. your better with a face as an avatar then a flower, while easy to see the purple, its not memorable. all avatars should be on all sites.

Art Prints
if your going to have words - make sure you have one without words. not everyone wants a prayer. there are very few keywords in this. be sure to mention which prayer this is. along with anything else you can think of

Photography Prints
i think this would sell better without the words. it would be far more universal that way. i sell very little scripture btw.

Art Prints
be sure to tell people where this is, names, towns, states, etc - both in descriptions and tags. advertising starts here.

Photography Prints
you only have 5 keywords in this. up close it's noisy, and not that sharp, a bit dark as well. otherwise its a nice shot. the description is wishy washy. rather then tell us how or why you took it and hoping we might like it. tell us why we should like it. set the mood.

Photography Prints
some of these might sell - but not with the words on it. you have to like the words, be of that religion and like planes at the same time and you probably won't have that mix. so be sure to have 2 versions. try to find the names of those planes

Sell Art Online
that's not printable by the way, the sky is blocky.

https://twitter.com/Djkn93

you have 10 followers, no avatar or any solid ID - you only have images. you have no hash tags.

get more friends, don't post the images there, do post hashtags. just posting to twitter isn't enough to get attention. you need to attract certain kinds of people. in your case church people. but you can get scripture so easily these days that it will be a hard sell unless the words match the picture really well. the friends thing is the same on everything you post too.

also keep in mind, but making all that text english, you effectively cut away everyone that can't read it.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Iris Richardson

9 Years Ago

Debbie, that is not a really long time in terms of marketing. It use to be 12 month before marketing kicked in and now with the economy being challenges it is more like 18 month +
Keep marketing and promoting yourself
Create work you can see yourself hanging on your walls
Learn,grow and keep taking pictures
There are many forums here where folks promote each other use them
Make sure your image title and keywords are strong

I am sure you will get tons more advise.
Best of luck wishing you many sales.

 

Roy Erickson

9 Years Ago

Debbie - how many people know you have work for sale on FAA? who have you told that might would purchase your work to hang on their wall? You've some really nice work - but you got to get folks to come look at your work. and that is how you get sales - you got to market your work - just as if you were selling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

 

Martin Capek

9 Years Ago

And you can join my contest for the undiscovered artists :))
http://fineartamerica.com/contests/undiscovered-artists.html

 

JC Findley

9 Years Ago

The planes. One is an F22 Raptor the other a P38 lighting

 

Floyd Snyder

9 Years Ago

A Few Reasons Y U May Not Be Selling http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/fasgallerycom.html?tab=blog

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you for taking time to comment, advise, and encourage. I will definitely keep all as words of wisdom.
Mike, many I have started to upload without scripture.. I definitely understand what you are saying. Also thank you for your feedback.
Iris, thank you for the encouragement! Greatly appreciated!
Martin, Thanks for the link! I will get that moving along!
Roy I definitely will give that much thought.
Thanks again!

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you for the P38, JC, I thought I had tagged the F22. I guess I didn't.
Floyd, I'll check out that link. Thanks to both!

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Its a marathon not a sprint. Took me at least six months before a sale. Three years before steady sales.

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you Edward.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Make sure your images are the very best they can be. That means straight horizons (your ocean images are askew), as little noise as possible as well as the jpeg artifacts Mike mentioned and dust spots.
This one has a large dust spot on the upper right and FAA will not print it if someone ordered it:
Photography Prints

 

Bart Zalucki

9 Years Ago

Hello. I have an account - with interruptions - probably 3 years. I never sold anything. Visitors almost no - unless I had a controversial topic in the discussion. Now I almost do not look in here (because why?) And the FAA I treat as a kind of portfolio on the web. I greet and wish you success.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

@bartlomiej - if your sitting around waiting. you won't get a sale. if your not updating the site, if your not telling people your here, then the site you have is stale. selling takes work, they won't wander in. many of your works have no keywords, and a few have just a couple. so even window shoppers can't find you - (if you hide your window). you have to find the type of people that would be interested in your work, and that's the hard part.

i don't know if it was intentional or not and don't take this the wrong way, but much of your work as a grim look. so if that was the case i would look for people that are into goth, death, depression, and the like. people that are moody or like darker images. i would look for them. selling is also an art.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Rachel Hersh

9 Years Ago

Let me start off by commenting, Debbie, I really like the spirit of your creations. However, I must admit your keywords could be a little more appealing. I would suggest trying expand your keyword list. Don't get me wrong, I feel you a doing great; however, try and rationalize what a potential customer might type into the search box. For instance, "Praise" and "Great Things" keyword list could be expanded to include biblical quotes, biblical phrases, biblical verses, and so on... Verses from the book of Luke or Verses from the book of Psalms, New Testament Verses, Old Testament Verses, even the book and chapter and verse and most important keywords like greeting cards or holiday cards, etc. I know it is sometimes hard to think outside the box! In this instance, however, try and realize you are trying to pull potential customers in and the number one goal of making sales is pleasing the customer. Thus, work on filling potential customers with an experience of fun-time instead of hard work. In other words, a customer who works to shop is more likely to call it quits--I guess...

God Bless,

Rachel H.

 

Melissa Herrin

9 Years Ago

Having done it all its just a matter of time Debbie. Just keep on keeping on. Im in the same boat as you.

 

JULIO R LOPEZ JR

9 Years Ago

Mike Savad, after reading every word on this thread. You have the best advice. Consistent and to the point.

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you all! Such wonderful wisdom offered! I really appreciate it!

 

Melissa Herrin

9 Years Ago

Photography Prints

I like this one Bartlomiej but it has only one keyword and zero description. More key words and a detailed description the more you do for your work the better.

 

Prajakta P

9 Years Ago

Hi Debbie, even i am an amateur on FAA and have only one sale in my credentials!
Nevertheless, try to use the following keyword generator. It helps-
http://microstockgroup.com/tools/keyword.php

All the best!
Prajakta P
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/prajakta-p.html

 

Oliver Cook

9 Years Ago

Hi Debbie,

Keep in mind that there are quite literally more artworks out there than there are people on the planet these days (with more added each minute). Then add in that the actual perceived monetary value of images is being constantly eroded, amongst large segments of the population, due to the over-saturation of free imagery (courtesy of this double-edged blade we call the internet) and the increasing globalisation of the world economy (think about all the sweatshop produced 'original' canvas paintings you can get in discount home stores now). Of course, there are still serious art collectors out there, and the art world (taken as a whole) is worth ever increasing sums. But those serious art collectors are, more often than not, buying as investments as much as for the love of art, and so their considerations when buying are as much about the artist's perceived celebrity and the monetary value that brings.

So don't beat yourself up about not selling on here. Selling art on the internet is incredibly difficult. The only way to really do it is to go niche, build a hardcore of collectors. But they have to love you as much as your art really. Prices on FAA (or any other POD site) simply can't compete with the mass market decorative art prices. People aren't going to purchase from here on a whim, they will only purchase because they desperately want YOUR work, or have some incredible affinity with the niche subject matter.

Hope this helps,

Oli

www.olivercook.format.com

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you all. When I think of keywords, I'm not thinking phrases, but one word tags. I very much appreciate these comments, and advice, and encouragement.
Blessings to all of you! One can only improve!

 

Chuck De La Rosa

9 Years Ago

I'll add some additional thoughts about keywords. You want to market what you have to people that can identify with it. I don't do a lot of marketing but I do make sales, mostly of the Milwaukee Art Museum and scenes from Door County. People have special attachments to those places. They find me because my descriptions include place names, as do my key words. For example, you have a shot of Holy Hill. That place means something to people. How will they find your photo?

Use keywords like this (note where the commas are), holy hill, hubertus, wisconsin, hubertus wisconsin, shrine, National Shrine Of Mary At Holy Hill, landscape, foliage, forest, religion, spirituality, faith, worship, religious, christianity, christian, holy.

These are just some examples. I use a keyword generator to help me, so far this is the best one I've found: http://www.mykeyworder.com .

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you Chuck! This is so helpful!

 

Dorothy Berry-Lound

9 Years Ago

As a newby I have found this discussion really helpful. Thanks for posting the question Debbie.

 

Diane Mintle

9 Years Ago

All I can say is keep at it. It's LOTS of hard work, but it eventually pays off. It took me over a year to have my first sale...and have not had any more sales since that first one a couple months ago.

Don't get discouraged....just keep at it and keep refining keywords, descriptions, etc. There is no clear cut answer as to how to make sales....it's all up to the buyers.

 

Chuck De La Rosa

9 Years Ago

Here's another tip. A lot of photo web sites use the IPTC metadata fields for title, description, and keywords. FAA included. Using software that lets you edit the metadata (most editing and organizing software does. I use ACDSee Pro), you can add all your keywords in advance, then when you upload the file, the fields will automatically populate.

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

On this one,

Sell Art Online

you've got it tagged "Union Pacific" which is a good start. I'm always surprised when I see train shots by folks here that don't tag the railroad. But where was tis taken? Some folks love location shots. I have one visitor from Conway, SC that keeps going to my railroad shot taken in Conway. One day he's going to walk in the store. It's hard to tell, but it looks like a coal train. There's another tag you can use. I believe this is the rear end of a loaded coal train. If so, the engine is what railroads and railfans call DPUs or distributed power units. The egineer in the front locomotive can control it from up there. Locomotive. Use that as a tag. Train engine. I'd probably tag it "armour yellow" for the paint they use. (Might actually need to g see if I've used those tags myself.)

A common nick name for this railroad is Uncle Pete. Use that. The engine number is 7476. Using that with the reporting marks (as "UP 7476") might bring in some hits. For example, I'm about to do a web search on UP 7476 to find out what kind of engine it is.... It's a General Electric (GE) ES44AC. Railfans love designations. I'd put "ballast" in there, a fancy way of saying rocks. I'd put "vanishing point" in there because that's what the tracks are in tis shot. You've got sunrise; I'd also put "sun up" which you're got in the title.

That's just a start. I'd also likely take out the reference to a "quick shot." Another way to put it would be, "As I was making my way to______ this morning, I realized there was a train passing below me and with that glorious sun rise, I knew I had to get a shot!"

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

Oh, yeah, tag it as "railroad."

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

the type of train - diesel, what time of day, it's an action shot, sunset/rise,infinity,perspective, freight train....

however it won't print, the sky is very noisy.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

I hope you have much success Dorothy!! Thank you Diane and Chuck.. and Joseph. thank you! That is wonderful.. Mike, The sky is noisy.. it is an iphone photo that was altered on the phone. I like the photo anyways, which is why I posted it.. it may make a decent card, not much more.
Thank you all!! Very much appreciated!

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

but your selling it as a poster - and it won't print. you'll lose a sale and a customer. but things like that turn off people. they can see the sky is noisy, and if that's the image people see if they find you by accident, they may leave. don't edit things on phones, not only does it show you a more contrasty version (it makes the phone look better), but your screen is too small. you won't be able to see the detail needed to make a good print.

but if you know it will only be a card - don't sell them as prints.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

its also important to note - always upload your best, even if the one you like a lot, has issues, and you know of those issues. don't show it to anyone. to sell things and to do so over and over, you and anyone else will need a consistent level of quality.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Chuck De La Rosa

9 Years Ago

Debbie, to remove everything from sale except cards, just remove your markup from all sizes except cards, make them blank. Then only cards will be available.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

the down side is - if people see a random assortment of sizes, you may not get a sale either. its like going to a store, falling in love with a shirt and finding out they only have it 6 sizes too small, and the other ones are also random. i also try to keep my crops consistent so they can have a wall of them the same size. or ratio anyway.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Ahh .. thank you.. I obviously did not think of any of that either. I will definitely get those adjustments made asap. Thank you again!!

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

one other question.. I went to the shop page, typed in the title Hoyt Park Bridge, and my photo doesn't come up... Is it restricted? Or is there a time frame?

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

if you just did it, it will take 24hours or more.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Debbie Nobile

9 Years Ago

Thank you Mike!

 

This discussion is closed.