What The *&%^ Am I Doing Wrong

love to tell you. but my sales aren't that great either. seems the buying public for some are holding back. even main stores are having issues. you have the people skill i don't, so that's a plus. often it can take years when selling it online but i don't know what to say.

i did find that g+ is a waste of time and i won't bother with them. everyone on my thread said to go door to door, go to a fair, or schmooze with people. i think there are just too many places to either shop at, the uniqueness has worn off or we can blame obama or trump.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

TL,

I don't have any answers for you, as I don't sell either. Tried the various methods early in the game to no avail.





"...or we can blame obama or trump."


Mike,

Trump isn't in office, and I'll keep my remarks concerning the other one you mentioned to myself.

Avatar is great! Prices are about right. Descriptions are good. Could use a few more keywords I suppose.

Thanks for the reply Mike.
I'll be honest I don't think you give yourself enough credit, are you agoraphobic? just a question, not loaded!!

The main reason I use G+ is because since google owns it, I herd from another artist that does quite well that G+ was the best way to get noticed by google!

I do well stuff in person, I am rather reclusive so I find it hard to approach people, but I have been getting out of my comfort level, but I just let them see the work, hanging in my home, and let them decide if they want it, since I work from my home, and carry a gun(!) I don't really mind if people know where I live.

I have been working up to the fairs, I did one two years ago, was quite bummed out after that one, but I did a check on what I did wrong, and did the same fair again this year, it is pricy so you don't want to make the same mistake twice, I did better, and sold a couple of large prints to people who had seen the work at the fair, next year I am going to try and get into two fairs, I am building up.

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

Thanks Greg,
""...or we can blame obama or trump."


Mike,

Trump isn't in office, and I'll keep my remarks concerning the other one you mentioned to myself." I've got a sneaking suspicion you and I just might see eye to eye on this one! ;-)

Thanks JC.
Appreciate all the insight I can get!!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

everyone blames obama for everything so i thought i'd toss that one in there too... but the other ones is making noise and maybe people are watching him instead of buying art...

no i go outside, i don't fear the outside areas, but i have nothing to do there but go to a store or walk around the block. the thought of basically interviewing myself for each person to sell things - totally grosses me out.

i thought the same way about google. however i don't think it affected my rank, that i can see anyway. and i got a grand total of like 10 hits over a year. or something like that. it wasn't impressive. some odd site i never heard of gave me almost as many. and i actually sold better when i was banned from google. so who knows...

i print none of my work out to see. i have no space. and in this day and age, i think everyone seems to carry a gun. don't need people in the house.

for myself i'd like to stick with pod, not sure what i'll do if that runs out. i guess cut off my ear and get famous or something... of course it could just be an ear of corn, but no one has to know that.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

TL you have some gorgeous images. I can not imagine why you would not be selling. Sorry, that is no real help.

not sure what i'll do if that runs out. i guess cut off my ear and get famous or something... of course it could just be an ear of corn, but no one has to know that

That right there Mike tells me you have a sense of humor, now go out and use it on real people, you may be serprised!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

Thanks Ann, everything is helpful!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

I've done pretty much the same as you TL, other than the promo, and I haven't sold anything from this free shipping promotion either.. Not sure what the ones who are getting sales from it are doing. There was mention of doing email campaigns. I did that, with my 10 email subscribers. Looks like none of them even opened them. Maybe going to their spam folder. At least you are selling in person. I'm with Mike, I am not not much of a salesperson myself and don't even know how to market to people outside of social sites or in person. Can't go to galleries because I don't have the product, nor can I afford it. Can't do shows for the same reason. So where else can I go? Not sure.
Oh, and your work does not suck.

what i am online i'm the opposite in real life. i find my humor only a few understand. since i tend to talk in metaphors.

so far i'm getting a positive reaction from reddit after being there a day. one person is looking to buy. doubt he will but its a possible outlet. as long as i don't push my link hard.

the email here is tough though, i was on comcast. they erased all incoming mail from here. so i switched over to another place. and it worked then it failed again. the spam program erases the mail, that is the default, it doesn't move it. so everyone is having the mail erased. and no matter how large me name base gets, only half open it. and even that takes a long time. if i knew that we were having free shipping until monday, i could send it out tonight so they can open it over the course of the day. i'm afraid that even if i send it in the morning on monday, the offer will expire by the time they open the mail.


usually i tell people to find the people that has the niches you sell - trains go to train people and so on. and that seems to work. but if they aren't looking, it won't matter how many people you send it too. that's what i find.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Thanks Mark.
Galleries around here are all owned by the photographer, they are not interested in selling others work, it amazes me that some here have found galleries to place their photography in.
I had a small piece of property that i sold a couple of years a go, not enough money to do much with so I decided to invest it in this business, that's the only way i could buy prints to sell, that and i made my own frames for a long time.
I hear ya on the email deal, I have two!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

What's reddit, another POD site?

That's what i was wondering!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

https://www.reddit.com/
how do you use that!!!

TL, art fairs can help get your work out in front of folks. Even if they don't buy that day, they have seen your work, and that sometimes is half the battle. I've gotten ancillary sales months after doing a show because someone saw my images in person. It is a numbers game, the more eyeballs you can get, the better the chance you have of making a sale. But like Mike (there's a joke in there somewhere), for a number of folks online sales have really taken a tumble over the last year or so. Personally, I would heavily marketyour local area, especially if you have a number of images from it. A lot of folks want to buy something that evokes an emotional response, and places they know and have been to will do that. I sell quite a few images in my area of my area, both locally and online.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong, TL. It's just there is so much competition out there and the number of sellers grows by thousands each day...

reddit is like an interactive twitter. you post a link to a site you want traffic on, and people visit that site. if they like your content the post is rated upward or downward. if you manage to have really great content you can get to the front page. from my understanding the hits are so great you could have a server meltdown. according to the stoner i listened to on you tube.

however getting up there is nearly impossible, so they recommend finding a sub reddit which has niches. find your niche, subscribe and post.

they don't host the image however, you have to sign up with a hosting place. i chose imgur, its free it used to be pay for. they tell you bandwidth (a legacy thing i think), and how many views and where they came from. so you can get an idea how many people actually saw that image there. i have one with like 700 views on it. it was only there since this morning.

that's all i got out of it for the day i used it. its clumsy at best, laid out poorly. i got the gist watching you tube.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

I'm in the same exact position! I have a promo-code, announced the free shipping, shared it all over heck and back, have had others share it as well, but no bites! It's like crickets out there lately.

https://www.reddit.com/user/MikeSavad/submitted/ i'm not sure if i posted the right link, but this is what i submitted.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Colorization/ this is the place i sent it too. i haven't looked at the other parts yet. many people get their news there, and i think its how things can go viral, as i never really understood how things do go viral.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

For what it's worth, TL, your photos are really beautiful! Don't know why they aren't selling like you'd like them to but I guarantee it has nothing to do with quality issues.

you have crickets?..... lucky.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Well, maybe, just maybe, it is time to take that drastic step I have been talking about for three years.

I hear people, more and more of them every day, saying they are not selling or not selling like they used to. Nearly all of them seem to also mention they do consider themselves sales types an/or know much about advertising/marketing. And of course it is rather obvious by some of the comments.

Maybe, just maybe it is time to invest in a little education.

So, like a broken record, I will again suggest that maybe it is time to finally consider Salesman 101, Advertising 101 and Marketing 101 classes.

I see people talking about doing email. Do you even know how to write and effective email campaign? I see people talking about posting on FB. Same question, do you know how to write successful ad copy for any advertising campaign?

Do you know about things like vertical frequency vs horizontal frequency?

Somewhere along the line one has to start thinking that maybe the people that are selling more know more about selling.

Just a thought.

End of rant.

I've been doing museum quality restorations of prints and negatives for over 15 years, I offer limited edition prints on another venue. I print my own stuff, people know exactly what they are getting - ultrachrome prints on the finest archival paper. It's more of a hobby for me, but get I commissions to restore collections of important historical photos and negatives every now and then. My sales are fairly regular. I think Google+ is important for marketing because its goggle and it's a very nice platform to display and advertise images... I'm approaching 500K+ hits in only 4 months.

With art I've found there are collectors that want the value of a 'one of a kind' or limited edition artwork or people that look for or collect specific types of images and the impulse buyer looking for a nice decorative image. Once I get started on FAA, I'll do direct marketing starting in my local area. I've made quite a few sales showing people my portfolio of ultrachrome prints. It also helps to be a member of a local art association, veteran artists with a sales track record are a huge help. I think anyone that's really serious about selling their art should make at least 10-11 prints to show people.

Selling art is hard and needs to be compelling in some way. With the advent of digital photography, selling photo's is particularly hard because there are billions of images. With photography every image that you offer for sale has to be an absolute jewel, or it's just another average image on the slag heap of billions. Photographers' need to ask them self: is my photo at the level of an Ansel Adams masterpiece? Because if it's not, people will just buy an Ansel Adams reprint.

Floyd,that could well be, I've read all of your and Mike`s articles, and i still don't know, I guess I'm thick, so how about a little help rather than a rant!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

I find that you absolutely cannot make this your "day job"! This is not a paid salary to live on! Sales here are just an extra case of beer or a little icing on the cake month to month... Once everyone can realize this, than one will be very happy being here!

I am happy being here either way, money or no money, but 10% of artists in the US make over $125k per year.

Most artists are not doing well.

Dave

If you are from California, that hat is not even noticeable other than it be one mighty fine looking hat.

TL,

Yes Zimmerman has the pulse in terms of knowing where to find people on SM from states around that want
tractors in fields that look incredible.

You can tap into that out west.

Dave

Hah, I'm with Floyd on the hat. Growing up out west, a nice hat is just the cherry on top for a whole lot of well-dressed gentlemen. I think it suits OP, and also echoes his work.

Hi, TL,

Don't change your avatar. It's eye-catching and shows personality; you look interesting, approachable, and professional.

No need to fix what ain't broke! :-)


~ Wendy
http://art166.net/artist-sos.html

Thank you guys for the comments on my hat..I think I'll keep it! :-)

Good luck to everyone on this cyber Monday, I hope we all get some sales!!!!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

Terry, your work is beautiful, your avatar is great. Quality is certainly not an issue with your images. I think you're in a very competitive field, and that may be a big part of your difficulty in finding sales online.

I'll say what I say to everyone: get your work out there in the physical world. Enter shows, hang in restaurants, contact local magazines about providing an interview. Those physical locations can help drive business to your online shop. If you're only online, you're a drop in a million oceans. Hanging in a real physical space, you have a captive and singular audience. And that's how you build a fan base. And having a fan base is what leads to sales.

Cynthia, Thank you for the reply, and the kind words!! I love your work, so much fantasy in it!!!

I guess I am like the dog with the bone, who sees his reflection in the water, never content with what I have, I "need" those internet sales ;-) Actually I think that is the best way to get volume sales over the long haul.

This is the first year of really trying to sell my photography as art, before this I was/am a portrait photographer, now at least where I live everyone with a camera is a portrait photographer.
I can't complain I do sell ok locally.

Thanks for the suggestions on trying to get in restaurants, and such, I need to check into magazines, that raises a question, how do you approach a magazine to do an interview, I just always thought they picked and chose who they interview.

Thanks again, and sell tons!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

TL, your work is great, as others have said. One thing I recommend is posting more. I've seen some successful artists on here state that more is better, with some suggesting 1000 or more images. I'm at 840 images now and while I'm not getting rich, I do have a steady flow of sales month to month. I haven't ready the entire thread- it got a little long by the time I found it, but I skimmed it a few times. Not sure if this has been suggested, but you might try approaching a magazine with an article about your travels, illustrated with your images. Travel websites as well. I do some writing for a few websites and that seems to help traffic. I also teach some photo classes here and there and that too seems to help traffic. It's all part of the same idea as getting into a gallery or restaurant or coffee shop- get yourself out there. It'll come.

I have been in a business (brick and mortar frame shop/gallery) for over 11 years. This past November has been the worst one I've ever had in that time. My best guess is that the economy is to blame but it's only guessing. I've always felt this business is a canary in the coal mine kind of business. When we have a recession framing and art sales feel it first. We can only do so much different and then it's just out of our control.
I too do much better selling in person. I think that many folks buy that way faster than any other. Meeting the artist is a huge plus. It was and is still to some degree out of my comfort zone. We all can learn to sell better and I believe any of us can learn to do it and polish our skills always.

Hi TL, you and Mark asked way up top about who sold this weekend and I've been skimming my way down the conversations...

@Mark said he didn't know who or if anyone sold during the free shipping.

I was one who had sales. I sold to three customers. One here in Salem, One in England and one in Florida. And they all have two things in common. They all had a pre-association with me and #2, they were planning and ready to buy, with the right incentive.
A total of 6 items purchased because they were ready and they got my newsletter, phone message, and post on Facebook.

There is no one that just dropped in due to seeing the AD and bought from me. But I would love to know what that 15 yr old Parker who posted 10-15 sales over the weekend was doing??? His work is good but yours appears just as good if not better... but I digress...

For me a lot of people come to me all year long for fall foliage information to plan their New England trips in Sept and Oct. over a hundred thousand folks pass through my blog/website yearly where I try to let them know that I'm also an artist who sells my work. (Don't laugh, I get asked, "Oh, you sell your work?")

The buyer in England found me on twitter which lead him to my blog, which lead him to FAA. He told me he never heard of FAA until he saw my links to it. We had been talking due to him being on my subscriber list (a whopping 40 plus myself) I give a monthly gift away and he happened to win in Nov. So we chatted back and forth as I sent him a leaf peeper ball cap to England...

Then Sean does the free shipping so I sent out my newsletter (email campaign) days early with the free shipping info. Next morning a buyer in England bought two totes and a framed print. I put two and two together and emailed him and he admitted it was him. He told me he had never heard of FAA until I posted links to it and he had just earlier in the week bought a canvas from some other artist (Your welcome to whoever got the purchase) and he was having trouble deciding what to buy of mine until free shipping..

Then Sat night I sold two more totes to someone who hangs out on my FB page who saw the promotion on the page (again this is my New England fall foliage FB page with 6K followers) and she said she saw the promo and hit the buy button... Funny though she bought one Christmas image and one fall foliage image on the totes...

So, this November has been great and I'm up over last year but over the summer I've gone more than a month with out a sale or just a couple cards purchased which is a sale but not enough for a large cup of coffee at Dunkins... Although I have raised my prices to fix that... :-)

So to me getting the conversation started long before they have a need for the art is the true answer. It's great if you can get your images up on the Weather channel (about 15 of them) and they put your website under each one in big letters. But I don't know if I saw any sales because they saw that...

I don't know if that helps at all but I sell but I'm not someone here who sells a lot. If I'm lucky 1 or 3 sales every few months. The sales dribble in and over time they mount up but it's hard to say I'm a real seller like some here.

I mean outside of JC and 2-3 others, I don't know too many who state that they make enough to buy new equipment...

Jeff

Hello Jeff, I think I asked how were they selling, it was obvious from another thread who was selling...not that it matters.

Thanks for the info, can you include a link to your blog, and the Facebook page you listed? I would like to see them!!

@Rick, I have noticed that you have been selling, I think that's great, your work deserves to be seen and admired on walls!!!

@David, I think you are correct when the economy tanks luxury items are the first to go, it was the same way in the portrait business!!

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

Terry, there's a local magazine here in my town that is arts focused and does interviews in every issue. I haven't done it, but I can't imagine they'd balk if I contacted them with my portfolio and expressed interest in being interviewed. Especially if you write a compelling introductory email. You're an interesting guy with great work, I say give it a shot! Nothing to lose, really, except time spent writing the letter. Also look for magazines that are specific to your region, you may be able to license some photos to them.

And in regard to sales this weekend, I'm over 20 sales now since Friday. It's free shipping, and the fact that I have spent years developing and maintaining a group of interested people, both in Social media and in physical galleries (those folks are on my email list). I make a full time living selling art. It's not easy, and building that base is not a fast process, but it's never too late to start, especially when your work is objectively good.

They won't always come to you. You have to get out there and bring people to your work.

The small article I did was through connecting on Linkedin and I asked.

The great lady who wrote the article was taken back slightly. She then warmed up. She
has to write endlessly for two online magazines. We quickly got on very good terms.
We needed each other for our jobs. She put in two concepts to her editors. Mine and someone
else's. I got the article. I loved working with her.

It is best to ask and not be skipped over. Nothing to lose.

Dave

I hoped that I will sell something online, but it seems like you all saying that first of all, it is to go out and get known. Without the connections that one brings from outside, there is not really a chance that anybody will be found here.

Networking comes in a lot of forms, Ela. It's important to diversify your efforts and not put all your expectations into straight online sales. As I said before, your competition pool is smaller out there in person than it is here on this site.

Here, you're one of a hundred thousand artists. If you get a show, or an interview, or you're hanging in a cafe, you have no competition in those places, and you have the opportunity to "collect" people who are interested in what you do and share your evolution as an artist with them.

Cynthia I will have to see how possible it is to get in a magazine, in the area I live there are no magazines, of any kind published, I would think Salt Lake City, or Provo would have something, don't know how stiff the competition would be for any of those.

There is one co-op gallery in SLC, but they seam to have a lot of churn with the photographers, and it is owned by a photographer, so that is a red flag to me, I have thought of joining, but just don't want to get into it and find out the guy doesn't really want photographers as competition.

Thanks again.
TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

yes, you are right Cynthia.
It's important to remember and go forward and not give up. There is nothing to loose but gain.

OK guys. Online is the finish line in marketing. 1. Promote your art with business cards that have your best images printed on the back of each card. Carry them and ask anyone and everyone you meet to pick a card they love. After giving out bookoos you will know what may sell. 2. Show at art festivals. Invest some serious bucks in displays tent canopy print racks and trailer to carry everything. Of course you have plenty of original work. 3. Collect e-mail addresses for your art collectors mailing list. Send a email promo every week. If this does not work take some more art lessons. Some people buy direct online but most I have met in person.

You aren't doing anything wrong - you just haven't found what will work for you. But, don't feel as if you are alone, I, and many others have your same problem.

http://www.rdEricksonfineart.com

http://royd-erickson.pixels.com/

Your art is spectacular, Tim. It is probably hard for people to find you, because there are so many western/Utah photos that your work doesn't jump to the top of the search engines. Your work certainly stands out from the crowd otherwise.

Now that I know about the free shipping option possibility, I'm going to start advertising that in July. Something like "Get Ready." It takes people a while to decide what they want, so they can get ready to buy and not miss out on the free shipping. Hopefully, there will be another Free Shipping offer in 2016!

I've sold 13 photos here in the three years that I've been active on FAA, so from my earnings, I pay for the annual FAA fee and maybe a tank or two of gas each year. The photos are in my FAA SOLD gallery, if you want to take a look. I wish I knew how the photos were found and who bought them and why. Two were golf course photos. I know that I only actively promoted one of the sold photos, the Sunflowers at Sunset photo. The "Neon Red T" I had forgotten all about until it sold. I saw that it was sold through the Designer program (reduced rate) and that many other "Letters" had also sold that day. I wished I would have photographed more "letters."

I've just started on Google Plus. (Just followed you!) I've been tweeting work regularly. Bots see it, if no one else! I post some photos on Facebook, but I think mostly only other artists look at it. Probably 90 percent of those who see my work are other artists, and they are very helpful, but aren't buyers.

I joined an artists cooperative gallery in July (http://imagesartgallery.com/) with about 30 artists doing a wide range of art. They say that art sales have really been down this past year, so it seems to be a general trend everywhere.

One artist who has been at the gallery awhile said that he liked to eavesdrop on people who attended the opening receptions. One conversation stood out. A man wanted to buy a lovely landscape, but his wife said no because it didn't have a "personal connection." The trick is finding that personal connection.

I'm planning to take more photos in the future with themes, such as two lovers, grandpa-grandson, etc. I sell greeting cards on other sites with photos that are more personal and with Happy Birthday, etc. Maybe you could put quotes on some of your art in addition to the unadorned ones. I should take that advice myself!


http://catherine-sherman.artistwebsites.com/index.html

Tim, I'd like to add my 2 cents worth,I have tried everything. Art shows, I used to do them up until about the time Obammy got in would spend 5 to 6 hundred dollars for booth space then travel, gas, food and long ago did pretty good then the bottom fell out and I would spend 600 and make 125 not worth it. I'm on facebook, twitter and I don't know what to tell you except that people don't have the money they used to have, they can go to wal-mart and get greeting cards 25 for 5 bucks, Hey don't feel bad I sold one print this year and after paying for FAA I cleared about 4 dollars, there are a bunch of us in the same shape, it's not your art it's the times.

I sold 27 images this year. About 6 months ago, I decided not to worry about sales and just create as much as I can although I am not prolific, I don't enjoy trying to sell. I twitter maybe every two weeks, just started an artist page on Facebook only a couple of weeks ago, I don't bother with Google, I try and keep up with my commenting etc here on FAA, I don't advertise, don't do art shows, don't have my own website other than the one here on FAA, I will let people know if FAA has a sale like free shipping but didn't sell anything while that was going on, I have never sold anything through limited time offers although I try it once in a while.

I don't know if members here who say they don't sell have had no sales at all or if they just don't sell often enough. For me, this was a pretty good year.

By the way, Terry, your work is amazing.

Get used to it I guess. FAA is so flooded with crap that people I know who used to do well have given up. I did most of what you did too and I am done. Not one more tweet, pin, blog, or post from me. I only view FAA as a cheap hosting site where the best of my pictures are (hopefully) safe. I do OK out of stock agencies and my zazzle store but not here.

Wow, you have some fabulous images too, Ted. ;-)

If it is any consolation I am yet to make a sale after five years but hey I'm not one for marketing and self-promotion. After quickly looking at your gallery it is surprising that you would even have a sales slump. Anyway we all have to just hang in there.
Cheers.