What it takes to sell photos online

It’s no secret that some photographic subjects are highly marketable, while others are harder and harder to sell. Enormous growth of the stock photo industry in the recent years coupled with internet expansion has opened doors to the world of stock photography for many photographers.

Stock photo agencies around the world have accumulated quite a large number of “non-dated” images that will not need to be replaced any time soon. These images include animals, sunsets, clouds, and natural landmarks – the very subjects many photographers love to take pictures of.  ShutterPoint’s own statistics confirm that these subjects are in high supply but demand is scarce.

While these images do sell, getting “a piece of the pie” in these categories is hard. (Please see the Selling Photos on ShutterPoint for more examples of low marketability subjects).

The key to success in the stock photography field is to figure out what the buyers of photography want, and then provide it. Many photographers shoot what they want instead of what buyers want, and then are disappointed with their stock sales. If you are seriously trying to sell your photography, you need to choose your subject wisely. Before taking a picture intended for stock use, ask yourself how such an image may be used. If you are not sure what it can be used for, the photo buyer won’t be either. On the other hand, if you can create an image the buyers need, they will buy it from you regardless of your level of experience or who you are, often paying a higher price. This makes producing WHAT BUYERS WANT a simple, but often overlooked concept in stock photography.

The above has been taken from the ShutterPoint Marketable Photography Guide. If you have not yet taken a look at it, we strongly recommend all photographers serious about selling photos to read it and try to follow the tips in the guide.

ShutterPoint photographers can get the guide free with any active storage space subscription.

More Eyes on Your Photos

We want your wonderful photos to get noticed and that is why we bring you…:

ShutterPoint-Facebook integration!

So, a couple of things.

1. Each photo on ShutterPoint now features a “Like” button. You can “Like” any of the photos, yes including your own, and it will appear on your Facebook wall.
2. ShutterPoint is now wired to share your photo activity on Facebook without you lifting a finger!There is a number of benefits gained from this new functionality:
   
   ○ Get additional exposure for your photos through Facebook.
   ○ Update your friends of your ShutterPoint activity.
   ○ Help spread the word about your images and images of other members.
   

   Here’s how this actually works:

   For example, when you upload a new photo to SP, an update will be posted on your FB wall and your friends will automatically find out.

   

   When you add a favorite album, favorite photo, or favorite member to your ShuttePoint profile, this too can be posted on your wall and your FB friends will automatically find out.

   

   Finally, when you comment on a photo on ShutterPoint, your Facebook friends will find out.

   
   Wait, there’s more! If you decide to change your own profile pic or e-mail address or even gender status on Facebook, those updates will automatically be reflected on your ShutterPoint profile page. Anyone planning a gender change?

   You can enable all this wonderful functionality through the Account Sharing Page.

   Through this page, you can pick and choose which type of ShutterPoint activity will be shared with your friends on Facebook.

Now that you are empowered with the new Facebook features, be aware that sharing your photos with friends is addictive, so remain sensible!

PS: Don’t worry about posting to many updates at once, Facebook has a nice feature of condensing wall posts into a nice little pragraph with a link to see the rest.

Activity Tape: Stay In The Loop

Seems like everything is going “social” these days and we at ShutterPoint are following suit!

Why? Because everyone wants to know everything at the very moment it happens and we gladly support this concept.

The new Activity Tape feature alerts users of updates from their fan base.

Lets say you are a member photographer and you happen to like Murdock’s SP photo gallery, and so some time ago, you clicked to ‘become a fan of’ Murdock. Now that the activity tape feature is in place, ShutterPoint.com will display updates when Murdock –

– becomes a fan of someone else
– uploads a new photo
– posts something in ShuttePoint Forums
– comments on someone else’s photo

We think it’s pretty cool! Keep in mind that if you are using a previously customized version of the home page, you will need to click ‘Customize this page’ from your home page and make sure ‘Activity Tape’ section is enabled for viewing.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!