Selling action photos via online galleries

[chris_donovan1]

<p>Does anyone have success doing this ? I've been in the business for over 12 years doing onsite printing at all my jobs. For the last month I've been shooting and posting my images. I've spent a ton of money getting the right lenses, cameras (Nikon d3). I thought I took some fantastics shots but no one is ordering them. I have confirmed what I thought all this time-- its so easy for parents people to blow off a photo purchase on line. Am I right? Anyone out there actually making real money this way?</p>

[richard_reeve3]

<p>I'm sure that there are some people who make money from selling on line but I suspect that to be successful you will need to market correctly to the potential buyers. If you take shots at say a Soccer game you will have to make sure that the parents, grandparents and friends who are the spectators know that your photos are for sale and where they can find them. There is no way people will just "discover" your site and that it contains a spectacular shot of little Johnny scoring a goal.</p>

[shoppix]

<p>You aren't going to get rich doing it this way. I've been doing it for a few years and earning some to pretty much fund my 'habit'! But it's never enough, as well know. There's always something else we need or want - like a D3 and a 200 f2!!<br>

At schools and youth games you need to get permission of AD or head of organization. Then make up cards to hand out to coaches, but better yet the parents and other spectators. Use lots of keywords and descriptions attached to photos on those you upload to your site and others like facebook and flickr.</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Chris -</p>

<p>My experience is that there are two kinds of parents - Ones that will buy and ones that won't.</p>

<p>The ones that won't buy - won't buy - no matter how spectacular of a shot you get of Jane or Billy. They just won't buy. On site, on line - it don't matter. I used to wonder how to make them buy - now I just don't worry about it. I'm there shooting - if they change their mind - I've got shots of their kids. </p>

<p>The ones that will buy will buy - sometimes 1 or 2 - other times - a lot. Whether it's on site or on-line - doesn't seem to matter too much. On site is better - since you get the money in hand - a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush - but there's a lot going on. Some parents are in the - Game's over - Let's get the heck out of here while it's still light out mode. Others are just tired of the sell, sell, sell attitude of the vendors and want to bail. Some want to buy, but don't / won't because spousal unit isn't with them and they don't want to get a photo that they've already 10 of.</p>

<p>My best way of dealing with it is - Make sure that everyone who visits our booth walks away with a pen or business card or both. As pointed out earlier - if you just are showing up and shooting - no one will find you. You've got to make it easy for them to find you. And you've got to make your site easy to use and pain free.</p>

<p>As for sales - it varies by event - 1 recent event 99% of my sales were onsite. At another event a couple of weeks later it was the opposite. So - I keep doing both to make it easy on the parents.</p>

<p>Interestingly - my competition goes in both directions - a couple don't post anything on line, a couple post some on line, but not all (figure that one out); and a couple do what I do and do both.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

<p> </p>

[pjmeade]

<p>I sell a fair few images online, but not enough to give up my principal income.</p>

[drubene]

<p>I have been covering a variety of sports and events for some time, but recently it seems to more football than anything. I like to do a couple of different marketing type approaches. However, sales typically pick up after I pull some photo's at random and gt them printed up (4x6's), then slap a business card on the back and distribute during halftime. In my mind, doing this is a minor expense and low amount of effort that seems to return pretty well. Other than that, I do online only and some advertising on the schools team websites.</p>

[randrew1]

<p>I suspect that parents today are saturated with pictures of their kids. For about 20 years, I have taken pictures of our church Christmas pageant and made prints available to parents. I used to get a dozen parents ordering a few prints of their kids. I charged just enough to cover costs. (This was never a profit making venture.) Since on-line photo sites became available I posted the pictures and put announcements in the church bulletin. In the past three years, there have been a total of two orders.</p>

[dududa_ahada]

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