Selling: Is Wix worth it? Is Wordpress? I've never sold a piece in my life, at least during the three decades I've been shooting. Wix is offering 50% off until 6/21 that's either a net...

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Selling: Is Wix worth it? Is Wordpress?

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Jun 18, 2019 16:43:02 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

I've never sold a piece in my life, at least during the three decades I've been shooting. Wix is offering 50% off until 6/21 that's either a net cost of $11 a month or $8. I was briefly on another site that would sell your photos as stock but there were so many restrictions in terms of consents [to say nothing of the style they were looking for] that I dropped that quick.

Does anyone have any thoughts specifically about Wix.com? It looks like it hasn't been discussed here for some years. Also I have a wordpress site -- undeadphotos.com -- which I've always considered a portfolio and never converted for use with sales. Are either suitable for selling your work?

Jun 18, 2019 17:03:20 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

With Wordpress you could try Envira Galery ( https://enviragallery.com ) which will let you lock down images so right click to save doesn't work and they have an ecommerce module for selling images.

Jun 18, 2019 17:10:23 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

Doesn't limiting the size and resolution limit the use of the photo? Or is the major market for images web sites? I still think of a sale as something you hang on a wall.

Jun 18, 2019 17:17:17 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I guess I’m not understanding your question... I don’t think I said anything about altering the image resolution. I thought you were asking for opinions of the viability of using Wix or WordPress to sell images.

Jun 18, 2019 17:28:52 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

I may have misunderstood your answer. If a site prevents someone from downloading my image, I thought that implied that they would have done so to sell it themselves. And then the issue is for what use. That's why i thought that limiting the posted resolution would limit the uses for which my images could be sold.

Jun 18, 2019 17:41:46 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Ahhh, okay, yes. A person could still do a screen capture and take what they get for resolution. With a small image they wouldn't get very good prints if that was their goal, they could still use it for screen display for some uses. You could also watermark the images in the gallery to discourage screen capture. Envira gallery has quite a few features. Depending your who's hosting your Wordpress site it's pretty easy to get set up.

Jun 18, 2019 17:43:45 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I should add, I'm not saying this is the best solution for you but I use Envira Gallery for several sites and it works well. I've never used the ecomerce features though so really can't say it's great, I just know it's available.

Jun 18, 2019 17:48:51 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

So it's really less a stand alone than an adjunct, something that could be used with both Wix and Wordpress? And as you say you're not using them for eCommerce, and I am correctly interpreting that to mean that like me you are a "prosumer" [one of the worst coinages in the english language]?

Jun 18, 2019 22:43:22 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I use Zenfolio to distribute photos to customers but I’m selling access to the shoot vs one image at a time.

Jun 18, 2019 22:47:36 #

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

jdkoerner wrote:

WordPress is built around plugins. WordPress provides the foundation (or framework) and you install plugins and themes to customize the site to your needs. Envira Gallery is a plug-in catering to the needs of people wanting advanced image gallery functionality. There are other plugins that provide similar functionality

Jun 18, 2019 22:50:58 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

I did look at what the various levels offer. Thanks.

Jun 19, 2019 08:19:36 #

NWMIPhotos

I've used Wix for multiple sites. It's easy to set up and they do have e-commerce setups. It doesn't work well with a lot of powerful 3rd party apps for things like CRMs but they are getting better at creating their own online tools. You'll also need more than their basic package as they limit bandwidth on lower packages.

Wordpress is more powerful in that a lot of people contribute apps for integration but it can be cumbersome to work with.

I suggest trying Wix without buying anything first and see if you like it. (They offer a free limited version.) If you do then buy your package.

Jun 19, 2019 08:40:52 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

Thanks for your input. Believe it or not, I just went to Wix and it appears that I have a basic account. I'm going to fool around with it and see if I feel it's worth the $8 a month [current discount rate] to get the premium version.

Jun 19, 2019 10:37:48 #

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

jdkoerner wrote:

I've never sold a piece in my life, at least durin... (show quote)

If you want to play with Wordpress, try MAMP or MAMP PRO. These are self contained stacks of that allow you to have WordPress on your own computer to test, play, crush, ignore or whatever. MAMP is free. The PRO version costs a few $, but then if you have a hosted WP site, you can upload you working web site to the host computer after testing to your hearts content. Thus you can experiment away.

Works on both OS X and Windows.

Jun 19, 2019 10:47:13 #

jdkoerner Loc: New Yori

Thanks for your response. To clarify: I have Wordpress, linked to a custom domain. Other than the yearly fee for the domain mapping, it's free, but the lack of tools [like a way to organize photos rather than having them in one big pile] is frustrating. I will try MAMP as well Envira and zenfolio to see how they work.

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