Pytrouble

Hello UHH readers. My husband and I are avid photography enthusiasts and have set up an account on SmugMug using one of their business options. Neither of us are professionals nor do we seek or do paid shoots (wedding, portrait, etc). We are retired, love to shoot and thought it would be nice to sell an occasional photo or two to support our hobby. SmugMug is just a hosting site and marketing the photos is up to the user. Those of you UHHoggers who use SmugMug, how do you market your photography business and how successful has it been? Open to all suggestions keeping in mind we are retired and have a very limited budget for marketing. Thank you so much. I always enjoy reading UHH.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Would like to know also. Will be following this thread.

Don

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Put only your best photos on SmugMug, then get some cards with logo, your SmugMug address, and name and pass them out when appropriate. Also create social media accounts on several platforms and post pictures there. That's how you market them. Then, whenever possible, enter your photos in galleries, the county or state fair in your area.

Pytrouble

Thanks for your reply. We've done the business card part although my husband is much better about handing them out than I am. We've also created a Facebook page but need to explore how to promote that page more effectively (currently just our FB friends).

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

Good luck. Hope it works out for you.

notheroltech Loc: Des Moines, IA

You might also look for opportunities to display your art. Several months back I was able to display 8 at a local Barnes & Nobel for about a month. Next week another artist and I will be setting up a display in a smaller hospital for about a month. Also, check for coffee shops willing to allow space to local artists.

All these ideas were proposed to me by several friends.

Add an 8x10 frame with a link to your site (think QR code. I found a basic free code creator in the Apple app store) as well as spelled out. If you need I can create the code for you. I would just need the site and can leave a jpeg uploaded here or direct via my dropbox.

I attached a copy of what I used at B&N.

I wish you success & fun!

Pytrouble

notheroltech, thank you for your reply. Some good ideas. However, I'm confused by your reference to an 8x10 frame. Can you clarify, please? Not a literal frame, I assume, but a virtual frame. How did you do that? Were you displaying actual prints? The bar code idea is great but how do you program it to go to a specific website? Thanks for any clarifications.

notheroltech Loc: Des Moines, IA

Sorry, I made up and printed out the 8x10, which you saw, and put it into a standard 8x10 picture frame I purchased at Walmart.

The QR code can be created so that an Apple phone will read the code and take the user directly to the site. Android, in my limited experience, requires an app from their app store to read and open a browser to the site. If you have the embedded doc up on your computer and aim a smartphone camera at the little box in the lower right corner it should take you directly to my site. As I have the app on my computer I can create one for most any findable site.

I hope that is more clear.

Pytrouble

Thanks. That helps. We have Apple computers but Android phones so will have to experiment.

cascoly Loc: seattle

it's getting harder all the time to compete with agencies with tens of millions of images - I've blogged about marketing at http://cascoly-images.com/pix/sell-your-photography/ which is specifically related to the symbiostock wordpress app, but the ideas can be used for smugmug & others

my facebook fan page is https://www.facebook.com/Cascoly-Photography-105086140859190 and i'd be happy to follow any fellow photogs w FB sites

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

I had looked at SmugMug several years ago but settled on Fine Art America simply because I liked the name better. I'm still not crazy about SmugMug's name, or Etsy for that matter, another one that I looked at.

I use Fine Art America simply as a holding area although I do have Clients occasionally buy everything from them because of their "30 day money back guarantee no questions asked" policy.

I sell my Photographic Art as close of escrow gifts for Realtors, loan agents, title agents, and escrow agents. Since I have a well-defined market, it's very easy for me to advertise to them. For 2019, I'm currently averaging $10,487.01 in monthly sales. It's fallen some in 2019 because I have done no advertising this year. It's all been regular clients and word of mouth by those clients. 99% of my business is in the ten counties of Southern California. I have had sales in 17 other states, as well as New Zealand, Australia, and England, but all of those sales are from Clients who used to live in California.

I shared my tactic several years ago for creating a viable business. You can find that post here:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-327835-1.html

rangel28

I had the same question and contacted SmugMug directly through their Customer Service email. They wrote back with lots of detailed information about how to market your photography in today's world. Unless you do niche photography (offer something the market wants but nobody is delivering it) and a network of potential buyers, its difficult. One of the things to try, that don't cost anything, is to write a blog on your SmugMug page (I think this is possible, depending on the type of account you have), and then post photos on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., with links back to your site. That should at least drive some traffic to your site. With competition being so fierce and everyone taking photos with cell phones, I think it's important to look for a niche, if possible, and provide photography for a specific audience.

notheroltech Loc: Des Moines, IA

As you have Apple computers look in the App store for "Açana QR Code Generator Lite". Very simple to use. Go to your site home page, copy the URL in your browser, open "Açana QR Code Generator Lite", past the URL over the one in the program and then File, Save as PNG, pick the size you wish to use and save. Drop the image into your document and print.

I hope that helps.

Pytrouble

Doesn't seem to be an option for "reply all" so I'd like to thank all of you who have responded. Some good ideas were presented and a couple of links we need to check out. We'll keep plugging along!

JD750 Loc: SoCal

You say “Neither of us are professionals nor do we seek or do paid shoots“ but you want to sell the occasional photo. Sounds like Art Print territory.

Disclaimer I do not sell photos on SmugMug. I use SmugMug for my Hobby but not the pro version. The pro version is expensive. I have seen many very fine professional web sites on SmugMug. Many professionals are using the site to sell their photography services, i.e., paid shoots.

Have you looked into Fine Art America? From what you describe as your goals, they may be better suited for what you want to do.
https://fineartamerica.com/