Tag: Website

  • How to Sell your Digital Photography at Stock Photo Sites

    Hobbies can often be turned into business ideas that can make you money. As a digital photographer you can make money from your photos.

    Stock photography is one of the best ways to break into the online digital photography market. You can sell your photos to supplement your income and help businesses get the right images for their websites, newsletters, magazines, e-zines and other media. If you surf the Web, your may fine that many of the photos look the same. Your photos, if they are of sufficient quality, can add a new flavor to what is currently being offered.

    Many photographers are daunted by the stock selling process but in reality it is very simple.   Here are some ways to get started.

    1. Understand how the stock photography business works. On these sites, customers can purchase pictures or lease them for a certain amount of time. On some sites, photos are free to use when signing an agreement of use and including a link back to the site.    As a photographer, you will make more money if your photos are leased as opposed to being sold. The one time sale may net you some cash but the lease will provide a continuous source of income off of that one photograph. And, many people can pay to lease the photograph at one time. Through the leasing process, your work will be viewed by a large audience.   Start by researching current stock photography sites. Find one that offers the leasing option to customers and also has an easy-to-navigate site.  This is the site that you may want to begin with to test the waters with your work.
    2. Continue researching stock photography sites, but now take a careful look at the photographs.  What do they have in common? What types of photographs are selling/leasing well?   Can you produce photographs that are similar yet also unique? Depending on your photographs consider submitting them to a specialized market.
    3.  Produce some high quality work to submit. Businesses using these sites are looking for professional quality at a price they can afford.  You may have to submit to several stock photography companies.
    4. Do more research.  Make sure you understand how each stock photography company works so you know what kinds of images to submit, what licenses to grant your work, and make certain that this is not a company that exploits its contributors.
    5. Create a website or blog with links to the stock photography sites featuring your work. This will send more people to view your photographs and may lead to other opportunities in the future.
    6. Get a free report on digital photography. http://XXXXX.typic.hop.clickbank.net/
    7. Stock Photo sites to take a look at:

  • Designing Your Web Site

    If you are in business, even in a small part-time business, you need a website.

    There are three pages that your website must have: The Home Page/Welcome Page, About Me/Contact Page, Products and Services Page.

    The Home Page – The purpose of this page is to let your customer know that they have come to the right place and you can help them.  On this page you will want to include:

    –           Who you help
    –          The problem(s) you solve
    –          The benefits you provide
    –          Why they should choose you!

    The About Me /Contact Page – Some key points to mention on this page are:

    –          Your relevant experience
    –          Passion for your topic
    –          What you have achieved in your own life or have helped clients achieve
    –          Anything else that adds to your credibility
    –          One or two testimonials
    –          Your email and/or phone number

    Services and Products Page – This page should display the goods and services you offer. Tell them the process you use so they will know what to expect if they work with you.  One or two short paragraphs on each product or service is sufficient.  Your aim is to get them to contact you.  Supply phone number and email address again.

    Some basic rules for a professional looking website:

    -Keep your site basic, clean, and uncluttered.

    -Start off with a strong headline that offers a benefit (sorry but “ welcome  to my site!” is NOT a good headline.)

    -Stress benefits of your product or service not features.

    -Include an address and working phone number.  This builds trust with your customers.

    -Make it easy to use your site.  Use consistent, clearly labeled navigation links

    -Don’t make customers work to find your links.  They should be in blue text and underlined.

    -The text should be easy to read.  Black text and white background.

    -Keep fonts and sizes consistent.  A large blue headline followed by a red paragraph, followed by black text with randomly placed blue words causes eyestrain. Your potential customers will leave before they even know what you offer.

    -Keep the design consistent throughout the entire site.  Your graphic elements are part of your brand.  If your graphics are jumbled and confusing, your potential customers may assume that you products are poorly conceived and not worth purchasing.

    -Don’t use a flash intro.  Just take them to your home page.

    -Keep graphics small. The larger they are, the longer it takes to download your page.  Do use some graphics; people like breaks in the text.

    -If you decide to include advertising on your site, limit the number of flashing banners or animated graphics.  They annoy customers and detract from your message.

    -Have a method to get each visitor’s email address, which you will use to follow up later.  This is the foundation for an online business  Two or the most common ways to capture email addresses and send out freebies and newsletters are :     www.aweber.com    and      www.constantcontact.com

    Do you need to hire a designer to create your website or  should you do It yourself with a template?  Many hosting companies offer easy to use templates.  WordPress and Weebly Drag and Drop can be readily mastered by someone with basic word processing skills.  Both offer ways to customize your site and make it feel more like you.  If you have a tendency to write and think at the same time and get new ideas while you are in the act of writing, you may want to create your own site.  An experienced web designer will be able to get your website up more quickly and be able to create an unique site.  Ideally though you should learn how to update and maintain your site.  If you are looking for a reasonably priced free lance web designed try Craig’s List, elance.com and fiverr.com.

    Either you or your designer has to come up with the color scheme for your site.  Do colors matter?

    Why are financial reports often colored green?  Why do fast food restaurants use bright orange and yellow?  Colors express various feelings and influence our emotions.  Not all experts agree about the exact feelings and emotions that each color triggers, but there is some minimum agreement that each color can evoke positive or negative emotions.

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    Red —strength or aggression
    Orange — warmth or frustration
    Yellow — optimism or anxiety
    Green — peace or boredom
    Blue — calm or coldness
    Purple — quality or decadence