Ecommerce for Photography

Hey everyone!

I attended a photo seminar over the weekend, and upon talking to some other amateur photographers like myself, I realized that perhaps there are a lot of photographers out there who are unfamiliar with the idea of having an online presence for their photography. Since my day job in web design means I am constantly interacting with and learning about the web, I often forget that there are still plenty of folks out there to whom this whole online way of doing things is quite foreign.


I am currently beginning to set up my own online presence for my photography. This will eventually include a professional website, email marketing, online selling via a variety of online art marketplaces, etc. (key word here is EVENTUALLY.. its just too overwhelming to try and do in a week or a month for me!)

So as I start getting my feet wet in this, I thought it would be helpful to share my experiences, tips, resources and lessons learned in the event that it might help others out there who are feeling lost and/or totally intimidated by it. Believe me, even a web savvy person such as myself doesn't know it all, and yes, I'm intimidated by the idea of launching my personal work out into the world wide web just as much as the next person!


In closing, I'll share a bit about listening to your gut when it comes to moving forward:
Remember to have fun with it first! Often times, I will push myself too hard to get something done and make it more stressful than it needs to be. Over time, that can really suck the life out something you are passionate about. Before long, it becomes a chore. I feel that by taking quicker and smaller forward steps and listening to my gut, I'm able to make the tedious and technical things more enjoyable and have more energy left over at the end of it. This of course may not apply to those who are professional photographers and have hard deadlines, etc, but for those of us who do this as a hobby or want to slowly easy into it professionally someday... I think this method works well.

All I did last month was get myself signed up on an online marketplace, which took about 10 minutes. I didn't even get the darn photos uploaded to sell until a month later! But that's okay. I choose to get into action when I am feeling motivated to do it. If I'm not motivated to sit at the computer and learn about online sales, then I go out to a movie instead! We go at the speed we need to, in order to allow ourselves to enjoy life! =)

Check back with me soon, I'll be posting about Professional pages on Facebook versus Personal Profiles (and if you didn't even KNOW there was such a thing as professional pages on Facebook, no worries, I just found out last week!)

Cheers,
Sarah