Question--selling "Facebook size" downloads online

[boxofrocks]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

Interesting - I'd find a way to sell digital files directly - there is plenty of software out there that you can buy the actual software to setup that process on your own server.

You can do it that way, but it's worth it for me to pay 75 cents to the fulfillment company for them to handle the hosting, billing, etc. A lot less admin on my end.

[Outlaw]

I outlined my method of always profiting well with online proofs in your other thread, but this is a different beast. Sounds like you're talking about shooting sports on spec that parents will buy prints from online albums of images.

Which, from my experience of doing the same thing for 10 years now, is nigh impossible. Or at least making enough money from it to make it worthwhile. High schoolers, and many parents, with unthinking abandon, will 'steal' online proofs for their MySpaces and Facebooks. Like the RIAA watching a bajillion mp3's get traded online every year, it's as inevitable as death and taxes.

So instead of punishing the 'thieves,' who are really just fans living in an age of digital freedom, I've learned to view it from a different approach.

I shoot local sports for my community newspaper, which if I looked at it like I do my photography, is nowhere near worth the time and effort for the resultant pay.

The exposure, however, is very, very valuable.

And that's where I find the value in my online sports photos. I make sure they're attractively watermarked and I encourage visitors to 'borrow' them for their MySpace, Facebook, or what have you. I go out and shoot the best sports photos I can with the very hopes that those photos will be 'stolen' and shown off to friends and family.

Those friends and families then ring my phone off the hook for their senior and family photos. And once in a while I'll get a print or file order for a sports photo.

Does it have the best ROI of all my marketing efforts? No, but it's a lot of fun, and I know it keeps my name on the lips of many high-value potential clients. Are they going to go to Glamour Shots for their kids' senior photos when I've been giving them free sports photos for four-plus years? Not a chance.

Now that's just my experience and my philosophy on it. I'm a longtime acquaintance of a sports shooter from one county over who photographs about 10 school districts. He says some towns buy sports photos like crazy and some won't spend $100 a year as a whole.

I think what you can charge, what you should charge, and whether it will be successful or not really depends entirely on the community you serve. You can put a lot of time and effort into client education, teach them through your blog, advertising, etc. the value of prints and the value of low res vs. high res files, the point and process of buying, etc. Whether that will pay off or not...I just don't know.

It's all good marketing either way, I say, so just put something up and test it. If you make lots of money, grand. If you don't, try something else. The whole time you're still keeping your name in front of those seniors and parents.