No Sales.....

Selling Guides for New Members by Floyd Snyder
The 25-75 Rule For New Members
Advertising Your Artist Website
Another Response To A New Member Seeking Help
A Few Reasons Why You May Not Be Selling
Work Smarter Not Harder To Beat The Big Guys
50 Effective Tips to Help You Sell You Art

You've got to help people findvyourcwirk, Jennifer. Market it. Follow Floyd's advice. But upload more. The more work you have here, the better the chances are someone can find you.

Use good keywords related to your photographs. Write clear, concise captions describing the photograph.

Jennifer, you have some great images and stand as good a chance as any and maybe better than some, of being successful here.

I would suggest that you pay for the premium account and add as many images as you can.

There is a direct correlation between the number of images you have to sell and the number you will sell.

The best article for you to read and practice first, IMHO is the one about the 25/75 rule.

Then read this one that is not on that list above. It deals with the notion that you have to be here a long time before you can sell anything. I do not agree with that idea at all.

It Is Not How Long It Is How Many http://fineartamerica.com/blogs/it-is-not-how-long-it-is-how-many.html

Thank you very much Floyd and Joe! I appreciate the advice and I will work on upgrading my account and reading the articles.

I agree, you've got some good stuff, you just need more of it and to market your work.

I just shared one of your images with three FB groups that you may want to consider joining.



To Help You Sell Now Six FB Groups
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=3394094

Thank you for sharing my image Floyd. I'm not great with social media, posting 1-2 times a week. I will have to look into different FB groups to join.

Thanks David!

What the guys said :) Plus, you must have unique names for your images. I saw a few that you have duplicate names for. Even adding a number will make it unique, such as Beach Day and Beach Day 2.

Your descriptions are very good! 😀👏

Good point Joy!

Those duplicate names will also cause you all kinds of problems done the line. I know because I have been fighting that problem for years because I made too many of those mistakes early one.

Joy, how are you doing those emoticons in the threads?

Hi Floyd,
I have a great variety of emojis on my Kindle Fire HD 👰👮💃👽 and being fairly juvenile, I use them 🐆🐈

Edited: I guess I shouldn't say juvenile. Most people I know use them, and I think they're cute 🐕 and they add to the character of a response 🐰

Sales have been very low since around Jan 20th. This is the time of year to be working towards next year's Holiday Season. Make a marketing plan and stick to it. Here are my tips:

http://www.dogfordstudios.com/category/selling-artwork/

You also should consider getting serious and putting up more than 25 images. 25 is a drop in the ocean.

There are many, many who sell here with under 20 images but they have been doing real advertising. Mostly in the real world. Or have a following before they got here

you want more than 25 images


i wouldn't crop the cannon in half like that. i also wouldn't say your not crazy about history. keywords - walking, hiking etc, are technically spam.


be sure to take things that a customer can't do for themselves, having people in the background, makes this more of a snapshot. the description goes on and on about the island, and not much about the horse. the keywords have a ton of spam in it - fudge, shops, trail, walk, hike, big small tall etc this should only be about the image we are looking at. the title, not helpful either, at least explain what the title means.


the description should be about the flower, as this can be taken anywhere. and the keywords don't mention the flower type. how is anyone supposed to find this?


this talks about your RV and the view of the lake, and all i see is the crust of the lake. there is too much family history in these descriptions. talk about the image itself, and why someone should have it. or something like that. to me this image can be taken any place. and if that's the case, so will the buyer. i see pebbles, but no shells, no fish, hiking etc... you can't have the spam in there.



i like these trees, would make a better black and white, cloning out the bit on the left. could use a great cloudscape. but it needs a better title, as it has sort of a haunted look. description again. i think the descriptions on all of these needs creative writing. keywords that don't really apply - close up, abstract,pattern, its funny how you list all these islands, but don't mention them. but then again, these are just trees. in the right lighting this would really pop. like midday, sunrise/set etc.

otherwise you have to advertise yourself, have more work up and not spam.

Marketing 101 by Mike Savad
Why Your Work May Not Be Selling - By Mike Savad
Evaluating Your Own Work To Sell – By Mike Savad
How To Critique And Edit Your Own Work For Better Sales

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Before you start selling, you may want to rethink your markups. Your pricing is pretty low. Remember you're offering the public unique views they can't get anywhere else. Photographers, even if they are shooting things many others shoot, all have a different vision and a different way of sharing it. Don't undersell yourself

It took around 8 months and 800 images to generate the first sale. Even now it is erratic. November and December were some of the best months ever and then sales completely vanished in 2017. Nothing has sold since December 29 of last year. That's the longest dry spell in quite a long time.

Adam, if it's that hard for you to sell I think that means most of us shouldn't even think about doing this for the money. If you can't enjoy doing this for it's own merit it's probably best to find some other way to occupy your time. I'm not just talking about creating the images either, you need to enjoy all aspects of this business because you'll be spending at least half your time on business/marketing, even once you start selling don't even think of doing the math, you will not be happy with the hourly rate you are making. Now, if you are a art making and marketing animal and willing to go to any length of effort for as long as it takes you could possibly make some real income some day from this, but those who accomplish that are by far the exception.

Jennifer,
your key to the secret is:

quality + quantity + perfect description and keywords + marketing

Lots of work, but worth it ;)

Thank you everyone!!
Joy, I have the same titles for the black and white images so I will work on making the title a little different, thinking of just saying Black and White and than the title.
Ed, I will look at that article,
Mike, thank you for the suggestions and I will work on those photos and will review my other ones.
Joe, I will look into fixing my pricing too.
Arletta, I feel like I have worked on my descriptions and keywords so much but I will review them again and make changes.

That is exactly what I do with black and white.

I might have XYZ and XYZ Black and White

"Joy, I have the same titles for the black and white images so I will work on making the title a little different, thinking of just saying Black and White and than the title. "

Do it. A few weeks after I joined FAA, Dave wrote to me warning me that FAA's search engine gets confused with repeated tittles. I had a few.

A.

If you have under 25 image they have to all be amazing and with a consistent style, plus marketed. IMO.

Keep in mind that landscape is the top keyword here. In other words there is a lot of competition in the landscape department. You have to do something different to stand out.

Also consider what someone might want to hang in their living room or office. Something like a stump on a beach is unlikely to be sold.

Good new - I've seen an uptick in sales lately. Maybe Christmas bills have been paid and people are getting ready to buy again.

maybe someone here can give my an opinion. I sell like crazy on another site. but the pay here is better. so rather sell on here. only problem is, I don't. I have over 4,000 images, used great keywords. but only ones who really see my art. are the bots. someone told me that I needed better keywords. so another artist on here who seems to be on all the front pages in the gothic search. I copied some of her keywords and used in my gothic art... nothing, still cant find my art in the search bar..so any opinions would be grateful..

it depends on what site it sells on, some things sell better as products. however you have to advertise your own work.

you have a certain style, however it really depends on your demographic. i can see these on a wall of a teen or a dorm, but maybe not an office or a living room wall.

in any case, you need better descriptions, and not just the medium. the keywords should reflect the item and not the use (not many will ever type in home decor unless they are looking for a store to buy curtains in). without descriptions, google won't index you that high.

the people high in the search, sell well. simply copying words from them, won't help you much.


there are a few more words clipped off but- jesters tears cry sad emotional clowns g berry portraits posters jester art jester portraits fantasy fine find art decorate impressionism illustration patterns pattern masks

out of all of that you have 7 words that are useful. the rest won't help you, and some repeat (the S) isn't needed now. you'll need more words than that.

always start people in galleries. your gallery font is hard to read btw. you have an alphabet that only has 15 letters and nothing matches. i think you have too many gallery sections. combine that with white on black and a hard to read font, my eyes get tired fast.

but mostly it looks like a lack of advertising. doesn't help that you have a name that is hard to find, if you type in berry, you get berries in google. use g berry and you get a bunch of doctors.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

JC, I understand what your point is and agree to disagree.

In the image you posted - Say you or the group of people that are quality control for this site. If a lot of images like that made it to the top of search on hard work, not knowing the secrets, would you let them stay or dump them to the back?

Edward,

How was that a problem? Not sure I can follow how that applies to FAA members currently.

Dave

How is that a problem? Umm, perhaps you have to bake the cookies before you eat them.

...

Every paid membership comes with a private gallery. Get out there and promote it. You are at the top of the search in your own gallery.

I started selling when I got out of the FAA bubble and started promoting outside of FAA.

I like raw cookie dough.

I am not a photographer, so it is lost on me.

You mean people are shooting for the stars and not getting into the marketing of their work? If so I guess in a very round about way I get it.

I think we are all basically saying that.

Dave

RE RE: Know your Market

By a copy/paste mistake, the last 5 lines (questions) were not posted originally.

Here they are:


However,

I make considerably more POD sales, with the same work,and with the same dearth of marketing on other sites

Can it be that here we are FINE artists and on those sights we are just artists?

Thus the buying public may be more discerning and conservative here?

Or is it just that my work might be more readily seen on those sites?

Expecting results from little effort.

That said, yesterday I made more licensing video clips with no marketing - but took a smaller cut of the total.

The way it works now images like that don't make the first page in searches with more than a page of results so the point is mute.

"The problem is everyone wants to be the next Ansel Adams yet Adams put in 60 years of work (mastering camera, darkroom, personal vision, writing books, teaching workshops, working with peers etc) before a student of his took to marketing his work"

Go search the LOC and look at some of the garbage that Ansel Adams produced and sold very well.

He never believed in the "only your best" theory or never practiced it if he did. lol

sold well now? or sold well then? personally i don't like any of this stuff, but i don't care for picasso either. if the artist is dead and famous, everything has a value, ugly or not.

and was this stuff released by him? or his family after he died? that makes a huge difference. remember gene roddenberry? maker of star trek, he had a number of odd shows scrawled in a notebook. never made any of them. but his family found it when he died, and released it. and they created 2-3 really terrible shows, had no plot, with bad story lines. he never released it himself, but it did have his name on it.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Mike,

??? which Vulcan are you?

Really scared to ask.

Dave

spock. from the original series.

the first paragraph or so of my bio will always explain the avatar.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

and don't be scared, its not like i'm a Romulan.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Great Avatar Mike!

thanks


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

El Spocko!

I believe that is Vasquez Rocks in the background?

-YoPedro
Twitter@YoPedro

possibly, there weren't too many good shots of vulcan. i made this months ago though, so it could be anywhere.



---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Should the mustache be orange?


Dave

no... vulcan's are green blooded, and most have brown or black hair.

i think your thinking of clowns.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Clowns?? I'd say so.

Brown haired Vulcans?

I actually like this avatar. Made me chuckle.

Dave

tupal and some of the syrranites had brown hair.

though in this case i went for black including the mustache.

the orange mustache was when i was willy wonka.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

I wouldn't worry too much. I made one sale last year through a lady who advertises your facebook page, then all of a sudden I have had 2 random sales of similar images.

http://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=764e41931cffa48ac7cd3ef475990a06

Same here Jennifer :(

Not much traffic or followers. I share to facebook, twitter & instagram....

Don't feel bad Jennifer. I have been on here for almost two years... and still haven't sold anything... but have had 374 people visit my website... GOOD LUCK, E

if you only had 400 some odd visitors over that amount of time, you have to tell people your selling things. also your signature is too large, possibly to even print. and you need more specific keywords, like the genius and exact name of that flower.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

you may want to upload more items, and diversify a bit. the orchids are nice, but so many people here have them already.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

This is a great photograph and would make an excellent painting

Wow, Peter, it looks like a painting already! I was convinced... lol!