Many people wonder if they can actually make money from their digital photos. The fact is that digital photos have the potential of generating some income. However, the level of income will vary depending on the quality of your photos, their uniqueness and your selling skills. The first thing you need to do is set a target of how much money you would want to earn from your photos.
The following are some tips which can help you to earn some cash from your digital photos.
Upload on online galleries
Most people sell photos to make some extra cash, and not as their major stream of income. The internet is one of the best places to sell photos. There are numerous sites where you can sell your photos. Most of these sites allow you to upload your images, display them and put a price on them. Visitors to the site can then have a look at your photos and buy whatever they like.
Some sites even allow visitors to leave comments on your photos. This can be a great way of connecting with people who share similar interests with you and getting feedback from viewers. Some of the sites allow you to display your photos for free, and only charge a commission on your sales. Other sites charge a membership fee or a setup fee.
Pricing
In regards to pricing, some sites will let you set two different prices. One of the prices will be for a non-exclusive right. This means that the same photo can be downloaded and used by many different people. The second price, which will be much higher, will be for exclusive rights. When someone buys exclusive rights to a photo, it means that you can neither use it yourself nor sell it to anyone else. However, once an image has been sold under non-exclusive rights, it cannot be sold again exclusively.
Start your own site
Besides uploading your photos on other people’s websites, you could opt to start your own site or blog to sell your photos. In addition, you could also make money through paid advertisements.
To attract viewers through search engines, make sure your photos are accompanied with some descriptive text. Inform your family and friends about your site, and share posts about it in chat boards and forums.
Once you attract significant traffic to the site, you can then add advertisements. You can use free tools such as typepad.com or wordpress.com to build your site or blog. Advertisements can be placed using one of the many advertisement syndication networks.
Offline strategy
Another viable strategy would be to sell your images in galleries and coffee shops. Of course, this will call for a significant investment at the onset, as well as more legwork. If you decide to target galleries, you can start by printing and framing some of your best works. To minimize the risk, it is advisable to start with a few photos.
The other option is to visit restaurants and coffee shops and talk them into hanging your images on their walls. By displaying high quality photos at no cost, the restaurant or coffee shop get to improve the ambiance for their customers. In return, you get a lot of free exposure, which might lead to more sales.
Copyright issues
When posting or selling your photos online or offline, one of the things you need to keep in mind is copyright. Copyright laws vary from one country to another. From the onset, you need to confirm if you actually have the right to post or sell any photo. Violation of copyright laws might result in a lawsuit, as well as loss of reputation for you.
Have you sold any photos online ?
Image Credit: Cuba Gallery
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