I've read some interesting discussions here about these two web sites. I'm thinking about joining one or the other.
I'm just wondering if anyone has any input as to whether either is effective in marketing their photographs? Both sites look impressive but unless a person gets sales results, they might not be cost effective.
I joined one of these sites a couple of months ago so that I could market my images as stock, as well as take care of other photo business. I made my choice based on issues that were specific to my needs and interests. Sorry to be vague! ;) At the moment, I'm stilling building my portfolio and slowly getting it out there. It does take some effort, in addition to other marketing, shooting and business management.
I spent a great deal of time searching NPN, as well as other sites, to get a sense of what everyone had to say about the two sites. I'd encourage you to do some google research, if you haven't already. I feel that there are some "technical" differences between the two services, and it was because of these technical differences that I felt more comfortable with one site over the other. I also did a lot of research on the whole micro-stock/RF market, as well as the more traditional stock agencies, so that I'd have other measuring posts for my decision. So, I'm in this place of still kicking the tires. I doubt that I'd change from one of these groups to the other, but I might consider changing from one of them to a traditional agency. Sorry, but I'm not going the microstock/RF route; even my inner prostitute has some standards.
But, one of the things that I did was to ask this same basic question of members of PS and DRR sites, particularly people who I felt were in a similar line of work, or who were in my same geographic area. It turned out that the partner of a former co-worker was using one of the sites, which helped me to build a degree of trust, even as a potential competitor.
So, I hope that this is helpful. Good luck with your decision and feel free to contact me, if you wish.
I'm with Digital Railroad. It's set to be a relatively seamless look to my own web site. I'm also considering joining PhotoShelter, and they are supposed to offer a similar ability to customize the look & feel. These sites shouldn't be treated as hands-off sales outlets, although such sales are possible. Neither have big budgets aimed at luring art buyes. Currently each tends to market to photographers. I should also say I know some of the people that run DRR, and I have very high regards for their reputation and experience.
To get the best results, you need to be driving people to your collection, and use each service as a tool. I've yet to fully integrate the DRR site and mine, but I know it's possible. But I do like how the look compliments the investment I've made in my static site. If you'd like to compare the looks of the two:
Hi there - I just set up my photoshelter site last week. Still getting images up there, but you can check out my customized site here: <a href="http://gallery.kierselinsky.com">http://gallery.kierselinsky.com</a>
Pluses: customization, ability to have fulfillment or self-fulfillment print sales, stock RM automated and plugged into FotoQuote, open or password protected galleries, ability to set up/and/or sell digital downloads (useful for when you get an assignment job, you can put the files there for download), plus all the stuff that they say in the literature.
Minuses:somewhat slow uploading (about 20K/sec, or about 22 minutes for an 8MP tiff file), and the full sized images can be hard to get right. you'll see that some of mine look jagged. it seems that if you do some USM, then they go jagged, and if you don't, they're too soft (for my taste) - so still trying to get that right.
Discussion
3 repliesI'm just wondering if anyone has any input as to whether either is effective in marketing their photographs? Both sites look impressive but unless a person gets sales results, they might not be cost effective.
I joined one of these sites a couple of months ago so that I could market my images as stock, as well as take care of other photo business. I made my choice based on issues that were specific to my needs and interests. Sorry to be vague! ;) At the moment, I'm stilling building my portfolio and slowly getting it out there. It does take some effort, in addition to other marketing, shooting and business management.
I spent a great deal of time searching NPN, as well as other sites, to get a sense of what everyone had to say about the two sites. I'd encourage you to do some google research, if you haven't already. I feel that there are some "technical" differences between the two services, and it was because of these technical differences that I felt more comfortable with one site over the other. I also did a lot of research on the whole micro-stock/RF market, as well as the more traditional stock agencies, so that I'd have other measuring posts for my decision. So, I'm in this place of still kicking the tires. I doubt that I'd change from one of these groups to the other, but I might consider changing from one of them to a traditional agency. Sorry, but I'm not going the microstock/RF route; even my inner prostitute has some standards.
But, one of the things that I did was to ask this same basic question of members of PS and DRR sites, particularly people who I felt were in a similar line of work, or who were in my same geographic area. It turned out that the partner of a former co-worker was using one of the sites, which helped me to build a degree of trust, even as a potential competitor.
So, I hope that this is helpful. Good luck with your decision and feel free to contact me, if you wish.
Tim!
Tim@TimMulholland.com
To get the best results, you need to be driving people to your collection, and use each service as a tool. I've yet to fully integrate the DRR site and mine, but I know it's possible. But I do like how the look compliments the investment I've made in my static site. If you'd like to compare the looks of the two:
My main web site.
My DRR site
HTH. Cheers,
Pluses: customization, ability to have fulfillment or self-fulfillment print sales, stock RM automated and plugged into FotoQuote, open or password protected galleries, ability to set up/and/or sell digital downloads (useful for when you get an assignment job, you can put the files there for download), plus all the stuff that they say in the literature.
Minuses:somewhat slow uploading (about 20K/sec, or about 22 minutes for an 8MP tiff file), and the full sized images can be hard to get right. you'll see that some of mine look jagged. it seems that if you do some USM, then they go jagged, and if you don't, they're too soft (for my taste) - so still trying to get that right.