A Checklist For Success In Selling Prints (second Revision)

Thank you for doing this, it is so very helpful!

I agree, amazing advice.

Thanks, going to try a few of these great tips.

8 has an extra dot in front.. OCD kicking in....

anyway i always add - post work you would hang in your own house, even if its just by style or quality.
post a variety
and post lots of high quality, a dozen or so is never enough.


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

Mike I corrected the dot thanks Thanks for the comments also.

ah good, consistent, my pattern recognition couldn't let it pass....


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

Thank you so much for this information. It is always nice when some one down the road stops to help others! Again, thank you.

Good advice, Bradford.

I wonder a little about #4...I go back and forth between descriptive titles and more poetic titles. Don't you think that if you have good keywords, the actual title won't really matter? And I also wonder if a more poetic title will appeal to a buyer on the heart/gut level more than a dry descriptive title would.

i do both. the first part is a classification so it sorts on other sites. the rest is the title. but i think the title should be interesting and relatable. it shouldn't just be BIRD but either what kind of bird or something prettier. so people might want to get a closer look because of the name or the pun.


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

Mike, it was actually you that got me thinking about all that in the first place. From now on I think I'll try to combine descriptive with poetic if possible...not always easy.

Bradford,

My thanks for posting this. My goal for this year is to become more active in selling/promoting my art. Lot of good advice here.

The reason I say descriptive titles is for the Google search. How you tag it is mostly going to define what FAA searches you are in and not so much for internet search engines like Google. I have found descriptive titles get more accurate Google placement and higher ranking if the search word is in the title. Of course you want to make it interesting. What would be detrimental is a title that is metaphorical because Google takes things literally not metaphorically. So a cat should not be titled my dog. A landscape should not be titled heaven unless it really looks like heaven and you want to be in a search for heaven. Ideally the main words would be in the title and the description and the tag section. Sometimes I use subtitles to preserve the poetic title and give Google a clue so, "Blue Ridge Mountains-Almost Heaven"

To all those that thank me,
You are welcome
A rising tide floats all boats.

some things don't transfer, if i can't think of a name, its just called what it is. but if its like an orchid, i don't call it flower or orchid, its often to go use the latin name instead. i found cute names for flowers don't work well. (as an example)


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

Part of the research you do for the description can lead you to a good title. The common name for an orchid followed by the scientific name would be better than just orchid. Calling it pretty yellow flower is gong to make it lost on Google.

Thanks for going into more depth on that, Bradford. Very helpful.

Special tip: Assume the first keyword has more weight than the last for the FAA search. At the very least it seems to affect what images are shown below as thumbnails on the image page. Some search tests on my portfolio show if the first keyword matches the search word it ranks a little higher. Every bit of rank you can get helps, so choose the first word in the tag section wisely.

I often resize the image for the individual saleable items (cups, blankets, etc.) so that it fits perfectly on the item, is this necessary or could customers resize the image to fit when they purchase?

Bradford,
Thank you for posting this information.

Thank you so much, just joined today and am a newbie, I really appreciate your post.

I really appreciated this article so may helpful ideas so upbuildng. So many helpful hints I wrote them down so I can remember them to get started. I am not new in the art world what so ever but I am new in the selling of my art. So with this info and my telling I’m hoping this will work because so far this is the best info I have gotten yet. Thank you brandy Vasquez

I like this one a little better it explains things a bit easier. I appreciate your hard work with putting these together. I am going to go put these things to work and see what happens. Thank you. Brandy Vasquez

Thanks for sharing this with me!

Aloha Bradford Martin,

After reading through this checklist I have learned quite a bit and this knowledge is GOLD!!! :)

Thank you so much.

-LS

Thank you for posting this, I'm making notes...

Best Wishes,

Lisa

Bradford, thanks you so much for this information!

I am grateful for all the comments and glad people are finding this list useful!
Full disclosure, I am not part of FAA, just a member. When I joined here in 2012 I already had 15 years experience posting and selling on the internet, mostly on web galleries, where they contacted me directly for prints, and also on stock sites where I learned the power of titles, descriptions and keywords in getting an image seen. I learned a lot from the discussions here and I just wanted to condense my wisdom and that of others into a checklist. I am not a big seller but most of the time I get a check payout on the 15th here. I use the list myself when I feel I need to do more.

Thank you Mr. Martin for the great advice. I'm new to getting into doing the photography side of my writing. I have a few years of photos to go through and edit or just upload.. I'm grateful for your wisdom an insight from an experienced artist off of FAA an how to list keywords.

Much respect,
Angel Edwards

Bradford, this is a useful checklist that many newcomers should read

Thank you for your advices. I’m new to FAA and still trying to find out how it works the whole system. Your article is very much to the point and gives us a very clear path to follow! Thank you again

Thank you for puting your time to help as all.

I am going to concentrate on number 8 and number 12, once I get retired and my checks start coming in on a regular basis.
I am thinking a WIX one page, landing page for free, to point people to my Pixel sales page, or something like that and T-shirts
of my landing page and business cards, with my landing page from Vista Print, to help in marketing too.. I don`t like spending
a lot of time on the internet. The competition is CRAZE fierce, plus I am not in it for the money.I am basically in it for exposure.
If I were in it for the money, I would not be using a print on demand site with thousands of other artists on it, so I could loose sales
to any one of them, because potential buyers can be see their artwork from my page.

Dean, if you pay the dues here to be a member you get your own website and it is a bit harder to see others work when they land there. You won't be losing sales if you send your buyers to your own site.

Like this: Bradmartinphotos.com

Good luck!

Yes, Martin, it would be harder, but not impossible and that`s the reason I don`t pay to be a member. If POD sites could make it impossible to view others artwork from your page ( which they never will ) then I would be glad to be a paid member. Not that I am picking just on Pixels, or FAA, all POD sites do it. It`s an unsolvable issue, just like securing your images completely, that too will probably never happen either. Gotta love the internet huh lol.

Dean,

You can find POD sites that do make it impossible to view other artwork but you will need to do all of the marketing yourself on the sites I am thinking of. That said, the Pixels AW's and custom domains do a fair job with the only outbound links being at the very bottom of the footer. Not unexpected as the price here is rock bottom. Even Getty's Photos.com has FAA and Pixels links in the footer.

Cheers

___________________________
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Thanks for all the information everyone.

Don, what other POD sites limit seeing other artists work on your pages? I would like to research them for myself, because I have yet to run across any that do that, thanks.

Dean you are off the topic. The topic is not the relative merits of various PODS. Please do note use MY thread to carry on an off topic conversation. Please read my opening sentences again . Thank you.

Sorry Martin, I meant no disrespect.

Thank you for this posting. I found it very helpful. Is there anyone within the group or at FAA who offers to review the pages of artists new to FAA and give advice? I'm trying to learn about using social media to boost views/likes/sales, but I don't understand all the things you mentioned about posting links etc.

generally if you want a critique of your work or the page, ask your own question in a new thread is the way to go. generally just reading the forum is enough, there are plenty of people that give advice that can be used for everyone.


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

@deborah - also the most basic advice here is - watch your crops, make sure the paper goes to the edges, no black lines like in the pheasant image. and add a lot more keywords and good descriptions. even if you think its obvious what we are looking at.

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

This is great!! I appreciate your sharing of wisdom, Bradford!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. It is VERY helpful. Thanks.

I am new and have many picture I THINK are worthy for FAA. However (after reading this page) I may need another photographers critique. How do I ask for a critique and where do I find a person who would be interested in helping this new artist to FAA.

Kenneth, one way to get a critique on a portfolio is to just start a new discussion. There are a couple of groups set up for critiquing individual images as well or you could again ask on the main discussion board.

https://fineartamerica.com/groups.html

I'm "on it"! Thanks very much, Brad. I hope you enjoy my Galleries! Ken

Kenneth I did.

Thanks so much - a helpful discussion - I will be following!

Thank you.

Hi, if you could help..I have just uploaded an image and wanted to know if it is correct for making prints or not. I would appreciate a response.

Paramjeet, The image seems fine to me. If you want other opinions, join one of the critique groups I linked to above, 5 posts up. Or start a new discussion, I would rather this discussion not be used for critiques.

Ok, thank you. I just wanted to confirm if it's sharp enough or not. I was in doubt about that.

THANKS, Bradford! very valuable pieces of information https://habib-ayat.pixels.com/

thank you for sharing this is very helpful.

Thank you for this information! It’s always good to have the points listed out for reference!

Thank you for this!! Very good advice that I intend to put to use!!

I am closing this because I have posted and updated version.

https://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=4721562

I am closing this because I have posted and updated version.

https://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=4721562