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7 Ways to Make Your PhotoShelter Site More Sales Forward

For many photographers, selling prints or downloads online is an obvious way to generate more revenue. But it’s not always as simple as uploading...

For many photographers, selling prints or downloads online is an obvious way to generate more revenue. But it’s not always as simple as uploading your work and watching the sales roll through. If you’re looking for some quick and easy ways to boost your efforts, your PhotoShelter website is a great place to start. Have you considered how a few small tweaks on your site might push a buyer into clicking that “Purchase” button?

Below, we’re breaking down seven tips for how to put your best selling foot forward. It’s worth noting that many of these tips can be combined on your website and are all meant to be highly customizable based on your brand and your unique needs.

Cover images by Matt Taylor-Gross.

1. Relabel your Archive to “Shop” or “For Sale”

One of the best things you can do to set yourself up for success is to be forthcoming about sales on your website. Don’t assume anyone knows you’re selling your images. And even if you’ve sent a client to your site to purchase photos, don’t assume they know exactly where to go or what you’re selling.

Instead, be explicit.

One easy way to do this is to change the name of your archive to something like “Shop” (or “For Sale,” “Store,” “Buy,” etc.). Your archive is the area of your site where your larger body of work and all the client-facing tools live. By default, sales on your PhotoShelter website will happen here. This is where buyers can find “add to cart” options, their own personalized shopping cart to complete purchases, and more.

Without the name change to your archive, site visitors might click there expecting only to see older images of yours, but adjusting that label erases all ambiguity.

2. Enable the cart icon in your portfolio

Archive default settings aside, your portfolio has sales options too.

We encourage you to consider enabling the cart icon for images in your portfolio. This will simply give buyers another reminder that your images are for sale no matter where they are on your site.

Sports photographer Scott Serfas displays the cart on his portfolio images in the bottom right panel here.

Remember, repetition is key! The above advice regarding renaming your archive can certainly be combined with enabling the cart icon in the portfolio section of your site.

(Bonus: If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a great explanation of the Portfolio vs Archive on your Photoshelter site.)

3. Create a custom page about sales

Another thing many buyers like? Background information.

If sales are your goal, consider creating a custom page providing prospective buyers with more information about what you’re selling. The contents of the page can vary quite a bit – it can be anything from breaking down the different print sizes and types of paper you offer or walking your buyer through the purchasing process step-by-step.

It’s most important to remember that custom pages are a great opportunity to show a bit more personality and care in how you handle the sales of your photos and can be used to put your buyer at ease.

4. Create direct links to priced galleries

Similar to renaming your archive to something like “Store” or “Shop,” linking directly to your priced galleries takes the guesswork away from prospective buyers.

Instead of browsing your portfolio or doing a search on your site and potentially coming up empty-handed, linking to priced galleries within a custom page or creating additional navigation items that link directly to your priced galleries are great ways to literally point your buyers in the right direction and make purchasing a near no-brainer.

The rules are simple: the easier it is to purchase, the easier it will be for buyers to complete a sale. So get those links out there!

Leslie Bienza offers a wide variety of items for sale – stock images, fine art prints, thank you cards and more. To make it easy for buyers to get what they want faster, she’s created a custom page that’s simple to navigate and provides links to each option.

5. Exclusivity

FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” is a real thing! It’s used every day to sell everything from beer to real estate. And if you’re not using it as a selling tactic, you are underselling your work.

People love exclusivity. One of the clearest examples of the power of exclusivity has been the rise of NFTs. Now, we’re not advocating for you to stray away from selling prints and go the NFT route, but rather to think of ways to make buyers feel like they’re getting something special.

Limited edition prints have long been a coveted item in the photography world and for good reason. One easy way to do this is simply to have limited runs of some of your image sales, and make that super clear on your website using things like your gallery titles/descriptions, pricing profile descriptions, or if you’re using our self-fulfillment option for print sales, talk about the limited edition run right in the title of the print/product you’re offering.

Documentary and travel photographer Jeremy Horner does a great job with pushing the exclusivity of his image sales on his website. Here, he’s renamed one of his priced galleries “PRINTS – Limited Edition archival prints to order here” to emphasize how rare these prints are for prospective buyers. 

6. Shoutout promos and coupons

Just like the feeling of exclusivity, people love getting a good deal. We all know about holiday sales and things like Black Friday, but with PhotoShelter, you can create promo codes and coupons at any time for literally any reason. Plus, you have complete control over who gets access to them and who doesn’t.

Have clients who get stuck on which prints to buy or how many? Consider offering them 20% off when they purchase a certain quantity. Celebrating your 10th year in business as a freelancer? Send all of your contacts an anniversary sale promo code. Want to provide discounts to friends and family only? That’s an option too.

Just be sure to shout out your coupons on your website, newsletter and on social media to spread the word!

Plus, check out our 10 coupon tips here.

7. Hide the portfolio link in Promenade to push people to purchase in the archive

Another sales tip, for those of you who might be using or considering our Promenade template, is to hide the “Portfolio” link that displays on your homepage. This will help push people into the archive/”Shop” space on your site, giving you even more control over what visitors and buyers see!

 

We’re hopeful that this list has given you ideas for how to push sales more on your PhotoShelter site. Just remember: be explicit, be deliberate and repeat, repeat, repeat that you’re selling!

For more information about selling your work with PhotoShelter, check out our selling Support Center resources.

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