A place for you to learn, get inspired, and keep up to date with all things SmugMug and photography
In this SmugMug Spotlight, we had the privilege to meet aerial and landscape photographer Andy Yeung. Based in Hong Kong, Andy has been taking spectacular photographs since 2005. You may even recognize some of his photos — his series called “Urban Jungle” went viral on social media a few years ago.
SmugMug: We are so excited to sit down and talk with you, Andy. Your work is stunning. Can you tell our readers a little more about what got you started in photography?
Andy Yeung: I developed a passion for photography at an early age when I received my father’s old camera as a hand-me-down. It was this early exposure that introduced me to the world of photography, which I believe has a healing power. I believe that a great photograph can speak to people’s emotions and make people pause and think.
SM: You definitely do give us all such a unique perspective of the city! Can you tell our readers more about the gear that you currently use to capture these images?
AY: I use a Canon 5D Mark IV. It is a full-frame camera and has excellent image quality and multiple lens choices. That makes this camera really convenient for me. I also use a DJI drone. This drone provides me a new perspective of where I’m at and is very reliable and stable to fly.
SM: Awesome. Tell us more about why you chose to shoot your genre of photography.
AY: I photograph cityscapes and architecture — mostly capturing the unique visual and structural characteristics of Hong Kong from the perspective of a local photographer. I got into drone flying in 2015 and that has added the new perspective that I was looking for.
SM: Your aerial shots definitely show a unique perspective of Hong Kong that you wouldn’t get if you were just walking the streets. Why did you choose SmugMug to be your partner in presenting and preserving these amazing shots?
AY: I’ve been using SmugMug since 2014, if my memory serves me right. I started using SmugMug because it is very user-friendly and a great platform for photographers to promote themselves and offer prints for purchase. Plus, many well-known photographers are using it.
SM: Wonderful! We are so glad that you’re happy with the platform. One last question: Do you have any advice or tips for a new SmugMug user?
AY: I highly recommend customizing your website template! Spending the time to do that will help you stand out even more.
SM: Thank you, Andy! Great advice and again, thank you for your time and allowing us (and our readers!) to get to know you better.
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About Andy Yeung: Andy Yeung is an award-winning photographer specializing in architecture and landscape photography. As a born-and-raised Hong Konger, he learned to cull inspiration from the familiar, especially when it comes to coming up with shots of his over-photographed city. He relies on a good eye and knowledge of techniques to capture magical moments of Hong Kong and transform what he has seen into something that mirrors how he feels.
A newborn baby is one of life’s most precious additions and the source of many joyful moments. But how to capture those moments, fleeting as they are? Enter LA-based photographer Erika Seress, founder of The Pod Photography, a modern portrait studio specializing in helping make parents and their little ones look their very best. We sat down with Erika to talk to her about the work she does, why she does it, and what advice she can offer anyone new to SmugMug.
SmugMug: Hi Erika, thanks so much for chatting with us! Your work shows off such wonderful passion. Please, tell our readers more about you.
Erika Seress: Hi! So nice to chat with you today, and thank you! I’m Erika Seress, and I founded The Pod Photography in 2008. I had a vision of creating a modern portrait studio for today’s sophisticated clientele, and I love photographing people—especially tiny ones! I specialize in documenting baby’s first-year milestones. I’ve also authored The Parent’s Pocket Guide: Taking Kids’ and Family Photos, am a photography workshop teacher, and appeared on Lifetime, Hollywood Access Live, and various celebrity reality shows. I’ve also been published in Cosmopolitan magazine and The Wall Street Journal.
SM: That’s incredible! You’re one busy and successful photographer. Our readers always love to hear this part, so please tell us how you got started in photography.
ES: I started taking pictures to document my travels while living abroad in Thailand and Germany. I loved capturing the culture, people, and my daily life so I could look back on them. When I moved home to Los Angeles, I got a degree in photography on top of my business degree and then started my portrait studio in 2008.
SM: Amazing. Thailand and Germany are two incredibly stunning areas of the world. Another insight that our readers like to know is what equipment do you use and why?
ES: I am a Nikon shooter. I love how intuitive the gear is as well as the sharpness of their lenses. I shoot 90% of my photography with a Nikon 70–200mm f/2.8 lens since it is perfect for really flattering portraits of people, plus I can zoom in and out to take both full lengths and close-ups of a child without moving my body. You've got to be quick when it comes to kids!
SM: It’s so true! They definitely change and move in a blink of an eye, but It sounds like you enjoy the challenge and have mastered it. Your photos definitely reflect how good you are at capturing that moment. Could you tell us more about the type of photography you shoot and why?
ES: Sure! As mentioned, I am a portrait photographer specializing in newborn, maternity, babies, kids, and family photos. I have always loved photographing people, and at the beginning of my career I did mainly fashion and commercial work. I came to realize that I felt much more fulfilled by working with private clients and creating art for their families, so I have shifted my business toward that focus.
Today, my company, The Pod Photography, has really flourished in Los Angeles where we focus on a mix of modern natural-light portraiture and elaborate set design. I love the art of creating custom sets that reflect a family’s or child's hobbies or personality or just bring some whimsy to the portraits. I was recently commissioned to create intricate sets recreating a Starbucks store, the Oval Office, Star Wars, as well as design elegant tea-party sets for my newborn and first-birthday clients. We have a lot of fun at my studio!
SM: What brought you to using SmugMug for your photos?
ES: I've been using SmugMug since I created my very first website in 2008. I love SmugMug because of its integration with sales, and how I can seamlessly sell digital and printed products through my website. I'm also a big fan of the unlimited storage!
SM: That’s awesome! OK, one last question: Do you have any advice for someone who’s just starting to use SmugMug themselves?
ES: Get creative designing your website! Start with a template but don't be afraid to customize it so your website stands out from the rest. SmugMug makes it so easy to have a unique website.
SM: What a wonderful tip! Thanks so much for sitting down with us today and for sharing your story with our readers—we really appreciate it!
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For more about Erika Seress of The Pod Photography, visit her website at https://www.thepodphoto.com/ or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
As a SmugMug Pro subscriber, you have access to some game-changing features that help you run your business. One valuable feature we’d like to highlight today can revolutionize your client photography sessions: client downloads. This feature is designed to simplify and enhance the photo download experience for both you and your clients. If you haven't explored it yet, we’ll walk you through it.
Client downloads are a feature that allow you to offer a specific number of photo downloads to your clients as part of your photography packages. This means you can provide your clients with a convenient and efficient way to select and receive their favorite photos, all within the limits of the package they've chosen.
1. Streamlined selection process: With client downloads, your clients can easily choose their preferred photos from the session, saving both you and them valuable time. No more sifting through hundreds of photos—they can focus on their favorites.
2. Customized experience: It enhances the client experience by giving them control over which photos they want to download. Clients appreciate this level of customization, making them happier with your service.
3. Clear communication: Offering a set number of downloads helps set clear expectations from the start. Clients know exactly what they're getting, reducing misunderstandings and potential disputes. Also, No longer will you have to send them galleries with downloads disabled, communicate back and forth about the images they want to choose, and then send them only those photos.
4. Value addition: Including a specific number of downloads in your packages adds perceived value to your services. Clients see it as an extra benefit, which can influence their decision to choose your photography services over competitors.
5. Efficiency: For you, it simplifies the delivery process. You don't have to manually send each selected photo; clients can download them directly from their account.
Picture this—You photograph family portrait sessions. Typically, you book a session for a flat fee. This session fee not only includes the portrait session, but also includes the ability for customers to download 20 of their favorite photos after you edit and deliver them. On SmugMug, here’s how client downloads help:
1. Set the limit: Decide how many photos you want to allow this particular client to download. In this case, 20.
2. Inform your clients: Generate a dedicated one-time link for your client from your SmugMug gallery and send it to them.
3. Client selection: Your clients follow the link to your gallery and choose their favorite photos up to the agreed-upon limit of 20.
4. Effortless delivery: Once they've made their selections, they can immediately download their chosen photos (and only their chosen photos), simplifying the delivery process for you.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to improve your client experience and add value to your photography services. Client downloads are a feature that can make your client delivery workflow easier than ever.
To get started with client downloads and see the impact it can have on your photography business, simply log in to your account and explore this feature today. Watch this quick video to see it in action.
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
Offering coupons is a powerful strategy that can provide numerous benefits for you and your clients. SmugMug makes offering coupons a snap, so let’s learn more about how this feature can benefit your business.
Coupons can create a sense of urgency and excitement around purchasing. When customers know they have a limited time to use a discount, they are more likely to make a decision quickly. This can lead to increased sales as clients are motivated to take action before the coupon expires.
Coupons are not only attractive to existing clients, but they also entice new customers to make their first purchase. People often try out products or services they've been curious about if there's a discount involved. This can help you expand your customer base.
Coupons are a fantastic way to show appreciation to loyal customers. By offering exclusive discounts to repeat clients, you can strengthen your relationship with these customers and encourage them to return for more business in the future.
When clients receive discounts, they are more likely to feel a connection to you. This sense of goodwill can lead to increased customer loyalty as clients remember the positive experience and are more likely to return for future photography needs.
You can utilize coupons to align with specific seasons, holidays, or events. For instance, a discount offered for holiday family photos or back-to-school portraits can drive targeted sales during those periods.
SmugMug coupons offer various types of discounts like "percent off," "amount off," or "free shipping." This allows you to tailor your offers to what resonates best with your audience.
Promoting coupons through various channels—social media, email newsletters, or your website—can generate buzz and engagement. This not only leads to immediate sales but also increases the visibility of the your brand.
Through the use of coupons, you can gather valuable data on customer behavior. You can analyze which coupons were most effective, which customer segments responded best, and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
In a competitive photography market, offering coupons can set you apart from your competitors. Clients are more likely to choose a photographer who provides additional value through discounts.
After a successful purchase using a coupon, clients are more likely to return for future photography needs, even without a discount. This can establish a long-term relationship between you and your clients.
SmugMug coupons are a powerful tool that can help you boost sales, attract and retain customers, and strengthen your brand's presence. By using coupons effectively, you can create a win–win situation for both yourself and your clients. Haven’t tried coupons on SmugMug? Learn more about this feature today!
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
Packages are the perfect tool for professional photographers like you to offer curated bundles of photo prints and digital copies. Imagine being able to provide your clients with an all-in-one solution that simplifies their purchase experience while boosting your sales. It's a win-win.
Boost sales: Packages allow you to create enticing offers that encourage customers to buy more. Offering bundled deals can increase the average order value and, ultimately, your revenue.
Simplify the purchase process: Your clients no longer need to agonize over choosing individual prints and files. They can easily select a package that suits their needs, making the decision-making process hassle-free.
Value for your clients: Customers love discounts and bundled deals. Packages provide them with great value, making them more likely to make a purchase and recommend your services to others.
Consider this example - you could offer a package that includes two 8x10 prints, two 4x6 prints, and the original digital files—all at a discounted rate. Your clients can then choose which photos they want to include in this package, creating a personalized experience.
Ready to make the most of this feature? Here's how to get started:
1. Log in to your account.
2. Navigate to the packages section via the Selling Tools menu at the top of your account.
3. Create your customized packages based on popular combinations.
4. Promote these packages to your clients through your website, social media, or email campaigns.
Remember, packages can not only simplify your workflow but also enhance the buying experience for your clients, leading to more orders and happier customers.
Ready to get started? Learn more about creating packages.
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
The SmugMug Events feature gives your clients a way to pick their favorite photos from galleries you've curated for them, streamlining the purchasing or photo delivery process in a simple and elegant way. Set up is easy and the benefits are many:
You even get to customize the URL. Your client sees a gorgeous, personalized presentation with each gallery displayed before them, highlighted by an optional slideshow.
Just add them as participants. Click the Share button and send them a personalized email invitation with their unique link to the event.
If your event is public, you can set up the option for viewers to register themselves, meaning you get to collect their email addresses and they get to pick favorites. Win–win.
Registered participants (your clients) browse the event galleries and choose their favorites, marking them with a little red heart. As favorites are clicked, virtual copies of each favorite photo are placed in a special Favorites gallery. Favorites galleries are unique to each registered guest or participant and visible only to them (and you). And your visitors will always know where to find their favorites gallery because we'll send them an email that includes a link to it.
In short: It's easy for your clients to pick, choose, and view their favorites.
They can review them, whittle down their selections, or add new favorites at any time. Participants can purchase any of your available products directly from within their favorites gallery, or anywhere within the event. If you’re working with a client on selections for a special project, like a wedding album, their choices are only a click away. No more trying to hunt down cryptic file names from an email.
Feature the event on your homepage. SmugMug allows you to set up your event and generate a URL beforehand so you have that info at the ready. Online, you can modify your event and add new photos as they become available. If that’s too complicated, you can even feature an event on your homepage, putting it front and center.
Feature the event gallery (or galleries) on printed materials at the event. Include the event URL at every opportunity, like the following. (Make sure your printed material matches the formality of the event.)
Talk to your host. If your event has a chairperson, director, or simply a social butterfly, exchange email addresses and information. Chances are they have access to a mailing list, registry, or directory in which to distribute info about the event, the photos, and you.
Remember, the people you photograph want to see their images. It’s up to you to get them to where the photos live. Events are one way to make that process a little bit easier on you and your clients.
No sales? Hard time snagging clients? Your deep-discount pricing could be hurting your reputation. It's not uncommon to offer your services at a cut-rate discount with the hope you'll snap up eager bargain hunters. But is this the right approach?
Successful pros agree that raising your pricing may not necessarily scare away potential clients; in fact, it can do you some good.
"Cheap" sets bad expectations for your clients. If you're a cheap photographer, clients wonder how you're cutting costs so much and if it's worth it for them to take the risk. They question your ability to manage expectations and communicate with them. Will you effectively guide them through an important experience, or will you simply fire a few snaps, hand over some digital files, and call it a day?
"Cheap" makes it look as though you don't think you're any good. Any business owner who doesn't think their brand's the best is probably in the wrong field.
Right about now you're probably worried about scaring away clients by being too expensive. How do your clients know what "expensive" really is? It's all about pricing and a concept called anchoring—meaning they have to compare the value of something new with something familiar. In layman’s terms, clients will be able to better grasp the value of your work by judging their interaction with you.
Here are some tips to help you prove your work is worth every penny:
Just because you should be paid fairly for your work doesn't mean you can't cut clients a break, or even do the "free" thing once in a while. Samples are a great way to give clients a taste of what you do without giving away the farm. Some ideas of how to work this into your business plan:
On SmugMug, it's easy to offer a few deep discounts by creating a custom coupon to hand out. There are five different types, ensuring you can keep changing it up and keeping things relevant.
The reason most photography businesses don't survive is because their owners didn't properly calculate their costs. And as the old adage goes, time is money. Don't forget that your time and expertise are more precious than replaceable objects like paper and gear; you can hire assistants, but they aren't you.
Here are our suggested guidelines for calculating your costs:
Don't be afraid to charge a fair price for your work. By understanding your costs and charging more, you're sending a stronger message to your clients and ensuring they value you, too.
If you're already in business and think your prices need an adjustment, remember that it's simple to adjust your pricing using SmugMug’s pricelists.
Do you know Lee Morris, pro photographer, video producer, and educator? He's a seasoned commercial, advertising, fashion, and wedding photographer, plus he's co-founder of the website Fstoppers.com. He took a moment to reflect on the wedding business, why it's so hard, how it's changing, and how pros like you can make the most of it by staying true to your heart.
When it comes to managing a business as intimate as wedding photography, it’s easy to let your emotions take over. I try my best to approach my photography business as I would any other business. I need to manage my time, keep my current clients happy, consistently book new clients, and make money. Many photographers fail to meet at least one of these goals. Maybe you’re really good at making your current clients happy, but you work too much and you don’t enjoy your job or have time to enjoy your life. Maybe you book a ton of work, but you don’t charge enough and you’re constantly struggling financially.
During the digital revolution, many photographers who didn’t change their pricing structure were incapable of making their current clients happy. Maybe their pictures were great, but as digital started to take over, couples felt like they were getting nickeled and dimed after the event. If you can’t make your current clients happy, you’re going to struggle to find new clients.
When I started my business years ago, I learned early on that I hated making prints and albums. I could shoot a wedding in a few hours and make a few thousand dollars, but it would take me a full day to retouch a few pictures, print them myself, or take the files to a lab, package them up, take them to the post office, and I would only make a few dollars’ profit. In many cases my clients would have to wait weeks to actually get their prints because I was out of the state shooting another job. I decided I was going to start giving away the digital files with each of my weddings. Maybe I would lose a few dollars on the back end, but I was also gaining a ton of free time; and my clients were happier because they could print their pictures how they wanted, when they wanted.
As a single guy in my twenties, money was important to me, but free time was far more valuable. Once I had booked my 20 or 30 weddings for the year, I knew I had plenty of income to support myself and had the security to start working on other things. With the extra time I had gained, I created the photography website Fstoppers.com. If I had focused on custom prints and albums like other photographers do, I have no doubt I would have made a bit more money, but Fstoppers has been far more rewarding. Creating videos for our website like Bon Jovi’s photographer behind the scenes, Peter Hurley’s: The Art Behind The Headshot, or How To Become A Wedding Photographer has been the most exciting experiences of my life.
My point is that you may love your photography career (I sure do), but if you can give yourself some extra time, who knows what you’ll be able to create.
When I found SmugMug, I realized it filled three major needs in my business:
By simplifying my business, I was meeting all four goals above; I had more free time, my clients were happier, I was marketing to new potential clients, and I was making money from print sales each month.
It’s easy to think we know what’s best for our clients. We may know that if they don’t book an album now, they will probably never get one made. But the sad truth is that many of our clients would rather put their pictures on Facebook than deal with an album. It’s important to remember that we are hired by these couples to do a service for them; if they don’t want prints, we should figure out what they do want and charge them accordingly for that.
If you’ve ever bought a car before, you know how obnoxious it can be when the salesman tries to sell you on something you don’t want. There are so many other ways to make money with wedding photography that may not involve expensive prints. I make far more money than I ever did selling prints by selling engagement and bridal sessions, setting up a photobooth at receptions, selling video slideshows of the event, and offering a video service. Many photographers also don’t know that SmugMug makes it incredibly easy to sell digital copies of files. If you don’t want to give away your files like I do, you’re able to set the size and price for each individual picture.
I want to make clear that I love high-quality prints and that many wedding photographers make a lot of money selling prints, even today. I love seeing my work printed huge, professionally framed, and hanging on a wall. My point is simply that times are changing and the current generation of brides probably do not want the same things that their mothers wanted. To stay ahead of the pack, you need to deliver exactly what your clients are looking for, not what you think they will appreciate one day.
If I could sum up this article into a single point it would be this: Listen to your clients, and give them what they want. A happy bride will tell her friends how wonderful you are, and you will never have to worry about a shortage of work. In some cases, especially this one, it can make your life a lot simpler, and you might even make more money.
All photos by RL Morris Weddings.
Glossy Finish was born in 2006 when Haim Ariav was suddenly inspired to build a mobile photo lab in a trailer and cart it to sporting events, enabling families to view, purchase, and retrieve photos on site. Ariav, a classically trained photographer, saw an unfilled niche: he recognized that as a “want” industry, photography was taking a hit in a rough economy, so he set out to re-brand memorializing athletic moments as a “need” by making it easier to enshrine kids’ sports glory. Redefining how images are delivered on site is the foundation of Glossy’s business model, unique in the sports photography vertical.
But on-site sales aren’t Glossy’s sole revenue stream. After an event, Ariav’s team uploads its treasures to SmugMug’s cloud and follows through with additional distribution via SmugMug’s labs. Online sales, a significant supplement to Glossy’s revenue stream, run smoothly on SmugMug, along with back-office functions. “We rely on the website for 100% of our revenue for events that don’t utilize the mobile lab,” Ariav said. “Using the SmugMug infrastructure, reliability and scalability are key for us. Having access to the various products offered by the labs is a huge opportunity for us to carry out our online strategy.”
Ariav’s team uses online proofing to boost non-mobile sales. “Different events may not warrant the use of our patent-pending mobile lab,” he pointed out. “The success of those depends on customer satisfaction with images and ease of purchase. SmugMug allows us to deliver a successful experience.”
Ariav endorsed SmugMug’s decision to allow digital downloads to have watermarks. “We felt it would facilitate our ability to brand ourselves on social media,” Ariav said. “We wanted to have a presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, where so much photo sharing takes place. We know how important printmarks and watermarks are to both our business and our creativity.”
Ariav milks every branding opportunity he can out of SmugMug’s tools, even while focused on image protection. “Printmarks turn images from just a photograph into a memory,” he said. “Our logo is also typically part of the printmark. Watermarks deter people from stealing, but we also use them as a way to show what [clients’] prints will look like with the printmark. We are always marketing and trying to keep up brand awareness.”
Outlining a strong customization strategy for site design and gallery organization, and a reliance on SmugMug’s advanced customization tools, Glossy also has the cart-branding feature firmly in the “on” position: “Branding is a huge part of what we do best, which can be seen in our website customization. We [use] cart branding so our customers know they’re getting a great Glossy Finish product. We also use the box sticker. We want customers to know who they are getting a package from and, most importantly, thank them for their order.”
Ariav used to blanket events with trigger-happy shutterbugs. Now, by sending sales teams to pre-sign customers, he may only capture four or five kids out of 20, but the average order has increased from $25 to $125. “It’s okay not to photograph every player on every field at every game,” he said. “We focus only on those that want and love our photos. It works better for the customer and us
With SmugMug’s help, this focus on time-saving extends to online sales: “We try to keep pricing as uniform as we can to lessen confusion on our end,” Ariav said. “With the introduction of pricelists, it is much easier to organize pricing throughout the site. Now I can set up pricelists for sales and simply move galleries around once the sale is over.”
After cutting overhead and moving from the flea-market, on-spec approach to a more profitable, streamlined system scaffolded on a $20 deposit credited toward purchase, Ariav saw opportunities to reach a larger audience without snapping a photo. Envisioning his business as “an exclusive entertainment club,” Ariav created custom lanyards customers could don at soccer tournaments, showcasing that their kid’s athletic prowess was immortalized by Glossy Finish. The result? A flood of visitors to his trailer.
Photographers have never discriminated when it comes to capturing contacts; Glossy worked hard to collect home addresses and emails. Now, Ariav plays smarter, relying on texting select targets for marketing blasts. His on-site blitzes are wildly successful. “If we have a slow period, we can ping them and—boom!—the trailer fills up. We have a direct connection to our customers. And when we’re done with an event, we have more contacts in our database for future direct and instant marketing.”
If you’re a portrait or event photographer, you’ve undoubtedly had clients ask you any or all of the following questions:
The fact is we're living in a digital world. Fewer and fewer people are interested in physical prints and are increasingly using websites and social media to store and share their precious memories.
At SmugMug, we still believe in the power of a printed photograph, but we think it's equally important to adapt your business to the digital needs of today’s customers.
You've already got your portfolio and proofing solution sorted out with SmugMug, and you know what a lifesaver our print labs are in fulfilling your print and merchandise orders. Don't leave money on the table by keeping digital downloads a secret!
Portfolio and Pro account owners can price and sell single digital images and video files to clients and they're retrievable immediately after checkout. In other words, they're perfect for customers who are itching to share with friends and family right away. Digital downloads also buy you time, especially if they'll be waiting for you to proof your prints; and they provide a little extra cash in your pocket.
Don't think you can emotionally "let go" of your digital files? Not to worry: You can lock them down and offer only smaller display sizes or choose to offer files that only include your printmark. Additionally, you can set one price for personal use and charge more for commercial licensing. Or sell the whole gallery at a single package price.
1. Protect against theft.
When you decide to start selling downloads, it's of utmost importance to be sure you've got image protection set up the right way. Take a look at the resources we've written to help you set up watermarking, right-click protection, and more.
2. Strategize your pricing.
We've got a great article that helps you answer the eternal question, "How much should I charge?" but this is a very personal decision and there is no right answer. We can, however, offer some practical tips:
3. Set your prices.
Just like traditional prints and gifts, you price your photo, video, and gallery downloads in your pricelists manager to make them available to your clients. The only difference is that all digital downloads are delivered instantly via email from SmugMug, and they aren't tied to a specific print lab like physical products.
We hope we've inspired you to try an all-new way to make more money from your photography, as well as given you new ways to make your clients happier. If you're brand new to digital downloads or just want to read more about how you can make money at SmugMug, read our help pages for all the details.
As always, don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Heroes if you're confused, need help, or just have a question about what you need to do next. Happy sales to you!
Meghan MacAskill is an extremely talented photographer, and this isn’t the first time we’ve featured her work. MacAskill’s love of family portraiture started with photographing her own children. A mother of three, she’s since gone on to establish a successful family portraiture business. We talked with her about what it takes to start—and succeed—in the business.
When I was about 10 years old, my whole extended family got together for a family portrait session. My grandparents had convinced everyone to dress up in our Easter Sunday best and drive an hour to a lovely park with a lake to get a portrait of us all together.
On the way to this photo shoot, my mother realized I had worn my ratty, old sneakers instead of my shiny, black Mary Janes. She was furious. I knew I was in big trouble. The photographer simply put me somewhere in the photo where my feet would be tucked behind someone else, and the problem was solved in less than a minute. Still, I was so upset by my mother's outburst, and she was so angry at my poor choice of footwear, that all either of us ever remember when we look at those photos is what a terrible time we had.
The photos turned out beautifully, but we only remember how we felt that day when we look at them now.
This is the key to being a successful portrait photographer: Clients will remember how they felt and the experience they had on the day of their photo shoot with you. The photos will merely be a reminder of that, so no matter how technically accomplished the lighting was, how perfect the composition, how meticulously posed they are, if your client is not enjoying themselves, they will hate the photos later.
It shouldn’t be your client’s job to get their child to look at the camera, smile, or have fun. That’s why they hire you! You can’t hide behind your camera and expect families to laugh together, or all smile at you, or give you a real expression if you’re not the catalyst. You must make the experience enjoyable for them. Stop worrying about the perfect setting and worry more about the family dynamic and how you can bring that into your photos of them!
Your clients will love the photos you produce when you take the time to get to know them and what they love about their family. Then, capture that.
My style is very interactive. I am talkative, funny, interested, silly, loud at times, and from the instant I meet a new client, I treat them like an old friend. There is no awkwardness, no breaking the ice. I jump right in and start playing peek-a-boo with their kids and asking them about their childbirth stories. I love people. I love hearing about them, their family, their job, their life. I want them to be comfortable enough to relax and show me who they are in the course of our shoot.
I also really love kids, and with three of my own, I understand when kids don't behave—in fact, I expect it! So when that inevitably happens, I roll with it and reassure the parents that their child is so much better behaved than so many kids out there, and we make it work by setting up a great candid moment or figuring out a way to get their child involved in the shot.
Family portraiture is not about perfection. It's about the beautiful imperfections that make us who we are. It's about capturing those imperfections and those wonderfully real moments in a setting and experience where we feel happy and connected. When you combine a fun and joyful experience with fantastic photos to show for it, that’s a powerful combination that will keep your clients coming back for more.
I used to offer one option for every type of session except weddings: One price for newborn sessions, one price for family sessions, etc. However, I noticed I wasn’t being paid accordingly for the time and effort I would spend on one newborn session versus another. My clients seemed happy because I would charge them one price and then I was willing to bend over backwards to give them whatever they wanted out of their photo session.
The unfortunate part is that the person who was getting the short end of the stick was me. I was spending additional time on some sessions to get the shots that client requested or to photograph their baby with every family member, and I was only getting paid my basic fee. It just didn’t make sense!
Next, my clients were not buying prints. Why not? I offer my clients the option to buy the high-resolution digital images, and they almost always do. This bothered me not only because I wasn't making a profit on those prints, but it wasn't doing any justice to my work to have my photos printed at the drugstore. Photographers are artists, and to have our work printed at budget labs doesn’t convey the full beauty of our art. I didn't know how to combat this; I’d tell my clients they can purchase prints through their proofing gallery on SmugMug, and I’d show them different print options. They just weren’t pulling the trigger.
So I decided to include a print credit in the price of all my packages, and I raised my prices accordingly.
It’s invaluable for my clients to have photos I produced on their walls. It’s a built-in reminder that they love their photos, that they love my work, and that they want me to photograph them again soon.
I also changed my pricing model. I now offer four different packages to gently steer my clients to purchase the two middle ones. The first and fourth packages are there for particular clients who want more or less. When my client is looking at the four packages I offer, they’ll see that Package #1 is a very basic package. It comes with a short time stipulation, much like a mini session, and a small print credit.
Then Packages #2 and #3 include more time, more coverage (different groupings, more detail shots, etc.), and larger print credits. Package #3 also includes outfit changes, multiple locations, and an album.
Then my largest package, Package #4, is my VIP package. It includes all the bells and whistles—a whole “day-in-the-life” session where I spend the entire day with my clients' family/child photographing their personality, activities, dynamics, and expressions. It includes a much larger print credit, a bigger album, and a very large price tag.
The point of this package is not to get people to book it. If they do, that's awesome! The point is to show what you CAN do, and what you’re capable of offering. It makes people feel like you’re a true professional at your craft if you’re able to offer such an amazing experience; and, even though they can't afford it, they feel more confident in you knowing you could do it for them if they could. It also makes the second and third packages by comparison look very affordable.
You may notice that digital images aren’t listed on any of these packages. Technically, they aren’t. I don't advertise that I offer digital images, but when my clients ask about them, I say that with Packages #2–4, the digital images are my gift to them. I have priced my packages high enough that I can comfortably give away digital files. By telling my clients it's my gift to them instead of saying it's included in the package, now I’ve made the images a bonus instead of something that’s costing them more money.
I’ve found that this new pricing model has worked like a charm. The vast majority of my clients have opted to go with Packages #2 or #3. I still do, on occasion, have someone select Package #1, but when I do I don't mind because I’m meeting their needs and getting paid well for my time.
My business is 100% referral-based. I rarely blog. I stink at SEO. I hardly ever book a client from giving them my business card. I book clients when they see photos I have taken of their friends or family members and they instantly want photos like that of their family. My clients are also my biggest cheerleaders and always become really good friends. They send everyone they know my way because they adore my personality and the photos I’ve given them. I have a beautiful website with SmugMug that has been customized from top to bottom. My website is a huge marketing tool for me. People who see my website are always impressed, and it truly sets the tone and shows them my style and impressive work.
My client relationships almost always begin with an email. Somehow, they have made it to my website and have used the contact form there to send me an inquiry email. I answer every email personally and respond with pricing information, availability, etc. My pricing isn’t listed publicly on my website. I do this for several reasons:
I will spend anywhere from 15–30 minutes over the course of time between initial contact and our actual shoot purely on building the relationship with my client—emailing or talking on the phone about dates, locations, questions, wardrobe, tips, what to bring, etc.
At the shoot I will spend anywhere from 30 minutes to all day taking photos, depending on the package they’ve selected. On average a newborn session will take 4–6 hours, a child portrait session will take 1 hour, and a family portrait session will take 1.5–2 hours.
I process my photos in Lightroom, and I edit every image I give my clients so they’re print-ready. I usually will take between 500–1,000 images in the course of a session and provide my client with only 150 or so finished images. I do basic editing on most of the images, but I will do artistic edits on 20–40 of my favorite images from the day with some black-and-white conversions, antique actions, texture—whatever I feel the image needs. Editing will take 2–3 hours for a newborn session and 1–2 hours for a child-portrait session or family session.
My clients are allowed to ask for additional editing, and I will do it at no charge unless it gets crazy. I reserve the right to charge money when clients ask for too much in-depth processing. So far my clients have all been very respectful of this, and I haven’t had any instances of out-of-control editing requests.
I use SmugMug’s Events feature whenever my client has selected a package that includes an album so my clients can pick their favorites. After the photos are posted and I have provided them with their event-page information, I ask that they select their 50–75 favorite images; when they’ve done this, I begin work on the album using these favorite images.
I design my albums using Aperture. I have a very clean and classic style when it comes to my album design, and Aperture’s book-building software meets my needs. I have created many albums in Aperture, and I use these past books as templates but then go in and adjust or create new pages to fit the photos my client has selected. Bay Photo is a print lab for albums as well as prints, and I simply adore the Pacific albums. I like both their full photo-wrap cover and the covers with the photo and partial leather wrap.
This tip is brought to you by cabbey, landscape and fine-art photographer, and one of SmugMug's backend engineers. He's usually up to his elbows in the code that sends your orders to the labs and your profits to the bank, but now he's sharing some tips for photographers who want to be sure they’re getting the best possible prints.
Let's say you take a picture of your son and the camera does everything perfectly in terms of white balance and exposure. You made sure the image was properly exposed, something akin to the image on the left below.
Next, you downloaded that image and loaded it onto your computer. But your computer's monitor isn’t calibrated, so your photo suddenly looks too red and too bright, like the middle image below.
To correct this, you fixed it in Photoshop until it looked like the original image. When you were done, you uploaded it to SmugMug and ordered a print, then received something that looks dark and weirdly tinted green:
They didn't! The problem is that monitors are generally made for office tasks, not photography. Manufacturers give you the brightest display possible with the punchiest red they can produce.
As a result, any time you process your photos on an uncalibrated display, you're making your image considerably darker and turning down the red cast, skewing everything toward cyan. The third image above is what your finished photo actually looks like, and the lab faithfully printed what you sent them.
By calibrating your monitor, you'll get better prints and happier customers without having to fall back on SmugMug's 100% print guarantee. The top three correctable problems that land on our help desk are
We have a great help page about return rates that shows what gets returned and why. The top six reasons are all solvable by using a properly color-managed workflow.
Exactly how you do it depends on what gear you buy. There are a number of different choices, but the leaders of the pack are Datacolor's Spyder and X-Rite's lines.
In general, you'll need a colorimeter or spectrophotometer (fancy words, but they basically mean a special device you can put on your screen and plug in to a USB port) and a piece of software that usually comes bundled with it. The software will put your monitor through its paces while you have the meter on it, then it uses that information to build an output profile for your screen.
With that resulting profile, any software that cares about a properly color-managed workflow can properly display accurate colors on your screen. Since monitors' color accuracy varies over the lifetime of the display, it's important to update the profile periodically, at least every month or two. Most of the above programs will remind you when it's time to re-profile your display.
You can also get a calibration print with SmugMug. With that in hand, you can bring the calibration image up in your editor of choice and see how much closer a calibrated workflow makes it look on your monitor. The closer it is, the closer your images will be when you're editing them.
Portfolio and Pro account holders can always print through Bay Photo, WHCC, or Loxley Colour, whose color-correction services are always done by hand. It costs a little more, but it can save you time at your desk, or headaches if you don't feel like fiddling with your computer.
You can find this option when editing your pricelists.
Most operating systems have an "eyeball" calibration you can do that will at least get you started. They aren't as accurate, and they depend on your eyes making decisions, so be aware that this may not work for everyone.
On a Mac, use Spotlight to launch Display Calibrator Assistant. Once it opens, just follow the steps.
On Windows, search in the control panel for "display calibration" and, again, follow the steps.
The simple formula for profitability is revenue - expense = profit. But if success were that easy, why do most new small businesses fail? And what more should you be thinking about when starting your new photography business?
First off, where will your revenue come from? For photographers this is typically from one or both of two sources:
And secondly, where will your profit come from? There are many pricing models available to photographers, but these are two of the most popular:
Whether you decide to use a cost-plus pricing model or a strategic pricing model based on the value of your service, you need to have a good understanding of your actual costs of doing business. This is more than an hourly rate or the cost of the products you’ll provide.
Consider the following:
Hot tip: The National Press Photographers Association has a handy cost calculator that might help you figure out your cost of doing business.
How you value your work is more than material cost and time spent, it’s about the time, experience, and artistry it takes to capture the images uniquely as you and only you can. If customers could take the photos themselves, they wouldn't be hiring you.
Every business owner will battle pricing pressure at some point. It can come from price wars with a competitor or a persistent customer who won't buy anything without a discount. That being said, starting low is bad for business.
Low prices set low expectations from your clients. If you’re a cheap photographer, clients might immediately question your reliability or the quality of your work.
Being “cheap” also means you can’t afford to invest in your business or use more effective marketing strategies like coupons and special sales. These tools are invaluable for creating urgency and closing sales. Also, placing a fair (higher) monetary value on your work will inspire confidence in yourself and your clients.
"Moms and young kids out of college are opening up shop down the street. The new freelancer charging $50 per session has taken some of my clientele," Susan Sidoriak of Silverbox Creative Studio said. “Yet I have raised my prices throughout the recession, and the economy hasn’t really hit my business." Sidoriak got a bit of pushback when she raised her prices on 4×6 and 5×7 holiday photos last fall, but not one customer jumped ship.
SmugMug's pricing tool allows you to create different pricelists for different products and event types: weddings versus senior photos, limited-edition prints versus stock photos, etc. You can then apply each pricelist to galleries or individual photos.
Every new SmugMug Pro should set up pricing. You’ll have some important decisions to make:
Offer clients discounts with a built-in coupon tool to sweeten the deal. Who doesn’t love a sale? Incentivize your customers to make their purchase quickly by setting expiration dates on your coupons.
“Print credits are vital to my business model,” said Meghan MacAskill of Wild Bloom Studio. “[I noticed] that many clients weren’t actually pulling the trigger and getting prints. I decided to model photo sessions differently and include a print credit in every package to guide clients into purchasing prints. It has been very successful, and SmugMug's coupon feature is vital for it to work without me filling those orders myself.”
Packages are also a popular tool for school and sport photographers. With packages, you can bundle a set of prints together for a single price, creating a value incentive for your customer...and a simpler buying experience.
Printmarks allow you to “sign” prints and photo downloads. They can be used as an artist's signature, to add value to a print product, or as advertising, which then allows you to offer the product at a reduced price compared to a non-printmarked version.
Pick the strategy—or mix and match several—that makes the most sense for your business!
We’re all thinking about it, so we’re here to talk about it. Here are eight SmugMug tools that will improve your sales and get more cash into your pocket.
SmugMug's pricelists give you the power to
SmugMug's proof delay gives you the power to make finishing touches before sending orders to the lab, allowing you to fix things such as customer cropping mistakes and to save on upload time.
Time-saving tip: Upload medium-resolution JPGs and, when your clients make an order, swap them with full-resolution, edited files. How? Compress your images in your favorite photo editor before you upload photos to SmugMug. They'll upload faster without affecting your customers' opportunity to buy large prints. Then use proof delay's replace function after clients place orders to swap the compressed image with the full-res file.
This way, you only edit the images that are purchased. SmugMug’s proof delay helps SmugMug Pro Andi Grant maintain her high standards: "I love proof delay because I do very little editing to my proofing galleries—none for boudoir," she said. "So when a client orders an image, I then have the opportunity to make sure it’s perfect. I especially like to be sure their cropping is correct."
SmugMug’s lab color correction gives you the power to leave global color edits to the experts, ensuring great print products for your customers and freeing up your day. This setting is found in your pricelist manager.
SmugMug's many image-protection features ensure your customers are buying, not “borrowing,” your photos. Here's what we recommend:
Printmarks put your signature or logo onto the products your customers buy. In the case of a fine-art photographer, a printmark is a way to sign the print the customer receives, creating more value for the customer.
For event photographers, printmarks work as advertising that allows the photographer a way to offer the product for a lower price, and encourage sales.
Photo and video downloads give you the power of instant gratification. SmugMug has more than 30 digital-download options you can price and sell.
Pro tip: Gallery backups are perfect for delivering files to customers that have paid for your services in advance.
Coupons and packages are powerful sales tools every pro should use. Who can resist the opportunity to get more for less?
Events give your buyers the ability to gather their favorites into a single gallery for review. You can also give several clients in a single shoot their own private favorites gallery.
This feature gives your clients a sense of privacy and control, while making your life easier. Favorites also help you work together with your client to discuss their selections for delivery.
Have a money-making feature you love to use that we didn’t cover above? We’d love to hear it!
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Remember to keep an eye out for updates in the ‘What’s New’ section in your SmugMug account. And tell us what you think or what features you’d like to see: start a conversation on our Facebook, Instagram, and/or X (formerly known as Twitter).
In 2022, we celebrated 20 years of helping photographers all over the world showcase their art, cherish their memories, share their experiences, and run their businesses. And a lot has happened in those 20 years! We’ve heard amazing stories from photographers about their work and how they run their businesses. We’ve told some of their stories with SmugMug Films, where we highlight the inspirational work of amazing photographers around the world. And we’ve heard from our customers about how much of an impact our platform has made in their lives.
As your business grows, we’re enabling you to do more of it while on the go. We added notifications to our mobile apps to let you know when you make a sale. We also added mobile support for proof delay and made it possible for you to check on the status of orders no matter where you are. These small changes free you to manage your business when and where you want.
When you’re at your desk, we’ve added support for proof delay directly into the SmugMug plug-in for Lightroom Classic, allowing you to stay in this powerful tool while fulfilling customer orders.
It can be difficult to know if your photos are getting in front of your potential buyers, so we added improved SmugMug gallery engagement stats to get the data on how your potential buyers are responding and if the promotional channels you’re using are effective.
Our world-class customer support Heroes answered more than 120,000 inquiries. Many issues were resolved in just a few minutes. We’re proud to continue offering this level of courteous, effective, and fast customer support.
We made improvements to search to make finding photos easier for you and for your customers. Search is now faster and more accurate across all our subscription plans, and for customers opted into SmugMug Source™, it also includes auto-tagging of objects and geolocation.
We improved the purchase experience for customers ordering digital downloads from mobile phones and tablets, solving a fulfillment pain point many of you shared with us. We also added the ability for you to sell digital packages, giving you the best-in-class tools to deliver photographs to your clients.
But none of that matters if all of your photos aren’t safe and readily accessible. In the past two years we made it easier for you to store your RAW files along with your finished JPGs with SmugMug Source, an add-on feature to any SmugMug subscription plan. And in this past year alone, we invested in the stability and reliability of the SmugMug platform and storage. While you can’t always see these changes, everyone benefits from faster page loads, improved browser experiences across devices, and the peace of mind that every pixel of your work is safely stored and ready to be served at a moment’s notice.
You’ve told us you want to sell your work. We’re here to support you in achieving that goal. In the coming year you’ll see improvements that help people find and purchase their photos more easily. We know many of your customers increasingly are giving up their desktop computers (if they ever had them) and are using their devices on the go. We’re committed to making that experience easier for them and for you when managing the sale.
You’ve said you want photos available for purchase faster. We’re investing to enable more options for uploading. We’re excited about the opportunities in this space and can’t wait to see how it accelerates your business.
We want to be the best employee you’ve ever had, supporting you with the mundane parts of running your business so you can do the work that’s unique to you. Letting you do the work that your customers depend on. We’re also working on improvements to help you get photos onto our platform more easily, whether that’s on your desktop, tablet, phone, or camera — uploading to SmugMug should always be fast and reliable.
Like many of you, we’re concerned about the world we’re leaving behind for future generations, so we’re working to reduce the environmental impact of our business. This means continued investment in how we run our platform and business in a sustainable manner. We’ll continue to optimize our software, storage, bandwidth, and energy usage to ultimately become climate neutral.
Our purpose as a company is to build a better world through the power of photography. At SmugMug, we’re creating the best platform for all photographers and we’re incredibly humble that you’ve chosen us to be a partner throughout your journey. The next 20 years will be transformative for the photography industry, just as the introduction of digital cameras was. So stay in touch and look for more from us throughout the year!
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Tell us what you think! Start a conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
As always, we have been busy squashing pesky bugs!
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Remember to keep an eye out for updates in the ‘What’s New’ section in your SmugMug account. And, tell us what you think or what features you’d like to see: start a conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and/or X (formerly known as Twitter).
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Remember to keep an eye out for updates in the ‘What’s New’ section in your SmugMug account. And tell us what you think or what features you’d like to see: start a conversation on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
You can now assign pricelists at more granular levels within your organizational structure: the Folder and Gallery levels.
Simply select your pricelist at your desired level. Remember, at the Gallery level, you can set a pricelist via the Gallery settings as well as through the pricelist itself.
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Remember to keep an eye out for updates in the ‘What’s New’ section in your SmugMug account. And tell us what you think or what features you’d like to see: start a conversation on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Remember to keep an eye out for updates in the ‘What’s New’ section in your SmugMug account. And tell us what you think or what features you’d like to see: start a conversation on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Friends, photographers, storytellers: Send us your originals!
We know you've got lots of choices for places to trust with your precious photos, from cloud-based storage services to free social-media sites. But we believe many of those choices come with risk.
At SmugMug we're dedicated to secure storage, and we'll keep every pixel of your photos safe and sound. We want you to trust us with your original, full-resolution files, so we'll never crunch, squish, resize, or compromise your photos.
We also won’t limit the number of photos and videos you can upload, nor the number of times you can access them. Your files are yours, and we'll never hold them hostage.
Once you upload your full-res file, SmugMug maintains it carefully in all its glory, and also creates a series of custom display sizes for easy viewing and sharing.
You don't need to do a thing. We take your file and optimize your images for web display, all in the background. We resize images on the fly so your viewers get the perfect size photo no matter how big (or small) a browser window they're using.
This means your images will look great on any device, on any connection, anywhere in the world.
What does this mean for you?
SmugMug is your photo archive. All your memories are safely stored in the cloud, letting you access them from any computer at any time. With folders and galleries, you can organize everything in an easy-to-understand way, and arrange your files using our easy drag-and-drop system.
Your untouched, full-resolution originals are always available to be retrieved by you (at no extra charge). In fact, you can get them back individually, or we'll zip up the whole gallery for you. And if you use SmugMug Source, you can upload all your RAW files.
SmugMug provides you with easy access to high-quality print labs. Upload once to your SmugMug site and make prints, gifts, and merchandise at any time.
Gone are the days of having to deal with lost CDs, corrupt files, or the tedium of having to upload your photos to a second website just to buy prints.
You can also let your loved ones buy prints and gifts from your photos, too. Set your gallery settings' Shop View option to ON to reveal the shopping cart to your fans. They buy from the comfort of their couch, and we deliver the prints to their doorstep.
After you upload your full-size photos, you can still share any size photo from your site with whomever you choose:
There are as many ways to share your photos as there are photos to share.
Don't want to share? No problem. There's no need to reveal your originals to your guests. Keep them tucked safely away for your eyes only by restricting the largest display size your viewers can see.
Our Portfolio and Business accounts have extra image-protection tools, including non-destructive watermarks.
A note about upload speeds: How fast you can upload photos is determined by your internet service provider (ISP) and the size of your files. Digital cameras keep producing larger and larger file sizes, but in reality, printing doesn't require all that data. You can help speed up your uploads with a tiny bit of image compression when you edit your photos. Here's how: Save your files at Lightroom quality of 85% (or Photoshop quality 10) to give you great prints and reduce your upload time. Getting proofs to your clients quickly: Are you a photography pro with lots of event photos to upload for sale? Use image compression to get your proofs uploaded in record speed, and use SmugMug's proof-delay feature to replace only the ones that sell.
A happy customer is a return customer. Your clients chose you over others because they knew you could meet their specific needs, but your job is much more than creating a few good photos: you need to deliver a quality experience from first contact to getting those prints into their hands.
All websites have some basic, common elements: a landing page, header, footer, content boxes, and a way to navigate from page to page. You can change all these elements using customization on your SmugMug Power, Portfolio, and Pro sites.
In addition to the above, you should include the following:
You can also spice your website up with
Make use of your built-in SmugMug profile. Add your name or business name, an image of yourself, and a background image to take full advantage. You want this info to be easy to find, either on your homepage or in an “About Me” page.
All SmugMug accounts also get a contact email address to fill in on their profile. That, in turn, creates a contact request form available from the contact link in the footer or in your navigation menu.
While galleries are the building blocks of your site, they can be categorized into higher-level folders up to seven levels deep. Keep your site organized to make things easier on your visitors. Then build a navigation menu to help them get around your site.
A navigation menu is a row of links at the top or side of every page, best used when you link to specific galleries, pages, or folders on your site. For extra assistance navigating your site, consider adding breadcrumbs. These additional links at the top of each gallery easily take your viewers back to a gallery’s category or to your homepage. Nothing's worse than a digital dead-end.
Limit choices and don’t overwhelm the viewer. Cull your shoot down to the best of the best. Limit the products that you sell as well—price only those that best suit your photos' and your clients' needs.
Then organize your photos to provide a great customer experience in a meaningful and easy-to-navigate way. Your viewer will have an easier time browsing their wedding photos if you take the time to organize them into galleries rather than showing them one gallery with all 1,200 photos.
SmugMug smart galleries can be a real timesaver. Create your galleries and define rules based on keywords, then upload all your photos into a single Unlisted gallery. The smart gallery settings will automatically pull in photos that match your rules based on your keywords.
Take this one step further by making use of events and favorites so customers can pick and choose their favorite photos. Favorites are put into a separate gallery that both you and your customer can see, providing a great way to discuss their choices.
Giving clients incentive to buy sooner than later can make all the difference. Try these tips:
Creating an easy and user-friendly site will encourage customers to linger on your site: clear, organized navigation, easy-to-find galleries, and a simple list of products they can buy are all incredibly helpful. Try these tips to keep your bounce rate down and your sale rate up.
These days, everyone has a website. But how do you know what your friends, family, and fans really think when they see it? And if you're a pro making money from your craft, are you sure your site is doing everything it can to get you clients and seal the deal? After browsing tons of sites and hearing the advice from our team of Support Heroes, we've compiled a list of tips to help you get the best, most effective, and appealing website you possibly can.
Omitting or hiding ways for people to reach you is a grave mistake, one you may not even know you're making. If someone finds your site and wants to talk with you, how would they do it? Yes, putting your email address or phone number out in public can be risky. But there are other ways to let your potential clients and fans reach out to you without throwing the door open to everyone who walks by.
Also, it may be obvious to you that your town of Springfield is in New Jersey, but potential Googlers in Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, and Missouri may not be so sympathetic. Be specific about the areas you serve so you'll score top search results by clients looking to hire locals like you.
To do: Include a way to contact you either at the top, bottom, or in the navigation bar of your website. Add your contact email address in your SmugMug profile. Take it one step further and connect your SmugMug site’s contact form to your navigation menu by choosing the pre-built contact link in the menu bar builder.
If you talk about your location on your homepage or About page, be specific about the state or country where you're willing to work. You can also add those terms and keywords in your Account Settings > Discovery > Search section so Google and other search engines pick you up ASAP.
The great thing is everyone has a website these days. But the downside is...everyone has a website these days. How will you stand out? The answer is: Be yourself! You have a personality, and it's completely unique. Use your own language, unique selfies, or whatever it takes to show the world that you're more than another link on the web. Talk about what drives you and why you're passionate about your work. Give visitors a taste of what it’s like to meet you in your studio or at your next gallery show.
To do: It's difficult to talk about yourself, and it's even harder to figure out what strangers want to hear, but don't be afraid to browse through some of your favorite websites and see what sticks in your mind about their bios—the good and the bad.
Nothing looks worse than a super-slow website with broken images and dead links. Even if you aren't looking to make money through your website, you still want to look as polished as any pro. So do a regular audit of your site, click your links, and update them regularly to make sure they work every time. When you're logged out of your site and viewing it like a guest, what do you see?
To do: On SmugMug, we already give you warp-speed page loads and unlimited traffic and sharing. So you never have to worry about slow load times. Our Share button will generate handy links for all your photos, so you can be sure your images look beautiful every time.
Your gorgeous photos may speak for themselves, but if your site's a mess the message will get lost. When you’re expecting house guests you tidy up, so extend the same courtesy to your online space. No one needs to see the photographic equivalent of your laundry pile.
To do: Curate a few examples of your best work and make them easy to find via a slideshow, featured content on your homepage, or a straightforward link in your navigation bar. Keep this gallery updated with new photos as you take them. Choose images that really show what you love to do and show the full breadth of your abilities. It can be difficult, but you can use SmugMug’s Collect Photo feature to add a virtual copy to a best-of gallery, and easily remove the ones you don't think make the cut.
Love to archive? That's OK. Just keep the rest of your photos neatly organized, too, so leisurely browsers can find their way around.
Even if you aren’t a working professional, it's important to give your viewers a unified look and feel that translates to a cohesive experience. Simply using the same colors and font size from page to page can keep your fans feeling grounded and sure that you've got your stuff together. If you're a pro, having your company's name, logo, and a simple set of colors can be all you need to say, "Yeah, I’ve got this."
To do: SmugMug makes it easier than ever to give your site a unified brand. Our pre-built designs have all the details of color scheme, font, and layout baked right in. We've done the heavy lifting for you.
Personalize any of the designs by adding your own logo, changing up the colors by changing the theme, and optimizing the page layout to best reflect your brand. Pro account owners can add order branding, too.
The key to making great sales is to do the thinking for potential customers so they don't have to. The most basic way to do this is to be crystal clear about what your specialties are and which services you offer. Whether you shoot BMX, babies, or brides, making it obvious in your brand and portfolio is the best way to ensure the right customers are finding you.
You made it! After learning about products and pricelists, coupons and discounts, and connecting with customers, you’re ready to put it all together into a marketing strategy that will help you drive more sales for the holiday season and all year round.
Today’s post is all about managing the moving parts of your promotion ahead of time. Think of it as planning now, so your future self can relax and rake in the sales.
(If you really want to get ahead, we recommend reading through the Marketing for Photographers ebook as well. We can’t offer extra credit, but hopefully you get some extra cash!)
Here’s a quick checklist of the activities you can do (or might have already done) to prepare for your sales push:
1. Choose your products.
2. Pro option: Build a promotion to excite your customers.
3. Lay the groundwork for outreach.
You’ve done a lot of work to get here, and you’re almost ready for showtime. All this potential needs a plan, though. It’s time for a content calendar.
A content calendar gives you a bird’s-eye view of all the ways you can interact with your customers over time. It shows your communication channels (like your website, email list, and social media outlets) on one axis, and the date on the other, letting you plan and visualize where and when you want particular messages to connect with your future customers.
Content calendars are especially useful for creative businesses who need to spread the word about their work. Why? Because they’re efficient: You can create a single asset—like a blog post, a video, or a gallery—and build a whole raft of communications to promote it across your channels, where you’ll catch the attention of different audiences on each channel.
This means more eyes on your photos, more traffic to your site, and more chances to make the sale.
Picture this: you make a gallery of your best-selling photos for the holidays (we told you it’d come in handy).
Then you make a coupon for those photos.
You promote that gallery and discount with a simple shout-out to your email list.
Then you tweet about it on Twitter/X one day. Post a teaser image on Instagram the next. Poll your followers for their favorite photo on Facebook.
Maybe you throw one last reminder to your email list as the promotion is about to expire.
And all of a sudden, presto, you’ve got a marketing campaign.
Follow this approach for other galleries, new products, or upcoming holiday promotions, and you can start to see how a content calendar will help you keep everything organized on your end, and keep your customers coming back for more.
Building a content calendar is easy. You can start with something as simple as a spreadsheet— in fact, most fancy content calendar tools are based on just that.
To make things even easier, we built you a template you can use to get started for the upcoming selling season. Just click the image below to download the file, then open it in your favorite spreadsheet app.
Some businesses use content calendars to plan a full year in advance. Others may only use them for specific campaigns or particularly complex projects. For our purposes, a few months will do nicely.
With the “calendar” part taken care of, let’s look at content. For each channel, it’s important to consider what kind of content you want to put out there, and how to play to the strengths of each. For example:
Feel free to add any communication channels you like to the document (Pinterest? TikTok? Go wild), and let’s dig into scheduling.
Scheduling is the most personal part of your content calendar creation process, and it will be wholly unique to you and the type of campaigns you want to run. To get you started, though, here are a few important dates to keep in mind this season:
Upcoming holidays are called out in the content-calendar template, and we’ve gone ahead and populated the first week with a sampling of emails, posts, and assets to get you started. You’ll also want to keep an eye on shipping deadlines so you can let your customers know to order in time for the holidays!
Just like emails, you can draft and schedule your social media posts ahead of time using tools like Facebook’s native scheduler, or try an all-encompassing tool like HootSuite.
Whichever tools you use, a little up-front planning can make your selling season a breeze, so get out there and get posting.
Thank you for joining our Photo Seller’s Foundations series. We hope these tools are helpful for you this selling season, and, as always, our sales specialists are here to answer any lingering questions you have. We can’t wait to see your photos out in the world.
Welcome back to the Photo Seller’s Foundations series. If you missed our posts on products and pricelists or coupons and discounts, you may want to start there. Go ahead, we’ll be here when you come back.
(You can also tackle the series at your own pace on our Photo Seller’s Foundations page, or get a wealth of photography marketing and business strategy knowledge with our free Marketing for Photographers ebook.)
If you’re following along, you should have an established pricelist, a best-selling gallery, and a shiny new coupon ready for your customers. Now it’s time to get in touch. Today’s a big one: we’ll be going over the basics of email marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), and we’ll take you step by step through how to post a promotional banner to your website.
Ready? Let’s get to it.
Connecting with customers—new or returning—can be the hardest part of selling your photos. But there are a few simple ways to stay in touch with your existing customers, and attract new ones, with minimal time investment.
The most important part of this process is making content that people want to see. We’re willing to bet you’re already doing that with your photography, so let’s dig into the next step: leveraging those gorgeous photos to connect with more people.
When you upload new photos to your SmugMug galleries or add new products to your pricelists, do you tell anyone? If so, great! You’re ahead of the game. But if you’re like lots of photographers, it’s upload, add a title and tags (maybe), and move on to the next task at hand.
All those beautiful photos can help you strengthen and expand your customer relationships. You’ve just gotta get them out there. We recommend starting simple, with email and social media.
Getting started with email marketing takes a little work up-front, but it’s easily the best way to keep in touch with your customers. The most important component is a rich and varied list of people to email about your photography. Here’s how to build it.
If you’re just starting out your sales journey, connect with family, friends, and coworkers to see who might be interested in hearing from you and seeing your latest photos. Then get their email addresses, and be sure you’ve got a contact form on your website so current and prospective customers can easily get in touch.
Not sure how to add your own contact form? Episode 69 of SmugMug Live! walks you through the process step by step. Watch it here.
If you’re an established seller, you’ve got a head start on building an email list thanks to your previous customers. You can export a summary of your sales history by navigating to Account Settings > Business > Selling > Sales History > Manage.
On the right side of this page, you’ll see the option to download a detailed .csv file of your entire sales history. Open this file in your favorite spreadsheet program, and you’ll see a column for the email addresses of every customer going back six years.
Copy this column into a word processor or email marketing manager and presto! You’ve got the beginnings of an email list.
Pro tip: Be sure to download your sales history regularly so you can keep your email list up to date with your latest customers. The detailed version is also useful for tracking what types of products are most popular in your pricelist, how your customers are responding to a promotion, and more.
How you manage your email list is entirely up to you. Some photographers maintain their own curated email lists for different types of personal outreach. Others use services like MailChimp or Constant Contact to automate email sends and gain visibility into open rates, click rates, and overall engagement.
We’ll cover content planning in tomorrow’s post, but whichever way you go, all that’s left is to send those emails! We recommend reaching out whenever you have something to announce: a new product added to your pricelists, photos from your latest shoot, workshops you’re offering, or discounts and offers like the one you made yesterday.
Here’s a sample email template to spread the word about your new promotion. Just download the PSD or HTML file; customize it with your personal photos, logo, and text; maybe throw in some of those best-selling product images from part 1; and you’re off to a great start.
One last thing: Email subject lines are an easy way to stand out in a crowded inbox, so don’t be afraid to get adventurous! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Many of the same rules for email marketing apply to social media as well. Did you post a new photo gallery, add a new product, or start a new promotion? Let your followers know on your social feeds.
The huge variety of platforms and metrics can seem like a complex beast, but really, it’s all about consistency and exposure. Share your content often (we’ll get to this tomorrow), tag your posts with relevant hashtags for discoverability, talk to other like-minded users, and you’re well on your way.
If you’re just getting started, here’s a quick and easy project to help you get some exposure: connecting your SmugMug site to your social outlets.
To keep you going strong, here’s a sampling of standard-sized promotional images for your social posts that include your brand-new 10% off discount. Download them here.
Photography is a big investment for most customers. People are doing research, comparing prices, and looking for just the right photographer to shoot their wedding, sell them the perfect photo for their living room, or take timeless family portraits.
That means people are out there, every day, looking for your expertise, your art, your photography.
SEO is how you get found by those potential customers, and we have a wealth of information on how to optimize your SmugMug site, right here at your fingertips.
We recommend starting with our Four steps to improve your SEO on SmugMug article for a detailed breakdown of the essentials, and if you’re still hungry for more, our SEO for Photographers guide is available for download here.
While you’re making tweaks under the hood of your SmugMug site, there’s one more tool for reaching out that will help you connect with your customers: on-site promotions.
You’ve built an email list. You’ve posted to social media. You’ve SEOptimized your SmugMug site, and you’re getting lots of love from organic traffic. What’s a hustling photographer to do next?
How about giving those lucky visitors a pleasant surprise?
You’ve probably seen websites with promotional banners across the top of the homepage, or for specific categories of products, and you can build the same for your SmugMug site. Here’s how:
Want to follow along? Click here for a video walkthrough of adding a promotional banner to your site.
You can also make banners for specific areas of your site (like education or photoshoots) or for specific galleries (like a recent client) by following the steps above and choosing those sections, pages, or galleries instead of choosing “Entire site” when placing your text block.
Just imagine: a family friend receives your email about your new discount and decides to check out your SmugMug site. To their surprise, they’re greeted by an even better discount when checking out your galleries. Now all that’s left is for them to fall in love with a photo and bring it home with them—and receive a bonus 10% off their next purchase!
That’s just one of the ways the above tools can combine to drive more sales for you this season, and all year round. But to really bring it all together, you’ll have to check in tomorrow where we tackle the big picture.
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Not quite ready to reach out to customers? Reach out to our sales specialists instead with any questions. We’re here to help.
Welcome to day 2 of the Photo Seller’s Foundations series. If you missed part 1, be sure to check out yesterday’s products, pricelists, and packages post, or continue reading for today's deep dive into coupons, discounts, and limited-time offers. We’ll also walk you through how to make an automated “thank you” discount for your customers all year round.
As always, you can power through the whole series on our Photo Seller’s Foundations page, or get into the nitty-gritty of photography marketing and business strategy with our Marketing for Photographers ebook.
First things first: Coupons and discounts are only available for SmugMug Pro subscribers. If you’re a Portfolio subscriber who’s been on the fence about upgrading, consider this one more reason to take the plunge and invest in your photography business.
Coupons are a powerful tool to grab attention, drive sales, and even prime return buyers for more purchases down the road. On SmugMug, coupons are generated via a code that your customers enter during checkout. The option to enter a coupon will only appear when coupon-eligible items are in your customers’ shopping carts.
You can manage coupons from the same place you find your pricelists: Just click “Manage” under the Coupon section of your Selling Tools page. Here you’ll see any previous coupon discounts you’ve run, and the option to create more.
More of a visual learner? Everything to get you started with coupons is also covered in our Pro Workflow webinar, Coupons: How and why?
When you click the “+ Create Coupon” button in your coupon manager, you’ll be prompted to choose an initial coupon type. SmugMug coupons come in four different flavors:
Once you’ve chosen a coupon type, you can fill in the details, including a title, description, desired currency, and discount amount. We recommend giving your coupon a descriptive title that will help you quickly identify it in your coupon list, like “Amount off portraits” or “Percent off metal prints.”
Last but not least, you can choose your custom coupon code. Have fun with this part! Choose something eye-catching, memorable, and descriptive to grab the attention of customers browsing their inbox or social feeds.
Choosing your discount type is a great start, but the real power of coupons comes alive when you start applying restrictions to fine-tune your offer. These can be mixed and matched to build the perfect coupon for your customers.
When you click the “restrictions” tab, this is what you’ll see:
Valid from and Valid through will let you set the start and end dates of your promotion, if you
choose. Many promotions benefit from a limited duration, but some (like the one we’ll walk through making below) are good to leave open-ended.
Here are your other restriction options:
Pro tip: By combining coupon types and restrictions, you can create engaging sales like limited-time offers, bulk discounts, and buy-one-get-one deals. We have five great options broken down step by step here: Want to sell your photography? Use coupons. Any one of these would make a great promotion for that best-selling gallery you made yesterday, too.
We’ll cover search-engine optimization (SEO), email, social media, and more in tomorrow’s post, but specific to coupons, here’s an easy way to get your discounts into the hands of people who’ll use them.
Ongoing discounts: Who says coupons are just for selling season? Promote return sales all year round with an automated 10% off “Thank you” coupon for all print orders. It’s an extra $1 per order, but you can deliver your coupon via a custom print, sticker, or, in some cases, both (visit our Help Center article for full details).
Here’s how to get it set up:
And that’s it! You’ve just made an ongoing coupon to encourage your customers to buy again—or encourage their friends to buy by sharing the discount. It’s a great way to keep in touch with your customers, help them feel seen and valued, and drive repeat sales in the future.
Next up, it’s all about outreach and how to connect with your customers: SEO, email, social media, website updates, and more. Don’t miss it.
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Still confused about coupons? Reach out to one of our sales specialists for help.
Hello, and welcome to the Photo Seller’s Foundations series.
It’s simple, straightforward, and built to help you make more photo sales. Four articles, four tasks, and a handful of helpful tools will lay the groundwork for your best sales yet.
For the overachievers who’d like to get it all done at once, head over to our Photo Seller’s Foundations page for all the goodies.
For the academics who prefer a book to a blog series, check out our comprehensive Marketing for Photographers ebook, published in collaboration with leading photography educator Phlearn.
Lastly, for everyone who’s along with us for this ride, read on for part 1: Products, pricelists, and packages.
Pricelists are the key to selling photos on SmugMug. They let you manage all your print and download pricing in one place. Think of your pricelist like a template you can apply to any gallery or specific images you like: choose what products you’d like to sell, set your profit, and watch the sales roll in.
Portfolio and Pro subscribers can find the pricelists manager on the Selling Tools page in the navigation bar when logged into SmugMug. Click the “Manage” button under the Pricelists section and you’re in.
Note that SmugMug Portfolio accounts can only have one pricelist active at a time, while Pro accounts get the option to manage multiple active pricelists at once.
Prefer to learn by watching? Check out Episode 75 of SmugMug Live! for a start-to-finish walkthrough of pricelists, plus some helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
To prep for a sale, you’ll first want to check in on your pricelists and make sure your products and profits are set how you like them.
On the Manage Pricelists page, the white star indicates your default active pricelist. This pricelist is applied to all galleries where the shopping cart is turned ON, with the exception of Pro accounts running multiple pricelists. Click it, and you’ll be able to see more details, including your print lab, currency, preferences, and all the product categories you currently have for sale. Light-grey items can be purchased, dark-grey items can’t.
Around the holidays, our fantastic print partners introduce seasonal products like greeting cards and ornaments. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your pricelists, there might also be new products we’ve added, like epic prints, that you’ll want to enable.
To add these items, click “edit list” in the bottom-right of the screen. On this page, you can enable greeting cards from the right-hand toolbar. By default, your base profit for greeting cards will be set at 30%, but you can change this manually.
Pro tip: Final pricing on items like greeting cards will change based on your customers’ choice of paper, design, and more. To check the final price of gift cards or other items for your customers, navigate to your SmugMug site in a logged-out or incognito tab in your browser, then add your desired items to your cart, where their final prices will be listed. If you check while you’re logged in, you’ll see *your* cost, not the cost-plus-markup your customers will see.
To add or remove other items from your pricelist, click “choose products” in the upper right of your Edit Pricelist screen. Here you’ll find a full list of possible products to choose from. Click each category to see specific sizes, and check/uncheck the boxes to select the products you’d like to sell this season.
If you’re not sure which products to choose, or want to know more about your various print options, take a walk in your customer’s shoes and browse through your (or another photographer’s) SmugMug site to get a better idea of what these various print products look like.
Want to see what your photos will look like as some of this season’s best sellers? Download these free PSDs of greeting cards, ornaments, and metal prints and drop your photos in to show your clients and customers.
Preparing for a sales push is a great time to revisit your profit margins and make sure everything is in order. There are three ways to set your profits on SmugMug.
Suggested pricing: The first (and easiest) way to set your profits is by selecting the “suggested pricing” option when you create a new pricelist. This will populate your pricelist with a data-driven variety of print products, plus markups for each one that will net you a fair sum no matter what you sell.
Default base profit: You can also customize a default base profit in the right-hand toolbar of the Edit Pricelist page. This will apply the same percentage profit to every item you sell — but be aware that a several-hundred-percent markup on paper prints that seems reasonable can produce a shocking price tag on larger, more expensive items. Be sure to review the price and profit for your products before applying and saving your pricelist.
Individually: Setting your profits individually gives you complete control over each and every product you offer. To set your profits individually, select your product category and item in the Edit Pricelist page, then enter your desired profit amount (e.g., $1 per small print) or your desired final price (e.g., $3 per small print). Whichever you choose, the other will be automatically calculated based on your preferences.
For SmugMug Pro subscribers, packages are an easy way to encourage bulk purchases, often at a discount.
From your Selling Tools page, click “Manage” under the Packages section to get started. If you have existing packages, click the one you’d like to edit. Otherwise, click “New Package” and you’ll be whisked to the package-creation page.
Here you can add items to your package, adjust options like color correction and single- or multiple-image packages (think school photos vs. wedding photos), and, of course, set your desired profit. We suggest choosing your print lab to match the print lab on your default active pricelist.
Pro tip: The most successful packages encourage customers to buy more photos for a sweet discount, so be sure to price your packages slightly lower than the cost of the packaged items sold individually.
At this time, packages are limited to physical products only, but you can use coupons to create digital-download “packages” with a few simple tricks. More on that tomorrow, when we dive into Photo Seller’s Foundations Part 2: Promotions, coupons, and discounts.
Do you have a few photos that outsell the rest? Or maybe you’re particularly proud of your latest photoshoot and would like to see it in the spotlight? Now is a great time to make a new gallery in your photo site. This will come in handy later on, so check out our step-by-step guide here: Create a gallery.
(Not sure about your sales numbers? We’ll cover downloading these details in part 3, but you can get a head start at our Help Center.)
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Still perplexed about pricelists and products? Reach out to one of our sales specialists for help.