Get To The Sale … Now

“I’m so excited about my photography business. But I have so much to do. My website is anything but perfect. I have a few images but I know I need more. I talk about my services, yet its pretty generic. There are so many details to think about. I know it will be a while before I get it to where I want it to be. When I hear people actually sell things through their websites I’m amazed. How do they do that? It will definitely be a while for me.”

Sound familiar?Photography Sale

For many photographers, its easy to put up a simple website. With just a few pages to fill, its usually fairly easy to put something together to show the world.

But how do you make the transition from simple website to selling machine?

Its not as difficult as you think.

In fact it only requires one thing: action.

Yep, you simply have to offer something for sale. That’s it.

If you want to sell your photography as artwork, it can be as simple as putting an order button below the image on your website, or starting up an account on a place like Etsy.

Dig Deeper: Can You Still Use Etsy For Making Money With Your Photography?

If you want to sell the service of photography, its as simple as describing what you do, what you have to offer, and an order button to complete the transaction.

Dig Deeper: How To Book Clients Without The Face To Face Consultation

That’s it.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Yet I bet there’s still something holding you back.

“Yeah but my site isn’t sophisticated enough to attract customers.”

“I have trouble connecting with my designer; there is no way I can rely on him to get me up and running.”

“I’m not that good of a photographer yet.”

List your excuse here: ________________________________

Nothing feels better than that very first sale. I bet you remember yours. No matter how much the client gave you, whether it was a check you could frame, or cash you stuck in your pocket, I bet you had that “I can do this” feeling.

You may think that some how its easier face to face. You may have had doubts, but you stated a price “Um, I can do that for $50, would that be okay?” It was more of a question then an actual business transaction. Yet they agreed to it and your first sale was made.

When you move to the online world, you have to think about it. You are putting your photography out online for the world to see. You can’t talk about it. You can’t explain yourself. You simply rely on people finding you, seeing who you are, and completeing the sale by themselves without any personal interaction from you.

And that’s where the doubt begins.

“What if I’m not good enough?”

“My photographs aren’t better than ________ (insert name here).”

“Nobody will ever give me money for these images.”

But what if they did?

If you have a goal of selling your photography online, now is the time to take action and make it come true.

The easiest way is to go over to PayPal, open up an account, and use them as your merchant account. Yes, they may take a higher transaction fee than if you use a different service. But with PayPal, you only pay the transaction fee when you make a sale. No monthly fees. No hidden charges. It doesn’t matter if it takes 6 days to make your first sale or 6 months. You owe nothing until the sale is complete.

So head over to PayPal, open up your account, and build your first transaction. Its easy to do. You can add your own content, change the size and shape of the buttons, even add credit cards for a more authoritative look. You can see how easy it is to design by looking at mine on my Six Figure Photographer course.

Then drop the code into your website below your images.

That’s it.

That’s all there is to it.

Then wait for the sale.

You may be out promoting your business anyway. You may talk about your prints on Facebook or Twitter. You may talk about them while you are out networking. Eventually someone will go online, fall in love with what you have to offer, hit the button and complete the sale.

The first one is the hardest. But after that, its celebration time. “I did it!” you can shout from your office chair. Because it really is an amazing feeling the first time you complete a sale online – and you weren’t required to be there to make it happen. You were out shopping, or having fun with family, or working with another client. The transaction occurred because you put the time and effort into making it work online.

And it did.

Print Friendly
clientexperience@todaysgrowthconsultant.com' About Virtual Photography

We're the co-founders of VirtualPhotographyStudio.com and have been writing on this blog since 2004. We started Virtual as a way to help photographers stretch beyond a part time income, and develop strategies to become a Five Figure Photographer or a Six Figure Photographer. Ultimately its all about lifestyle, and if your goal is to live as a photographer 24/7, we think you should have the knowledge and the tools to do so. Welcome!