Do you want to make money selling your photography online? Whether you‘re a professional photographer or just have a passion for taking pictures, there are many options for selling your photos to earn passive income.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know to start your own online photography business, from choosing a platform to marketing your photos.
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Why Sell Your Photos Online?
Here are some of the top reasons to start selling your photos online:
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Make passive income: Once your photos are uploaded, you can continue making money from them month after month with little ongoing effort. You retain the copyright, allowing you to sell the same images multiple times.
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Share your passion: An online photography shop lets you share your best work with a global audience who may hire you or buy your photos.
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Be your own boss: You get to set your own prices and terms of use. There‘s no need to give a cut to a stock photo platform.
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License creativity: Customers can only use your photos based on the licensing agreements you offer. This protects your work.
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Easy startup: An online shop has low startup costs compared to a physical store. You also avoid inventory costs by selling digital files.
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Convenient sales: You make money when customers download your photos. There‘s no need to print, frame, package, or ship.
Selling photos online is easier than ever in the digital age. Next, let‘s look at the best places to sell your work.
Where to Sell Your Photos Online
When starting out, you have two main options: marketplaces and your own photography website.
Marketplaces
Popular stock photo websites like Shutterstock, Getty Images, and Adobe Stock allow you to sell photos through their existing platform. They provide a built-in audience of buyers.
Pros
- Reach large audiences of existing shoppers
- Handle advertising and fees
- Simply upload photos to start selling
Cons
- Take large commissions from your sales
- Have strict submission guidelines
- Don‘t allow marketing your personal brand
Marketplaces can help you start earning quickly. However, you sacrifice control and give up a large portion of your profits.
Your Own Website
Building your own photography portfolio and shop using WordPress gives you full control. While it takes more effort up front, you reap larger rewards long-term.
Pros
- Keep 100% of sales profits
- Total creative control over your brand
- Use for marketing to attract clients
- Add blog, services, physical prints
- Own your audience and images
Cons
- Requires purchasing a domain and hosting
- Need to drive your own traffic
- Extra work designing and setting up site
Your own website is best for serious photographers wanting to build their brand. Let‘s look at how to create one.
How to Create a Website to Sell Photos
A photography website gives you an online home base to sell your photos, attract clients, and share your passion. Follow these steps to get started:
Choose a Domain Name
Your domain is your website address that people will type in to find your photos online.
Pick something short, memorable, and related to your brand like johnshoots.com or yournamephotography.com. Make sure the .com is available.
Get Web Hosting
Web hosting provides the storage space and technology to power your website. It‘s required to put your site on the internet.
I recommend SiteGround. They‘re one of the best and most affordable hosts for photographers with hosting packages starting at just $2.99 per month.
SiteGround‘s plans include a free domain name, SSD storage for fast loading, email, and generous bandwidth for visitors. Their customer support is also top-notch.
Install WordPress
WordPress is the best platform for building photography websites. The open source software powers over 40% of sites online today.
It comes with thousands of free photography themes and plugins to add galleries, client proofing, ecommerce, and more.
Most hosts like SiteGround offer a simplified one-click install process. Follow their instructions to get WordPress up and running in just a few minutes without any technical skills needed.
Pick a Theme
WordPress themes control the design and layout of your site. With thousands to choose from, it can be overwhelming to pick the best one for your photo business.
I recommend checking out these popular photography themes:
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Astra – Highly customizable free theme ideal for photographers. Easy to modify with Beaver Builder.
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Divi – Extremely popular premium theme with drag and drop page builder. Greater flexibility for custom designs.
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Photography – Free theme specifically designed for photographers with built-in galleries.
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PhotoMe – Sleek premium theme for photography portfolios. Lots of demos to choose from.
No matter which you choose, look for mobile responsiveness, speed, SEO optimization, and flexibility. You want a theme that displays your photos beautifully while also working great for visitors.
Install Essential Plugins
While WordPress comes with basic features, plugins add advanced functionality tailored to your needs.
For a photography site, I recommend these plugins:
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Easy Digital Downloads – Top WordPress plugin for selling digital downloads like photo files.
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SmugMug – Integrates your SmugMug portfolio into WordPress with just a click.
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NextGen Gallery – Most popular gallery plugin with tons of options for displaying photos.
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ShortPixel – Compresses images to speed up your site without sacrificing visual quality.
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WP All Import – Imports photos from anywhere to your media library in bulk.
Quality WordPress plugins provide the exact tools you need while avoiding bloating your site with unnecessary code. Check out our guide to the best photography plugins for more recommendations.
How to Upload Photos to Your Website
With your website set up, it‘s time to add your best work. Here are some tips for getting your photos online:
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Reduce file sizes – Use an image optimizer like ShortPixel to reduce photo sizes without losing quality. This makes them load faster.
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Add metadata – Include titles, captions, keywords, and licensing info to make photos more findable.
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Organize with folders – Upload images into logical folders like Portraits, Landscapes, Black & White to stay organized.
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Import in batches – Use a bulk upload plugin like WP All Import to transfer many photos simultaneously instead of manually.
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Link to galleries – Integrate NextGEN Gallery or similar plugins to create sleek online photo galleries.
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Show your best work – Carefully curate the photos you publish to feature only your top images up front.
It does take some time to fully populate your site. But entering metadata and descriptions will make your photos more searchable and sellable.
How to Sell Photos on Your Website
Once your portfolio is looking good, it‘s time to start selling your work. Here are some popular options for adding ecommerce:
Sell Digital Downloads
One of the easiest methods is to sell your photos as digital downloads. Customers pay to instantly download a high-res image file they can use based on your licensing terms.
This approach has very little overhead. You don‘t need to print or ship anything. Plus, you can sell each photo an unlimited number of times.
The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is the best way to add this to your site. It handles setting up products, accepting payments, delivering files, and more.
You simply upload a photo, enter a description, set a price, and publish it as a digital product.
Offer Print Fulfillment
If you want to sell physical prints without the hassle of printing and shipping them yourself, use a print fulfillment service.
NextGen Gallery‘s WordPress plugin connects with WHCC, a top professional print lab. Customers can order prints in any size or finish, and WHCC will print and ship them directly.
This takes the inventory, materials, and shipping costs off your plate while letting you expand your offerings.
Use Ecommerce Marketplaces
Another option is using online marketplaces like Etsy, Shopify, and Amazon Handmade. These put your products in front of large audiences of active buyers.
You can create shop pages on these platforms and integrate them with your existing WordPress site. However, they do charge monthly fees and commissions on sales.
Tips for Marketing Your Photo Website
Attracting an audience to your new photography website takes consistent effort and smart marketing tactics:
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SEO optimization – Use headings, meta descriptions, alt text for images, keywords and other SEO best practices to improve Google visibility.
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Write blog posts – Share your knowledge, perspectives, and photo stories through blogging. Link to your for-sale photos.
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Social media – Promote your brand and photos across Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more. Post often and engage with others.
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Email marketing – Collect emails with a lead magnet like a free photography eBook. Send newsletters with new arrivals.
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Paid ads – Invest in pay-per-click and social ads to get more visitors while starting out. Target photography keywords and interests.
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Guest posting – Reach new audiences by contributing articles or photo stories as a guest to other blogs in your niche.
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Local networking – Attend relevant local events and share business cards to make local connections. Offer headshots at events.
Consistently implementing a variety of tactics is key. Over time, you can identify what drives the most sales and double down on those highest converting strategies.
FAQs About Selling Photos Online
Selling your photography online is an exciting way to profit from your passion while sharing your work with the world. Here are answers to some common questions:
How much does it cost to build a website to sell photos?
You can launch a basic photography portfolio website for less than $100 your first year. Some of the costs include:
- Domain name – $14.99 per year
- Shared hosting – Around $3.95 per month
- WordPress theme – Free options available
- Plugins – Many quality plugins are free
Of course, you can invest more for premium options. But the low startup costs make selling photos online very accessible.
What photo files types can I sell?
JPEG is the standard format for selling photos online. Most sites will require JPEG files because they offer the best visual quality in a compressed format that‘s supported everywhere.
However, check requirements carefully. Some sites may also accept PNG, GIF or TIFF files. Ensure the files meet minimum resolution and size requirements.
How much should I charge for photo downloads?
Pricing your photography is tricky. You want to earn a fair wage while also providing value. Avoid simply matching market rates.
Consider factors like your time investment in the shoot and editing, expenses, special gear or skills needed, exclusivity, size and resolution, and usage rights.
Aim for an ideal buyer in each photo. Research prices for similar photos on premium stock sites like Getty to benchmark yourself competitively.
Can I sell photos I edited but didn‘t take myself?
Legally, you need licensing rights to sell any photo you did not fully create yourself. Never sell other photographers‘ work without permission.
However, you can sell your edited versions of public domain images or those licensed through Creative Commons. These allow commercial use with attribution.
Clearly state the source of unoriginal photos to avoid legal risks. Add your own unique touch like backgrounds and graphic elements.
How do I deliver digital photo files to buyers?
Most photographers immediately email downloads directly using a service like MailChimp after purchase.
For a more automated solution, use digital fulfillment platforms like FetchApp that instantly deliver digital products.
Provide high-quality JPEG files optimized for your customer‘s needs like web resolution or print resolution.
Zip files if delivering many images or future-proof your files using cloud storage services like Dropbox.
Sell Your Photos Online Today
I hope this guide provided you with a clear roadmap to building your own photography website and selling your photos online.
The startup process takes time and effort. But the long-term rewards of running your own photo ecommerce business make it worthwhile.
Remember to constantly add fresh content and focus on marketing to reach new audiences. Over time, you can grow a thriving and profitable online store selling the photos you love to take.
