DPC Prints: Turning visitors into buyers

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Nikon

07/01/2003 09:52:44 PM · #26

Originally posted by SharQ:

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

1. We need search back. This is probably the biggest barrier to a buyer who is looking for photographs that need a specific theme.

To be honest, this only sounds like an issue if we happened to be a picture agency. Which we are not.

Same goes for the example above, where a user is looking for a picture of a deer. Is that really a realistic scenario? Would someone go into DPprint, and want a picture of a deer? (or a coffee mug, whatever). I doubt it. People are more likely to go look for something they like - and if a beautiful picture of a coffee mug shows up, they will go for that.

I was running an ad on Google (don't go looking for it, I've paused it pending some changes to the site), and people were often clicking through on searches for specific types of art. Often they were something that *I* knew we had, but that lacking the search function they would not have found.

-Terry

FranziskaLang

Nikon D100

07/01/2003 10:00:34 PM · #27

Terry, can you give us some examples as to what kind of click-throughs the ad generated? That might give people more of an idea as to what keywords to enter.

I have to confess that I've not really been filling out the keywords and descriptions but I'm going back right now to change that.

Any ETA as to when the search will be back up?

inspzil

Olympus E-510

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX APO RF HSM for Olympus

07/01/2003 10:10:22 PM · #28

Maybe we need to include something like "Free shipping for orders over $50 if you fill out a survey" or "$1 off shipping for every print you buy if you fill out this survey". Is it worth cutting off a little profit to find out who are target audience is and how they are finding out about us?

I think the idea of free shipping for orders over $50 would encourage someone to buy that extra print. Is this possible without breaking the bank? Since members get stuff at cost, I don't think this should be an option for the gift items, just "retail" prints.

I was approached this afternoon by a service guy looking for a copy of my office art pic. I pointed him at the dpcprints.com site. He didn't seem like he actually wanted to spend money on it. He just wanted to print it. He might spend $10 to get one, but not so willingly.

In conclusion (as if I were some important speaker), I think we would make a lot of sales if we paid for all the prints ourselves and sold them on the street for a quarter. Or we could take some measures to find out where these people are coming from. Maybe the first page could be a 3 or 4 question survey before we let them on the site.

1- have you been here before
2- where did you find out about dpcprints
3- are you seriously shopping or casually browsing
4- have you ever been in a Turkish prison

okay, maybe 3 questions.

Just some random thoughts - Bob

FranziskaLang

Nikon D100

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Nikon

07/01/2003 10:40:05 PM · #29

I like the idea of a questionnaire (I agree, we might have to work on the questions ;), but I'm not sure about making that the first thing before letting people access the site. Again, I think we should make getting to the site as easy as possible and not force people to jump through hoops to have a look around. But that may just be my personal gripe with surfing the net and trying to access some websites ...

07/01/2003 10:55:45 PM · #30

Originally posted by FranziskaLang:

Probably any minute now.

-Terry

07/01/2003 10:58:34 PM · #31

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

Probably any minute now.

It's up now.

-Terry

drewmedia

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

07/01/2003 11:06:26 PM · #32

*poof*... sort of...

Search has now returned in a slightly modified form. The biggest changes are:

- Results are now returned in order of calculated relevancy.
- Search cannot look for terms less than four characters.

Our old code for searching was pretty inefficient, and with the right search terms, a user could pretty easily lock the databases and break all the sites on the server. Hopefully you can understand that as a reason for temporarily removing the feature. My apologies for taking a couple weeks to get it back up.

We definitely want to do whatever we can to help you sell prints on the site. It is much easier to find the time to do this, though, when print sellers are making their effort as well. There are a handful of people who have put a sincere effort into helping the site to succeed, and I'm pretty motivated to improving the site as those users request. I think that relates to this thread specifically on the note that a couple people have suggested that the site should thrive (or at least start to thrive) with friends and family -- and with a few notable exceptions, that just hasn't happened. I hope I don't sound pecimistic, but I've become a little more of a realist in watching the response to certain things in the history of site additions and changes.

I'll be following this thread to see what comes from it, so keep your ideas coming.

Drew

Message edited by author 2003-07-01 23:07:13.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

07/01/2003 11:45:47 PM · #33

How much of the photo's info is subject to the search? The title, the photog's notes, just the keywords? I don't usually enter keywords which appear in the title or description, but if I have to I will from now on.

drewmedia

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

07/01/2003 11:51:21 PM · #34

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Title, print description, and keywords. It's definitely a good idea to fill out keywords.

Drew

dsidwell

Canon EOS-5D

07/01/2003 11:55:32 PM · #35

The first question to ask, perhaps is, who is our market? Who needs photos? Who needs images? Artistic photos will never sell as well as photos for web pages, etc., so I would have an option to use the photo in a web setting or for a brochure or pamphlet, so that businesses can join. Even for me, while I will most certainly purchase photos I enjoy from DPC, I would love to use some photos for my on line courses at the university and in other contexts--most of these contexts are not framed on my wall.

For those photos of mine that I think *could* sell for someone's wall, I suspect that if I really want to sell them, I'd buy a bunch of them, mat them, and take them to arts festivals or local galleries--and then pass out my business card with my DPCPrints web address. I suspect that I would sell more this way.

Message edited by author 2003-07-01 23:59:58.

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

07/01/2003 11:59:57 PM · #36

One way to get at least first time buyers (though they would probably never come back) is to have the site require them to buy something before they could leave. :-)

I, obviously, have no marketing skills.

On a serious note, I do think having a search is critical. People, I think, just don't want to cruise through 500, 1000, 5000 pictures browsing. Granted, they might not want to look at something as specific as "deer" (though they might), but not having the search is kinda like going into Wal-Mart and nothing being in sections and you have to dig through everything to find the one item you needed.

I really like the idea of the searching by $$$$. Yes, I have read the threads about pricing the pictures, but for most of the people I know, price is a very important factor.

I think maybe more pictures, or maybe a "representative" shot from each section on the front page (kinda like our portfolios do) would be kinda neat. Perhaps they could "cycle" through or rotate every hour or day or something.

OneSweetSin

Nikon D3000

07/02/2003 12:00:15 AM · #37

Originally posted by dsidwell:

I was actually thinking along the same line that making the photos available as stock photos is also a good idea but I didn't suggest it. But looks like I wasn't the only one thinking that way

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

07/02/2003 12:43:19 AM · #38

Originally posted by OneSweetSin:

Originally posted by dsidwell:
The first question to ask, perhaps is, who is our market? Who needs photos? Who needs images? Artistic photos will never sell as well as photos for web pages, etc., so I would have an option to use the photo in a web setting or for a brochure or pamphlet, so that businesses can join. Even for me, while I will most certainly purchase photos I enjoy from DPC, I would love to use some photos for my on line courses at the university and in other contexts--most of these contexts are not framed on my wall.

I was actually thinking along the same line that making the photos available as stock photos is also a good idea but I didn't suggest it. But looks like I wasn't the only one thinking that way

Acting as a stock agency is a whole other kind of business possibly involving assignment of copyrights, numerous licensing options, etc.

I think it's a viable option for us, but it should be a completely separate deal from the print gallery.

If anyone wants to use their image on their website, they are free to write the photographer for permission right now.

dwoolridge

07/02/2003 04:18:59 AM · #39

I think it's been mentioned before but "featured" seems inappropriately used; while strictly correct in usage, it is misleading in that the prints/photographer appear to be random. At the very least, and for the sake of variety, a featured artist should have not a featured print and no artist should be repeated in the featured print section.

What is the purpose of the newest prints section anyway (other than "we could, so we did")?

I can't help wondering who actually buys photographs online. I also can't help wondering who goes out of their way to buy "camera club" photos online. I get a "camera club photos" feel from casual browsing of dpcprints. It's a novelty at best right now.

The photos, as they are presented in any view, just seem to be a hodgepodge of images, varying greatly in quality and creativity. Photographers hoping to sell their work really need a better way to present it, in a gallery/exhibition style instead of the corkboard style currently in use. None of the photos exist in a creative/artistic context.

I imagine that anyone serious about selling their work will throw up their own web site to have a portfolio/gallery/exhibit (the store front) with links to dpcprints for the actual sale (the cash register). Since most people will do a terrible job creating this store front, it might behoove drew/langdon (and some self-styled creative types) to create the technology enabling the easy setup of a professional/stylish store front. Such work is worth considerably more than $25/year. A store front consists of: p/g/e as already mentioned; but certainly a better way to understand the work, meaning a description of the work, as whole, if not on a per image/collection basis; it's nice to know about the artist, especially when buying something from them, so a bio (template/something) is necessary (no, the dpchallenge profile doesn't count).

When was the last time you bought a photo online, outside of dpcprints?

inspzil

Olympus E-510

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX APO RF HSM for Olympus

07/02/2003 04:41:43 AM · #40

Maybe we need to change the newest prints to the ribbon prints. Those are "proven" to be more popular. For the front page, we should put our best foot forward. We obviously know that people have taken some outstanding photos that weren't ribbon winners, but we have no way of gauging how great those are. We could still keep the featured prints and photogs, just omit the ribbon photos from showing up there so we aren't doubling or tripling that photo on the page.

All for now - Bob

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

07/02/2003 11:02:33 AM · #41

Bump. I'd love to hear from the daytime browsers too. If you're selling prints, please take a moment on this. And, for anyone who hasnt already noticed, search is back on DPC Prints.

Also, if you are a member, you should see a poll at left on whether DPC Prints should display your full name or DPC Username throughout the site. If you are selling or soon plan to sell prints, please vote your preference.

-Terry

Message edited by author 2003-07-02 11:28:25.

OneSweetSin

Nikon D3000

07/02/2003 11:28:10 AM · #42

Something I have noticed on other websites is the photos on the home page change constantly. Might actually work too if each time someone clicked on the home page they see different photos.

Also, I know in recent threads prices have been an issue, and I read in a yahoo photography club where a man said he wouldn't pay $20 for a print that just says it isn't worth much. After he commented on to low of prices a lot of people were chiming in to agree with him on that point. Are we maybe underpricing our work?

Alpine99

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

07/02/2003 12:01:55 PM · #43

I'm interested in selling some of my prints.. What sort of click-through to sale ratio do you have? How many people are actually selling work from this site?

crabappl3

07/02/2003 01:19:42 PM · #44

pegasusphotographic.dpcprints.com would rock but I don't want to loose my crabappl3 stuff on dpchallenge or have an alias where they are interchangable. Both going to the same gallery. I'd even pay for that option.

So a user could go to DanielJShaw.dpcprints.com or PegasusPhotoGraphic.dpcprints.com or crabappl3.dpcprints.com and they all point to my one gallery. Say charge me $5 a year per alias.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

07/02/2003 04:12:35 PM · #45

Include a link to a user's print store (if they have one) in their profile.

-Terry

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

07/02/2003 05:17:50 PM · #46

From the other thread:

Originally posted by dsidwell:

Additionally, many people look for certain colors so the photo will match their walls and furniture. It would be helpful to have a search that featured colors, as in Ebay.

PLEASE, then, put check-boxes and a list of "relevant" colors next to the keyword entry box.
Maybe we can make up a whole page of common keywords which we can all use (in common) to easily attach to our photos. For example, checking the box "Corvette" could automatically add the keywords "automobile" and "car" to the list as well.