Hi James
"Yep - I do all my proofing on-line now, although this has only just happened in the last couple of weeks. Using the template I have, you set up a list of sizes and prices for portraits in a "common" gallery and then just add the pictures for each shoot you do. Then when you want to alter something (ie put your prices up) all the individual galleries alter automatically."
That is great. Do you mind sharing the name of the software that you purchased? I have been using Printroom and while they are pretty good, they certainly do take a cut. It is 16% of my sale plus the cost of the print.
I am still giving print proofs but want to move away from it as it is costly and clients seem much more willing to have on-line proofing (particularly because it is also much much faster).
"It has certainly helped with wedding reprints. Last year we did vertially no follow up orders (none worth shouting about - maybe a few for close family, mums and dads that kind of thing) now I get them to publicise the fact before-hand and at the speeches and reprint sales have gone up tremendously. "
Hey Pete, that is a good idea. I have traditionally been anxious about over-publicizing the after-sales portion of the business. I am always anxious about looking like I am pushing too hard in that area. It sounds like attitude is playing a big difference in your residual sales. Something to chew on.
"That leads me on to your second point - nature sales.
This week for example I have over 1100 page views per day. (Do you track your stats? I appreciate 1100 may not be a lot compared to some but I figure that I'm doing ok at the minute) I'm trying to get the numbers up anyway I can."
Good for you. We absolutely keep our stats - on both sites. 1100 hits per day for a completely private site is pretty good. It has been an important part of our wedding photography business - as I am also able to track where we get our referral sources from. This means that we are able to see empirical results as to where our advertising dollars are working (and where they are not). Surprisingly, we are at the point of eliminating most of our paid advertising as we get far more referrals from outside sources then our paid advertising. Our paid advertising is considerable, by the way.
"I have looked in depth at your site - you seem to get lots of people who look but don't respond. Is this correct? I'm not bashing anyone I'm just surprised that lots of people view things but don't post."
You are completely correct. At our peak, we have hit 68,000 hits in a day...though normally it is much lower. We do have quite a bit of foot traffic, but mostly it is people coming to view the interviews or what other people post. My impression is that this is how it is on most websites. My friend owns and operates the Digital Wedding Forum and I know that the vast majority of posts come from a relatively small percentage of people...though participation is huge there and probably much higher than most other websites.
So to answer your question - yes. People come though participation is still quite low. It is definitely my goal to see the forums to become much more significant. Currently we have about 5 active posters. I would like to see that number increase two-fold or three-fold. Every thing one step at a time though.
-JM