MAKE MONEY FROM PHOTOGRAPHY
Making money from prints and photo products, while keeping control over pricing and privacy can be a challenge, which is why Saal Digital has produced the versatile Saal Photo Portal
Selling a print or photo product is a thrill. When someone buys a piece of art that you’ve poured your heart and soul into, it gives you a buzz like no other. It also encourages you to go out and shoot more! But the excitement of a sale is often matched by a rising sense of panic. Who should I get to print the image? How can I be sure of the best quality? What’s the best way to package the product and send it to the customer safely and swiftly? It’s a minefield. Of course, before you even get to this point, you have to make a sale in the first place, and to do this you need to get your product in front of the right people (individuals who are willing and able to buy it), price it strategically, and present it in such a way that your reputation as a reliable, trustworthy figure is assured. If you can manage all of this, your customers will be cruising to the shopping cart, happy and unhindered. However, if you fail to deliver on your promises, your dream to make some profit from your pictures might well be over.
Thankfully, the team at Saal Digital is well versed in the needs of photographers. As a professional photo lab with years of experience, the company has dealt with thousands of image-makers, often lending an ear as they describe their specific niggles and needs. As a result, the team has designed the Saal Photo Portal – an all-in-one solution that allows photographers to store, share and sell their work, while being in full control of rights, pricing and privacy. Opening an account is straightforward: you simply fill in the blanks and follow the ‘to-do’ list. The basic account is free and comes with 10GB of storage (as long as the ‘sell’ feature is activated), and if this doesn’t prove enough you can always upgrade to Saal Cloud (with 200GB of storage) or Saal Prio (with 1TB and free shipping on orders) at any time (for a small monthly fee). Once you are up and running you can upload your pictures, create galleries and sub-galleries and customise the way they look on screen.
Lots of flexibility
If you decide to make your work available for sale, things get exciting. Staff at Saal Digital are always happy to hear suggestions and feedback, and it feels as though a lot of market research has been harvested in order to prepare the tools and features offered in the Saal Photo Portal. You can secure galleries with passwords, for example, which is sure to boost customer confidence (particularly if you are shooting weddings, newborns, maternity etc). You can also set your own prices – you might decide to sell digital files by resolution or ma
