Payment Options

In the previous entry I had mentioned Clustershot as being an inexpensive alternative to publishing artwork and photos. Another is a payment option that one can also have their own online photo store for selling their work. However, this route is much more expensive as I have found out. You must have a hosting service with a dedicated ip address in order to accept payment transactions. This is an additional cost in conjunction with your web hosting site. You also must possess a SSL security certificate. This piece of encrypted code protects your customers data and any financial transactions made through your website. It boils down to this. It is not that cut and dry to setup your own website in order to sell your photos and artwork.

Nothing is impossible though. It just takes time, money and patience. Be prepared to spend many long hours of unpaid work to make it happen. As of now I have established my own personal website but I still need a few more additions before I can actually run my own gallery to sell my work from it. It is a case of either make it or break it. There are many hosting sites that have reasonable rates. Host Papa is such a site as is Go Daddy. Go Daddy also has one of the better values for obtaining an SSL security certificate.

Hopefully, this article will be of some help to those who wish to pursue selling their photography work on their own site.

Start A Photo Business

Artistic minds come in all shapes and forms. Some enjoy photography. Others may enjoy web graphics or 3D design. There are many fields in the graphic arts and design world. Those that love the graphic arts may function at a level as a hobbyist or a professional. Whatever you enjoy can be turned into a photo business to make a little extra cash or perhaps develop into a booming business. Education training in the arts is beneficial but not necessary. All one needs is an active imagination and creativity within themselves.
One also does not need expensive equipment to startup a business in the graphics arts and photography. A simple point and shoot camera can take some pretty good shots if done correctly. Digital cameras are now also fairly inexpensive to achieve a decent pixel sized photo. There is also free open source image editors such as the Gimp to touch up photos. Inkscape is another open source program to create illustrations and vector art. Whatever you create can become a potential sale. Art is partly about being experimental. Some of the coolest art work is created unintentionally.

Now I will tell about myself and how my interest came to rest in the graphic arts. Many years ago I purchased a used computer that came with Microsoft Picture It! It was the very basic version of the software. I loaded some pics into it and was fascinated with the simple effects that the program produced. Since that day I wanted other little goodies and tools to become more creative in the computer arts. I bought my first camera which was a mere three megapixels. Digital cameras back then were quite expensive. I was happy though and clicked away at nearly everything i saw. As time passed on I accumulated better tools and software according to budget. Then I decided I wanted to publish some of my work. I searched the internet for sites where one could sell their photos and artwork. Most of the sites required that your work be approved before they would even allow you to publish it. On top of it all the earnings were not that profitable once the site took its cut. I thought that was the end and that I would have to pull a fortune out of my pocket for a commercial website just to sell photos.
However, my constant habit of googling caused me to accidently stumble up on a site that was free to join and also for everyone to join. The Clustershot website does not have restrictions on the types of work that are submitted except for inappropriate content. It is a great way for someone new to a business venture in selling art and photos. They also take a small percentage of a cut which is very generous compared to the high end micro stock sites. The seller is able to also set their own prices on their work which is a bonus. I do believe that this site will become very big in the near future and perhaps bump all those other major photo stock sites down the search engine. You can also sign up for a Pro account for a very reasonable price which is good for one year. The pro accounts allows you to manage your own little store within the site which is pretty cool.
Though this store is yet small there is a wide variety of photographs and artwork. There are also many unique never before seen pieces of work.
Finally, one does not even need a website to sell their photos and artwork on clustershot.com. As with any online store or website, always remember to submit your url to the search engines. A small business starting out can take some time to build traffic. Finding free advertising and market research is very time consuming. However, if you google enough times there is always an answer for your questions regarding setting up a small business.

I hope that this article can be of some inspiration. Good luck on your journey!

Note: below is another source of link referrals to drive traffic to your website. There is a free and and paid membership for this service.