Just want to share the good news that since i've opened my site ( http://timestop.zenfolio.com ) last Thursday Nov 27, I've today received my first order today Monday December 1 :)

It's a start and looking forward to more business. In the meantime, enjoy my pics :)

Timestop

http://timestop.zenfolio.com

Great news!

I too had similar success and even though it is more of a hobby for me, the two orders I've received so far have covered the cost of my membership!

 Cool photos too!

Tim

http://timsphoto.zenfolio.com

Congrats!

timsphoto, did you have orders from people who you knew or someone who was just visiting the site (given that you're not a pro)?

 Hello Raman !

Sorry for the delay in the post. I just got in touch with the client in question (some lady in an another province) to make sure that her 4 x (8 x10) order came through alright and it did !

 Good Job Zenfolio :) 

 Hi Pascal,

 Kudos to you on your good luck on selling your photos. I wish I knew the trick on doing that. To date, not one person, save myself, has even looked at my website (itperson.zenfolio.com), let alone purchased any of my photos. Can you provide any comments on how you got your first sale, or did people just "find" it somehow?

 Again, congrats on your success!

 Bill

 itperson, are you doing any promoting?  I find that this helps a lot in getting views to your site.  Even simple things like adding your site address to your sig here in the forums can help.  (And your work should be seen - I was able to find you by doing the username.zenfolio.com thing, and your work is stunning.)

 No, I haven't tried doing that - and that seems to be the easiest thing to do. I'll give that a try. Thanks for your kind comments.

 --bill

Hello Bill,

1. Have a philosophy : I set up my website design/ZF template with a philosophy combo of "clutter free" and "clean lines" with a black background - let the photo speak out freely

2. Be ruthless: Only show your very best and divide it up in sections (in my case :New, My Best and My Clients request) and it means making painful decisions - you can't love all your photos with the same passion and intensity. Show the ones that conveys a message. Keep rotating your best work in and out of storage while you bulk up your portfolio over time.

3. The World will not come to you ! I'm a salesman by nature and by trade and i've been doing photography for 1 year and it's strictly a hobby but a passionate one but in a gigantic multimedia sea of images  - what makes you standout from the others ? Find it and advertise it with free posts on various, highly visible social websites with URL linkbacks to individual photos at regular intervals  - like Digg.com. Joining Facebook but keeping all your content all photography related shows your unique drive and passion about your photography.

 4. Gather all your friends and family's emails and use the Invite feature to mass email everytime you have a new group of new photos. It shows you're active and relevant.

 Hope it helps,

Pascal Sauvé

http://timestop.zenfolio.com/

Great advice Pascal, and nice work Bill. I've always loved infrared, but never got around to trying it myself. You really got to get your site out there, of all the millions of websites out there, you can't expect people to "accidentally" stumble upon yours. Also adding some titles may help, I left a comment on one of your shots, but was curious where it was taken since it doesn't say on your site.

Micah

Bill, thanks for signing my guestbook, and thanks for the compliment. To answer your question, I did use an HDR technique for some of my night images, but not all of them. In fact, most of them are not HDR, only the Philly skyline and Colonial Pizza images are, the rest are just one image.