How to Start a Photography Business Online

Review of websites that help you start a photography business online and sell your photos. Which is best?

If you are an aspiring photog, with great pictures, but no outlet to market and sell them, you have come to the right place. There are a variety of photo sharing sites online, which let you create a website of just your photos, set the prices to whatever you wish, and then sell and make a profit.

Do I need to know any programming skills?

The best part about these photosharing sites is that you don't need to know ANY programming skills at all. They are all designed so you can point and click your way to make an amazing-looking website showcasing your photographs!

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Are these Sites Expensive?

The best part about these photo sharing sites is the cost. They range from about $8 a month up to $35 a month, depending on which features you need. If you are just getting started, use one of the more basic packages to get a feel for what is possible. Once you start selling some photos, then you can step up to one of the more expensive plans?

What is the difference between these sites and "Micro-Stock" sites like Fotolia?

There are a category of photography sites called "Micro-stock" agencies, which sell stock photographs to agencies, usually at very low prices. As a photographer, you license the image rights to these agencies, who then go on to sell various licenses of your photos to interested buyers. These micro-stock agencies act as clearinghouses for your images. They are effective because they are widely known, however you must compete with thousands of other photographers who have similar images, and you are only likely to get about 35 cents profit for every dollar of revenue you sell on one of these sites.

Sites like Zenfolio, SmugMug, and PhotoShelter (reviews below) are better because you can control your brand, show your work in the best possible light, group your work together in collections. Also you get to set the prices yourself, and you keep 85-92% of the sales price, instead of only 35%, so its a much better deal for the photographer.

The three best sites for starting a photography business are compared head to head below.

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Product	Smugmug	Zenfolio	PhotoShelter
Full Review	Go to SmugMug Detailed Review >>	Go to Zenfolio Detailed Review >>	Go to PhotoShelter Detailed Review >>
Overall Rating	4.5 Stars Smugmug Pro - Free! Save 20% on Any New SmugMug account now! Jsut use this coupon code: PSReviews20	4 Stars Try Zenfolio Professional Save $10 on Any New Zenfolio Account with this code: 9EN-BKB-H6W	5 Stars Try PhotoShelter Professional Save 10% up to $55! Use this code: 10PS1108
Margin on Photos	SmugMug keeps 15% of the sales price	Zenfolio keeps 10-12% of the sales price	PhotoShelter Keeps 7-10% of the sales price.
Customizable Galleries?	Yes, fully customizable galleries from many styles pre-made, and the ability to import your own CSS style sheets and change just about anything you want.	Somewhat customizable, including logo, about me page, photographer photo, and 7 different styles of homepage. Can modify text colors and styles. Cannot arrange layouts or modify any CSS.	Yes, nine great looking template layouts, all with a very professional look and feel. Or, completely customize the layout of both the homepage and gallery pages with your own CSS.
Branding Options	Custom domain name, custom logos, headers, and footers. Small SmugMug link at the bottom of every page.	Custom domain name, custom logos, and some header and foot modifications. Customized sign-up page for your customers.	Custom domain name, completely brand your site however you wish. No PhotoShelter logos anywhere if you choose.
SEO Features	Some SEO features, you can modify page title and footer info if you know how.	Zenfolio has good assistance with SEO on your site. For your homepage, and each gallery, you can specify the title and description, as well as other SEO based fields throughout the site.	Yes, great SEO features show you exactly where and what to do to rank well in search engines. Includes a great guide on how to optimize your account for SEO (photographers SEO cookbook), plus an SEO tool to check your site against known benchmarks and provide recommendations.
Social Media features	Lots of different features, post your photos or slideshows on blogs, facebook, etc.	Simple export to Facebook and twitter on every photo or gallery!	Most complete social media features with easy export built in for 280 social networking and bookmark sites.
Disk Space, Max Size of Photo Upload	Unlimited Storage and bandwidth. Photo size up to 24 megabytes .	Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth with unlimited and premium plans. 12 MB photo upload limit except with premium, 24 MB limit.	Storage and bandwidth depend on account type, from 10-100 Gig storage and 5-50 Gig bandwidth a month.
File Types	JPEG, GIF, PNG (RAW, TIFF, PSD with SmugVault at extra cost)	JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF	Any photo file type, including RAW and PSD, is allowable
Add Videos?	Yes, clips up to 20 minutes in HD quality!	Yes, clips up to 15 minutes of HD Quality video	No
Sell Digital Downloads?	Yes, multiple sizes with different license terms available.	Yes, multiple sizes with different license terms available.	Yes, multiple sizes with different license terms available.
Watermarks and copyright protection	Yes, but you must supply a PNG watermark before uploading photos to a gallery. Can only watermark pictures as you upload, cannot change or add them after the fact - kinda a bummer and one of our only complaints with SmugMug. Right click protect your photos to prevent visitors from saving a copy.	Yes, very nice watermark manager with 4 defaults to choose from, or create your own. Can apply to photos instantly, or easily remove them. Right click protect your photos to prevent visitors from saving a copy.	Yes, very nice watermark manager with ability to add text or photo watermarks. Right click protect your photos to prevent visitors from saving a copy.
Cost (per year)	$150/yearly Pro Account Save 20% on Any New SmugMug account now! Jsut use this coupon code: PSReviews20	$100/yearly Premium (Sell Pictures no storage limit) $250/yearly Business Premium (Sell Pictures, Pro tools) Save $10 on Any New Zenfolio Account with this code: 9EN-BKB-H6W	$9.99/mo Basic (10G storage) $29.99/mo Standard (60G storage) $49.99/mo Professional (1TB storage) Save 10% up to $55! Use this code: 10PS1108
Give 'em a spin!	Best Offer - Try Smugmug	Best Offer - Try Zenfolio Professional	Best Offer - Try PhotoShelter Professional