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How do I monetize a viral picture?

Hey all!

I like to dable in nature photography as a hobby and have been doing it for a while now. Recently, I started posting them on Google maps (about 9 months now).

There is one in particular that is getting a lot of views. Last time I checked, it had a little over 300,000 views.

I would definitely like to capitalize on this and turn it into profit/income. The problem is that I don’t how.

I’ve thought about setting up a website where people can buy prints, but I have the obstacle of limited web design skills and I don’t have thousands of dollars to hire a web designer.

I had also been posting on Instagram, but the trolls are really good so I took that down.

I also currently have a store front setup on society6.

Long term, I would like to do this at a semi-pro level. By that I mean having have the pictures published in books and/or used in ads; and be able to hire a couple apprentices.

Looking forward to hearing what the community recommends for someone who does this solo as a hobby and dreams of growing it into a small business.

[tags: marketing]

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    Sorry to have noticed, this has nothing to do with Freelancing. Commented Nov 12, 2024 at 21:42

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There are many different ways to make money from images.

For example, a painter I know has an agent who gets those images on mugs, placemats, etc. She focuses on creating images and the agent works to find people who want to use them on products or in books / ads, etc.

There are several websites that can sell your images and have all the protections in place so that people don't use them without paying.

Another way is to create puzzles and sell them.

Finally, there are many "art shows" where you can bring a bunch of prints and sell them to the general public. Major metropolitan areas tend to have many such shows and you can spend every weekend doing a show. Typically, there is at least one other photographer there selling prints.

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  • Thanks for the idea, David. I’ve successfully set up an online store. But that too is time consuming and takes away from making the pictures. That problem could be solved by having an agent, I think. I’ve looked into this a bit, so it might be the next step I take. Commented Oct 30, 2023 at 18:36
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You can sign up with an image licensing site such as Getty Images and let them handle selling the photo.

As for merchandising, you can use a print-on-demand site to put your graphics on different items including shirts, mugs, and you can also do a canvas print

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  • Yea, I’ve setup an online store but it turns out that that’s it’s own role. A previous commenter suggested finding an agent, which is a suggestion I’m partial to. Commented Oct 30, 2023 at 18:37

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