The advantage to allowing free use of images

So I decided to google the name of my business (Performance Photography), and to my surprise, my Smugmug site comes up #2!

Now I'm no expert at search engine optimization. I have not registered with any search engines. I have done nothing to try to get a good Google ranking. It's just not part of my marketing plan.

But one thing I remember being told about search engines, is that it helps a lot when other people link to your site. When there are links to you out there in cyberspace, it shows that you somehow have relevance.

So here's my theory. We shoot kids quite a bit - high school seniors, youth theatre, local youth events and such. Some we do for pay and some we do as a contribution to a youth organization. Some galleries are watermarked and some aren't. Either way, we allow people to link back to the images we put on Smugmug. Well, you know kids nowadays. They're hot linking my pictures on their Facebook pages.

And while other photogs are running around all paranoid about their copyrights and trying to block external links to their images, I'm getting a #2 Google ranking because I let kids post my shots on Facebook.

That's my theory, anyway. Go ahead. Tell me I'm nuts.

Becky says you're nuts. Does that count?

I'm sure the naysayers will be out in force before long. "Never give away anything for free, never share your work...............nev​er, never, never!" I have a feeling that the people that refuse to adapt to the times are going to be the ones that find themselves crying that they don't have any new customers.

curtis you're nuts. ha, there!
(good going on #2)

ill step aside and let the never evers have at it

Strawman argument.

Nobody has ever said "never" to any method that truly pays off. If you've got a method that pays and can demonstrate the pay-off, just describe it instead of spoiling for a fight.

Curtis N wrote in post #13067992
So I decided to google the name of my business (Performance Photography), and to my surprise, my Smugmug site comes up #2!

When I do the same thing with my name my website comes up as number 1. Years ago there was a guy in GB with the same name as me who is a voice teacher for public speakers. He had my website but never paid the fees to renew it. I ended up grabbing it 3 years ago and I'm not giving it up.

Anyway, the photos on my site are just there for portfolio sake. I don't give away photos there unless someone right clicks on them. What they get are web ready low res photos that they might be able to print a 4x6 of but that's about it.

I guess it all comes down to your 'end-game' goal and if a high SEO ranking is translating into success toward that goal. If your goal is to make get more business that makes you more money and this is doing that then great! But if the extra attention just leads to higher number of people who hot link to your photos and does not translate into income then all you get is more exposure. Which is fine as long as that's ok with you. The only reason I mention it is because of some of my experiences where I pushed for higher visibilty and that is all I got, higher visibility. It did not translate into more sales.

Ron

Are you sure they're hotlinking and not just snagging the pic and uploading it to their facebook? Hotlinking photos doesn't seem that popular on social networking sites as far as I can tell. News articles and general websites, sure, but not so much images themselves.

As far as giving away images, I do that too. I'm going to post stuff to facebook as a portfolio anyway so it's a simple matter of goodwill to let the kids use 'em on their facebooks. It'd be stupid of me to tell them they're not allowed. It would not only defy logic but I'd be the biggest boob in town.

FYI, it is Smugmug doing a good job to get your search result up at the top. That's what you get for paying $150 a month. I allow hot linking it as long as my watermark is there. There are times to give out photos for free.

TooManyShots wrote in post #13070299
FYI, it is Smugmug doing a good job to get your search result up at the top. That's what you get for paying $150 a month. I allow hot linking it as long as my watermark is there. There are times to give out photos for free.

$150 a year, not month. AFAIK Smugmug doesn't do anything to promote users' sites.

If you dont show up on the first page when you google something as specific as the company name....something is very wrong. And if people know the name already, what is the point of googleing it? Links or not. A name is a specific term, How do you do in the search query "senior photography (your city)"? That is more realisticly to be something people will use.

cdifoto wrote in post #13070321
$150 a year, not month. AFAIK Smugmug doesn't do anything to promote users' sites.

Ooops.....yes, a year.

Really? They don't? My site seems to be showing up at the top too. I don't even have to search for my whole name.

Mark1 wrote in post #13070339
How do you do in the search query "senior photography (your city)"? That is more realisticly to be something people will use.

#1.

Can't brag too much though. This is a ridiculously small town.

TooManyShots wrote in post #13070342
Ooops.....yes, a year.

Really? They don't? My site seems to be showing up at the top too. I don't even have to search for my whole name.

Why would they? They're only getting $150 a year out of you. I think Google just likes smugmug the way it likes POTN.

Mark1 wrote in post #13070339
If you dont show up on the first page when you google something as specific as the company name....something is very wrong. And if people know the name already, what is the point of googleing it? Links or not. A name is a specific term, How do you do in the search query "senior photography (your city)"? That is more realisticly to be something people will use.

Exactly.