A place for you to learn, get inspired, and keep up to date with all things SmugMug and photography
As a SmugMug Pro subscriber, you have access to some game-changing features that help you run your business. One valuable feature we’d like to highlight today can revolutionize your client photography sessions: client downloads. This feature is designed to simplify and enhance the photo download experience for both you and your clients. If you haven't explored it yet, we’ll walk you through it.
Client downloads are a feature that allow you to offer a specific number of photo downloads to your clients as part of your photography packages. This means you can provide your clients with a convenient and efficient way to select and receive their favorite photos, all within the limits of the package they've chosen.
1. Streamlined selection process: With client downloads, your clients can easily choose their preferred photos from the session, saving both you and them valuable time. No more sifting through hundreds of photos—they can focus on their favorites.
2. Customized experience: It enhances the client experience by giving them control over which photos they want to download. Clients appreciate this level of customization, making them happier with your service.
3. Clear communication: Offering a set number of downloads helps set clear expectations from the start. Clients know exactly what they're getting, reducing misunderstandings and potential disputes. Also, No longer will you have to send them galleries with downloads disabled, communicate back and forth about the images they want to choose, and then send them only those photos.
4. Value addition: Including a specific number of downloads in your packages adds perceived value to your services. Clients see it as an extra benefit, which can influence their decision to choose your photography services over competitors.
5. Efficiency: For you, it simplifies the delivery process. You don't have to manually send each selected photo; clients can download them directly from their account.
Picture this—You photograph family portrait sessions. Typically, you book a session for a flat fee. This session fee not only includes the portrait session, but also includes the ability for customers to download 20 of their favorite photos after you edit and deliver them. On SmugMug, here’s how client downloads help:
1. Set the limit: Decide how many photos you want to allow this particular client to download. In this case, 20.
2. Inform your clients: Generate a dedicated one-time link for your client from your SmugMug gallery and send it to them.
3. Client selection: Your clients follow the link to your gallery and choose their favorite photos up to the agreed-upon limit of 20.
4. Effortless delivery: Once they've made their selections, they can immediately download their chosen photos (and only their chosen photos), simplifying the delivery process for you.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to improve your client experience and add value to your photography services. Client downloads are a feature that can make your client delivery workflow easier than ever.
To get started with client downloads and see the impact it can have on your photography business, simply log in to your account and explore this feature today. Watch this quick video to see it in action.
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
Offering coupons is a powerful strategy that can provide numerous benefits for you and your clients. SmugMug makes offering coupons a snap, so let’s learn more about how this feature can benefit your business.
Coupons can create a sense of urgency and excitement around purchasing. When customers know they have a limited time to use a discount, they are more likely to make a decision quickly. This can lead to increased sales as clients are motivated to take action before the coupon expires.
Coupons are not only attractive to existing clients, but they also entice new customers to make their first purchase. People often try out products or services they've been curious about if there's a discount involved. This can help you expand your customer base.
Coupons are a fantastic way to show appreciation to loyal customers. By offering exclusive discounts to repeat clients, you can strengthen your relationship with these customers and encourage them to return for more business in the future.
When clients receive discounts, they are more likely to feel a connection to you. This sense of goodwill can lead to increased customer loyalty as clients remember the positive experience and are more likely to return for future photography needs.
You can utilize coupons to align with specific seasons, holidays, or events. For instance, a discount offered for holiday family photos or back-to-school portraits can drive targeted sales during those periods.
SmugMug coupons offer various types of discounts like "percent off," "amount off," or "free shipping." This allows you to tailor your offers to what resonates best with your audience.
Promoting coupons through various channels—social media, email newsletters, or your website—can generate buzz and engagement. This not only leads to immediate sales but also increases the visibility of the your brand.
Through the use of coupons, you can gather valuable data on customer behavior. You can analyze which coupons were most effective, which customer segments responded best, and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
In a competitive photography market, offering coupons can set you apart from your competitors. Clients are more likely to choose a photographer who provides additional value through discounts.
After a successful purchase using a coupon, clients are more likely to return for future photography needs, even without a discount. This can establish a long-term relationship between you and your clients.
SmugMug coupons are a powerful tool that can help you boost sales, attract and retain customers, and strengthen your brand's presence. By using coupons effectively, you can create a win–win situation for both yourself and your clients. Haven’t tried coupons on SmugMug? Learn more about this feature today!
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
The SmugMug Pro plan offers an "Assistant" feature which can be a game-changer for busy photographers. Let’s learn more about this feature and the value it provides.
By using the "Assistant" feature, you can delegate time-consuming tasks like uploading and organizing photos to your trusted associates. This means less time spent on administrative duties and more time focused on what you do best—capturing stunning images.
Utilizing an “Assistant” password enables you to work seamlessly with your assistants, ensuring a smooth workflow and organized photo management. This can lead to enhanced productivity and better outcomes for their photography projects.
Delegating tasks to your assistant does not mean relinquishing control or sharing sensitive account information. You define a separate password for your assistant to use. When logged in, assistants will only have access to important workflow features (like uploading, organizing, keywording, etc). They will not be able to take any destructive actions like deleting content or changing prices on your photos.
The "Assistant" feature can directly contribute to the growth of your photography business. By delegating tasks, you can take on more clients and projects, expand your portfolio, and increase your overall business capacity.
Utilizing an assistant gives you the potential for a better work–life balance. With the help of an assistant, you can free up more of your personal time, reducing burnout and stress.
Assistants often have specific strengths. For example, if an assistant has expertise in photo editing or culling, they can handle those aspects while you focus on shooting.
By streamlining your workflow with an assistant, you might discover hidden opportunities for innovation and growth within your business. Freed from routine tasks, you can explore new creative avenues or expand into areas you previously didn't have time for.
The "Assistant" feature is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive. Your assistants have access to the key parts of your same SmugMug account and can quickly learn how to navigate the system and contribute effectively to your workflow.
The "Assistant" feature on SmugMug isn't just a time-saver; it's a strategic tool that empowers you to leverage your strengths, grow your businesses, and achieve a healthier work-life balance. By utilizing this feature, you can shift your focus from administrative tasks to your true passion – capturing breathtaking moments through your lens. Learn more about this feature today!
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
Packages are the perfect tool for professional photographers like you to offer curated bundles of photo prints and digital copies. Imagine being able to provide your clients with an all-in-one solution that simplifies their purchase experience while boosting your sales. It's a win-win.
Boost sales: Packages allow you to create enticing offers that encourage customers to buy more. Offering bundled deals can increase the average order value and, ultimately, your revenue.
Simplify the purchase process: Your clients no longer need to agonize over choosing individual prints and files. They can easily select a package that suits their needs, making the decision-making process hassle-free.
Value for your clients: Customers love discounts and bundled deals. Packages provide them with great value, making them more likely to make a purchase and recommend your services to others.
Consider this example - you could offer a package that includes two 8x10 prints, two 4x6 prints, and the original digital files—all at a discounted rate. Your clients can then choose which photos they want to include in this package, creating a personalized experience.
Ready to make the most of this feature? Here's how to get started:
1. Log in to your account.
2. Navigate to the packages section via the Selling Tools menu at the top of your account.
3. Create your customized packages based on popular combinations.
4. Promote these packages to your clients through your website, social media, or email campaigns.
Remember, packages can not only simplify your workflow but also enhance the buying experience for your clients, leading to more orders and happier customers.
Ready to get started? Learn more about creating packages.
Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
Are you ready to revolutionize the way you connect your customers with your photos? Enter SmugMug QR codes.
We know that one of the big challenges in photographing an event is finding an efficient way to let the attendees know how to view and purchase your photos. We also know that speed is everything when it comes to monetizing your photography. The quicker your event clients visit your gallery, the greater their interest in the photos, and the more money you make!
That's where QR codes come in.
Picture this scenario: You're booked for a youth sporting event next week. With SmugMug QR codes, you can create relevant galleries and generate QR codes for them well in advance. Simply print out the QR codes on fliers, business cards, or any other marketing collateral that you prefer and hand them out at the event.
Here's where the magic unfolds for both you and your clients:
Effortless engagement: No more scribbling down long URLs or hoping clients remember your website. Your QR code becomes an instant bridge between the event attendees and their cherished memories. They just need to scan, and voilà – they're taken directly to their dedicated photo gallery!
Elevated exposure: QR codes don't just streamline client access; they supercharge your marketing efforts. Display your QR code at the event entrance or on marketing materials, instantly impressing attendees with your tech-savviness. And guess what? They're more likely to share your QR code, organically amplifying your brand reach!
Customer delight: The joy of reliving event highlights shouldn't be overshadowed by the hassle of tracking down photos. With a simple scan, your clients navigate effortlessly through their personalized gallery, ensuring a seamless and delightful experience.
Time-saving: We understand that your time is precious. SmugMug QR codes liberate you from the tedious task of individually sharing galleries, freeing you up to focus on what truly matters – capturing stunning shots.
So, are you ready to elevate your brand, simplify your workflow, and make more money? Try out QR codes at your next event. Available only for SmugMug Pro subscribers. Not on the Pro plan? Learn more about how the Pro plan can help you elevate your photography business.
At SmugMug, you've got many ways to share your photos with family, friends, and clients. We also take your privacy seriously and offer a variety of security options for folders, galleries, and pages so your photos can be shared or locked away however you wish.
Lock down your entire site or only specific areas—or nothing at all. Using SmugMug’s built-in visibility and access settings allows you to customize access to your photos so it’s just right for you and your visitors.
You have three modes of visibility: public (anyone), unlisted (anyone with the link), and private (only me). You also have different types of access, which change depending on the visibility you’ve chosen: anyone, people with password, and people I choose.
Public is just what it sounds like: a gallery visible to everyone visiting your website, as well as to search engines like Google.
If you want your public galleries to be found faster, enter a gallery description and meta keywords and ensure your Google Search and SmugMug Search visibility settings are set to Yes.
Pair this visibility setting with access set to Anyone to get the most exposure possible for your site and galleries.
This setting makes your galleries accessible only to anyone who has the link, and they aren’t indexed by search engines. Galleries with this setting won’t be visible to people browsing your site, but you'll be able to see them whenever you're logged in as the site owner. Additionally, you'll see a banner at the top of these galleries when you’re logged in to let you know they aren’t available to the general public:
The best part is you can share these galleries directly with friends and family because anyone with the gallery link can browse the photos inside. Each gallery URL contains a randomly generated “key” for additional security.
When you share the link, be sure to copy all the letters in the URL. They may look like a random jumble (Example: n-fSzMC), but they're literally the key to ensuring your guests can get into your hidden gallery. Links to Unlisted galleries won't work without them.
An important note: There’s a certain amount of trust required in the people you share the link with. You no longer have control over the security of the gallery if a recipient of the URL shares it.
For highly sensitive content, you may want to consider archiving a gallery as soon as a client has finished viewing it. You can generate a gallery download from Private galleries and send those files to your client if they do request later access.
Private means only you, the account owner, will be able to see the gallery and images inside it. Even if you share a link with someone, they'll see a "Page Not Found" error. Galleries set to Private won't be found by search engines, nor will they appear in SmugMug's sitewide search (unless you're logged in and doing the search yourself).
When browsing the gallery, you won't see the "key" in the URL that we described above, but you will see a similar banner stating the gallery is accessible only to you, the logged-in site owner.
Private galleries are great for you but less so for friends or clients; don't choose this option if you want someone else to enjoy your photos. Additionally, don't share photos from Private galleries to forums and blogs because they won't work.
This access setting does what it says on the tin: allows access to anyone and everyone browsing your site. Galleries with this setting will show up for anyone casually scrolling through your site to browse photos. If you want your work to be discovered, this is the setting for you.
You can add a password to any gallery on your site to ensure only authorized guests see your photos. When you do this to a public gallery, that gallery will no longer be available via search engines like Google. It will, however, continue to show publicly on your website's Browse page and in the folder containing the gallery.
People who visit your password-protected galleries will be prompted to enter the password and be shown a password hint if you've included one.
Here are a few best practices for strong password security:
Skip the password hurdle while still locking down galleries for only people you want to allow in by using private sharing. This access option creates a unique invitation you send to only the people you choose. And each invite has a unique redemption token. Once your recipient uses the invite, no one else can—even if your guest forwards the invitation email on to someone else.
Folders and pages have the same privacy options galleries do. By default, new galleries you create will inherit the parent folder's privacy settings, but you can change this for specific galleries if you wish.
Tip: Change the privacy setting on a folder to change the privacy setting on all the galleries within it. Great for hiding (or revealing) entire categories on your site.
With these privacy settings, you can mix and match to create exactly the right browsing experience for your visitors—and the right security for yourself. Dial it in on a gallery-by-gallery basis for the ultimate, fine-grain control over your photos and videos, or group galleries into different folders that have their own security settings. Allow all galleries within a folder to inherit that folder’s security setting, or tweak a few galleries within that folder to have their own security rules. Whatever your choice, SmugMug’s got your privacy covered.
The camera you usually have on you is the one in your pocket: your phone. So it’s probably the one you’re using the most. Making sure our phone photos are securely stored is important, and we’re going to show you how to do it. .
Don’t let your best memories die in a digital graveyard. Get them off your phone and safely into SmugMug, where you can rest easy knowing they’ll be there forever, no matter how many times you drop, dunk, or destroy your device.
If you have an iPhone or Android phone, use our app to browse your site, share your photos, make edits, and automatically back up everything on your phone.
Download SmugMug’s iOS or Android app and sign in to your SmugMug account to get started. When you open the galleries on your site, tap the green plus icon in the lower left to add any photo from your photo library to the gallery you’re in.
Even better, you can set up the app to automatically back up all your photos from your phone to a gallery on your SmugMug site. Just go into the app’s settings and turn the auto-upload feature on. Here’s how to do it on iOS and on Android.
You can also upload your mobile photos directly from your camera roll and other apps to SmugMug. This is an excellent way to quickly backup and store your on-the-go photos, which are probably some of the most precious photos we take. So keep them safe!
To do this, you’ll need to have the latest version of the free SmugMug app installed on your device. Simply hit the Share icon in your chosen app, or from the camera roll, and choose SmugMug from the list of available services. In some cases, you may have to look under the “more” option. Here's full details on our help page.
Even without specific apps, your phone should still allow you to access your images manually so you can upload them to your SmugMug site for safekeeping.
Once you connect your phone to your computer, it’s simply a matter of dragging and dropping the photos you want into SmugMug to begin uploading.
We’ve got several great ways for to get your files into SmugMug; use the one that works best for you. We like using the default browser drag-and-drop window, with the option to automatically skip or allow duplicate files.
Make sure to download and back up your photos on a regular basis so you won’t miss a single memory you’ve recorded. We’ve all had this happen to us, and with SmugMug you can retrieve thousands of lost memories with a single click.
Happy snapping, and remember: always back it up!
You’re a photographer who makes money from sales, so you’re in control of how your images can and should be used. SmugMug gives you tools to know exactly where your photos are going...and where they’re not.
You can also tweak every setting listed below (except for #8, pricelists) in your gallery settings and save them as a preset. Total time-saver.
1. Set your largest viewing size.
Every gallery on your site gives you the ability to disable your original-resolution images and limit how large your fans can view your photos. We suggest you allow at least the XL display size to create a big impact and allow your potential buyers to see all the glorious detail in your photos. Used in concert with other image-protection features below, your photos will still be safe and sound.
2. Gallery privacy.
Protect your galleries with a viewing password or keep them unlisted to be sure only the right clients with the right credentials are browsing your photos.
3. Share versus owner share.
The Share button is on by default so fans can spread the word about you. If you'd rather be the one sharing, turn this off in your gallery settings. You'll still be able to post and share; the button will instead say "Owner Share" and be visible only to you while logged in.
4. Right-click protection.
With this enabled, we’ll display a message whenever someone right-clicks on your images in your gallery. Keep in mind that snapping a screen grab is a basic function on any computer and isn’t prevented with right-click protection, so we recommend using this feature together with custom watermarking. The result? Your name stays associated with the image, no matter what.
5. Watermarking.
Put your name, URL, or logo on every photo you shoot. At SmugMug, watermarks are completely non-destructive, meaning they're applied to display copies only. Any print, gift, or digital download purchased from your site will be clean and clear.
Tip: Let your watermarked photos loose! When fans share photos watermarked with your logo, they're doing free advertising for you. So be generous and attract new customers all at once. Win–win.
6. Backprinting.
Add your brand to the back of every print purchased from your site with backprinting (available with Portfolio and Pro accounts). You can customize this with your name, URL, email address or even the image caption so clients know which print is which.
7. Printmarking.
Stamp your prints with your brand. Like watermarks for your purchased items, printmarks are most often used to put your logo or signature on the corner of each print and digital download. It's fixed to a percentage of the area of your print, so don't worry about it taking up valuable real estate.
8. Set pricing.
It may seem like a no-brainer, but it's important to set up pro pricing on your galleries so you make money on every sale. Start by visiting your pricelist manager.
9. Turn off printing.
Not ready to sell? Simply set printing to No in your gallery settings. This way your clients can browse, but not buy.
If you’re a portrait or event photographer, you’ve undoubtedly had clients ask you any or all of the following questions:
The fact is we're living in a digital world. Fewer and fewer people are interested in physical prints and are increasingly using websites and social media to store and share their precious memories.
At SmugMug, we still believe in the power of a printed photograph, but we think it's equally important to adapt your business to the digital needs of today’s customers.
You've already got your portfolio and proofing solution sorted out with SmugMug, and you know what a lifesaver our print labs are in fulfilling your print and merchandise orders. Don't leave money on the table by keeping digital downloads a secret!
Portfolio and Pro account owners can price and sell single digital images and video files to clients and they're retrievable immediately after checkout. In other words, they're perfect for customers who are itching to share with friends and family right away. Digital downloads also buy you time, especially if they'll be waiting for you to proof your prints; and they provide a little extra cash in your pocket.
Don't think you can emotionally "let go" of your digital files? Not to worry: You can lock them down and offer only smaller display sizes or choose to offer files that only include your printmark. Additionally, you can set one price for personal use and charge more for commercial licensing. Or sell the whole gallery at a single package price.
1. Protect against theft.
When you decide to start selling downloads, it's of utmost importance to be sure you've got image protection set up the right way. Take a look at the resources we've written to help you set up watermarking, right-click protection, and more.
2. Strategize your pricing.
We've got a great article that helps you answer the eternal question, "How much should I charge?" but this is a very personal decision and there is no right answer. We can, however, offer some practical tips:
3. Set your prices.
Just like traditional prints and gifts, you price your photo, video, and gallery downloads in your pricelists manager to make them available to your clients. The only difference is that all digital downloads are delivered instantly via email from SmugMug, and they aren't tied to a specific print lab like physical products.
We hope we've inspired you to try an all-new way to make more money from your photography, as well as given you new ways to make your clients happier. If you're brand new to digital downloads or just want to read more about how you can make money at SmugMug, read our help pages for all the details.
As always, don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Heroes if you're confused, need help, or just have a question about what you need to do next. Happy sales to you!
