what age group do you sell to?

[Rob Champagne]

I'm curious.

There is the following thread which asks how old we are.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...&highlight=age

But I would like to know what age are the people who buy your images. I'm curious because I think that making your web site appeal to that age range would be helpful in selling images online. At the same time the 50 somethings here seem to be very anti anything too flashy in websites. Surely it makes more sense to think in terms of what kind of website does the typical buyer of photos like and design it to suit their tastes rather than your own.
Lets face it, most people trying to sell their images online are disappointed with sales. There must be a reason and is one of those reasons because the site is designed for the wrong demographic.

What do you reckon?

[Gordon Moat]

I suppose you mostly mean art photography in your post, and less so commercial photography. However, there might be some aspects that relate to both realms. In commercial imaging, especially the advertising market, there is a tendency for people to be very busy, and who want as quick a view as possible. So simple navigation, clean presentation, and easy to bookmark individual images can make things simpler and smoother.

Unfortunately, what might be convenient for a website visitor might be more labor intensive to maintain. Some photographers seem to want convenience for updates more than they want an interface that might be more accomodating for viewers.

Anyway, in the commercial world, I work with people anywhere from mid 20s up to early 50s, though probably most falling into their mid 30s. Honestly I don't find anything particularly different about any of these age groups/demographics, with the possible exception of the lingo being a little different at times. I try to treat everyone as equals and important, and that seems to work regardless of demographics. I try to avoid second guessing stereotypes, because it can be something that leads you in the wrong direction; basically don't make assumptions about people because of their age, nor guess about them; people are more complex and dynamic than whatever age they may appear to be.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

[Frank Petronio]

Maybe one tip for all ages would be to put your navigation at the top and left of the page?

I understand the desire to be clean and different, but for a majority of people I think they want predictable navigation that follows widespread precident. At least Nielsen has stats that show that.

So, as boring as it might be to do it like 90% of all the other websites (and 99% of the popular ones) follow convention and be a conformist when it comes to navigating the site. Not only where you put the nav, but how you title it -- making it really standard, objective and clear. Titling a page "About" is boring as hell but it works.

Now if you sold prints to 16 year old video gamers maybe you could deviate... but even amongst college kids, look how cleanly designed Facebook is trumping Myspace these days... it is just more usable.

[RDKirk]

I think asking about gender may be more germane. I sell almost exclusively to women. Not by intention, but that's who makes the purchase decision.

As far as age, I'm marketing to people in their 40s and 50s.

[Brian Ellis]

One was about 48, the other was 29.

[Wilbur Wong]

One was about 48, the other was 29.

Boy, you just made my day!

[Rob Champagne]

One was about 48, the other was 29.

As many as that?

[Brian Ellis]

As many as that?

Well I've been at this for 20 years, what do you expect? : - )

[Rob Champagne]

Well I've been at this for 20 years, what do you expect? : - )

So you're reaping the rewards of your advanced "Business Model" then.

[j.e.simmons]

I attended a seminar on selling art through a web site. The designer emphasized making navigation obvious, using permanent pages - not flash, and putting text on each page and image so that search engines could find them. He said in a decade of preparing websites for commercial clients, he had found all ages to prefer something simple.
juan