One of the big advantages of the WideRange Admin software for photographers is the ease of setting up and managing your print products. The initial setup consists of four main steps: adding your print sizes, adding your print display options, entering your pricing, and then assigning available print sizes to the photos.
1. Add your Print Sizes
The easiest way to add your print sizes is via the Prints > Prints Setup page. There you will see lists of various common print sizes arranged by aspect ratio. (Learn about aspect ratios here). You should add enough sets of print sizes to cover all your photos' most common aspect ratios.
You can also enter your own print sizes at Prints > Print Sizes. There you can enter any print sizes you'd like - just write the size you want to enter and it will automatically be positioned in the print size list according to its calculated aspect ratio.
If you need to rearrange your print sizes, you can do so Prints > Print Sizes - click the Rearrange the Sequence button below the list of print sizes. There you can drag-and-drop the sizes into the order you prefer. I recommend to group your print sizes according to aspect ratio; that makes it a lot easier to select the matching print sizes for each photo when the aspect ratios are grouped together.
2. Add your Print Display Options
The next step is to add your print styles or "display options" at Prints > Print Displays. Where it says "Add a new Display Option" you just write an option there and add it. Common display options can be things like:
- Fine Art Print for Framing
- Metal Print
- Acrylic Face-Mounted Print
- Canvas Print
- or any type of print you want to offer
Notice how the display option labels are written singular, not plural - this makes more sense in the ordering flow, as the customer will usually be purchasing a single print.
I would recommend to offer no more than about 4-5 options because you don't want to overwhelm your customers with too many options to choose from. It's best to pick your very favorite print styles and just offer those for sale.
Once you've added some print display options, you can edit those options to write brief descriptions and/or upload corner detail images, which are both helpful info for customers to see.
You can also Rearrange the Sequence of your display options by clicking that button and dragging them into the positions you want.
3. Enter Print Pricing
Once you've added print sizes and display options, those will all be combined into one big list of items on the Prints > Print Pricing page. Just click directly on the prices to edit/enter them.
If you're not sure how to price your prints, I'd recommend to create a simple spreadsheet that lists the costs of each print size/option (which you'll have to get from your print lab(s)). Personally I'd recommend to price your prints at least double your costs, if not more.
As for shipping costs, personally I think it's best to offer free shipping (leaving the shipping costs at zero) and build in the rough shipping costs into the print costs. First off, I think customers shopping online love to see free shipping, and secondly it's just a lot easier to manage this way. Since prints are typically fairly expensive luxury items anyways, it's easy to build these costs into the base price (unlike cheaper products like calendars). If you do want to add shipping costs for your print items you can do so, and you can also add several "shipping zones" if you want to vary the shipping pricing depending on the general geographic region.
4. Assign Print Sizes to the Photos
So you've uploaded some photos and added your print sizes, display options, and prices. The next step is to assign print sizes to the photos. There are two ways to do this:
- You can modify each photo one by one at Photos > Modify. Edit each photo and select the print sizes that apply to that photo.
- You can batch assign print sizes to multiple photos at once at Prints > Batch Assign.
When you're assigning print sizes to photos, the key is to select the print sizes that have the same (or very similar) aspect ratio as the photo(s). If there's no print sizes with matching (or very close) aspect ratios, then you may need to add a new set of print sizes for that aspect ratio. Read more about aspect ratios here.
Also when you're select the print sizes for a photo, only select the sizes - do not select the display options listed beneath each size (if you click the little + button). Those display option listings should only be selected in very rare scenarios.
Troubleshooting
If you've properly completed the above steps, you should see your print options listed for sale on your website's photo pages. If you do not see the prints for sale when you think they should be, please check the following possibilities:
- Are your print items listed as "Available" for sale? If you go to Prints > Print Prices, in the price list there's an "Available?" column - if your prints have the Availability set to No, switch them to Yes.
- Do your print items have prices? Keep in mind that print items with prices of zero will not show up for sale.
- Have you assigned available print sizes for each of your photos? (Step 4 above).
If you have any questions, please contact me!