Flickr is the premier photo-sharing website and it’s a great asset to be utilized for making money with your photos. Here are three ways you can leverage this site for your benefit.

Take photos of products and add affiliate links

You can do this with T-shirts, books, or pretty much any product you have that Amazon sells. If you sign up with the Amazon Associates program, you can get links to specific product pages, and if someone uses your link to buy any product, you get a certain percent of their purchase! Take photos of popular items from unique angles and be sure to properly tag and caption them in order to get as much traffic to your photostream as possible.

Promote your own store at Cafepress.com

Sites like Cafepress.com allow you to sell physical products like mugs, calendars, shirts and other items with your own custom designs and photos. If you have particular photos that are well suited for these kinds of products, set up an account on Cafepress and then link to the product page from your Flickr photo. If you think about it, it’s a lot more common for someone to buy a physical product like a mug rather than a digital photo file on the internet. Try taking and using photos that would make great gift ideas, and try to market particular products towards specific holidays during the calendar year.

Market your photos or service from your Flickr Profile Page

As people view your photos, they will often visit your Flickr Profile page, so be sure to include relevant info and to “sell yourself.” That means if you have a professional site for real estate/wedding/portrait photos, be sure to mention that and add a link. If you are selling prints on another site like Imagekind, then be sure to link to your portfolio there as well. If you have won any awards or prizes be sure to include that. This is almost like an online version of your photography resume, so put your best foot forward!