MicrostockGroup

Are there any marketing tips or techniques to improve downloads or visibility to potential microstock customers?  Obviously shooting more and better images is a start, but once you have the images up there, is there anything you can do? 

Is there any advantage to uploading a shoot in small groups on different days to spread out their appearance in 'recent uploads' or should you get the images up as quickly as possible (or upload limits allow).

Are there different strategies depending on the type of images?  The majority of my images (both assignment and stock) is work with models:  http://www.shutterstock.com/g/danhowell

Mr. Locke is correct; less lingerie more teenage girl, young families etc.
Other than that proper key-wording is vital to your images being found.

You do nice work... you just need to shoot more of what the buyers need for their projects.

That is good advice!
So you can read their mind?

Yea but copying end to nothing. Don't try to beat the old monkey's at doing faces is my advice. Find your own style mixed with research about what can sell, and more important, what haven't been done yet.

One of the downsides to using multiple agencies is that you have to develop a unique strategy for each one. Although there are techniques they have in common, in order to maximize your exposure at any given agency you'll need to do things that are specific to it. I'm not an independent anymore, so I don't mind sharing a few pointers for some of the agencies I used to contribute to.

Shutterstock: Timing your submissions to get a high rank in the "New" search is critical. A good habit to get into is to monitor how long it takes (in hours) from the time you submit an image to the time it takes for it to appear in the search results. Adjust your submission times accordingly. Ideally you'll want your images to "go live" on Sunday through Wednesday nights (EST). Also, Shutterstock reviews images in batches based on the oldest image you have in the queue: by submitting just one image at the most opportune time you will ensure that all your images in that batch will be reviewed with it.

Dreamstime: I found this agency's search to be the most confounding - I think they want to be seen as "the good guys", and arrange things to spread sales across as many contributors as possible. Their search engine uses titles and descriptions together with keywords, so you need adjust these to suit. A common mistake is to use the same title and description for similar images - by doing this you're tying your images to the same search terms, which may not be optimal for images that have more than one readily-identifiable use. A good technique is to mix-and-match varying (but pertinent) conceptual keywords in your titles and descriptions, thereby increasing your exposure across multiple search terms.

Fotolia: Keyword order is of primary importance here - their search engine places extra weight on the first seven keywords, so you need to put the same kind of some thought into keyword order here as you do with titles and descriptions on Dreamstime.

Image Exclusivity: If you've "won the lottery" on an image at Dreamstime or Fotolia, check to see how it's doing at other agencies - it may be more profitable for you to list it exclusively at one agency than to have it listed across multiple ones.

Excellent analysis, Sharply, and well written.  Blue heart for that one.   

On Istock you can add thumbnail links to related imges in the desciption.  DeepMeta makes this very easy:

http://www.deepmeta.com/GettingStarted/ImageLinking/

"A good technique is to mix-and-match varying (but pertinent) conceptual keywords in your titles and descriptions, thereby increasing your exposure across multiple search terms."

This is particularly good information concerning Dreamstime.  Thanks for the insight.

Yes his info was excellent in educating our competition. Very correct but missing a second essential point for Shutterstock. Very conveniently, he left the strategy out for iStock. So he obviously doesn't like to educate his own competition, only the one of independents. 

Well, I am sorry, I am just trying to help!

Good reply Sharply_done. Good advice. O f course he didn't include iStock -his mother didn't raise a dumny.
Smiling jack

Thanks for that additional info.

The honorable gentlemen Locke has always been very frank on why he doesn't like to educate competitors.

In respect for the OP who seems to be a top photographer, judging by his work, and with top models - I should complement the Shutterstock strategy by hammering on diversity in every upload batch. As new images are exposed prominently for a short period, you shouldn't upload a row of similars in one batch, but add some different content. This way the halo effect of your new images will be maximized over your whole portfolio.

I'm still waiting for the iStock strategy though. Does anobody knows what are the working hours of the rough feathered guy?