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Author Topic: down the toilet  (Read 79539 times)

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« Reply #225 on: February 02, 2017, 10:27 »
0
Do you think its better if you have less keywords then? For example 10, less to worry about, most relevant keywords only. The order wont matter a lot.

All the relevant keywords that are needed to have a buyer find the image. That's how many. If you add words that are just there to make more words, it doesn't help and could very well make your image lower rank.

Description is searched and a good description will help get sales as well. One word or two won't do it. SS has sent us advise emails with samples and examples. Better description will make your images be found more.

Keyword order doesn't matter. https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/90124-keyword-order/


« Reply #226 on: February 02, 2017, 12:45 »
0
https://www.shutterstock.com/contributorsupport/articles/kbat02/000011450

Guide to Descriptions and Keywords from SS help file.

« Reply #227 on: February 02, 2017, 18:02 »
+2
Do you think its better if you have less keywords then? For example 10, less to worry about, most relevant keywords only. The order wont matter a lot.

Checked my Image stats - I have many images where more than 10 keywords were used by buyers in searches, with maximum of 18 keywords for one of my bestsellers. Some of them I thought would have never been used. You never know!
So limiting your keywords to 10 or so could result in "less $$ to worry about" ;D

« Reply #228 on: February 02, 2017, 23:40 »
0
Do you think its better if you have less keywords then? For example 10, less to worry about, most relevant keywords only. The order wont matter a lot.

Checked my Image stats - I have many images where more than 10 keywords were used by buyers in searches, with maximum of 18 keywords for one of my bestsellers. Some of them I thought would have never been used. You never know!
So limiting your keywords to 10 or so could result in "less $$ to worry about" ;D

All the relevant and directly related keywords.

That could be 10 for a simple image and 50 for something complex. You are right, we never know. But adding irrelevant words won't make more sales, it could make less sales.

It's not how many it's what they are. Sounds like how many sales for how many images question.  :)

It's not how many, it's what they are.

« Reply #229 on: February 03, 2017, 02:25 »
+1
Do you think its better if you have less keywords then? For example 10, less to worry about, most relevant keywords only. The order wont matter a lot.

Checked my Image stats - I have many images where more than 10 keywords were used by buyers in searches, with maximum of 18 keywords for one of my bestsellers. Some of them I thought would have never been used. You never know!
So limiting your keywords to 10 or so could result in "less $$ to worry about" ;D

My record is 24 keywords.

« Reply #230 on: February 03, 2017, 11:44 »
0
Do you think its better if you have less keywords then? For example 10, less to worry about, most relevant keywords only. The order wont matter a lot.

Checked my Image stats - I have many images where more than 10 keywords were used by buyers in searches, with maximum of 18 keywords for one of my bestsellers. Some of them I thought would have never been used. You never know!
So limiting your keywords to 10 or so could result in "less $$ to worry about" ;D

My record is 24 keywords.

Is that related words used to find the image? Does that mean 24 different words over time, not a 24 word search right? So 100 sales, 24 different words were used to find your image? Pretty darn nice!

« Reply #231 on: February 03, 2017, 12:05 »
0
It's 24 words over time, not in a single search.

« Reply #232 on: February 03, 2017, 12:12 »
0
It's 24 words over time, not in a single search.

Nice, I've got to go look at mine. I don't pay much attention to the words used to find things. Sometimes it's so unrelated it scares me.  :) Many are the first words that I put in, because they are the bottom line, what's in the image. Makes me feel better that I picked the right words, because those will be first everywhere else.

I'll try to view it as education and information for similar images to improve their visibility.

« Reply #233 on: February 03, 2017, 12:17 »
0
I have 23 for my bestseller, but normal is 4-6.

Naturally, an image with many sales is going to have better search placement for any keyword.

« Reply #234 on: February 03, 2017, 12:34 »
0
Yes, it was over time, but I'm sure some of the keywords were used in a single search.

« Reply #235 on: February 03, 2017, 12:59 »
0
Yes, it was over time, but I'm sure some of the keywords were used in a single search.

47 and most of the ones down near the bottom are .1% 25 are .5% or less. One word, and I didn't check them all, isn't in my key words, but part of it is. I'm losing faith in the importance of all except maybe the top six and one of those is another partial word?

Image if word used was Dog 5.4% and the actual keyword was Dogma.

People, retro, black, white, new, man. Have to have them in there, but showing in words used?

Fun looking though. Thanks.

https://submit.shutterstock.com/earnings/top-performers?sort_direction=desc&sort_order=downloads

Shows total earnings by the way.

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #236 on: February 03, 2017, 13:11 »
0
Somehow as the OP says I genuinely believe its going down the toilet. There are just too many well established members and not just here its everywhere that have to do with stock photography seeing the same issues from tinkered and unfair searches to disappearing portfolios to bugs galore. Pugh! whats up Doc?
I am seriously starting to look for a plan-B but where the heck do I stick 4K files. hehe!
Any ideas anybody? RF or RM or both?

« Reply #237 on: February 03, 2017, 19:34 »
+1
Sales have picked up lately. This is the best week I've had since November.

« Reply #238 on: February 03, 2017, 22:21 »
+1
Sales have picked up lately. This is the best week I've had since November.

I hate to point out the obvious, but we all have good and bad periods, beyond the usual. I'm having a good week also. Somewhere else, someone is saying this is the worst week ever.  :) Might be what material we have, the season or just something that buyers happened to need.

I've been having first time sold for a couple weeks. What? Stuff that hasn't sold in years, just suddenly gets a download, while a million new and probably better files, come in every week. What's that about? I like it, but sure is a mystery.

I'm at top level. No reason for SS to be pushing my junk to the front for less money. I never bought that claim anyway. I don't have an answer, makes no sense. Never sold, undiscovered, old images from years ago, and now I get sales?

Next someone will make up some deep reason why I'm getting sales and they aren't like tweaking the search. So why would they treak or twist the search for my old files? Bonus time for people who's last name starts with the same letter as mine.

Or maybe there are just good and bad periods at random, beyond the natural flow. There's not a conspiracy or twist or something behind the scenes that's agencies are doing to manipulate sales. Maybe people are searching so hard for reasons that they make up answers for things that have no easy answer!

Yes, Microstock itself is going down the toilet. For us as contributors. There doesn't have to be some dark plot or secrets behind the why. There's far to much accusing and false claims going around to explain what was predicted years ago.

Microstock will be crushed under it's own weight. That weight is the number of files and cheap images on cheap sites. Quality will always sell, but cheapness is millions of new files a week, smothering the marketplace. We lose, they win.

Stop finding excuses and blame and see the truth.

« Reply #239 on: February 04, 2017, 00:10 »
0
I hate to point out the obvious, but we all have good and bad periods, beyond the usual. I'm having a good week also. Somewhere else, someone is saying this is the worst week ever.  :) Might be what material we have, the season or just something that buyers happened to need.

I've been having first time sold for a couple weeks. What? Stuff that hasn't sold in years, just suddenly gets a download, while a million new and probably better files, come in every week. What's that about? I like it, but sure is a mystery.

I'm at top level. No reason for SS to be pushing my junk to the front for less money. I never bought that claim anyway. I don't have an answer, makes no sense. Never sold, undiscovered, old images from years ago, and now I get sales?

Next someone will make up some deep reason why I'm getting sales and they aren't like tweaking the search. So why would they treak or twist the search for my old files? Bonus time for people who's last name starts with the same letter as mine.

Or maybe there are just good and bad periods at random, beyond the natural flow. There's not a conspiracy or twist or something behind the scenes that's agencies are doing to manipulate sales. Maybe people are searching so hard for reasons that they make up answers for things that have no easy answer!

Yes, Microstock itself is going down the toilet. For us as contributors. There doesn't have to be some dark plot or secrets behind the why. There's far to much accusing and false claims going around to explain what was predicted years ago.

Microstock will be crushed under it's own weight. That weight is the number of files and cheap images on cheap sites. Quality will always sell, but cheapness is millions of new files a week, smothering the marketplace. We lose, they win.

Stop finding excuses and blame and see the truth.

If someone has a low number of sales per day, they're more probably likely see fluctuations. My sales are very consistent and I don't see a lot of fluctuations between days. This week, sales are noticeably up and I'm talking about 10-20% higher than every week since mid-November.

I'm also at the highest level, and I haven't seen any difference in terms of sales. I have a theory on why there are more first time sales than ever. If I recall correctly, in the old Image page, they only showed 1 row of 'Similars'. Now there are 2 rows. The chances of your old images appearing in the 'Similars' section are much higher than before, giving your image a chance to be downloaded.

Conversely, this also means your image is also less likely to be downloaded if the customer originally clicked on your image from a search. Contributors gain some exposure for some images, but are exposed to more competition by the 'Similars' section. I don't know the algorithm behind the Similars section, but I'm guessing they show a mixture of new, and old images. The non-contextual "Same Artist" used to show similar images from the same contributor and people would download multiple images from the same set. Now that it's non-contextual, contributors are getting less downloads.

Despite the heavy competition, I still believe there is good money to be made.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2017, 00:27 by Minsc »

« Reply #240 on: February 04, 2017, 11:08 »
0
I hate to point out the obvious, but we all have good and bad periods, beyond the usual. I'm having a good week also. Somewhere else, someone is saying this is the worst week ever.  :) Might be what material we have, the season or just something that buyers happened to need.

I've been having first time sold for a couple weeks. What? Stuff that hasn't sold in years, just suddenly gets a download, while a million new and probably better files, come in every week. What's that about? I like it, but sure is a mystery.

I'm at top level. No reason for SS to be pushing my junk to the front for less money. I never bought that claim anyway. I don't have an answer, makes no sense. Never sold, undiscovered, old images from years ago, and now I get sales?

Next someone will make up some deep reason why I'm getting sales and they aren't like tweaking the search. So why would they treak or twist the search for my old files? Bonus time for people who's last name starts with the same letter as mine.

Or maybe there are just good and bad periods at random, beyond the natural flow. There's not a conspiracy or twist or something behind the scenes that's agencies are doing to manipulate sales. Maybe people are searching so hard for reasons that they make up answers for things that have no easy answer!

Yes, Microstock itself is going down the toilet. For us as contributors. There doesn't have to be some dark plot or secrets behind the why. There's far to much accusing and false claims going around to explain what was predicted years ago.

Microstock will be crushed under it's own weight. That weight is the number of files and cheap images on cheap sites. Quality will always sell, but cheapness is millions of new files a week, smothering the marketplace. We lose, they win.

Stop finding excuses and blame and see the truth.

If someone has a low number of sales per day, they're more probably likely see fluctuations. My sales are very consistent and I don't see a lot of fluctuations between days. This week, sales are noticeably up and I'm talking about 10-20% higher than every week since mid-November.

I'm also at the highest level, and I haven't seen any difference in terms of sales. I have a theory on why there are more first time sales than ever. If I recall correctly, in the old Image page, they only showed 1 row of 'Similars'. Now there are 2 rows. The chances of your old images appearing in the 'Similars' section are much higher than before, giving your image a chance to be downloaded.

Conversely, this also means your image is also less likely to be downloaded if the customer originally clicked on your image from a search. Contributors gain some exposure for some images, but are exposed to more competition by the 'Similars' section. I don't know the algorithm behind the Similars section, but I'm guessing they show a mixture of new, and old images. The non-contextual "Same Artist" used to show similar images from the same contributor and people would download multiple images from the same set. Now that it's non-contextual, contributors are getting less downloads.

Despite the heavy competition, I still believe there is good money to be made.

That too, bigger numbers are more steady and interesting ideas. One that just sold I never thought would ever sell. There are many similars, better and hardly any difference in the composition.

Many of mine have no same set, or very few. I don't do sets. From the same artist some would assume similar from the same. It doesn't say that. Just more from the same artist. Similar is the same idea. It doesn't say from same person it just says similar images. It's not all about us, it's all about buyers seeing more choices.

If from the same artist was a photo of a flower, do we want a buyer to see just flowers or our whole portfolio and all the work we've done to diversify. Do people want a buyer to see, four pages of flowers and trees, and go away saying, how boring and limited we are? Or see that we have a variety of creative example that can bring them back for more subjects. More choices, more visibility which is for us.

I still think the similar image search by composition and color is trash. Hardly useful except very limited cases.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #241 on: February 04, 2017, 18:40 »
+2
If from the same artist was a photo of a flower, do we want a buyer to see just flowers or our whole portfolio and all the work we've done to diversify. Do people want a buyer to see, four pages of flowers and trees, and go away saying, how boring and limited we are? Or see that we have a variety of creative example that can bring them back for more subjects. More choices, more visibility which is for us.

Swings and roundabouts.
I have no idea how many buyers actually go first to particular portfolios to look for stuff.
However, if they do, being known as a specialist of, e.g. flowers and trees would be very interesting to some buyers.
If you were very diverse, what's to make them come to you rather than just search the site? Unless you have a very particular style with diverse subjects, which again would be attractive to some buyers, but 'boring and limited' to others.

I think the point is that if a buyer wants a photo of an orange, and clicks on one, and decides not to go with it, they'd rather, at that point, see more photos of an orange than photos of a snowdrop, a skier or businessmen shaking hands.


« Reply #242 on: February 24, 2017, 12:26 »
+2
Thought Jan was bad, Feb 75% down! Can it get any worse (looking like it will). Depressing what's happened to SS.

« Reply #243 on: February 24, 2017, 12:31 »
+1
Thought Jan was bad, Feb 75% down! Can it get any worse (looking like it will). Depressing what's happened to SS.
75% on when? Last month last year? Average....just curious

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #244 on: February 24, 2017, 12:33 »
+1
It is 50% down from last Feb for me. It makes me feel sick ...

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #245 on: February 24, 2017, 12:47 »
+1
Around 50% down. Worse then when I joined 9 years back. Some friends I got over there with large portfolios also 40-50% down. Getting very worrying. This can't be a placement problem this is something else?

« Reply #246 on: February 24, 2017, 12:50 »
0
Anyone else having thumbs show on a map and weren't reported in earnings?

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #247 on: February 24, 2017, 13:29 »
+4
They rejiggered the search again...my best sellers have been pushed back from the top of page one to the middle of page two, and page one is stuff from newbies. Our fearless CEO is under pressure to get the stock price up to $80/share, and I suspect they're trying to show an increase in profits by paying out lower royalties.

I have to go back to 2014 to see a February this low.

« Reply #248 on: February 24, 2017, 13:43 »
+5
They rejiggered the search again...my best sellers have been pushed back from the top of page one to the middle of page two, and page one is stuff from newbies. Our fearless CEO is under pressure to get the stock price up to $80/share, and I suspect they're trying to show an increase in profits by paying out lower royalties.

I have to go back to 2014 to see a February this low.

I wondered what went crazy today. I noticed the problem with the map and assumed that the stats would actually catch up but I guess my measly 15 downloads for the day is actually correct?

I know it's big business, and the little people don't matter, but don't they realise how much they are playing with peoples lives? I have to look back to 2011 to see a February this low, and I'm so depressed I can't put into words how bad I feel over all this.

Please Shutterstock, have a heart - you are killing us here.

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #249 on: February 24, 2017, 15:15 »
0
They rejiggered the search again...my best sellers have been pushed back from the top of page one to the middle of page two, and page one is stuff from newbies. Our fearless CEO is under pressure to get the stock price up to $80/share, and I suspect they're trying to show an increase in profits by paying out lower royalties.

I have to go back to 2014 to see a February this low.

I wondered what went crazy today. I noticed the problem with the map and assumed that the stats would actually catch up but I guess my measly 15 downloads for the day is actually correct?

I know it's big business, and the little people don't matter, but don't they realise how much they are playing with peoples lives? I have to look back to 2011 to see a February this low, and I'm so depressed I can't put into words how bad I feel over all this.

Please Shutterstock, have a heart - you are killing us here.

micro stock is finished.
you can keep up uploading a lot just to have some dollars...but people who only do this for living better find a plan soon...next year will see 200 300 million images per year...thousand of contributor more.
photography have many opportunity apart micro the problem if you have the plan to catch them...
this month i went from very low position in fotolia to the first 500....considering my week earning i was surprised to be into the first 500 earners. i understood that even working hard and uploading as hell you cant leave with micro .


 

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