MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Alamy.com => Topic started by: fintastique on August 16, 2006, 07:21
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A couple of tips for those who burn CDs and post them to Alamy.
As they have 4.9 million images and rather lax upload controls ( alot of similar shots) keywording is so important if your images will ever been found.
1 keywords must be separated by a space just because having a comma dioesn't mean anything to them
2 they have a search option which cuts though the dross - exact phrase
so group your keywords appropriately so obviously
St Andrews cathedral Scotland
but also
river tay estuary
will show up for searches for river tay and tay estuary
So for those contributing its worth doing a few searches to see if you can find your images and tweak your keywords appropriately.
I think folks are waiting for the uploading as the review process seems to be getting quicker though I seem to get one disc piggy backing on a DVD sent the previous week
Date received date online wait
5 May 31 May 26 days
12 June 10 July 28 days
27 June 25 July 28 days
06 July 25 July 19 days
24 July 11 August 18 days
2 August 11 August 9 days
So the reviewing of the last batch was quicker than CanStockPhoto and BigStock !! ;D
If only somebody would buy something. :'(
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are you saying that if you have three keywords that 'belong' together, that the should be listed right after eachother in the correct order, and not say for example in alphabetical order?
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As Alamy's keywording screen is the same as shutterstock's I send off the files unkeyworded as using pixvue would alphabetize the keywords which is very bad.
Yep always group your keywords so that the exact phrase search will pick up the keywords in the correct order
so first search option all keywords "edinburgh castle scotland" - 1052 results
second keyword option "edinburgh castle scotland" - 138 results
Strangely "castle edinburgh scotland" picks ups 69 results who used that phrase mostly in the title
I sometimes just copy and paste the title into keywords then add citadel stronghold fortress etc etc
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hmmm well i am not totally sure I agree with the keywords being in any specific order and affecting ranking.... the photo title on the other hand seems to affect search ranking considerably.
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I'm not sure how much grouping your keywords will help you, since someone could search on "castle Scotland Edinburgh"...
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so first search option all keywords "edinburgh castle scotland" - 1052 results
second keyword option "edinburgh castle scotland" - 138 results
Maybe it's just too early for me but what's the difference between the two?
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i am starting to think why did I start this thread
Geopappas you are correct somebody could search for castle edinburgh scotland
IRCrockett you have to visit the site and try a search to appreciate there is a difference at Alamy
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography-adv-search.asp
looking back at some searches using the exact phrase option will give fewer results but I'm not entirely sure why. I think the title is extremely important I found one image where none of the search words were in the keyword but they were in all in the title, maybe it just searches the titles of the images.
Anyway most of us don't submit to Alamy so DON'T WORRY
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Can someone explain the ranking? How do I know what my ranking is? How do I change my ranking?
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Can someone explain the ranking? How do I know what my ranking is? How do I change my ranking?
Ranking: how good you are. How do you know: by having some pictures sold. How to change: by being a good stock photographer.
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Can someone explain the ranking? How do I know what my ranking is? How do I change my ranking?
Ranking: how good you are. How do you know: by having some pictures sold. How to change: by being a good stock photographer.
How do you get your pictures sold if you are at the end of the search because you just started and haven't sold any pictures. You can be an awesome photographer but if your picture doesn't come up on the first few pages because your ranking is low because you haven't sold anything yet then there is not way you will sell a picture and your ranking will stay low.
So I guess it sucks :'(
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How do you get your pictures sold if you are at the end of the search because you just started and haven't sold any pictures. You can be an awesome photographer but if your picture doesn't come up on the first few pages because your ranking is low because you haven't sold anything yet then there is not way you will sell a picture and your ranking will stay low.
So I guess it sucks :'(
No, it doesn't suck. Alamy has 5 million photos in its database. You can still sell pictures. Just as a new amateur photog you won't sell much: most likely nothing. I've sold several thousand photos through microstock so far and two through traditional agency methods. Those two sales netted me $199.50 each. The most I've gotten through microstock for a single sale was $100 for a special license request through iStock, but the average sale nets me 50 cents. Anyways back to traditional stocks: even pros don't sell much there. My friend sells an average of 1 picture for each 100 in his portfolio per year. With a 2000+ photos he gets 2 sales a month. BUT... with Alamy's pricing, he can get as much as $1500 in commission for a single sale! There was just a photo he's sold taken on Santorini for which he's gotten $950. With RM sales I could do with one or two sales a month.
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I suppose at Alamy its a question of faith that the designer will do a very specific search for the photo.
Empire State Building - 3,680 hits
Empire State Building lightning - 1 hit and looking at the keywords it may be a photoshop job
How many of us are submiiting to Alamy?
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me