MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Dreamstime.com => Topic started by: arquiplay77 on March 07, 2009, 13:27
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Hello:
Since I've started in this business, i have an eye on the poll results here.
I decided to upload to the big 6 and was expecting DT to be a very good earner, but I'm earning very little there compared to other sites that are lower in the poll (FT, StockXpert, ISP) the only one earning less is 123RF.
So I'm starting to think maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Do yo believe that the kind of work one have, can affect drastically the results in different sites?
I was thinking NO, my guess is that clients are all the same for deferents sites, but maybe I'm wrong.
So my question would be, do you do something special in DT for have good results? maybe some kind of image? maybe keywording in a particular language? don't know I'm lost.
Thank you for your insight.
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DT takes a while to take off. At least 3 months.
Go through your photos and make sure that your most important keyword(s) are in both your title and desctiption.
Do not send photos just to see if they will pass inspection. Approval % matters.
Do not spam. If your images are reported for keyword violations they will drop to the bottom of searches.
It took me a year to make my first $100 on DT and one month to make my next.
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I don't know for sure. Most people report doing well on DT, but yours is not the first complaint I have read where someone is disappointed.
Since you image quality is the same across the board and sales are better elsewhere, I wonder if it might have something to do with search placement. Rumor has it Dreamstime's search engine relies heavily on title and description, in addition to keywords. Some of the other sites don't factor title and description so heavily, or at all, in the case of IS.
Also, some of the other sites may favor newer images more heavily than DT. I notice on DT my new images take a few months to pick up steam, but have a longer shelf life.
If I were you I would review my descriptions and titles on DT and see if you can improve them.
No other suggestion except continue to upload quality images and be patient.
(Looks like Pixart was quicker :) )
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I decided to upload to the big 6 and was expecting DT to be a very good earner, but I'm earning very little there compared to other sites that are lower in the poll (FT, StockXpert, ISP) the only one earning less is 123RF.
So I'm starting to think maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Not at all. Your portfolio has great stock value. It takes however weeks in DT before you get settled well in the search results. Your images have just 0-4 views now. It takes a long time to build up those. This is unlike ShutterStock where you get downloads 2 days after upload but they gradually wane off after a few weeks. You're doing nothing wrong on DT. Just be patient and keep uploading, IMHO.
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OK.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences, i will have patience, i just thought i was missing something here, jeje.
I will pay more attention to descriptions and title from now on.
Cheers.
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It's too early for any conclusions - your portfolio looks good for stock but it's only 67 pictures - so keep up the good work and success will come :)
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Just give it more time. It took a long time before I got regular sales at DT, but they are my #2 site behind SS.
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I too am puzzled by DT. I've put the same small group (about 50) on DT and SS. My acceptance ratio has been very high. In the first week, I made a few dinky subscription sales on both. In the month since then, SS sales have continued and even picked up, but there hasn't been a single sale on DT. SS is outperforming DT by a factor of 10, and still climbing. It's like my account at DT just "died" after the first week.
On the advice of other posters here, I'm continuing to submit to both, but it seems weird to me. What's special about the first week? I keep coming back to the idea that if you don't start selling right away, they rank your account lower, which of course is a downward spiral. It is hard for me to see why sales would start up again after 3 months or a year.
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Don't worry. I'm sure sooner or later sales on DT will satisfy you. I got a friend who started microstock some 6 months ago. Since then, DT was very slow with sales for him, but FT started very good. Few days ago, he told me that DT started to pick up.
So I guess you have to wait.
DT is good. Don't give up. Also, watch your approval rate. I think it has influence to your placement in search.
Good luck!
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The approval rate certainly has to be important. But it seems to me that the sales rate would be even more important. The agencies know that some submitters just have a good instinct for what will sell, so they would want to rank those submitters higher. At least that's what I'd be thinking if I ran an agency.
If I could get away with it I'd put the high-performing submitters in a special "gold" category and just accept whatever they submitted, not even bothering to review them, and put those images at the front of the list.. Then I'm maximizing sales as well as saving labor costs on reviewers. And conversely if a submitter just didn't sell diddly, I'd rank him lower and hope he'd give up, so I could stop spending money on reviewing his images.
I guess that sounds harsh, but - doesn't it make sense?
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Iīd love an agency if the did that to me..
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10 months to the first payout at DT, then 3 months to the 2nd, then 2 months, ... and, hopefully, 1 month ...
After 10 months DT moved to the 3rd place in my earners after SS and IS: http://microstock.pixelsaway.com/microstock-photography-earnings-february-2009/
It needs some time.
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I now my port is small since i have just started, but i am comparing my earnings between agencies with the same port, so that shouldn't be an issue, unless DT consider the size of the port for positioning results.
Just was confused because my "ranking" wasn't like the poll here, especially with DT been second here and 5th in mine.
But if you tell me that is normal in DT to react slowly, i believe you.
BTW, my approval ratio in DT is 94.4%.
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We put up all our Micro images on all of our Micro sites. DT sells different images than my other sites. While it's possible that the customer base may be similar across all sites, there are still customers that ONLY shop at DT, ONLY shop at IS, ONLY shop at SS...
DT took a few months to pick up for us, but once it did, the sales have been steadily increasing. While not staggering, we have received a few payouts from DT already.
Just keep submitting, the larger your portfolio, the easier it is to find.
Gebbie
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For me, DT has the 2nd highest rejection rate of photos.
Reading these posts, however, certainly gives me hope.
I'm also going to keep uploading. I guess some sites take time while others offer faster turn-around.
By the looks of things, that's just the way of the game...
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Dreamstime have never been a good earner for me and the only reason I upload to them is because I upload to the others, if Dreamstime announced they were closing tomorrow it wouldn't be something that would bother me.
Many people judge a site on how friendly it is, personally there's only one thing that counts and it's sales.
They're a very good site for some aspects but extremely bad for others.
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I believe the expertise of the people in the bussines since long ago, so I'm not questioning if this is or not (the slow progression of DT i mean), but why is this?
It has obviously something to do with the position your images appear in the searches result, but can someone tell me what is taken into consideration for this, is it how long you have been there? or the amount of your entire portfolio has something to do with the position of a single file? or what?
Just wonder this because i don't understand why in this site the progression is different from others and why it is so much difference, apparently, in the earning as the time goes by.
BTW excuse my english, hope i made some sense.
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^^ The most probable thing is that they weight views more than other agencies meaning that your images have to collect the views to make their way up the search results.
Other variables are likely downloads. Then there is the acceptance ratio which I believe is quite rare thing about DT.
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I have a really bad acceptance ratio at DT.
Most of my images are rejected - the same images that are making a few downloads on other sites.
I see that DT is working well for some - and I guess it will for me if I persist.
However, because of my high rejection ratio, I have my 2nd smallest portfolio at DT of all other sires. The smallest is FT for the same reason.
The irony is that I already made a sale at FT, and none at DT.
I agree with what people are saying - and maybe it's a good thing that they're picky about their images.
I guess there are different target markets for various Microstock sites and some will hit it off well with certain sites because of their predominant subject matter, and others won't.
I'm really just hoping mine will pick up eventually and I can grow my port to beyond the microscopic size it is now.
Still, I think persistence will pay off.
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It took me a few months to start seeing regular sales on DT. From what I see, quite a few people said that DT was a slow starter. I'm sure persistence will pay off.
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It took me a few months to start seeing regular sales on DT. From what I see, quite a few people said that DT was a slow starter. I'm sure persistence will pay off.
Thanks Goldenangel.
I look forward to that day when my photography has improved in leaps and bounds and I can honestly say "I'm making some decent money now off microstock".
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sorry double post..
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DT will give you sales. instant sales are great, but in my case of other sites, they die after 3 months with no more sign of life. so don't give up, and don't judge a site because it gives you instant sales at the beginning. DT is consistent , like their review time. you know it delivers.
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I havenīt had a download there for 12 days. whatīs going on?
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I'm having a BME there. Had a few print ELs which is nice. So the buyers are there and active.
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I've been unable to upload anything for a week now. I FTP the files successfully, they may or may not eventually disappear from the server, but never show up as "Unfinished". I noticed that when people complained on the DT forum; those threads were quickly closed and in at least one case a sarcastic post was quickly deleted, by the admin I assume.
Anyone know what's going on? If they're having problems, why the secrecy and the forum paranoia?
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i've been told with the new system still in testing, our uploads will show in the to be edited box after 24 hours.
but lately , some have been having trouble with timing out, so i guess it's best to wait and let them fix whatever 's needed.
UPDATE: just went in a moment ago, after i wrote the above. all's fine on my side of the pond. so maybe it could be on your side. :)
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I've tried the same files twice over a 5 day period. They never showed up. I guess I'll try once more, then give up.
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I've tried the same files twice over a 5 day period. They never showed up. I guess I'll try once more, then give up.
i would wait a while. at least until you see the others on the other thread on Dreamstime say they are going well. it's probably something to do on your side. on my side it seems fine. before, it happend to me once, but then it was OK after a week. so maybe they are tweaking and it's affecting certain areas. just guessing.
still, better to wait . go make more photos in the meantime ;)
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i havent noticed any slow down with the new changes at DT, im having a pretty good month actually.
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I've tried the same files twice over a 5 day period. They never showed up. I guess I'll try once more, then give up.
Your doing something wrong.
I have been uploading to them every day 10-20 images for the last three weeks.
No problems. Zero.
4-24 hours and they are in the unfinished area.
-Larry
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I haven't uploaded anything lately, but sales are ok. Not awesome, but ok, best month in the past six. I had one 7 credit sale today, what is nice.
Regards,
Adelaide
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i had also problems with the FTP, last week i uploaded 8 files and only 5 of them apeared in the unfinished section. i re-uploaded two days after and everything was ok.
But now with the new java aplication i canīt upload more that a single file at the time, they just get stock after the firs one.
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Anyone know what's going on? If they're having problems, why the secrecy and the forum paranoia?
It's just the way they are over there. It's been going on for a long time. I call it Eastern Bloc Paranoia. What a bunch of crap. People will as ask a valid question, and if it causes the DT halo to be viewed as askew, they can it. I don't visit the forum there any more, nor do I do their stupid blog thing, which is a bunch of nonsense as it is in no way useful. The only purpose the blog thing serves is to enhance their own web architecture. All of the image buyers I know don't have time for silly self serving image pimping posts.
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My FTP'd files weren't showing either, but this past week I tried their Java uploader and all files appeared within an hour or so. Did it twice - 16 files on Wed. and 15 on Friday. All went smoothly.
I prefer FTP but at least the Java works while they are getting the FTP thing sorted out.
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Thanks stormchaser I feel better now.
While trying to learn this business I've been posting on several microstock forums. Some are unafraid of criticism and let users exchange all sorts of opinions and frustrations. Those forums are fun and stimulate my interest in trying to get better at this game.
A couple, like DT, apparently see a forum as ad copy to be created by users at no charge - "woo-hoo, I'm having my BME" etc. I work in software development and bare-kniuckle criticism from users is always very valuable. It tells us where additional work would really pay off.
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UPDATE:
a minute ago, i went in to keyword an image i uploaded last night (24 hours ago). i found it and after i keyworded and submitted. my browser said the server timed out. but when i relog in my browser and went back into DT, sure enough as i expected,
the image is in the Pending Box.
so check again. never mind the time out,etc...
it's probably a glitch, but the images are there and being delivered as always.
other than that, why not let the IT at Dreamstime do their work. 8)
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Hey, I love your new avatar pic Matt! Much cuter than Dita Von Teese IMO ;)
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Hey, I love your new avatar pic Matt! Much cuter than Dita Von Teese IMO ;)
cheers, as always you are my heroine and guru ;)
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My sales are stagnant there too, last one was at the beginning of March, I'm depressed! :-[