Author Topic: A cheapskate buyer's perspective (Read 10834 times)

Jonathan Ross · « **Reply #25 on:** November 20, 2009, 12:49 »

Hi All,

I am curious, how do you know if a keyword is being used to purchase your images in Micro. Is there a way to track the buyers key word search. It sounds like some people here are aware of what key words work and which don't in the sales of their images. I would love to know how to track that info. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jonathan

epantha · « **Reply #26 on:** November 20, 2009, 12:54 »

One example to see keywords used in searches

Dreamstime –> click on green tab Management Area –> My Earnings button –> Look at "Buyer searched after"

fotografer · « **Reply #27 on:** November 20, 2009, 13:12 »

Also on Istock if you go into one of your images and look at the keywords the first 3 are the ones most often used in the searches that resulted in sales.

epantha · « **Reply #28 on:** November 20, 2009, 13:20 »

Quote from: fotografer on November 20, 2009, 13:12

Also on Istock if you go into one of your images and look at the keywords the first 3 are the ones most often used in the searches that resulted in sales.

I didn't know that! Thanks for the info.

Jonathan Ross · « **Reply #29 on:** November 20, 2009, 23:03 »

Thanks you two,

That is really helpful info. really appreciate it.

Best,
Jonathan

ShadySue · « **Reply #30 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:29 »

Quote from: fotografer on November 20, 2009, 13:12

Also on Istock if you go into one of your images and look at the keywords the first 3 are the ones most often used in the searches that resulted in sales.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but isn't it that the keywords are rearranged in the order of popularity, rather than just the top three (although these will be the 'top three' of the list, of course)? If you click on 'more like these', it's the top four keywords that are used.

gill · « **Reply #31 on:** November 26, 2009, 13:50 »

Just an update...

I bought 12 images from IS. It took me days to find the images I wanted, and still I have some blank spaces. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a URL but given the amount of time spent looking for stock, I think I'm entitled to not spend extra time reading posting rules

Anyway, www.frenchgardenworld.com

I've sent mails to some of the owners apologising for the smallness of images bought.

Just to reiterate, my point is – not everyone has time to look. How many people like me give up at the first hurdle? It's all about maximising your sales. Find out what it is that you've photographed and add it to your keywords, you just might get some extra sales because of that.

Luckily I can recognise a lot of plants without names, but that still means I have to wade through 20000 tulips to find one that someone hasn't identified.
Yes, I could go to a plant-specific stock site, but not having any spare arms and legs to give away, that's not an option.

Bon courage!

fotografer · « **Reply #32 on:** November 26, 2009, 15:54 »

Not sure if all of the keywords are arranged in order or not. I just remembered reading something about the first 3 (or maybe 4) are arranged in order of popularity.

Quote from: ShadySue on November 21, 2009, 10:29

Quote from: fotografer on November 20, 2009, 13:12
Also on Istock if you go into one of your images and look at the keywords the first 3 are the ones most often used in the searches that resulted in sales.
Sorry to be nitpicky, but isn't it that the keywords are rearranged in the order of popularity, rather than just the top three (although these will be the 'top three' of the list, of course)? If you click on 'more like these', it's the top four keywords that are used.

FD · « **Reply #33 on:** November 26, 2009, 20:12 »

Quote from: Jonathan Ross on November 20, 2009, 12:49

I am curious, how do you know if a keyword is being used to purchase your images in Micro. Is there a way to track the buyers key word search.

As far as I knows, only Dreamstime offers that option. You can see it on your sales page (click the amount$ after "earnings balance" on top when logged in) under the column "Buyer searched after". The keywords will be there.

Very interesting is the mentioning "n/a". That means that a buyer bought your shot by a visual search, browsing thumbs. Either by directly going to your portfolio, or clicking one of the "similar images" on other's pictures, or "more of this model" on your own pictures. The more diverse your portfolio is, the more chances to get a n/a sales since you will turn up more near other's pictures. To give an idea, of my last 20 sales, 14 (!) were n/a.

Keywords are obviously not the whole story in searches, but of course they are very important to select "similar images" with any image (especially of others) that is shown. This because similarity is decided on common keywords that are shared between the original shown and the similars.

Also buyers' searches seem to contain very simple generic words, seldom more than 2. From those last 6 sales that were found by keywords, the keywords were "plane", "rapper", "flag philippines", "philippines"x2 and "thumbs up".