Author Topic: Am I spotting opportunities where there are none? (Read 4535 times)

condra · « **on:** October 19, 2015, 17:07 »

Hey all

Trying to do some research, to find shooting opportunities, mainly focussing on Shutterstock search results. It has raised more questions.

Firstly though, I'm wondering if many of you take this approach? - targeting keywords and phrases, looking at the market, the supply/demand, predicting trends, spotting opportunities?

The first thing I've been looking for are search terms with few results. But how many pages of results would you class as "low hanging fruit"? 1, certainly.. How about 20? or even 100? Can you compete for something with a lot of competition and if so, how? I'm guessing good photography would be a good start.

Another thing I've found is, many items are in huge supply, but only when isolated on a white background, and not in context. For example, "cheerleader baton" on SS brings up about 10 images of batons, all on white (as well as a couple of random cheerleader shots).. You don't however get any close-ups of a baton in the context of a table, bedroom, locker room or whatever. Similarly, "bowling ball" brings up 145 pages of results on SS, while "bowling man" brings up only 22. I understand that still lifes are easier to shoot than people (for the most part) but on certain items, the ratio of still lifes to contextual shots is astronomical.

What other techniques could be used to find opportunities for keywords or subjects?

Thanks for any thoughts on this..

modviz · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2015, 19:45 »

Condra, I almost think you might be "over-thinking" the microstock business.
I have yet to truly figure it out and I've spent a number of years at it.....The one
thing I do which has helped, is come up with a photo shoot idea and look at
SS's, IS's, DT's first page that matches my subject. And then ask myself: Can I do something
as good as or better than what they currently offer? That first page is my benchmark.
Of course, you're going to have to contend with personal bias

but often times
I've found it a helpful way of submitting good, solid stock. Keywords phrases, the market,
supply and demand, trends and opportunities are all secondary IMO.

Shoot a stunningly original image and they will come.

StanRohrer · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2015, 20:15 »

Yes I've done some of the same research you are doing. If there are hundreds of my search subject, then, yes, I have to do it better and then likely still don't get high enough in the search results to get it to sell.

Also try Picniche tool. Add your search string and let it check a number of sites and compare searches and sales potential. http://research.picworkflow.com/

condra · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2015, 20:47 »

Thank you both for the replies.

Modviz, while all the research in the world won't help bad photography, I imagine even good shots will struggle in a crowded space. I'm hoping to make good images that I enjoy working on, but I'll be more enthused if I know I have a realistic chance of making a reasonable amount of sales. To be honest, I also get a kick out of analytics anyway

Stan, Yes I've been using the picworkflow research tool, but combining the data with other data in my own spreadsheet. Reason being, I'm getting some very high ratings for some phrases so niche, they may not be worth pursuing, and some low ratings for some phrases with huge markets.

For example, "paintball bruises" gets a very high score of 971, so yes, it's easy to compete, but that doesn't mean it's going to be searched for regularly. "Guitar class" gets a lower score of 372, so it won't be so easy to get noticed, but it's clearly a much more popular search term.

So I'm putting the picworkflow ratings alongside a "total value" of a key phrase, giving me a fairly rudimental risk/reward score for each phrase.

StanRohrer · « **Reply #4 on:** October 20, 2015, 11:29 »

I think the point of Picniche is to estimate the number of sales versus the number of images available. Hence the higher the Picniche number the more money you would expect from your image. At a score of 971 I would definitely upload the shot, even a bad one, if it didn't cost an excess amount of time or money. Even at a score of 100 I will look at the competition and see if I can do better or something unique to fit those keywords.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2015, 11:42 »

I tried out PicNiche never seemed to work out for me.......

FlowerPower · « **Reply #6 on:** October 20, 2015, 13:05 »

Quote from: StanRohrer on October 19, 2015, 20:15

Yes I've done some of the same research you are doing. If there are hundreds of my search subject, then, yes, I have to do it better and then likely still don't get high enough in the search results to get it to sell.

Also try Picniche tool. Add your search string and let it check a number of sites and compare searches and sales potential. http://research.picworkflow.com/

Thanks I'll try that.

leaf · « **Reply #7 on:** October 20, 2015, 13:16 »

If you are searching for a niche then I'd say 0-2 pages of results is a good niche. Even for very rare subjects which you might not think are downloaded very often - there are people out there who are looking for those images. I have found a few subjects where there was 0-30 result images and when I filled those holes with decent model released images there were reasonable sales.

sigalavaca · « **Reply #8 on:** October 20, 2015, 20:35 »

Just recently was uploading to one of the big4s some pictures from a not so well known location (East Timor) and the reviewer refused half of the files claiming that the image subject is too specific/niche oriented and that was not generic enough. The day after all I sold 5 timorese pictures. Don't really get the logic.

U11 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 21, 2015, 07:56 »

Quote from: sigalavaca on October 20, 2015, 20:35

the reviewer refused half of the files claiming that the image subject is too specific/niche oriented and that was not generic enough. The day after all I sold 5 timorese pictures. Don't really get the logic.

are those 5 sales justifying your and your reviewers effort financially?

sigalavaca · « **Reply #10 on:** October 21, 2015, 08:36 »

Honestly I have no idea about the reviwer's side. As it's my third month in stockphoto and I had those files on my harddrive for years for me it is ok as I'm still trying to find out what to upload, what sells, etc. But since on the same site I had images refused for being too generic I just wonder what is the agency's logic behind the refusal of a picture for being too specific or niche like. Searching for East Timor you get the usual "tropical/exotic beach" kind of stuff but almost no images of traditional chiefs, indigenous people or clothes. It really surprised me, but hey I'm just entering into this, so I guess there is still a lot to learn.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 21, 2015, 16:43 »

Quote from: U11 on October 21, 2015, 07:56

Quote from: sigalavaca on October 20, 2015, 20:35
the reviewer refused half of the files claiming that the image subject is too specific/niche oriented and that was not generic enough. The day after all I sold 5 timorese pictures. Don't really get the logic.
are those 5 sales justifying your and your reviewers effort financially?

How can you possibly answer that until the images have been on sale for a lot longer?

U11 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 21, 2015, 22:07 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 21, 2015, 16:43

Quote from: U11 on October 21, 2015, 07:56
Quote from: sigalavaca on October 20, 2015, 20:35
the reviewer refused half of the files claiming that the image subject is too specific/niche oriented and that was not generic enough. The day after all I sold 5 timorese pictures. Don't really get the logic.
are those 5 sales justifying your and your reviewers effort financially?

How can you possibly answer that until the images have been on sale for a lot longer?

it is possible to answer my question (care to read it again?) it was about 5 sales which already happened.
And my point is that those 5 sales are not a proof of guaranteed future sales.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 22, 2015, 01:45 »

H'mmmm so you could extrapolate those sales to equal $$$$$? Don't think so? They are not proof of Not getting future sales either. You are much better at this game than me and I suspect 99.5% of us if you can forecast sales with any certainty. I would say 5 sales quickly is a promising start

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Author Topic: Am I spotting opportunities where there are none? (Read 4535 times)

condra

modviz

StanRohrer

condra

StanRohrer

Pauws99

FlowerPower

leaf

sigalavaca

U11

sigalavaca

Pauws99

U11

Pauws99

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