Author Topic: What are alternatives for microstock? (Read 34762 times)

luissantos84 · « **Reply #75 on:** June 13, 2011, 22:36 »

Quote from: helix7 on June 13, 2011, 21:55

How do you guys promote your zazzle stores? I'm getting close to zero views on my products. Any tips for promotion and traffic building?

I don´t do nothing but I don´t spend many time there.. but from what I see is MASSIVE twitter/facebook spamming all over with as many people following/followers, great no??

oboy · « **Reply #76 on:** June 13, 2011, 23:49 »

I started a while ago a Squidoo lens on how to promote a Zazzle store.
http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-promote-your-zazzle-store-

lagereek · « **Reply #77 on:** June 14, 2011, 00:21 »

Veterinary surgery!

luissantos84 · « **Reply #78 on:** June 14, 2011, 12:31 »

Quote from: lagereek on June 14, 2011, 00:21

Veterinary surgery!

that´s a great alternative too bad we need to take a degree and such

Karimala · « **Reply #79 on:** June 14, 2011, 12:34 »

I only started "advertising" about a month ago -- Twitter, Facebook fan page, talking about it here and at Shutterstock. Here's a breakdown of where my hits came from during the past month.

1.    microstockgroup.com / referral 89
2.    forum.zazzle.com / referral 54
3.    (direct) / (none) 25
4.    twitter.com / referral 15
5.    submit.shutterstock.com / referral 14
6.    facebook.com / referral 5
7.    cmt.zazzle.com / referral 1
8.    forum.zazzle.nl / referral 1
9.    mail.aol.com / referral 1
10.    squidoo.com / referral 1

Karimala · « **Reply #80 on:** June 14, 2011, 13:03 »

Another thing that helps is receiving Zazzle's "Today's Best Award." Got one myself yesterday, in fact! Not only do my views increase for a few days, but the award-winning product gets a higher placement in Zazzle's search. The only way to receive those awards is to keep creating stuff, because they only award it for new uploads.

lagereek · « **Reply #81 on:** June 14, 2011, 13:19 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on June 14, 2011, 12:31

Quote from: lagereek on June 14, 2011, 00:21
Veterinary surgery!

that´s a great alternative too bad we need to take a degree and such

Surprise! thats my real profession. Was active as a Vet ( still am for friends horses and dogs) for many years alongside with photography ( my entire life).

Karimala · « **Reply #82 on:** June 14, 2011, 14:04 »

One more idea...check Zazzle's forums under section "Ideas and sites used to promote your store." You'll find a bunch of offers from folks to add your store link to their Squidoo lens or Facebook fan page or whatever. http://forum.zazzle.com/promote

luissantos84 · « **Reply #83 on:** June 14, 2011, 14:10 »

Quote from: lagereek on June 14, 2011, 13:19

Quote from: luissantos84 on June 14, 2011, 12:31
Quote from: lagereek on June 14, 2011, 00:21
Veterinary surgery!

that´s a great alternative too bad we need to take a degree and such

Surprise! thats my real profession. Was active as a Vet ( still am for friends horses and dogs) for many years alongside with photography ( my entire life).

that´s nice

luissantos84 · « **Reply #84 on:** June 14, 2011, 14:12 »

Quote from: Karimala on June 14, 2011, 14:04

One more idea...check Zazzle's forums under section "Ideas and sites used to promote your store." You'll find a bunch of offers from folks to add your store link to their Squidoo lens or Facebook fan page or whatever. http://forum.zazzle.com/promote

you store is stunning, very very nice, you have been doing a great job, hope sales too

Karimala · « **Reply #85 on:** June 14, 2011, 14:20 »

Thanks!

Sales are coming along slowly but steadily...just increased my inventory from 500 to 1600+ over the past week, so we'll see what happens. I sold an iPhone case a couple of days ago within hours after it published for sale and immediately thought of Helix being all skeptical about selling iPhone cases. LOL

helix7 · « **Reply #86 on:** June 14, 2011, 15:07 »

Quote from: Karimala on June 14, 2011, 14:20

Thanks!

Sales are coming along slowly but steadily...just increased my inventory from 500 to 1600+ over the past week, so we'll see what happens. I sold an iPhone case a couple of days ago within hours after it published for sale and immediately thought of Helix being all skeptical about selling iPhone cases. LOL

I'm still skeptical!

My account balance is still sitting at $0.00. I'm guessing it's just because until last week I only had a couple of products. Probably just need to give it more time.

madelaide · « **Reply #87 on:** June 14, 2011, 16:04 »

Quote from: oboy on June 12, 2011, 18:54

I mark all of them with 24%

Mine range from 15 to 40%. I may have some older stuff at 10% only.

Would a US$1 more in a US$20 item refrain you from buying it? I don't think so, if you have what the buyer wants (just like in stock photography).

Also, as someone said before, Zazzle often offers discounts, so the final price - and your share of it - may be much less.

Karimala · « **Reply #88 on:** June 14, 2011, 16:20 »

Mine are all set at 22%, but I'm thinking about increasing all the cards, key chains and other cheap items. What's another few cents to the customer, especially when they tend to buy cheap items in bulk.

helix7 · « **Reply #89 on:** June 17, 2011, 12:05 »

So a couple of weeks into it with Zazzle I've got just 1 sale, a small button that netted me $0.15. So I'm still very skeptical that I can make any decent amount of money with the site, but I'll give it time. Based on low numbers of views, though, and just a single small sale, I'm not inclined to put too much time into this.

Two observations I've had with Zazzle: 1.) Something is up with the Views stats, because the one hting I've sold still says 0 Views. 2.) I'm noticed a ton of products featuring images that obviously aren't owned by the sellers. Things with photos of celebrities, politicians, etc. How do people get away with this stuff? Isn't there any copyright enforcement on Zazzle?

VB inc · « **Reply #90 on:** June 17, 2011, 12:09 »

Quote from: helix7 on June 17, 2011, 12:05

So a couple of weeks into it with Zazzle I've got just 1 sale, a small button that netted me $0.15. So I'm still very skeptical that I can make any decent amount of money with the site, but I'll give it time. Based on low numbers of views, though, and just a single small sale, I'm not inclined to put too much time into this.

man i so wanted to hear a success story from you. no traffic is what stopped me from investing more time into my shop 2 years ago. I was hoping it was different this time around with the possibility of many more buyers. I think in order to succeed you have to drive most of the traffic yourself which seems pretty hard to do.

RT · « **Reply #91 on:** June 17, 2011, 16:12 »

I think more people should try to sell their stock images direct instead of relying on making cents selling via small revenue sites, it takes a bit of hard work but it's ultimately more rewarding.

stockastic · « **Reply #92 on:** June 17, 2011, 16:39 »

If you do no promotion of your own, you'll get 0 views. You have to find a market and communicate to it, all on your own. Zazzle is just a way to get one-offs printed and shipped. At these prices the only things likely to sell are buttons and business cards, unless you have some tie-in to a sports team, organization, political movement etc and can reach people that will pay $15 for a coffee cup because it has that special message.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #93 on:** June 17, 2011, 16:53 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 17, 2011, 16:39

If you do no promotion of your own, you'll get 0 views. You have to find a market and communicate to it, all on your own. Zazzle is just a way to get one-offs printed and shipped. At these prices the only things likely to sell are buttons and business cards, unless you have some tie-in to a sports team, organization, political movement etc and can reach people that will pay $15 for a coffee cup because it has that special message.

I have never promote my store.. never! I spent there like 2 weekends (15hours tops) while watching TV and such.. got around 100$ for 2 years

Karimala · « **Reply #94 on:** June 17, 2011, 18:07 »

@Helix...the zero views is a current known glitch. It started on the 13th, the day after my second product earned a "Today's Best Award." Grr. Try the monthly views link. It seems to still be working.

Karimala · « **Reply #95 on:** June 17, 2011, 18:42 »

Quote from: helix7 on June 17, 2011, 12:05

So a couple of weeks into it with Zazzle I've got just 1 sale, a small button that netted me $0.15. So I'm still very skeptical that I can make any decent amount of money with the site, but I'll give it time.

15 cents on 31 products in two weeks. It's a start, isn't it? I'm wondering why this cute freaky little blue creature isn't being featured on more stuff than just a button. He'd make a really cute kids' t-shirt.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #96 on:** June 17, 2011, 18:44 »

A horned sperm?

Karimala · « **Reply #97 on:** June 17, 2011, 18:53 »

Quote from: sjlocke on June 17, 2011, 18:44

A horned sperm?

After suffering through two week's-plus worth of Weiner jokes, that's pretty good. LOL

lagereek · « **Reply #98 on:** June 17, 2011, 23:53 »

Quote from: RT on June 17, 2011, 16:12

I think more people should try to sell their stock images direct instead of relying on making cents selling via small revenue sites, it takes a bit of hard work but it's ultimately more rewarding.

Too true! the thing is, everyone seams to be staring themselves blind at the internet, thinking thats the only way of selling and thats ofcourse also the place where you earn the least. There are other ways and far more lucrative.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #99 on:** June 20, 2011, 22:11 »

I've resisted the urge but, get a real job? Oh wait the message says designing, and I don't even do stick figurines, so what do I know?

Micro is my 4th source of income, I think that's appropriate attention and effort. I enjoy it and now and then I actually have something inspired and shoot it. The rest of the time, it's CrapStock and snapshots. Someone wants to pay me 25c to $2 for that, I'll take it.

By the way, I found a Ten dollar bill on the ground on Sunday. Crowd of people walking along a path and I bent over to pick it up, the rest didn't notice it. That's more than I made on PP last month. So my theory that I could make more picking up change on the ground may not be as whacked out as it sounds?

I've had two crafts and art types tell me how much they liked Etsy, so that's my vote for the future. I don't know how it does with photos?

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Author Topic: What are alternatives for microstock? (Read 34762 times)

luissantos84

oboy

lagereek

luissantos84

Karimala

Karimala

lagereek

Karimala

luissantos84

luissantos84

Karimala

helix7

madelaide

Karimala

helix7

VB inc

RT

stockastic

luissantos84

Karimala

Karimala

Sean Locke Photography

Karimala

lagereek

RacePhoto

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