Author Topic: Best match woes... (Read 28319 times)

perkmeup · « **Reply #25 on:** February 27, 2008, 03:55 »

Well, I just figured out another item that drastically effects your placement in the best match search. Big time..... If you opt out of Extended licenses you will all but disappear off the radar on best match....regardless of how many downloads a photo has or how popular it is.

That was what my problem was. Last week i decided to opt out of Extended licenses due to the small amount that we receive from them...WOW a whole 20%...... that is when all my photos disappeared into the abiss. Yesterday i changed it back and opted in for extended licenses....and guess what....today my photos are back in view.

So i guess that IS's way of forcing you to allow EL's .....no matter what the price. If you opt out.....your sales will fall off dramatically... tough choice....I guess I grin an bear it.. $:-\$

Interesting insight hatman....I didn't know that....people are always trying beat the system

thesentinel · « **Reply #26 on:** February 27, 2008, 04:19 »

Quote from: hatman12 on February 27, 2008, 02:18

thesentinel - how do you get those numbers? Is there a league table somewhere?

All sales figures there are public domain and there is an istockapp called compare which can collate it

hatman12 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 27, 2008, 04:30 »

By the look of things you're not doing too badly yourself thesentinel. Congratulations on an excellent portfolio and sales record.

DanP68 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 27, 2008, 05:08 »

Quote from: Seren on February 25, 2008, 02:50

Mind you, thinking about it, I guess that downloads per month is probably quite heavily weighted into the algorithm, so I guess it's to be expected!

I believe it is too, from the statistical analysis I have done. Also look at Views/DL. This appears to me to be another large factor in best match. When I sort my portfolio by best match, it sorts almost exactly by Views/DL.

This explains how an image can suddenly catch fire without explanation. Any image can sit for months with little or no views. Let's say you have 3 views, 0 sales. Suddenly someone finds it by chance, and buys it after viewing it. Now you have a 4:1 ratio which is really strong. The image shoots up immediately. If the sale was not a fluke, you will now have a big best match advantage and many sales will follow.

I've had images not get touched for 2 to 3 months, then suddenly get their first purchase and shoot into my Top 10 best match sort. There is some luck involved to be sure. But as they say, the cream rises to the top.

DanP68 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 27, 2008, 05:15 »

Quote from: yingyang0 on February 25, 2008, 20:31

Quote from: fotografer on February 25, 2008, 04:28
Recently the best match search seems to be giving a huge advantage to exclusives.
I'm exclusive and my downloads have gone down drastically this month (down 60% over last month)!

It always amazes me how much people are willing to extrapolate their own experience to the general population. You can't draw general conclusions from anecdotal evidence (well I guess you can but you shouldn't). I'm not saying that exclusivity doesn't play a part in the best match, because it probably does, but I very much doubt has a significant effect.

Yingyang,

What about your earnings? My DL's are way down from the Fall, but the price increase has cushioned the fall to a degree. iSP earnings probably down 25 to 30%. Not something I want to see, but as long as other sites continue to make up the difference, and then some, I'm more than pleased.

DanP68 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 27, 2008, 05:22 »

Quote from: Susan S. on February 26, 2008, 17:20

I must confess that for the first few months I guarded that exposure jealously and sitemailed anyone that rated it less than five, politely asking whether they meant for their rating to bump the image off the highest rated page- and all the people concerned changed their ratings to 5s for me!

Susan,

I really dislike the community ratings. It seems like it has outlived its purpose, and is simply a relic from the days of free file sharing. Now it can be gamed, as you note, so that contributors are hurt by it.

I don't think anyone should be rating images except the reviewers. And even then, it should have a small weight.

Dr Bouz · « **Reply #31 on:** February 27, 2008, 08:32 »

whenever some of my photos are downloaded on isp - honestly, i ask myself "how did they (customers) ever found these ones on the earth"..
b.t.w. you are wrong thinking that isp is earning more money on non-exclusives.
example: if you have some good photo, and you are exclusive with is - customer who likes that one have only one possibility to buy that specific image - to buy credits on isp, and buy that image.
if you are non-exclusive - customer can buy this image on other sites with "per photo sale" for ...(less money).

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #32 on:** February 27, 2008, 11:26 »

I'm glad to see I'm not an isolated case here...

I've had to take some time off due to a new little addition in the house, and to take care of my wife after a c-section.

My microstock income is probobly greater than any job I've had in the past. At least it was. my sales are declining VERY fast.

I'd love to know whats going on here. Do you have to fill the que every week to keep priority in searches?

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #33 on:** February 27, 2008, 11:47 »

Quote from: lisafx on February 26, 2008, 18:45

Yes, Yuri is quite a phenomenon. I would not judge istock's best match performance by Yuri though. He is the exception to the rule.

Why not? He is subject to the same treatment as everyone else. Because people may hunt him out does not affect his Best Match behavior.

sharply_done · « **Reply #34 on:** February 27, 2008, 12:25 »

Quote from: hatman12 on February 27, 2008, 02:32

...
There is another factor that influences the placing in the search; it isn't best match but the faster approval times. Let me explain: the main component of best match is dl/month. This is calculated not from the approval date but from the upload date.
...

This also illustrates why you should avoid using Scout to appeal a rejection.

Scout takes such a long time that if your rejection is reversed, the file will have had zero DLs in the 4-6 weeks since you uploaded it. The intial best match placement of the image will be too low for the image to get the initial exposure it needs to become a healthy seller.

Rather than using Scout, you are better off to upload the file again.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #35 on:** February 27, 2008, 12:59 »

Thats interesting concerning approval times and best match. When I learned that shutterstock ranks images according to sales over time, it wasn't long before I saw the pattern at work with Istock's best match.

But if I could ask the more experienced here, what is it about taking some time off that causes sales to drop after a few weeks? I mean, Istock alone was doing $100 days for me, and now I'm fortunate to see $50. Its still has a random up and down, but overall the trend is pointing down.

pixelbrat · « **Reply #36 on:** February 27, 2008, 13:11 »

Quote from: Leo Blanchette on February 27, 2008, 12:59

But if I could ask the more experienced here, what is it about taking some time off that causes sales to drop after a few weeks? I mean, Istock alone was doing $100 days for me, and now I'm fortunate to see $50. Its still has a random up and down, but overall the trend is pointing down.

I don't know that I'd call myself "more experienced" but I am not seeing the same trend that you are as far as taking time off from IS. (This is definitely the case at SS though) I haven't uploaded anything to IS in ages, due in part to getting ready to sell my house, and I haven't noticed any significant loss in downloads from that. I'm not sure what could have caused that in your case. There are so many factors at work here that it would really be tough to try to nail that down. best match changes, ebb & flow, Jupiter lining up with Mars... who's to say.

Also wanted to edit to say that actually my earnings have gone up slightly each month, despite not uploading any new photos. Of course this could all change at a blink of an eye, I'm sorry to say.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #37 on:** February 27, 2008, 13:26 »

Thanks, nice to know its just chance.

I mean, if something sells, it should stay at the top by its own merrit. It would not make sense for images to plummit just cuz someone takes time off. So it could be as simple as chance.

I guess its back to work a bit early. The best advice I was ever given in regard to any financial matter: "Don't worry -- WORK!" -- an old signmaker I worked for.

(Edited to re-word)

pixelbrat · « **Reply #38 on:** February 27, 2008, 13:48 »

By the way, just wanted to say that I LOVE your work!! I rated a few of your illustrations a while back when I stumbled upon your port. Great portfolio!! Hope things start to look up for you. Oh and congrats on the new addition.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #39 on:** February 27, 2008, 14:10 »

Oh thank you!

I recognized yours too! I love this concept: http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4089957

Very original.

I like this place -- a neutral haven to talk stock! Seems rather relaxed here too. Even with Sjlocke around! (Hehe, had to raz ya sean).

Phil · « **Reply #40 on:** February 27, 2008, 14:36 »

Quote from: Susan S. on February 26, 2008, 06:28

I'm exclusive at istock and my sales are down a bit on January but not hugely - they have been very very volatile though - some really good days, and some shockers. If I have a few more of the good days it's conceivable I could equal the January sales figures, but it's more likely I'll be down around ten per cent. I do have a small portfolio, which is therefore subject to swings. And my best seller has just dropped off the most popular files page so it's sales have tanked, and I expected a slow down (some mean *insult removed* gave it a 4/5, knocking it out of the top fifteen ! - but it had six months of free pimping so I can't complain)

post a link and we'll bang it back up there

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #41 on:** February 27, 2008, 14:43 »

Quote from: Leo Blanchette on February 27, 2008, 14:10

I like this place -- a neutral haven to talk stock! Seems rather relaxed here too. Even with Sjlocke around! (Hehe, had to raz ya sean).

I was just looking at your port yesterday - real nice series lately with your guy. You're like the what's-his-name-with-the-3d-gold-guys of 2d vector.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #42 on:** February 27, 2008, 14:55 »

HAha, I remember seeing those on Snap VIllage! BTW, no connection!

Seren · « **Reply #43 on:** February 27, 2008, 15:04 »

Quote from: hatman12 on February 27, 2008, 02:32

There is another factor that influences the placing in the search; it isn't best match but the faster approval times. Let me explain: the main component of best match is dl/month. This is calculated not from the approval date but from the upload date.

I've just been thinking about this.

I quite often set pictures to upload on iStock to fill my upload quotas for the week, then finish uploading them (keywording etc) like a week, two weeks later.

So I wonder if the upload date is when you first upload them into the system, or when you push them forward into the inspection queue?

fotografer · « **Reply #44 on:** February 27, 2008, 15:59 »

The upload date is the date you upload the image so you should always finish it off before it hits its upload slot so that it has a chance of getting downloaded quickly and getting a better dls/month

Susan S. · « **Reply #45 on:** February 27, 2008, 19:09 »

Quote from: rustyphil on February 27, 2008, 14:36

Quote from: Susan S. on February 26, 2008, 06:28
I'm exclusive at istock and my sales are down a bit on January but not hugely - they have been very very volatile though - some really good days, and some shockers. If I have a few more of the good days it's conceivable I could equal the January sales figures, but it's more likely I'll be down around ten per cent. I do have a small portfolio, which is therefore subject to swings. And my best seller has just dropped off the most popular files page so it's sales have tanked, and I expected a slow down (some mean *insult removed* gave it a 4/5, knocking it out of the top fifteen ! - but it had six months of free pimping so I can't complain)

post a link and we'll bang it back up there

You can't! Even if 1000 people rated it 5/5, the single 4/5 rating would kill it from the most popular files page. (lots of other much better files with higher numbers of 5/5 ratings have been dropped back in the same way - if someone gives a 1/5 rating, on an otherwise well rating and downloaded file then admin will generally overturn it but a 4/5 is a bit hard to argue with)

zorki · « **Reply #46 on:** February 27, 2008, 21:35 »

Frickin ratings system... get rid of it!

Seren · « **Reply #47 on:** February 28, 2008, 02:37 »

Ooops, I got a bit carried away and posted a huge blog on the subject!

Feel free to comment...
http://stockphotodiary.blogspot.com/

I do feel better now I've had a rant though!

Phil · « **Reply #48 on:** February 28, 2008, 06:07 »

Quote from: Susan S. on February 27, 2008, 19:09

Quote from: rustyphil on February 27, 2008, 14:36
Quote from: Susan S. on February 26, 2008, 06:28
I'm exclusive at istock and my sales are down a bit on January but not hugely - they have been very very volatile though - some really good days, and some shockers. If I have a few more of the good days it's conceivable I could equal the January sales figures, but it's more likely I'll be down around ten per cent. I do have a small portfolio, which is therefore subject to swings. And my best seller has just dropped off the most popular files page so it's sales have tanked, and I expected a slow down (some mean *insult removed* gave it a 4/5, knocking it out of the top fifteen ! - but it had six months of free pimping so I can't complain)

post a link and we'll bang it back up there

You can't! Even if 1000 people rated it 5/5, the single 4/5 rating would kill it from the most popular files page. (lots of other much better files with higher numbers of 5/5 ratings have been dropped back in the same way - if someone gives a 1/5 rating, on an otherwise well rating and downloaded file then admin will generally overturn it but a 4/5 is a bit hard to argue with)

yep sorry for that one. I hit reply early in the thread and read later how the system works and realised my mistake and forgot to go back.

Phil

Dr Bouz · « **Reply #49 on:** February 28, 2008, 09:33 »

pixelbrat how did you got property release for figurines (toys)? i had a few nice images with toys (santa - velvet dolls actually) rejected with "no property release" rejection.

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Author Topic: Best match woes... (Read 28319 times)

perkmeup

thesentinel

hatman12

DanP68

DanP68

DanP68

Dr Bouz

Leo Blanchette

Sean Locke Photography

sharply_done

Leo Blanchette

pixelbrat

Leo Blanchette

pixelbrat

Leo Blanchette

Phil

Sean Locke Photography

Leo Blanchette

Seren

fotografer

Susan S.

zorki

Seren

Phil

Dr Bouz

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