Author Topic: Free Image of the Week... does it help? (Read 8625 times)

Graffoto · « **on:** October 31, 2009, 16:42 »

HI All,

I had the FIOTW on iStock last week.
I was pretty excited to see it featured on the front page and it generated well over 54,000 views over the weeks time.

I also had a few downloads of related images this week (same model), so there has been a small amount of action from it, but not nearly what I was hoping for from the exposure.

Has anyone else here had a similar experience?
Is donating images to be used as traffic generators a waste of time?

Your thoughts please.

Graffoto · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2009, 01:43 »

I am back to answer my own question.

After a week as FIOTW and an additional two weeks available as a free download, my file had nearly 100,000 views. It was downloaded a total of 47,810 times mostly in large and xlarge sizes (hey if it's free might as well go for the largest size available, right?)

Now the interesting part is this: The last time the file had any action prior to being FIOTW was Dec 2008.
Now after nearly a year of no action at all.... and AFTER the file is no longer free, it has had 10 paid downloads in just six days and generated $42.96 net in that time.

The answer to my question then is an unequivocal yes.
It does pay to offer your file for free as a traffic builder

iclick · « **Reply #2 on:** November 28, 2009, 03:43 »

Congratulations, pleased it worked for you

I have never bought into the 'free Image to promote Portfolio' route simply because looking at the bigger picture the more this is taken up of course in the long term the worse it is for contributors collectively. Sure the Agencies love to promote this to bring traffic to their sites and would rub their hands in glee at your post

however having spoken to and read responses from buyers many just grab the freebies without any interest of who the contributer is. Guess the possible advantage of the free Image being downloaded on mass is that it may get a better position in the search which would explain your 10 paid Downloads.

I personally would rather delete a struggling Image for the greater good

fotografer · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2009, 06:51 »

I had one a couple of years ago at istock on an image that I had just put up. I had an extra good sales week while it was FIOTW and the image went on to get a flame wheras a very similar and in my opinion better image sold much less.
congrats on yours

sgcallaway1994 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2009, 12:16 »

What earns an image a "flame"? >100 downloads?

Just curious, cuz I've seen people talk about this term but never really understood. My guess is it may earn some kind of an icon?

leaf · « **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2009, 12:33 »

Quote from: sgcallaway1994 on November 28, 2009, 12:16

What earns an image a "flame"? >100 downloads? Just curious, cuz I've seen people talk about this term but never really understood. My guess is it may earn some kind of an icon?

You get flames on your images when they have reached X number of downloads
http://www.istockphoto.com/icons.php then click on 'Site Featuers'

Graffoto · « **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2009, 12:58 »

@Leaf, thanks for posting that.
I was going to try and type it out..... but my fingers are slow

Danicek · « **Reply #7 on:** November 28, 2009, 13:08 »

Quote from: nosaya on November 28, 2009, 01:43

I am back to answer my own question.

After a week as FIOTW and an additional two weeks available as a free download, my file had nearly 100,000 views. It was downloaded a total of 47,810 times mostly in large and xlarge sizes (hey if it's free might as well go for the largest size available, right?)

Now the interesting part is this: The last time the file had any action prior to being FIOTW was Dec 2008.
Now after nearly a year of no action at all.... and AFTER the file is no longer free, it has had 10 paid downloads in just six days and generated $42.96 net in that time.

The answer to my question then is an unequivocal yes.
It does pay to offer your file for free as a traffic builder

I don't see the logic behind your conclusion. If you offer your files for free and if your image gets chosen as FIOTW, it may bring say up to $100 income you would not get otherwise. That would be the logical conclusion. Does it mean that it pays to offer your files for free? How many files have you offered for free? How high is the probability it will be chosen as FIOTW? How much does the usual file that is not featured as FIOTW bring? The math needs to include that to draw the conclusion.

I understand that it feels well to be there on the front page. Yet I doubt one will get compensated for that. And, obviously, on top of that there is the larger picture - 47,810 free downloads of this one picture? Did 47 000+ designers needed this particular image in this particular time frame? Hardly. It is possible they are building library of free images for future needs. Look at the archive of FIOTWs on iStock alone. Quite a collection of good quality stuff.

Will this trend have longterm significant impact (like moving towards free in much larger volume)? I doubt that. Yet I'm pretty sure it does not pay off.

lisafx · « **Reply #8 on:** November 28, 2009, 15:03 »

Congrats on the increased sales and traffic Nosaya.

Seems logical that there WOULD be an increase in sales from having a FIOTW at Istock. Unlike most free images at other sites, the FIOTW is featured on the front page for a week. That would pretty much have to drive traffic to your portfolio.

As a non-exclusive I have never had a FIOTW accepted. I think maybe I have seen a handful of clear cannister newbies get IOTW or FIOTW over the years, but never anyone who was eligible to be exclusive and wasn't. Seems like this type of portfolio promotion is part of what is promised as part of the exclusivity package.

Graffoto · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2009, 15:09 »

Quote from: Danicek on November 28, 2009, 13:08

I don't see the logic behind your conclusion. If you offer your files for free and if your image gets chosen as FIOTW, it may bring say up to $100 income you would not get otherwise. That would be the logical conclusion. Does it mean that it pays to offer your files for free? How many files have you offered for free? How high is the probability it will be chosen as FIOTW? How much does the usual file that is not featured as FIOTW bring? The math needs to include that to draw the conclusion.

I understand that it feels well to be there on the front page. Yet I doubt one will get compensated for that. And, obviously, on top of that there is the larger picture - 47,810 free downloads of this one picture? Did 47 000+ designers needed this particular image in this particular time frame? Hardly. It is possible they are building library of free images for future needs. Look at the archive of FIOTWs on iStock alone. Quite a collection of good quality stuff.

Will this trend have longterm significant impact (like moving towards free in much larger volume)? I doubt that. Yet I'm pretty sure it does not pay off.

Visibility brings sales. It really is that simple.
This file had a 'sister' image from the same shoot that was an "editors pick" @ Dreamstime (before I went exclusive).
It sold well for a short period of time.

But this image had been laying fallow for close to a year on IS and now it has a new life for the time being.
There is absolutely no way to 'do the math' that you are asking for in your first paragraph. It would all be based on supposition.

How much would it have earned without the exposure?
My guess is it would have been moved to the dollar bin in another year and made next to nothing.

I had nine files in a lightbox offered for use as FIOTW. This one was chosen.
Chance of having another file chosen within a years time? Almost nill.

And no, I don't see IS increasing its give away collection. They do have to generate revenue after all.

Pixart · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2009, 11:30 »

I support the idea of Free IMAGE of the Week. NOT free databases of images.

If you have THE free image of the week it is great exposure. If your free image is burried into a collection you are not special, you are being taken advantage of.

Just my opinion.

I had one on SS this spring and my sales were 20 -25% higher than the months around it, and I it sold maybe 8 times during the freebie week too.

jg123 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2010, 04:38 »

I got FIOTW a few months back and a few interesting things happened.....

1) I immediately posted all of my dollar images within the FIOTW's description area and saw an immediate jump in dollar bin sales that lasted for about 2-3 weeks.
2) My ISP shut down the webspace where I had all of my lightbox link images due to too much traffic so I had to very quickly find new space and re-code ALL of my image descriptions with the new URL's. NOT good. I now have my own domain name and much more bandwidth so that I don't get shut down again if I get IOTW or other kind of similar exposure.
3) After the FIOTW was taken down and it was no longer free, the image kept on selling and selling and selling and selling. It shot up to one of my top earning images very quickly.
4) My earnings were more than double their normal amount for about 4 weeks afterward.

All in all, it's a great way to gain exposure. Just be prepared for it unlike I was. As for offering free images in general, I agree with one of the other OP's that it's a bad idea outside of the FIOTW.

lexius · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2010, 12:44 »

i have a question.
can one choose an image to be free image of the week or is it chosen by istock?

MichaelJay · « **Reply #13 on:** January 18, 2010, 12:49 »

Quote from: lexius on January 18, 2010, 12:44

i have a question. can one choose an image to be free image of the week or is it chosen by istock?

You have to submit your proposals to http://www.istockphoto.com/Sirimo. Read his blog page on iStock for details.

lexius · « **Reply #14 on:** January 18, 2010, 16:27 »

Quote from: MichaelJay on January 18, 2010, 12:49

Quote from: lexius on January 18, 2010, 12:44
i have a question. can one choose an image to be free image of the week or is it chosen by istock?

You have to submit your proposals to http://www.istockphoto.com/Sirimo. Read his blog page on iStock for details.

thank you very much!

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Author Topic: Free Image of the Week... does it help? (Read 8625 times)

Graffoto

Graffoto

iclick

fotografer

sgcallaway1994

leaf

Graffoto

Danicek

lisafx

Graffoto

Pixart

jg123

lexius

MichaelJay

lexius

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