Author Topic: Zero views on my Illustrations after many weeks (Read 7777 times)

adkafridi · « **on:** September 13, 2016, 11:46 »

Hi,

I recent passed the illustrations test for istockphoto Illustration contributions. I added three illustrations and its been 3 to 4 weeks but still I have zero views on my illustrations. Am I doing something wrong?

Here's my profile;

newbielink:http://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/adeasonline [nonactive]

I understand getting downloads is a difficult task but I am not getting any views at all which is quite confusing

Thanks in Advance
Adnan

HappyBunny · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2016, 11:54 »

I have started uploading to DT in January 2016 and many of my images have no views. If I wouldn't be on SS as well I would have given up long ago. I have been on iStock only for about 3 month and also have many images with no views but I guess I need to give it more time.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2016, 12:04 »

This is a volume game you need more i.e 100s

Pauws99 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2016, 12:05 »

Quote from: HappyBunny on September 13, 2016, 11:54

I have started uploading to DT in January 2016 and many of my images have no views. If I wouldn't be on SS as well I would have given up long ago. I have been on iStock only for about 3 month and also have many images with no views but I guess I need to give it more time.

I don't take much notice of views for DT in particular some of my pics have 100s and no sales

Shelma1 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 13, 2016, 12:11 »

iS is collapsing. Most of my illos get no views. And I have thousands.

RetroColoring.com · « **Reply #5 on:** September 13, 2016, 21:37 »

iStock is literally dead. It isn't worth our efforts. I have 2000+ vectors in my portfolio and all I saw in September were 2 downloads! iStock is a total marketing disaster and worst contributors relationship management EVER.

adkafridi · « **Reply #6 on:** September 14, 2016, 08:22 »

Thanks for replying, so what do you guys suggest? Should I start working for other websites, may be shutterstock?

Can I use the same illustrations in shutterstock or that would be against their (both shutterstock and istockphoto's) TOR?

Noedelhap · « **Reply #7 on:** September 14, 2016, 08:36 »

Quote from: adkafridi on September 14, 2016, 08:22

Thanks for replying, so what do you guys suggest? Should I start working for other websites, may be shutterstock?

Can I use the same illustrations in shutterstock or that would be against their (both shutterstock and istockphoto's) TOR?

Definitely upload to Shutterstock and Fotolia and perhaps 123RF. As long as you're a non-exclusive contributor (which you are) you're free to upload your illustrations to as many agencies as you like.

Benozaur · « **Reply #8 on:** September 14, 2016, 09:56 »

I had a look at your illustrations, quite cool.
First lets get the obvious out of the way - this is a volume game, you need a LOT more than just three pieces.
Now to the point - Your octopus only has seven keywords, your basketball has nine and not very descriptive, in that they don't do your illustrations justice.
Lets look at the basketball - the first keyword is "horizontal" not very specific and hardly does much by way of steering buyers to your image. I did a search with "horizontal" and iStock returned 21,493,210 results.
Thats what you are competing against.
Other keywords "bird's nest", use "bird" and "nest" seperately. "basket - ball" again seperate "basketball" and "ball". "green color" it is hardly green and yes it has color (most pictures produced diditally have color)...
Spend more time keywording but DON'T spam useless non-descriptive words that don't have anything with your illustration.
If you have an image that a client is looking for and your keywording is not up to par then they will never see them.
Here are some tools to help you:
http://www.arcurs.com/keywording/
http://microstockgroup.com/tools/keyword.php

Also more descriptive titles helps too. Simply "Basket Ball's Nest - Illustration" is a bit basic. I'd call this "Basketball in bird's nest suspended on tree branch against blue sky." or something along those lines...

Brush up on your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and you should get better results.

On a final note, uploading to more agencies gains you a wider audience of potential buyers. Nuff said.

charged · « **Reply #9 on:** September 14, 2016, 11:42 »

Illustrations used to sell quite a bit for me. Just like photos, they also started dying since 2012. These days they don't sell much. Many don't sell at all. My break even point used to be about 3 months in the good old days, now it is more like 18 months, and I expect that number to keep growing. The only saving grace is gettyimages.com. Otherwise the decline in earnings would be even more dramatic.

RetroColoring.com · « **Reply #10 on:** September 14, 2016, 18:37 »

Uploading images at iStock is just complete waste of time with their stone age submitting/keywording process - I mean I better spend this time making new stuff and quickly uploading it at Shutter and getting paid. And, yes - it is a volume game. But how can anyone get that volume in iStock where you have to spend more uploading than doing? In 10 years? 15 years? Thank you, iStock but you better roll over.

adkafridi · « **Reply #11 on:** September 15, 2016, 11:21 »

Thank you all for your responses

@Noedelhap, good to know that. I'll soon add them and more to 123RF and shutterstock.

@Benozaur, thank you very much for the detailed feedback and expert advice, this is what I was looking for

For sure my SEO skills are worst, however I'll work on SEO before making any more designs... Will come back soon for more advices from you

Dumc · « **Reply #12 on:** September 15, 2016, 12:29 »

What I do sometimes is, find similar photos that I have uploaded, and see, what keywords other contributors used....

LDV81 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2016, 12:42 »

Quote from: adkafridi on September 14, 2016, 08:22

Thanks for replying, so what do you guys suggest?

Try to find a time machine. It may be second-hand, as long as it works. Then go back to 2008 perhaps to 2007 or sooner and upload from there. You will have lots and lots of views, downloads, whatever. When you're done, you can rent the time machine to me, I will pay you great money.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2016, 12:56 »

Quote from: Dumc on September 15, 2016, 12:29

What I do sometimes is, find similar photos that I have uploaded, and see, what keywords other contributors used....

basically what shutterstock's tool does its a good start

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #15 on:** September 19, 2016, 16:29 »

View counter is broken.

goober · « **Reply #16 on:** September 20, 2016, 11:54 »

Quote from: LDV81 on September 15, 2016, 12:42

Quote from: adkafridi on September 14, 2016, 08:22
Thanks for replying, so what do you guys suggest?

Try to find a time machine. It may be second-hand, as long as it works. Then go back to 2008 perhaps to 2007 or sooner and upload from there. You will have lots and lots of views, downloads, whatever. When you're done, you can rent the time machine to me, I will pay you great money.

Classic! So true.

ohlipang · « **Reply #17 on:** December 22, 2016, 05:05 »

Quote from: Benozaur on September 14, 2016, 09:56

I had a look at your illustrations, quite cool.
First lets get the obvious out of the way - this is a volume game, you need a LOT more than just three pieces.
Now to the point - Your octopus only has seven keywords, your basketball has nine and not very descriptive, in that they don't do your illustrations justice.
Lets look at the basketball - the first keyword is "horizontal" not very specific and hardly does much by way of steering buyers to your image. I did a search with "horizontal" and iStock returned 21,493,210 results.
Thats what you are competing against.
Other keywords "bird's nest", use "bird" and "nest" seperately. "basket - ball" again seperate "basketball" and "ball". "green color" it is hardly green and yes it has color (most pictures produced diditally have color)...
Spend more time keywording but DON'T spam useless non-descriptive words that don't have anything with your illustration.
If you have an image that a client is looking for and your keywording is not up to par then they will never see them.
Here are some tools to help you:
newbielink:http://www.arcurs.com/keywording/ [nonactive]
newbielink:http://microstockgroup.com/tools/keyword.php [nonactive]

Also more descriptive titles helps too. Simply "Basket Ball's Nest - Illustration" is a bit basic. I'd call this "Basketball in bird's nest suspended on tree branch against blue sky." or something along those lines...

Brush up on your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and you should get better results.

On a final note, uploading to more agencies gains you a wider audience of potential buyers. Nuff said.

this is the greatest answer, i have learned a lot from it, thanks a lot

k_t_g · « **Reply #18 on:** December 23, 2016, 01:24 »

Cute and practicable but more is needed.

qunamax · « **Reply #19 on:** December 23, 2016, 10:24 »

With a bit more than 100 photos on istock I'm probably not in position to judge but anyway I really don't feel it, istock is as good as shutterstock for me, actually even better with better prices and in my short time and tiny volume I even scored single $40 sale. But yes I agree, ticking boxes in order to explain what my keywords that I already entered mean is really painful.

When I started nothing really happened too, but after a month or so it started moving, both with view and sales.
But it's not unusual to have sales while counter states zero views too. I say give it time and volume. 3 is really like having nothing uploaded at all, it's a drop in the sea.

isumi · « **Reply #20 on:** January 05, 2017, 16:44 »

Quote from: qunamax on December 23, 2016, 10:24

With a bit more than 100 photos on istock I'm probably not in position to judge but anyway I really don't feel it, istock is as good as shutterstock for me, actually even better with better prices and in my short time and tiny volume I even scored single $40 sale. But yes I agree, ticking boxes in order to explain what my keywords that I already entered mean is really painful.

When I started nothing really happened too, but after a month or so it started moving, both with view and sales.
But it's not unusual to have sales while counter states zero views too. I say give it time and volume. 3 is really like having nothing uploaded at all, it's a drop in the sea.

Did you get 40$ for one sold picture or is it a sum for all sales?

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Author Topic: Zero views on my Illustrations after many weeks (Read 7777 times)

adkafridi

HappyBunny

Pauws99

Pauws99

Shelma1

RetroColoring.com

adkafridi

Noedelhap

Benozaur

charged

RetroColoring.com

adkafridi

Dumc

LDV81

Pauws99

YadaYadaYada

goober

ohlipang

k_t_g

qunamax

isumi

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