Author Topic: What's you strategy on testing new sites? (Read 3811 times)

33ft · « **on:** February 10, 2013, 21:31 »

I've been spending some time lately letting the ole ftp burn up the night uploading to some more of the mid Tier and Low sites. I was curious what were some of the other's strategy when uploading to new sites.

Do you have a certain set of images you send? Like a variety?, and how many do you chum the water with before letting it sit and watch the performance? 40? 100? more?

Do you send your best of your best or do you keep those aside while you wait and see?

Anything you mind sharing is appreciated as I sometimes wonder if I am giving some of these a fair go.
Thanks,
David

Pauws99 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2013, 06:53 »

I rely on the numbers on the right and when I go for a site I upload as much as I can - have about 1500 images I find best sellers unpredictable so find it easier just to put everything up and wait.

33ft · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2013, 22:11 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on February 11, 2013, 06:53

I rely on the numbers on the right and when I go for a site I upload as much as I can - have about 1500 images I find best sellers unpredictable so find it easier just to put everything up and wait.

Thanks for your reply!, 1500?, wow, guess me giving some of them 40 and then hanging tight was a little shallow of me. I agree with what you say about best sellers sometimes being unpredictable.

JPSDK · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2013, 22:14 »

I send up a few hundred good pictures, that I know can sell.
If they dont sell or I get annoyed, I take them down again.

djpadavona · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2013, 22:42 »

My advice is to not make the mistake that I made early in my stock career, which was to upload to new sites which treat contributors well, and then quit a year later because sales were slow or negligible. It was an unwise move on my part, and it just causes frustration for agencies which we should be supporting.

There are only a few valid reasons to leave an agency -

They are treating you poorly through bad relations, low commissions, etc
You are going exclusive somewhere
You are leaving microstock

Leaving because you are frustrated that there are no sales just wastes your time and energy, and causes an agency to deal with your mood swings when they should be concentrating on their website and its growth.

Honestly I never would have left Featurepics and Yay a few years ago if I had not gone exclusive at IS. Sales were slow, but commissions were good, reviews were fair, and I wanted to support their efforts. I would reapply to them, but at this point I just don't have the time.

So if you are going to take a chance with a low earner, make a long term commitment. Don't bounce on and off agencies like a rubber ball.

33ft · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2013, 01:24 »

Quote from: djpadavona on February 11, 2013, 22:42

My advice is to not make the mistake that I made early in my stock career, which was to upload to new sites which treat contributors well, and then quit a year later because sales were slow or negligible. It was an unwise move on my part, and it just causes frustration for agencies which we should be supporting.

There are only a few valid reasons to leave an agency -

They are treating you poorly through bad relations, low commissions, etc
You are going exclusive somewhere
You are leaving microstock

Leaving because you are frustrated that there are no sales just wastes your time and energy, and causes an agency to deal with your mood swings when they should be concentrating on their website and its growth.

Honestly I never would have left Featurepics and Yay a few years ago if I had not gone exclusive at IS. Sales were slow, but commissions were good, reviews were fair, and I wanted to support their efforts. I would reapply to them, but at this point I just don't have the time.

So if you are going to take a chance with a low earner, make a long term commitment. Don't bounce on and off agencies like a rubber ball.

Interesting, I've not seen it really from their perspective much, more just focused on optimizing my time and energy. Guess it won't hurt leaving them up, but low commissions do concern me. Veer has quite surprised me the last 90 days, to the point that I cannot believe they are in the low bucket.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2013, 03:34 »

Veer is very slow for me but hanging in there.

bruce_blake · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2013, 02:19 »

I feel don't focus the high commission %, like up to 70%, we need to focus on how much we can actually earn, and focus on whether the sale is high. If the selling price is too cheap, such as 50 cents per image, 70% is not interesting at all.

And to be honest, running a business is not cheap, how can a site offers for 70% commission and survive? Maybe they can, but very hard. Just beware most of them offering such high return might be scams.