MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: lonrot on July 27, 2011, 16:20
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I don't see much use to fotolia for newcomers, I got photos that have been up for months, only to get 6 views max per image. Yesterday I tried with some illustrations, so far 0 visits.
Don't they have a directory for new submissions? So they can get some light for a short period of time? Am I missing something? Keywords? Subjects? Any advise for this? This is my portfolio by the way: http://us.fotolia.com/p/201037170 (http://us.fotolia.com/p/201037170)
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i've been with fotalia for a few months and they are my best microstock seller
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At least show me your portfolio to compare it with mine... What was your first submission, how many visits so far?
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simply put, new images have a hard time selling on fotolia!
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If you don't know it yet, in FT the first keywords are (or at least were) more relevant, so it can be a problem if your keywords are in alphabetical order.
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I don't see much use to fotolia for newcomers, I got photos that have been up for months, only to get 6 views max per image. Yesterday I tried with some illustrations, so far 0 visits.
Don't they have a directory for new submissions? So they can get some light for a short period of time? Am I missing something? Keywords? Subjects? Any advise for this? This is my portfolio by the way: [url]http://us.fotolia.com/p/201037170[/url] ([url]http://us.fotolia.com/p/201037170[/url])
Espcecially as a newcomer it is very important to upload as much as possible to get a strong portfolio together.
Six images in "months" (could be 2 or could be 6...?) is not getting you anywhere at any agency. Maybe you had 20 sales at Shutterstock with 6 images but that will drop to 0 if you don't keep uploading.
Check your keywords. For example the image: Alice looking down the rabbit hole
I don't see: hole, angel, meditation, yoga, wonderland etc.
You should ideally use keywords of things that actually appear in the image. I don't see a hole or anyone doing yoga. It doesn't make sense and if people use those keywords, look at your image and don't download it, it will slip down the popularity ranking all the way to the bottom because you are spamming keywords.
Use fewer more relevant keywords.
Your illustrations are ok but your photos are not typical stock and there are already plenty of images with girls at each agency that you will never get massive downloads on those.
Try to be unique and different.
Once you have 500 images at Fotolia you can provide feedback here of how business is then.
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it's very difficult to tell which pictures will sell at Fotolia; most will have no sales at all, and now and then a few pictures will get a lot of downloads; so my only suggestion is to keep uploading, and good keywording (also keeping in mind that order of keywords counts at Fotolia)
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What do you guys find more future in my case, photography or illustration? Either way I will start making more illustrations, are easier to make and cheaper. Is fotolia a good place to sell illustrations? Maybe I should start a new thread on this subject...
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I think Click Click is very right. 6 images in months tells me that you aren't taking this very seriously. There are millions and millions of images you are competing against so your 6 are a fraction of a fraction and so even being seen is a long shot.
As for your other question, looking at the 6 images you have I think you have greater sales potential with your illustrations. Your photos aren't bad though.
Good luck,
Mat
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Thanks guys, I have cleared my mind of various aspects. However, in the poll I can see there are some votes for "Find and alternative microstock site". What do you suggest?
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Unless you decide to go exclusive - but I am not suggesting exclusivity, for a series of reasons - I'd say find "additional" sites more than "alternative" sites
As an independent, you NEED to be on all major sites. The list on the right of this site is a good indicator of which sites to choose. At least Shutterstock (http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=97684), Dreamstime (http://www.dreamstime.com/res319086), Fotolia, 123RF. And possibly more.
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I see, it makes a lot of sense. Thanks! :)
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I'm new to this business but seem to be getting quite a few views to the small portfolio I have so far uploaded to Fotolia. Didn't know about the keywording though that was very helpful. Thanks
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Fotolia is my 2nd top performing site after SS, so don't let anyone tell you it's not worth submitting there. It's true that new stuff takes some time to catch on, but if it's unique and in-demand it will get seen, make some initial sales, then take off. As has been pointed out here, your keywording needs some refining.
I'd say the biggest key to success at Fotolia, and anywhere else, is asking yourself "what use will this image have, who will buy it, why will it stand out." I think two of your images pass this test, and communicate strong concepts that I could see being put to good use in helping an image buyer get a message across: the woman on the computer (communication, social networking, etc.) and the boy and grandpa (generational, relationships, etc.) Those are concepts that sell and you can imagine someone buying that and placing it somewhere to make a point.
I don't see the other images telling a clear story or doing anything unique. The illustrated walking man has style, but what does it say? Who would buy it and why? I'm not trying to be harsh... I like the illustration and think you have a distinct, marketable style... but before you illustrate your next images (and I agree that you should focus on illustrations instead of photography, unless you have access to some really unique subject matter) ask yourself if it has a real, specific use to a buyer. Best of luck! You have the potential to do really well!
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This makes me wonder if there's a certain niche of wanted keywords so I could focus on building illustrations without feeling blind.That way my content would be useful and unique.
I saw in istockphoto's quiz that they needed age related illustrations, thus I made the grandpa with his grandson. Any chance to see this realtime on a ranking system showing on-demand keywords? Maybe I'm just dreamind :-\
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Realtime! You must be joking! The tag cloud with the most frequently searched keywords hasn't changed in the last three years. :D
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Yeah this is not SEO anyhow :D
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Realtime! You must be joking! The tag cloud with the most frequently searched keywords hasn't changed in the last three years. :D
Yup :D
Also, I'm not really sure whether the first 6 keyword order really is of importance. What does seem to make a difference is the title and that's not even spelling-corrected!
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What do you guys find more future in my case, photography or illustration? Either way I will start making more illustrations, are easier to make and cheaper. Is fotolia a good place to sell illustrations? Maybe I should start a new thread on this subject...
In my opinion, I prefer you illustrations in that short 6 images portfolio. (I like the old guy and the guy walking, the girl the colors seems a bit off). For the photography I like the first one on the left, but the other 2 I don't find a high commercial value to them, but I will say, it's normal with only 6 images online not to have any sales.
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Hi,
I'm the same. I have a collection of 40 odd pictures with Fotolia (http://www.fotolia.com/p/200973871 (http://www.fotolia.com/p/200973871)) and they each only have 2-4 views after a few weeks. The same pictures on other sites have much more. Do they class a view as an actual click on you image (like an Alamy zoom), whilst the others class a view as appearing amongst the other images in a search?
Also does anyone know how to add keywords to a picture already accepted by Fotolia. I went to edit and can move keywords up and down, but can't input new ones?
Cheers,
Terry
swellphotographyuk.blogspot.com (http://swellphotographyuk.blogspot.com)
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Also does anyone know how to add keywords to a picture already accepted by Fotolia.
You can't unfortunately.
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same problem I have. Visiting numbers of my photos are still low for 30 weeks. But I still trying to add photos to Fotolia.
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FT changed the search results more than a year ago to sell only bestselling images. When i started there new pictures sold often 5 minutes after acceptance.
Meanwhile from up to 800 new picts a year i get 20-30 downloads - i mean in total, not for each pict. Other agencys do this in just a week. As FT did, some years ago.
My bestsellers sell anymore...but i ask myself, why upload nwe picts to FT?
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FT changed the search results more than a year ago to sell only bestselling images. When i started there new pictures sold often 5 minutes after acceptance.
Meanwhile from up to 800 new picts a year i get 20-30 downloads - i mean in total, not for each pict. Other agencys do this in just a week. As FT did, some years ago.
My bestsellers sell anymore...but i ask myself, why upload nwe picts to FT?
I think you are right.. They are always rejecting my new uploads, that are really good pics. May be I should think to upload FT once more.
thank you for adv.
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My acceptance rate is still the same... and it was and is good. But for what? New pictures are not selling.
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New pictures are not selling.
You are right about this.. I fed up with this...
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You are getting smaller part of earnings on the most of stock agencies...
So why to promote their sites, you can make your own and earn 100%...
Also, if you promoting your portfolio on Fotolia, customer will probably want to see other images there, not only yours...
So you are doing their part of business and likely you will not see much benefits...