MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Anja02

Pages: [1] 2
1
Frankly, I am just getting tired of all the iStock problems. Is it all worth my time and hassle? Probably not.

FESTIVE is a word that buyers frequently search on. I used to be a buyer, and also on another site that tells you what buyers search on to buy your image, FESTIVE comes up a lot.

So, if the only solution is to add notes to the reviewer or keep posting on forums, I don't have the time to waste on that. So I wont use that keyword. I will just give them few images a week (because its too time-consuming to re-keyword everything you give to other agencies) and only use 3 or 4 keywords per image and leave it that. But I think iStock is shooting themselves in the foot, if that's what other contributors end up doing.


2
The biggest problem with the iStock keywording system is the word association. For example, on an image for Christmas Cupcakes in a party setting, PARTY FOOD becomes BUFFET, and FESTIVE becomes CELEBRATION, and then you get keyword rejection on BUFFET and CELEBRATION, when that was not intended.

Can someone tell me what to do about that?

3
Shutterstock.com / Re: Daily Sales Limit?
« on: December 04, 2014, 15:08 »
LOL you guys are so funny with your egos and need to be right :)) Next we will have a rocket scientist come on to debunk all the myths !! lol

I abbreviated my original post. It should have read: Not all functions of the hemispheres are shared. The cerebrum performs functions such as speech, comprehension, arithmetic, reasoning, spatial ability, emotions, learning and artistic. Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body. (My bad)


4
Shutterstock.com / Re: Daily Sales Limit?
« on: December 04, 2014, 06:19 »
My brother in law, a medical student, is studying brain anatomy where they are taught differences between left and right hemispheres of the cerebrum section of the brain, and their different functions, such as logic vs creativity.

But he, his lectures and all the researchers must be wrong, because Uncle Pete, says its hogwash !! 😉 lol

5
To Stock Performer: thanks for very interesting article. Just one question, how did you calculate the RPIs you mentioned? For example, $1.50 for Business Plan 2?

6
123RF / Re: is 123rf a worthy-to-upload stock agence?
« on: October 09, 2014, 23:26 »
All of a sudden since the IS changes came in, my 123RF DLs have increased considerably - now they are on par with DT and FT.

7
Number of DLs at IS have gone up slightly, however more $$ per DL - so I am up by about 50% in $$s (that's not difficult as a non-exclusive IS, sales were never very high there). SS doesn't seem to have changed, but a lot more DLs suddenly from FT, DP and 123RF. Maybe the web-size former IS buyers have now gone to these agencies??

8
... the first thing you tell your spouse in the morning is how one of your newly approved images just sold in Japan

... you cant wait for your newly approved images to appear online so you can add them to the right set

... you're angry at IS/BS/FT and want to close your account with them because they rejected an image that SS approved

... everything you buy for the home - plates, cups, forks & knives - have to look generic without any patterns or distinguishing features

... when all you want for Christmas is a new lens/camera body/tripod etc, etc ....

... you're addicted to reading all the microstock forums :))

9
Based on my average monthly return for this calendar year with 8 agencies (top and middle tiers), I would need 18,000. Unfortunately, to create that many images would take another 15+ years.

However, I would never join a factory. The problem with groups is that ultimately they always perform down to their lowest common denominator. Aspiring, creative and productive individuals are always better off on their own. So, in the above factory suggestion: the accounting would be crucial !

10
iStockPhoto.com / Re: quit exclusivity?
« on: September 23, 2014, 23:02 »
Yes, I think you definitely can.

But the important one is Shutterstock. Before you do anything, make sure you can be accepted in SS first. They are very strict on the technical side - so apply with 10 really great photos that have razor sharp focus on main subject area, zero noise, no color aberration, no cropping, perfect WB and lighting & no shadows.

Once you are accepted in SS, then you will not look back !

Good luck  :)

11
Its OK now. I thought the problem was probably the shortcut icon, so I deleted it, and started all over again - re-installed DM and its perfect now!!

12
Unfortunately I can't help. But I can tell you that I installed that version without problems and I'm running Win 8.

If you don't get any help here, you might try posting on the IS forum. It seems like Franky's pretty good with helping people solve all sorts of DM problems, though sometimes it takes a few days for him to reply the first time.

All OK now  :)

13
iStockPhoto.com / Problems installing new DeepMeta 13Sep version
« on: September 23, 2014, 17:48 »
Hi Guys, can anyone help?

I am trying to install the new DeepMeta software and having all sorts of problems. After installing all I have is a blank page where the normal DeepMeta shortcut icon should be on my desktop and when trying to open it, the message says, THE PARAMETER IS INCORRECT.

I have gone back into the download site page again, and re-installed it - first, by Modify, then again by Repair, and lastly by removing and then installing it again. I still get the same white blank page icon that doesn't allow me to double click to open the software, with the same incorrect parameters message.

I have Windows 8 OS.

Can anyone help?

14
New Sites - General / New Sites - Show Me The Money
« on: September 21, 2014, 15:52 »
There are always new sites promoting their agencies here, enticing us to join. But they often leave out the most important thing - show me the money, guys - or the potential, at least.

For example, if you were to invest in a new company, there are some basic business ratios that would be used to assess whether an investment has potential. Translating that into microstock terms, uploading my images to your site is an investment of my assets, time and potential erosion of sales to other sites, so I would need to make sure that there is compensation.

One business ratio that immediately comes to mind is Assets-to-Customer Base, which would tell me how much competition there is for sales on your site. For example, in their last published annual report, SS stated they had 900,000 active users. Currently they have 42,200,000 images. If we assume that they still have the same number of buyers, then their Assets-to-Customer Base would be 46.9. As they are the best performers at this stage, this can be the base ratio to compare to other agencies - if we can obtain that data.

So, New Sites, can you tell us how your agency compares to say, SS? Is your data transparent enough to provide us with this data? Do you know these figures?

Ratio analysis, of course, is only valuable where there is some type of useful comparison. For example, year to year within a company, or agency to agency. Perhaps, as a microstock photographers community, we can collect that information and store it for comparison between agencies. That would be most valuable, in my mind.

15
General Stock Discussion / Re: Microstock Survey
« on: September 19, 2014, 18:08 »
Were all the photographers Turkish? Or were there other nationalities?

16
If you can find something that makes you stand out - something unique, trendy, fun or quirky - to put your signature stamp on your stock, then all the better. It will make your images stand out and be recognisable, and have the buyers come back to you.

17
For one of my sales on iStock this week, I received a grand total of $0.00 !!! How does this happen??? Are they giving my images away for free without my permission??

Several weeks ago, someone noted this on a Fb group and was asked by an admin to contact CR.
Certainly you should do the same, but replies have been taking 4-8 weeks for months now.
Please feed back what they say.

Thank you ShadySue. I will do that.

18
For one of my sales on iStock this week, I received a grand total of $0.00 !!! How does this happen??? Are they giving my images away for free without my permission??

19
RPI is a very good KPI (key performance indicator), because then you could break it down further to assess other factors such as: RPI by agency, RPI by sets in SS, RPI by asset type (eg video vs images vs illustrations). In this way, you can continue to improve the overall performance of your port, know where to upload your images, understand what categories/sets are performing best, etc.

20
They say a good performing port averages 50c RPI pm, so if you want $3,000 you should have 6,000 good performing images ... So you should really be talking percentages.

true for some, not for others - that's why rpi is such a poor measurement - esp'ly when you're looking across many sites -- eg If you have 1000 images on ss you may get $500 / month, but the SAME 1000 images on dp or ft, etc will probably only result in  $50 according to the poll results.  so listing just SS gives you an rpi of $.50 but listing on many sites gives a much lower rpi, but actually earns you more $

RPI assessment should be calculated on total sales across all sites you are listed on. My average RPI in this regard is 51c RPI for total agencies (average per month for this calendar year), so I am happy with my overall performance ... so RPI is still a very good indicator, if you look at it as total sales (for all agencies) for month divided by number of images.

21
Oops, my spellcheck has a mind of its own, PREVENTS should be PERCENTS.

22
So, when you said in your original post, "but everybody talk about it in graphs and prevents", that's a good starting point. Use the Poll Results on the side, and multiply those numbers as a percentage of $500 (eg, SS would be $505), then you can see how much the average person makes.

Also, based on what u said (350 images/videos = $100 pm for you), you can ascertain that your port is returning you at best 28c. And if a good port returns 50c per month, then your images are under performing.

23
The problem, VStudio, is that even though we share a lot of information on this forum, we should be grateful for anything that others reveal. But in reality, we are all competitors in this market. It's like Burger King going up to McDonalds and saying, can I see all your financials so that I can compare my performance to yours. You have to work it out for yourself.

24
They say a good performing port averages 50c RPI pm, so if you want $3,000 you should have 6,000 good performing images ... So you should really be talking percentages.

25
Shutterstock.com / Re: New to Shutterstock.
« on: August 18, 2014, 05:56 »
I did when I was accepted on second attempt to SS. Just make sure that you choose your top ten pics that are technically flawless... Ie. zero noise, super sharp focus, good lighting, no color aberration, no artefacts, no cropping ... And also demonstrate commercial appeal.

Good luck

Pages: [1] 2

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors