Have you tried those same searches on someone else's computer that doesn't have the tracking cookies from your searches and identity?

Or maybe this is your photo in the first spot? Which one is yours?

That link is a google images link created by google themselves. It does not lead to a website, it leads to their own Google Images section.  What I meant by first top position, is first top link in the web search results not the Google Images search results. This is typical of Google when you search images from the web section to overlap their web search results with a cross section of their own google images search results and by putting a link on top. This will happen with any simple word searches accompanied with the word, images. Try it and you will see. As an example, dog images, house images, computer images, woman images ect... It is a cross-section of their Google images search results not the web search results.
Denis

Quote from: cybernesco on January 13, 2012, 13:39

search results were skewed by the fact I was signed into my Google account when I made those tests.  The search engine algorithm seems to take into consideration the site owner being signed-in.

To me that seems weird - and pointless.     

I don't think it is weird or pointless, maybe unwanted. Let me explain,  I did open an account with Google + which is their version of facebook, and like facebook I did post a few lines about my website. In addition I did open a Google blog account with similar lines. Now if I sign in and do Google searches thereafter, the algorithm will probably pickup my interests from those lines I wrote in Google + as well as google blogs.  The algorithm will make a priority to show my website on top because I already shown an interest in other Google areas with links. Obviously, this is meant to create priorities according to what it sees about you. Therefore it could be anything and not just because I am the site owner.

Similarely, these days, often I see iStockphoto banners being advertised on many websites I visited and see my own images showing up on banners.  The reason I see my images on those banners is because I visit my own iStockphoto galley often and therefore somehow that banner knows about it. However, it is meant to lure the image buyers by showing images that he already has seen giving him/her a second chance.
Denis

Quote from: djpadavona on January 15, 2012, 11:53

Yeah, when it comes out.  

Considering they have been talking about releasing v4 since 2006 or 2007, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Do you know of any better software packages for Selling Stock

Until djpadanova chime in on this one, I wish to share my experience on something different then ktools. This is not about a software but the leasing of an interface and server usage. That solution could be good until you find something better then ktools or until you find the time to write the codes yourself from scratch.

I have been with photodeck for 50 days now and although I had considered the Ktools solution thinking that I would have had more freedom in doing what I wanted to do, after what djpavona  indicated, I am no longer interested.  Those underscores issues, the fact that they don�t discuss custom coding and no new software updates since 2006 are serious issues.  With photodeck  I had my site going with all 1245 photos uploaded  inside a few hours. The interface is amazingly intuitive and easy. Google picked-it up within a couple days with every single gallery and image indexed.

Photodeck used the metadata title within your image as an image name for Google to pick it up, not the file name. Furthermore, it automatically put in those needed dashes between the words. Since I have always been careful putting in good metadata titles this a blessing.  If you have images with Shutterstock, you�ll see that your files are handled the same way as well.  Photodeck server is amongst the fastest in the industry.....my site main page loads in � second. Everything is there for you to sell images now..carts, instant download, PayPal  transaction, account and lightbox creations, ..ect..all built in and ready to go.

Photodeck do offer a� Po Account� 14 days risk-free trial which I took when I started, which you can downgrade to a basic account thereafter for $9.99 a month. However the $9.99 a month deal is not worth it as you lose your url name and the ability to automatically deliver your images as well as many other important features. To keep the Pro Account  is $29.99 a month, which so far I kept. This is for the use of their interface and server.

To me this is great for now but I still regard this solution just as a stepping stone until I find something I can truly create on my own and can still look as clean, fast and efficient as this.  Or until I see that having a microstock site is not worthwhile for me. For now I keep copies of all my site pages so that I can eventually create something similar on another server or in the unlikely event that Photodeck close their doors. As long as you keep that same registered url name, the accumulated traffic  can be transferred to another  server and your visistors would hardly know the difference.

Use a Rank Tracker. SEOBook has a good one which sits in your browser as an add-on tool. You can save keyword lists and track Google, Yahoo and Bing. The nice thing is it gives a vanilla return which isn't influenced by your being signed in to your Google account.

Thanks djpadavona, I'll give it a try.
Denis

Although I did not get a sale yet I am getting major improvement in Google search results position. I am getting first page position placement for the following keywords without quotes: eiffel tower, women shopping, women fashion, woman fashion,  holding a sign, guy holding girl, thumbs up.  So far I am getting first page placement just with one word querry with the following: expression, expressions, eiffel.

Of course those placements can be very dynamic as it can fluctuate from first page to second or third within a few seconds

Improvement is my main concern. As long there is improvement, there is hope.

Denis



EDIT: New findings after the fact:

I just realized that those search results were skewed by the fact I was signed into my Google account when I made those tests.  The search engine algorithn seems to take into consideration the site owner being signed-in. Once signed-out those seach results fall-out considerably. What a bummer!



 

"This was my clue to introduce myself."

Do buyers really want to be bothered by contributors?

I don't know yet

I�d like to tell you about what I have learned so far building my site, SEO matters,  advertizing it ect�

After 42 days online, I have not made one sale and so far I am averaging only 2-3 unique visitors a day (excluding myself of course).  I did read a lot from many various sources throughout the internet. From what I can understand, although Google do some indexing soon after your site is online, it can take up to 6 months before it is fully indexed.
It has been possible for me to see the Google indexation process through photodeck user interface.

Firstly, after your site is online, within the next few days and hardly without any intervention from your part, Google proceed by indexing your main page, secondary pages and thereafter every single image. Every page and image within your site gets a link. For that process to take place and for Google to become aware of your site, the only needed thing is a link of your main page somewhere within Google billions indexed sites. For me by just putting a link on this site a few weeks ago was sufficient for Google to pick it up and index it.

The next level of indexation gets a better look at the inner parts of your content and, presumably, that can take anywhere from a few weeks to 6 months after which the site should get a little boost in visitors. By that I mean, anything above 2-3 unique visitors a day. Of course, at that point, there are many other variables that would influence the number of visitors.
 
In the next level of indexation, Google create an indexed link leading to a page containing all images for every single different keyword amongst all your images. Therefore for someone that has over a thousand images containing an average of 30-50 keywords per image while subtracting the similar ones, it should create many thousands of links just with the keywords.

It is possible to see all those indexed links by simply using the Google command, �site:�, followed by your site main address. Therefore, in the Google field, without the quotes, you would apply the following syntax �site:www.example.com� and hit enter.  In my case, with 1300 images, I have 2260 links indexed so far. I can see that so far, my main page, all secondary pages, all images and many keywords have been indexed. Still are many more keywords to be indexed, hence why it still could take up to 6 months.

Regarding giving good jpg names, I know that some of you recommended to rename images so that they are better optimized for search engines. However one thing I have discovered having my site with photodeck, for each one of my image, the title within the image metadata is used as part of the name for an indexed link not the jpg file name.  Within all the indexed links I did not find any link carrying my file name. Furthermore, if you check your own gallery at Shutterstock, you will see that each image link contain the title from the title in the metadata not the file name. The difference in the handling of the image name between Shutterstock and Photodeck is that Photodeck does not add the extension jpg at the end of the link name while Shutterstock does. In both cases, in addition of the image metadata title being added to the link, dashes are put in between each word.  
 
Those findings, in my situation, lead me to believe that changing my file names would be a waste of time for now. Furthermore, I presumed it would not be too hard to find a script or maybe make one that would change your jpg file names with the ones from your image metadata titles. I think most of us have created better metadata titles then the file names.

Regarding advertising your site, this is the hard part. Obviously if you are going to make a site to sell images, you will want to tell people about it and this is the tricky part. Why? Because most people don�t want to hear about it. I think this forum has been the most receptive when I introduced it few weeks ago. It is like living in your own world and talking to yourself as you look at the traffic of one two or three visitors a day. As I look at my spam folder getting filled with dozen of emails everyday which I have to filter out to make sure that I don�t delete an important email, I do understand the dilemma.

Two weeks ago I got banned from another forum for spamming.  I introduce myself and put up a link in the �advertize your website� group but got very negative comments and eventually got banned while trying to defend myself.  I am a little more cautious now.

I had more success writing to people that already had my images for which many responded with positive comments while some even put up links on their sites. Many lost the knowledge of how my images were acquired and even one said that she had picked it up from Google Images and did not know it was copyrighted. For the latter,  I did explain to her that she was infringing copyright laws, gave her links on the subject  and  in exchange for her understanding I indicated to her that she could keep the image in place as long as she give me credit and a link to my site, which she agreed. Her site was only serving her small town selling used items�nothing too fancy.

I found many of my images as facebook avatars which gave me great opportunities to introduce myself on their walls thanking them for using my images while leaving links.

This is truly difficult to get trusted and get that first sale but what I have learned is, whether a website is to be successful or not, it does take the time to find out.

Denis
denispepin.com

I will definitely  increased my port. Despite its limited size, 1300 images, and being a drop in the microstock ocean, I consider myself very lucky to still be able to pull some sales after 5 years. So many talented people out there and it is so exciting to be part of this.  For 2012, in addition to increasing my port, I will try  getting traffic going to my new site at denispepin.com
Denis

How do you find your images beeing in action? just using TinEye or google images?

The best way is by using google image. Similar to TinEye but much more powerful. Just pick an image url from one of the agencies you are with and paste it into the allocated google field.  Before, get google image and click on the little camera within the field....another field will show asking either to upload an image or paste an image URL. I find that just pasting a URL is the easiest and fastest way. I have many hundreds links that way. It could take a long time for me to look at them all. I am just going to use the best ones. I suggest that you start with your long time best selling images first.

Denis

I just created a page on my website called "Images In Action". Basically it is a showcase of my images that have been popular with many commercial websites. Each image is followed by several links leading to those sites using it. There will be hundreds more links to come.

I called those images "foolproof" because of their "proven" popularity and therefore have those images linked to a buy area if visitors wish to buy such images.

http://denispepin.com/in-action


As well I did create a "Make Money" page where anyone with an email address and a PayPal account can make 30% commission by simply referring buyers to my site with a code.

http://denispepin.com/make-money


 

Hi Denis,

One MAJOR factor which placed you 3rd in line for this search of denis pepin toronto building photos. is that you had denis pepin in the name of you .COM domain.

Having a domain name which have the keywords search is a major factor for being placed first in the google search.

For example, search for keyword haircut. You will have haircut.net and prohaircut.com right after the wikipedia pages.

Search for natural stone. You will notice most 1st pages have those keywords in their domain name. You can test this for most keywords. Of course, good SEO on a website will beat any .COM name without SEO, but it does gives a major edge.

Thank you for your comment Morphart!!

Of course it is a major factor, but also I would like to add that it is a major factor because the words "denis" and "pepin", which is my name, are very uncommon words for someone to search for,  which make those words stand out in a search because not too many Denis Pepin are indexed by Google.

I do have another website which I got on line a few years back called UsefulImage.com. However that site was not about selling photos but hiring models in the Ottawa / Gatineau area where I live.   Each model I photographed would get a gallery for themselves to download and for the public to see .  Each photo are tag with the same set of keywords as the other sites. The site UsefulImage.com is still there but I will probably take it down soon as I don't use it anymore. It is powered by SmugMug and it is paid for until April 2012.

Now,  I do have photos with the same set of keywords at both sites. If I google the following keywords: "useful image businesswoman computer photos" or even if I change "useful image" for "usefulimage" in one word like the site name, the site usefulimage.com is nowhere to be found. However if I google the following keywords: "denis pepin businesswoman computer photos", boom, the first three links are mine at denispepin.com.

I did struggle with the idea of keeping the name UsefulImage.com or maybe some other name with the word photo in it, but I figured that my name being already attached to all  my photos out there made more sense to use as a site name then a name that will not make a dent in a google search.

In the early internet days, when all the simple dictionary words got pick up for .com and .net sites, those sites benefited the most of the power of a simple .com and .net name like "haircut.net" you mention.  Thereafter, once all dictionary words got used up, small coined names were created out of simple short words. Those small coined names were not as powerful as the single words but they were still excellent names, like "prohaircut.com". Those days are gone unless you have the money to buy one from its owner. The best you can do to approach that era is to make a coined name out of two not so short words, like I had done with UsefulImage.  I believe that if I had a lot of marketing money to invest I would probably use the UsefulImage.com name. However, because this is not the case and for the reason stated above I think my name as a site name is a better bet.


Denis

Interesting information. I have been considering doing my own site, and I had not thought about the possibilities of using keyword tactics which are against the rules on the agencies. Not spamming or black-hat SEO - those would work against you in the long run I am sure - but things which the big agencies don't like for whatever reason but which might give you an edge on Google.

That is right Michael, in addition, your own site's image found from a google search open up all of your images to that buyer without any other competition surrounding it. Therefore the right keywords of one image could mean the discovery of your website to a willing buyer.