Author Topic: Selling Stock Directly to the Customer (Read 18576 times)

leaf · « **on:** April 08, 2011, 16:23 »

Here is a new forum area for discussion on everything related to setting up your own sales avenue and selling stock directly to the customer.

New threads regarding ktools, zenfolio, smugmug, clustershot, PhotoShelter etc. can be put in this forum area.

rimglow · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2011, 16:51 »

I have a portfolio set up with Smugmug and sell directly from there. You have to earn $500 before they pay out. I like the way you can create your own watermark. I don't get much traffic. I wish google would lead image requests there, but I guess everyone is trying to figure out how to get traffic to their website.

I have the same portfolio set up on pBase and do get occasional image searches directed there. I provide a link back to my Smugmug site.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2011, 17:18 »

Quote from: rimglow on April 08, 2011, 16:51

I have a portfolio set up with Smugmug and sell directly from there. You have to earn $500 before they pay out. I like the way you can create your own watermark. I don't get much traffic. I wish google would lead image requests there, but I guess everyone is trying to figure out how to get traffic to their website.

I have the same portfolio set up on pBase and do get occasional image searches directed there. I provide a link back to my Smugmug site.

beautiful work, wonderfully done! I guess I have seen your portfolio before but haven´t looked so closely, 25 years and massive skills all around, congratulations

madelaide · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2011, 19:24 »

Great idea, Leaf, thanks!

borg · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2011, 06:21 »

I have portfolio on Smugmug, lot of views but no sales... I am paying also Google adwords but not a single sale till now...

bunhill · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2011, 06:34 »

Quote from: rimglow on April 08, 2011, 16:51

I wish google would lead image requests there, but I guess everyone is trying to figure out how to get traffic to their website.

Photoshelter recently published a pdf document about SEO in relation specifically to their sites: SEO Cookbook.

Personally I am inherently cautious of SEO because it always seems a little too close to spamming however I know that Photoshelter is very well respected within the world of photography in general even beyond the tighter world of stock. So it might be a useful read for someone.

cathyslife · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2011, 07:40 »

Quote from: bunhill on April 09, 2011, 06:34

Quote from: rimglow on April 08, 2011, 16:51
I wish google would lead image requests there, but I guess everyone is trying to figure out how to get traffic to their website.

Photoshelter recently published a pdf document about SEO in relation specifically to their sites: SEO Cookbook.

Personally I am inherently cautious of SEO because it always seems a little too close to spamming however I know that Photoshelter is very well respected within the world of photography in general even beyond the tighter world of stock. So it might be a useful read for someone.

I downloaded and read through that. There are some good general tips on keywording, etc. that a person can do to help their website. But if I understand correctly, the only way a person is going to get their site to page one is to pay big bucks to the search engine companies. I know personally I don't have near the money to spend on that as Getty.

djpadavona · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2011, 22:10 »

Pure SEO is no more than ensuring your site is search engine friendly. Things like having alt descriptions on your images, and naming images descriptively. For example "Giant-Walrus-Attacking-Nun.jpg" is going to be a lot more descriptive to a search engine than "IMG1234.jpg"

Getting other sites to link to you really isn't SEO. It is a powerful strategy of course, and if you do it poorly you can certainly label yourself as a spammer. Doing it correctly can dramatically improve your search rankings.

djpadavona · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2011, 22:12 »

I like KTools for our collective, but there are some PITA moments. If I were to sell my work individually, I think I would gravitate toward Photoshelter.

The problem with using Photoshelter for a collective is that every member must become a Photoshelter member and pay monthly fees. It's hard to get a like-minded group together for something like that. The KTools Contributor Add-On is superior imo.

djpadavona · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2011, 22:18 »

Quote from: cclapper on April 09, 2011, 07:40

I downloaded and read through that. There are some good general tips on keywording, etc. that a person can do to help their website. But if I understand correctly, the only way a person is going to get their site to page one is to pay big bucks to the search engine companies. I know personally I don't have near the money to spend on that as Getty.

Not true Cathy.

I just did a Google search for "Royalty Free Images" and the #1 ranked site is www.freedigitalphotos.net. It's ranked ahead of iStock, Shutterstock, Getty Images... I don't know how they got to the first page, let alone to the #1 ranking, but I would sure like to find out. Their page is plastered with ads for other agencies (like Depositphotos and Shutterstock), so I doubt these guys are swimming in money.

ppdd · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2011, 00:37 »

And in fact you CANNOT pay to be at the top of those results - that's why they are organic.

Lots of linking between sites, getting your site in blogs, getting people to use and like it, with a little (perhaps sketchy) SEO and the rankings will rise. How that site got to the top will be hard work, a bit of search engine luck and SEO.

But you can't pay for the ranking. You can pay to be in the ads on the right though!

ppdd · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2011, 00:41 »

Okay, I took a look - here's how SEO works for www.freedigitalphotos.net. You can download free photos, but when you use them you have to attribute and link to the site - this generates tons of backlinks to the site, making it appear very popular.

Also, FWIW, it's a Ktools site.

cathyslife · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2011, 06:43 »

I stand corrected.

When you google search for royalty-free stock photos, see the three listings at the top highlighted in yellow? I thought those were paid for. At least that's what I see in Firefox on Mac. And then, they are duplicated below freedigitalphotos.

edit edit: found this, which is very helpful is explaining search results:

http://www.websightdesign.com/services/organic-listings-at-google

They are using the term "paid listings", guess that's what I was thinking of. So technically, you guys are talking about being at the top of the organic listings. I understand now.

steheap · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2011, 07:19 »

Just getting back to the original question...

Does anyone have success in selling prints even when they have got a higher ranking in Google. The high ranking is likely to be for something specific - such as "sunset over smoky mountains" - as it would be feasible to get on page one of the searches with a phrase like that, but does it translate into a print? I'm not sure who searches for a print for their wall in such a way.

I'd love to sell some prints - and I'm thinking of taking a space at a local arts and craft fair to see if the physical sight of my images makes people reach into their wallets - but I've not been successful with SmugMug yet.

Steve
BTW - my smugmug is http://www.backyardimage.com

vlad_the_imp · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2011, 13:12 »

I thought your photos look great.

rayakey · « **Reply #15 on:** April 11, 2011, 13:31 »

A couple of topics going on in this thread..

First, SEO. I have been a web developer for many years and SEO is not difficult. All you need to do is stay "relevant." how does one do this? Simple, keyword accurately, specify ALT tags on all of your images, use the TITLE field of the HTML 'a' tag and use at least one paragraph of text on each image page descriptive of the image on that page. Also, refresh your content often. If you run a blog on your home site, post more often. The search engines are a lot smarter and much more complex in algorithm than they once were. It takes time but you'll get there. Just to prove that I know what I'm talking about, if you type "ray akey" or "ray a. akey" in google, first 10 pages is all me.

As for selling, I don't yet sell from my home site but I will be starting to soon. I'll have to keep an eye on this board to see if there are some helpful suggestions I can use.

cthoman · « **Reply #16 on:** April 11, 2011, 14:19 »

Quote from: rayakey on April 11, 2011, 13:31

Just to prove that I know what I'm talking about, if you type "ray akey" or "ray a. akey" in google, first 10 pages is all me.

Not to question your skills, but your name doesn't seem to be the best thing to use to boast about your SEO skills. I've been dominating "Cory Thoman" for the past 10 years, but there isn't a lot of competition. I've been thinking of eliminating the others Highlander style though.

Again, I'm not questioning your credentials. I just thought it was a strange example.

jbarber873 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 11, 2011, 14:27 »

Quote from: cthoman on April 11, 2011, 14:19

Quote from: rayakey on April 11, 2011, 13:31
Just to prove that I know what I'm talking about, if you type "ray akey" or "ray a. akey" in google, first 10 pages is all me.

Not to question your skills, but your name doesn't seem to be the best thing to use to boast about your SEO skills. I've been dominating "Cory Thoman" for the past 10 years, but there isn't a lot of competition. I've been thinking of eliminating the others Highlander style though.

Again, I'm not questioning your credentials. I just thought it was a strange example.

I'm not sure what that means, but i think I'm glad my name isn't Cory Thoman

steheap · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2011, 15:43 »

Yes - a strange example. Isn't the idea of SEO to become high in the Google pages for the sort of searches the potential audience is searching for - eg "unique stock images" - that is far harder for a new blog to achieve. I've found that with regular original posts, I do become visible on things like "dawn at Jefferson Memorial" or "best time for photos of smoky mountains", but that is a long way from getting someone to buy something.

I live in hope that one day a picture will be snapped up for $80K...

Steve

steheap · « **Reply #19 on:** April 11, 2011, 17:05 »

Now here is some great SEO work - I am the first search result on Google for "entertainment weekly royal wedding bingo!" Not everyone has such a claim to fame

.

Two people have visited my site today as a result of that great search result!

Steve

cascoly · « **Reply #20 on:** April 13, 2011, 14:37 »

i use smugmug for my portfolio, and also allow anyone to use websized images if they link back - resulting in a PR 3 for my webpage

steve

steheap · « **Reply #21 on:** April 13, 2011, 21:11 »

That's a neat idea. I have my galleries set so that you cannot right click and download. How do you set it up so that someone can download a small image but not a large one? Set the price of a small download at zero, and higher prices for anything larger?

I haven't tried hard to get my smugmug site high in the rankings as I pretty much gave up on trying to sell images direct. My main focus has been on trying to get more traffic through my blog to pick up referral links, google ads and some Amazon affiliate links. I'm starting to build traction there and will have to see how I can use your idea to build incoming links to that site.

Steve

cascoly · « **Reply #22 on:** April 14, 2011, 13:05 »

in the same place you set the right click protection [security & priivacy], you can also set the largest image you'll allow to be downloaded -- i set all mine to medium. this noly affects the 'share' images, but doesnt restrict what users can buy.

unfortunately, this has to be done for each gallery individually

steve

lagereek · « **Reply #23 on:** April 14, 2011, 13:14 »

I have sold RM stock for over 20 years to my customers, assignment clients, etc, no big deal, they rent the pictures for a certain amount of time with copy ofcourse.
I have run this off-line service for ages and its extreely profitable during the Annual-report time when they want to show a string of pics of something else then just their service or product.

steheap · « **Reply #24 on:** April 14, 2011, 21:20 »

Quote

i use smugmug for my portfolio, and also allow anyone to use websized images if they link back - resulting in a PR 3 for my webpage

Steve

Nice site - a lot of travel images there that I assume are also on the main stock sites. Do you find that many people buy a download or they just link back to you in exchange for a free image? As I understand the site, you can link back to various size images (so the image will show in a web page, but they haven't actually got the file itself. If they want to buy a downloaded file they pay $1 etc. depending on size and usage?

Steve

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Author Topic: Selling Stock Directly to the Customer (Read 18576 times)

leaf

rimglow

luissantos84

madelaide

borg

bunhill

cathyslife

djpadavona

djpadavona

djpadavona

ppdd

ppdd

cathyslife

steheap

vlad_the_imp

rayakey

cthoman

jbarber873

steheap

steheap

cascoly

steheap

cascoly

lagereek

steheap

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