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.

Great idea, Leaf, thanks!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 

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

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

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.

I am coming from the stock video perspective, so forgive me if my references to things aren't quite spot on. I see this discussion often in different micro stock site forums. So far, there is little evidence I can find that creating ones own site to vend your own footage has yielded results. It seems like a tempting concept (keep the cash yourself!) but I haven't seen a lot of people having success (or any) and therefor not a lot of reason for doing it. Here's the main reason for not doing it and wasting vast amounts of your own time:

Why and how are people going to find you? Buyers are coming to the major stock sites because they are marketplaces. They are already established. If they aren't coming directly to the sites, they are doing an on-line search. Since the search engines rank the searches by relevancy, duration, etc, those searches for popular images and clips are going to go to the existing players. which are large agencies. Traffic drives traffic. The only major exception to this is this - exceptionally rare or unique images or video clips. If you search for "Bangkok riots video stock footage" on Go ogle, you're going to be directed to my existing footage on various agency sites. In this case, I might consider using something like smugmug for niche footage. Otherwise, for portfolios with lots of competition, it's a waste of time. Any evidence to the opposite would be appreciated.

. 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

exactly - most people to the site dont buy - but it's worth it for the links and the occ'l adsense clicks

Quote from: lagereek on April 15, 2011, 00:57

My RM stock outlet is purely based on a good client/photographer relationship and trust ofcourse.

Hearing from lots of old timers this seems to be the case. But ironically when you get them talking you hear about all the old tricks e.g. reselling images in violation of RM licenses etc. and how it wasn't considered a big deal because you were never caught.
I think one guy said he'd been doing it for 20+ years without a problem and if he was ever caught he'd just say oops sorry my mistake. I guess there wasn't much fear of getting caught pre internet and it was all too tempting to exploit those cozy relationships. But then again those were the days when a camera was a license to print money.... sigh.... 

ETA. realized that this might read as if it's about you specifically, which it definitely isn't, just a generally about what the old RM market was like

I cant speak for them but I have got my own rights-controle computer. Youre right however, you have got to police this 110% on e slip up and it could become very costly.