Author Topic: Same images sell several times on my own stock site (Read 5547 times)

steheap · « **on:** July 24, 2014, 09:49 »

I've got a Symbiostock site (and have had for about 12 months now) and have uploaded some of my portfolio to it so I now have 3000 images for sale direct to the public. I don't particularly market it besides announcing sales on Twitter, and it is linked to from my own stock blog. Sales have been steady, but not fantastic this year - around $30 a month, but this month I have already sold 4 for a total of $44. Ok - nothing earth shattering.

I was writing a blog post this morning about the sales history and which images sold, when I realized that the same few images sell multiple times. The photos are OK - nothing unique - but one has sold 3 times, one twice, and a couple of others have sold very similar versions of each other. I'm struggling to work out why that should be - unless my twitter posts of sold images are making a big difference, you would have expected that with 3000 images to choose from (via a google search I'm assuming), I would have more variability.

Ideas? If I knew what I was doing right about these images, I could repeat it for some others!

The images are shown in this post: http://www.backyardsilver.com/2014/07/adventures-stock-agency-site/

Steve

Shelma1 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2014, 10:19 »

All pretty images, with copy space. Also, this:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

I've tried to figure out why some of my best sellers are so popular, and it beats me. I've also tried to repeat the success with similars, to little avail.

amabu · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2014, 10:56 »

If the tweets are the only marketing you're doing, then that's where the sales come from.

I doubt there are many people searching images via google who actually want to license them...

chromaco · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:22 »

Steve I would bet that those images are particularly successful with their headlines and descriptions. I would bet it is less about the image itself and more about being found. The concept that buyers aren't coming in via google is simply incorrect. The buyers are there but most self hosted sites can't get their images found which leads to the myth that there aren't any buyers. Look at your better selling images on the smaller sites. Odds are those images show high in the google results.

cthoman · « **Reply #4 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:32 »

Quote from: chromaco on July 24, 2014, 11:22

Steve I would bet that those images are particularly successful with their headlines and descriptions. I would bet it is less about the image itself and more about being found. The concept that buyers aren't coming in via google is simply incorrect. The buyers are there but most self hosted sites can't get their images found which leads to the myth that there aren't any buyers. Look at your better selling images on the smaller sites. Odds are those images show high in the google results.

This would be my guess too. Sometimes, you just strike lightning with a particular phrase that shows up in searches. Either it isn't covered well or just something is unique about how it is on your site.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:41 »

re: shelma ... try to figure out what sell and repeat

that too is a mystery, or else we would all be Yuri Arcurs, and he would not be so rich today,lol.
seriously, i think it does have a criterion ie. an image that stands out from the thousands or something
no one has. a niche .
also, for those who are booing "apple or vegetable or pizza,etc isolated", some of my own best sellers
are unfortunately to my disgust,lol... isolated boring food (yawn)...
but when i look at the money i've made from spending 2 bucks on that in my grocery, and ate it too after the shoot, i do not go booo booo over isolated apples anymore.

clients don't go oooh ahhhh over out of focus pop art mom and pop snapshot that looks like it was taken with a smartphone but really a top of the line camera with a lot of credit card maxouts.
they take that apple isolated because they need it. i hate the fact, but that's the reality.

re: chromaco ... getting your images found

yes, i used to wonder how certain of my images on SS keep popping up with google search, while others are not. not necessarily my top sellers, either.
but you are right, it is a myth. but also it depends on the ability to keyword well, to use the words clients use to google search for their needs.

finally, to steheap, congrats. everytime someone gets results independently, is something to shout about.
44 bucks is not earth shattering, but 11 bucks a piece shatters a lot of sub sales.
i am sure many of our peers do not even see 44 bucks in their cumulative history to date
with many of the sites to our right here on this page.

you have to be on the right track, since there is 44 bucks worth of evidence.

Jonathan Ross · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:56 »

Hi Steheap,

I cannot say this enough to stock shooters, these images sell well because they tell a story,. Tell a story with your images, when you start to think more like a buyer rather than a photographer you will see your sales take off. Best of luck to and your future endeavors. P.S. the light... follow the light, all your top sellers have appropriate light or " best of Show " lighting.

Cheers,
Jonathan

steheap · « **Reply #7 on:** July 24, 2014, 12:30 »

Thanks for the helpful comments. All of these particular images are on the microstock sites as well, but I do go to a lot of trouble to come up with better descriptions on my own site - which is why it takes me longer to get them online there. I was hoping that the extra detail and explanation would help them come up higher in the search fields. I have emailed one of the latest buyers offering a full resolution version of their purchase for free if they will give me a bit of background on how they found the image.

It could be twitter that results in the second/third purchases. I will have to get more active there!!

Steve

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #8 on:** July 24, 2014, 12:32 »

Quote from: Jonathan Ross on July 24, 2014, 11:56

the light... follow the light, all your top sellers have appropriate light or " best of Show " lighting.

wa, so agree with you JR. top sellers all have the same lighting and the same colour scheme.
and when i look at my own sales, they seem to blend with this lighting you mentioned, and
colour scheme.

i guess it has a lot to do with what prints best . as a printer , i notice also, certain colours do not always print well, no matter what paper , ink, printer,etc you apply. and considering that budget of clients , they do not always have the budget for print media, they will naturally look for images that has those lighting and colour that will look good even for a cheap paper, for example.

steheap · « **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2014, 08:43 »

I managed to answer one of my questions. A recent purchaser of a wide panorama of a landscape in Wales emailed me to ask where it was taken, as he now has a large 4ft wide print of it on his office wall. That allowed me to ask how he found it - he simply searched "english landscape hi res" in Google images and my photo is in position 3. From there, he went to the site and had no issues in buying and downloading the largest size image (under priced at $20, but what are you going to do!)

So there seems to be no link between the first purchase of this image and the second one - unless they both like large panoramic landscapes!

Steve

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2014, 15:06 »

Quote from: steheap on July 28, 2014, 08:43

I managed to answer one of my questions. A recent purchaser of a wide panorama of a landscape in Wales emailed me to ask where it was taken, as he now has a large 4ft wide print of it on his office wall. That allowed me to ask how he found it - he simply searched "english landscape hi res" in Google images and my photo is in position 3. From there, he went to the site and had no issues in buying and downloading the largest size image (under priced at $20, but what are you going to do!)

So there seems to be no link between the first purchase of this image and the second one - unless they both like large panoramic landscapes!

Steve

still, it is always good when u hear someone's own site is producing sales. u feel that the good energy as an impetus to making my own . congrats Steve

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Author Topic: Same images sell several times on my own stock site (Read 5547 times)

steheap

Shelma1

amabu

chromaco

cthoman

etudiante_rapide

Jonathan Ross

steheap

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steheap

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