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Slowly building portfolio


Luke____S

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Hi 

 

I’m slowly uploading here on Alamy. I just wondered how long others waited for their first sale, or even if my photos are worthy of a sale?  

 

I really like the site and enjoy contributing. I appreciate I need to add a lot more to even start thinking about sales. I’m just interested in others experiences. 

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When I joined in July my goals were a sale by 6 months or 800 images - I got one in 4 months at just under 400 images.  Other people have taken much longer and needed many more images.

One thing that does seem to come up again and again, among experienced contributors and newbies alike, is surprise at some of the images that have sold - because they were borderline almost didn't bother putting up generally because they felt the image lacked something.

 

Keep an eye on the images sold and images found threads on the other board - that will give you an idea of what is selling at the time.  Use your dashboard to explore how your images come up in searches and check they are appearing where they should and that if they appear where they shouldn't that their keywording/captions are accurate (example I have an image of people eating in the city of Bath - yesterday someone searched "eating in the bath" - my image came up.  It was not what the search intended but my keywords are accurate.   

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Thank you for your replies.

 

That's good information. I haven't come here thinking I'm going to make instant money. I understand a big portfolio of varied images is required. I will keep uploading and working on my keyboarding and see what happens.

 

You both have very nice portfolios.

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I joined in May this year,  and didn't expect a sale for a year--based on what  others said.  I had my first sale after 5 months, in late September, with maybe 500-600 images.  Another 3 months went by and just had my 2nd sale this month with 860 images online. 

 

It may be the case that the search algorithm handicaps newer contributors (not that there's anything wrong with that).  Watch your views and zooms--especially look for zooms.

I had only 7 zooms in the first 6 months, and suddenly have had 6 more in the last 30 days.  So far, though, none of those have resulted in a sale.   Still, views tell you that buyers are using one or more of your keywords, and zooms tell you that there was at least some interest in an image. 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, MilesbeforeIsleep said:

It may be the case that the search algorithm handicaps newer contributors

The opposite applies.  Alamy have said that it gives new contributors (or pseudonyms) a median ranking, allowing their images to appear further up in searches than would be the case from their (possibly non existent) sales / CTR record.  That ranking exists for a length of time (it used to be after one or more reranks but these seem to be in real time now) from the initial upload to allow sales and CTR to establish the true level of that contributor.  No sales / low CTR you sink.  Frequent sales / good CTR you rise.  The challenge is to upload sufficient images that are well shot, well captioned and keyworded and in demand by buyers during that grace period.  

 

How you achieve that is another story...

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Thanks guys for your replies. I’ve had very few zooms. I don’t think it helps that I joined over a year ago and didn’t do much with my port until now. 

 

It it might be a vulgar question. But how much are you making on a download? 

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  • 2 months later...
On 18/12/2018 at 18:10, Starsphinx said:

When I joined in July my goals were a sale by 6 months or 800 images - I got one in 4 months at just under 400 images.  Other people have taken much longer and needed many more images.

One thing that does seem to come up again and again, among experienced contributors and newbies alike, is surprise at some of the images that have sold - because they were borderline almost didn't bother putting up generally because they felt the image lacked something.

 

Keep an eye on the images sold and images found threads on the other board - that will give you an idea of what is selling at the time.  Use your dashboard to explore how your images come up in searches and check they are appearing where they should and that if they appear where they shouldn't that their keywording/captions are accurate (example I have an image of people eating in the city of Bath - yesterday someone searched "eating in the bath" - my image came up.  It was not what the search intended but my keywords are accurate.   

Thanks Starsphinx,

 

I saw in another post that you are from Wiltshire. I'm in Hampshire.I've seen you on another forum. 

Edited by Luke____S
other agency mention
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27 minutes ago, Luke____S said:

Thanks Starsphinx,

 

I saw in another post that you are from Wiltshire. I'm in Hampshire.I've seen you on the shutterstock forums. 

 

Oops. Don't mention the War. References to other agencies are not allowed and posts, sometimes entire threads breaching this rule get deleted when Alamy wake up in the morning. 

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On 18/12/2018 at 18:10, Starsphinx said:

When I joined in July my goals were a sale by 6 months or 800 images - I got one in 4 months at just under 400 images.  Other people have taken much longer and needed many more images.

One thing that does seem to come up again and again, among experienced contributors and newbies alike, is surprise at some of the images that have sold - because they were borderline almost didn't bother putting up generally because they felt the image lacked something.

 

Keep an eye on the images sold and images found threads on the other board - that will give you an idea of what is selling at the time.  Use your dashboard to explore how your images come up in searches and check they are appearing where they should and that if they appear where they shouldn't that their keywording/captions are accurate (example I have an image of people eating in the city of Bath - yesterday someone searched "eating in the bath" - my image came up.  It was not what the search intended but my keywords are accurate.   

Thanks Starsphinx,

 

I saw in another post that you are from Wiltshire. I'm in Hampshire.I've seen you on another  forum. 

 

Whoops, amended it now. Apologies.

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1 hour ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

Oops. Don't mention the War. References to other agencies are not allowed and posts, sometimes entire threads breaching this rule get deleted when Alamy wake up in the morning. 

I've amended the original post. Sorry my silly mistake.

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10 hours ago, Luke____S said:

Thanks Starsphinx,

 

I saw in another post that you are from Wiltshire. I'm in Hampshire.I've seen you on another  forum. 

 

Whoops, amended it now. Apologies.

I do get all over the place when it comes to forums lol

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I would say your key wording needs work.

For example the power station image on the first page.

Which Power station? Where is it? what country?

also I would add words like pollution, climate change, haze, global warming etc etc.

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2 hours ago, Russell said:

That's an interesting image Colblimp have you thought of submitting another with just the left-hand donkey and the rainbow?

Nope!  Would it not be too 'samey'?

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