...the collection don't sell what could i do?

[cf27]

Hi guys, i'm a long time contributor, my collection is 80% editorial, i think could to have a better performance of sales.  than now (5-7 pics/month)

I don't spend so much time in Stock business, i know but welcome any recomandation for a better results. Thank you.

[Ed Rooney]

Ciao, Claudio

 

You might want to widen your choice of subject matter to include other things besides grab shots of street life. 

 

Good luck

[Michael Ventura]

A lot look like quick snap shots...while those could sell, you have a better chance when you think like a photo buyer and anticipate what a buyer might need.  If you take a shotgun approach, a few shots out of many will hit the target (I can be accused of this myself) .  Some here, like Wim Wiskerke, take a sniper rifle approach to stock images....for a relatively small portfolio, his percentage sales to portfolio size, is outstanding!  And as Ed Rooney said, a wide ranging portfolio can really help too!

[John Morrison]

A lot of pix are very 'busy': ie I wasn’t sure what it was that made you press the shutter at that particular moment. So at thumbnail size, they might not stand out from the crowd. Simpler, more telling compositions might work better. Pick a few themes to illustrate: the good and bad aspects of tourism, for example, or the way that climate change is affecting coastal communities. You have plenty of saleable pix (and you say you are selling 5-7 per month), but a lot of so-so pix too…

[John Mitchell]

As others have suggested, you really need to think about how images could be used by buyers and what subjects might be in demand. The days of just snapping away are over. I think that those of us who spent many years using film (that stuff was expensive) are at a bit of an advantage in that we're used to being more selective. I still tend to behave like a frugal film photographer, probably too much so. It's a tough habit to break. John Morrison's advice above sounds good to me, especially in a popular place like Thailand. Good luck.

[cf27]

3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

You might want to widen your choice of subject matter to include other things besides grab shots of street life

Thank you 4 your advise ! I'm thinking about more RF

[cf27]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

A lot look like quick snap shots...while those could sell, you have a better chance when you think like a photo buyer and anticipate what a buyer might need.  If you take a shotgun approach, a few shots out of many will hit the target (I can be accused of this myself) .  Some here, like Wim Wiskerke, take a sniper rifle approach to stock images....for a relatively small portfolio, his percentage sales to portfolio size, is outstanding!  And as Ed Rooney said, a wide ranging portfolio can really help too!

Yes i know, thank you for advise, stoks was always my 2nd business, now i would like to do better. 

My question was what could do with all the colllection on sale? How i improve the performance of it? Thank you in advance for your advice. 

[cf27]

2 hours ago, John Morrison said:

A lot of pix are very 'busy': ie I wasn’t sure what it was that made you press the shutter at that particular moment. So at thumbnail size, they might not stand out from the crowd. Simpler, more telling compositions might work better. Pick a few themes to illustrate: the good and bad aspects of tourism, for example, or the way that climate change is affecting coastal communities. You have plenty of saleable pix (and you say you are selling 5-7 per month), but a lot of so-so pix too…

Thank you for your advice, i will take more actencion in the next shots, what do you recomend about the collection on sale? How i can pump up the performance? Thank you in advance. 

[meanderingemu]

in addition to what others have said, i would add that your captions do not convey what is in the images, and this is one way to improve your sales, make sure people who are looking for your image get to them.  

 

For example

 

A)vintage,vintage honda motor bike chiangmai chiang Mai Thailand Thai As - Image ID: 2APAJGH

 

 the image is actually of a Honda motor bike seat and a thai licence plate.  This is what a person looking for the image would be searching....  Someone looking for the motor bike would just disregard your image.

B ) Old rusty WW T2 parked in street Chiang Mai Thailand - Image ID: 2APA84F

 

first it's VW, but then it's Volkswagen!, what is the vehicle type:it's a minivan, campervan, camper etc.....   

 

 

many of your market stalls, just say Market stall... nothing about what they sell....  someone looking for your image will be looking for something specifics, make their life easy

[cf27]

5 hours ago, John Morrison said:

A lot of pix are very 'busy': ie I wasn’t sure what it was that made you press the shutter at that particular moment. So at thumbnail size, they might not stand out from the crowd. Simpler, more telling compositions might work better. Pick a few themes to illustrate: the good and bad aspects of tourism, for example, or the way that climate change is affecting coastal communities. You have plenty of saleable pix (and you say you are selling 5-7 per month), but a lot of so-so pix too…

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by cf27
error answer

[cf27]

2 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

in addition to what others have said, i would add that your captions do not convey what is in the images, and this is one way to improve your sales, make sure people who are looking for your image get to them.  

 

For example

 

A)vintage,vintage honda motor bike chiangmai chiang Mai Thailand Thai As - Image ID: 2APAJGH

 

 the image is actually of a Honda motor bike seat and a thai licence plate.  This is what a person looking for the image would be searching....  Someone looking for the motor bike would just disregard your image.

B ) Old rusty WW T2 parked in street Chiang Mai Thailand - Image ID: 2APA84F

 

first it's VW, but then it's Volkswagen!, what is the vehicle type:it's a minivan, campervan, camper etc.....   

 

 

many of your market stalls, just say Market stall... nothing about what they sell....  someone looking for your image will be looking for something specifics, make their life easy

This is really true, the keywording was done running and bad, it is an hard work for me, i'm italian, english language is not my natural and i don't like to spend too much time on PC.

Thank you so much friend. A CTR  0.50 is good? Thank you in advance.

[meanderingemu]

7 minutes ago, cf27 said:

This is really true, the keywording was done running and bad, it is an hard work for me, i'm italian, english language is not my natural and i don't like to spend too much time on PC.

Thank you so much friend. A CTR  0.50 is good? Thank you in advance.

 

 

i realised English wasn't your first language, so this is why i focused on content not grammar.  

 

As boring as it is, this is how you get the client to see your images.  You asked how you sell more, sadly this will always be a requirement.  You could be the best photographer on Alamy, if people don't see your images, they will not know it.  

 

Quote

A CTR  0.50 is good

Quote

 

 

 

 

It's below the reported average....  Probably not bad.  but with efforts you could improve it....  but again that's PC time 

[Betty LaRue]

Stock is like a marriage should be. Both partners sharing 50-50.

So think of your image as the woman. Hopefully attractive, but at the least interesting and desirable.

Here comes the husband. Thoughtful, doing hard work, putting in the time. He’s leading his wife through the maze, so she can be seen. After all, he’s proud of her.

So you have a nice image that may be desirable. But it needs to be seen.

The keywords and caption (the husband) will be what leads the image to be seen. It takes all of them to be successful.

 

Don't rush out with your camera going click, click, click then throwing all of the pictures at the wall (Alamy) hoping something sticks (sells).

Before you go out to shoot, have a clear idea of a theme, possibly. Think of whether or how a buyer might want these images

.

Many times, I’ll go out knowing today I’m shooting shopfronts. Who might want to buy these? News, magazines, online uses. Businesses close, open new stores, get involved in scandals, declare bankruptcy, burn down, lay off workers and buyers look for an image of the store or business to go with the article. Then I think of where I’m going to go to do that. Then I do it. When I have them on the computer, I carefully look at them and choose only the best.  Often a landscape and a portrait orientation. I try to leave some copyspace when I can.  I usually end up deleting 60%. sometimes more, keeping 2 or three of the best.

 

Another day, I decide to shoot macro, bugs and flowers, other plants. Put on another lens and add a few shrubs or trees. While doing any of these shoots, if I come across something else interesting, I shoot it if I think there could be a market for it.

in other words, I try to be thoughtful.

 

You have a large portfolio. Going over them all and reworking your captions and keywords is a huge undertaking. If you have a lot of similars, say 5 or so images that are of close to the same thing, pick the best one to rework. Or if they are virtually almost identical, you can select the bunch and edit them together. That may help the sales of what you have already.

 

Become more thoughtful about what you shoot in future. Diversify.

Betty

 

[John Morrison]

9 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Stock is like a marriage should be. Both partners sharing 50-50.

So think of your image as the woman. Hopefully attractive, but at the least interesting and desirable.

Here comes the husband. Thoughtful, doing hard work, putting in the time. He’s leading his wife through the maze, so she can be seen. After all, he’s proud of her.

So you have a nice image that may be desirable. But it needs to be seen.

 

I'll have a pint of whatever Betty's drinking...

[Matt Ashmore]

It might be a personal taste thing.. but for me I think some of your shadows are a bit dark.. I'd want to lift them a bit in Lightroom.

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, John Morrison said:

 

I'll have a pint of whatever Betty's drinking...

A pint of margarita will put you on your backside!

[cf27]

20 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Stock is like a marriage should be. Both partners sharing 50-50.

So think of your image as the woman. Hopefully attractive, but at the least interesting and desirable.

Here comes the husband. Thoughtful, doing hard work, putting in the time. He’s leading his wife through the maze, so she can be seen. After all, he’s proud of her.

So you have a nice image that may be desirable. But it needs to be seen.

The keywords and caption (the husband) will be what leads the image to be seen. It takes all of them to be successful.

 

Don't rush out with your camera going click, click, click then throwing all of the pictures at the wall (Alamy) hoping something sticks (sells).

Before you go out to shoot, have a clear idea of a theme, possibly. Think of whether or how a buyer might want these images

.

Many times, I’ll go out knowing today I’m shooting shopfronts. Who might want to buy these? News, magazines, online uses. Businesses close, open new stores, get involved in scandals, declare bankruptcy, burn down, lay off workers and buyers look for an image of the store or business to go with the article. Then I think of where I’m going to go to do that. Then I do it. When I have them on the computer, I carefully look at them and choose only the best.  Often a landscape and a portrait orientation. I try to leave some copyspace when I can.  I usually end up deleting 60%. sometimes more, keeping 2 or three of the best.

 

Another day, I decide to shoot macro, bugs and flowers, other plants. Put on another lens and add a few shrubs or trees. While doing any of these shoots, if I come across something else interesting, I shoot it if I think there could be a market for it.

in other words, I try to be thoughtful.

 

You have a large portfolio. Going over them all and reworking your captions and keywords is a huge undertaking. If you have a lot of similars, say 5 or so images that are of close to the same thing, pick the best one to rework. Or if they are virtually almost identical, you can select the bunch and edit them together. That may help the sales of what you have already.

 

Become more thoughtful about what you shoot in future. Diversify.

Betty

 

Thank you Madame, you really have a rich fantasy to explain an happy wedding jajaja, cute.

Seriously, i know all the hard work to do, the question is: how much to push up the view/sales all this hard work? 

I never had a planned shotting for Alamy, i think i will folllow you preciouses advices. 

Claudio

[Colblimp]

On 08/02/2020 at 00:31, cf27 said:

This is really true, the keywording was done running and bad, it is an hard work for me, i'm italian, english language is not my natural and i don't like to spend too much time on PC.

Thank you so much friend. A CTR  0.50 is good? Thank you in advance.

I don’t think anyone likes to spend much time on the PC - I hate it - but it has to be done!  Think more like a professional.  I’d suggest the first thing to do would be to spend hours and hours and days on your keywords and captions and get them right.  You have to put in the PC work if you want results.   

[Gareth Sewell]

On 08/02/2020 at 01:44, meanderingemu said:

 

 

 

 

A CTR  0.50 is good?

-----

It's below the reported average....  Probably not bad.  but with efforts you could improve it....  but again that's PC time 

 

What is the reported average?

[Stokie]

36 minutes ago, Gareth Sewell said:

 

What is the reported average?

 

Last month the Alamy average was 0.61

 

John.

[Gareth Sewell]

2 minutes ago, Stokie said:

 

Last month the Alamy average was 0.61

 

John.

Ah ok I wasn't sure if that was y average or Alamy as a whole. Thanks!

On my dashboard it says the following :-

 

Top performing pseudonym: GARETH SEWELL(CTR: 0.98)
Last month average CTR on Alamy: 0.61

I did make some sales but I hadn't for a while.

[Stokie]

5 minutes ago, Gareth Sewell said:

Ah ok I wasn't sure if that was y average or Alamy as a whole. Thanks!

On my dashboard it says the following :-

 

Top performing pseudonym: GARETH SEWELL(CTR: 0.98)
Last month average CTR on Alamy: 0.61

I did make some sales but I hadn't for a while.

 

So you are well above average.

 

CTR is, quote "the number of zooms divided by the number of views, multiplied by 100." So sales aren't taken into account in calculation of your CTR.

 

I've always had a below average CTR but have made regular sales.

 

John.

 

[Gareth Sewell]

1 hour ago, Stokie said:

 

So you are well above average.

 

CTR is, quote "the number of zooms divided by the number of views, multiplied by 100." So sales aren't taken into account in calculation of your CTR.

 

I've always had a below average CTR but have made regular sales.

 

John.

 

Interesting about the regular sales despite the lower CTR, thanks!

 

[spacecadet]

Jusr remember- CTR isn't sales, rank isn't sales.

Sales is sales.

[Colblimp]

My CTR is always below the average - it currently stands at .5, but I'm making the sales so I'm not too bothered.