Feedback appreciated

[Alex Holder]

Hello team,

 

I'd appreciate any general feedback on my portfolio. I just set it up and tried to create some galleries based on subject matter. My content is all travel and animal based, which I understand isn't what is in demand. Thanks for your time and comments!  https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/lexholder

Edited April 1, 2020 by Alex Holder

[VbFolly]

Hi Alex. A lot of different subjects sell here, including travel and animals, and I think you have some very good, saleable images. However, you will need to do some work on your captions and keywords so that your images are seen by picture buyers.

The captions should be individual to each image, and should describe what is in that photograph. For example, you have a lot of images with the caption "Exploring Scotland" and these include buildings, mossy rocks, etc. You need to describe the subject of each image accurately, e.g. state that it is a mossy rock or building, and what is the building, where was it, etc? For animals, you should include scientific names in both the caption and keywords, as a lot of buyers search by those. In general captions carry more weight in searches than keywords, so should be as complete as possible.

You seem to have the opposite problem with keywords in that you have included too many irrelevant ones, probably to try to get them discoverable. That really isn't necessary, and may actually damage your rank, as you will get too many irrelevant views. You don't need to include keywords about what camera you used, 42 megapixel, high definition, etc. I suggest you check some of the captions and keywords of some of the successful sellers here to get a better idea. Good luck.

[meanderingemu]

many nice image, but as VbFolly mentioned some major issues on Caption and KWs.   Based on anecdotal information, the order of importance for searches are Caption, Super Tag, Tags.  Note that additional info do not help in search.  

Note that Alamy also gives historically precedence based on CTR, which means appearing in searches that are not related can hurt you in the end.  I'll take one of your image as an example.

 

  

 

 

Antigua, Guatemala bus parked outside the old town during the Easter Week celebrations 

 

 

 

This appears on the first page if i search for Antigua Easter Celebrations, but i don't see anything related to Easter on it.  

For same reason it's included in "habla espanol", but i don't even see any Spanish text

 

It does not appear however in search for "Guatemalan bus"  nor for the common appellation "Chicken bus", which is sad because these would be the people who would be interested in this image 

[Alex Holder]

I really appreciate the help everyone! I am going to find time to improve upon my portfolio based on your suggestions. I got wound up in the "optimizing" photos for 50 keywords but apparently that doesn't matter.  

[meanderingemu]

On 03/04/2020 at 09:42, Alex Holder said:

I really appreciate the help everyone! I am going to find time to improve upon my portfolio based on your suggestions. I got wound up in the "optimizing" photos for 50 keywords but apparently that doesn't matter.  

 

 

actually it possibly matters in a negative way, giving false positive search results.  The "optimized" label really has to go....  but first I would concentrate on the Caption. I've done some test where a certain word in Caption has my picture on page 2, having it only in the KW drops it to page 9....  

Edited April 16, 2020 by meanderingemu

[AlexG]

On 01/04/2020 at 11:11, VbFolly said:

The captions should be individual to each image, and should describe what is in that photograph. For example, you have a lot of images with the caption "Exploring Scotland" and these include buildings, mossy rocks, etc. You need to describe the subject of each image accurately, e.g. state that it is a mossy rock or building, and what is the building, where was it, etc? For animals, you should include scientific names in both the caption and keywords, as a lot of buyers search by those. In general captions carry more weight in searches than keywords, so should be as complete as possible.

 

I love this comment, this will really help me too. I am coming to the realization that captions are basically the most important aspect along with relevant super tags.

 

Alex, your gallery has lots of variety of subjects so I am sure they will be searched for and are sellable when captioned and described individually to boost their chances of making it into searches.

 

Good luck!

[Alex Holder]

Hey Alex! I appreciate your response. I feel like I wasted a lot of time in the past focusing on keywords! I now need to spend time correcting the captions. Best of luck with your portfolio!

[Colin Woods]

20 hours ago, Alex Holder said:

I now need to spend time correcting the captions.

Your captions should describe Who What Where When Why and How. Any arty type captions should be left to Fine Art America or Instagram.

 

On 03/04/2020 at 10:20, meanderingemu said:

The "optimized" label really has to go

Absolutely, a totally misleading "feature" that has led so many new contributors to keep adding irrelevant keywords thinking that they will be better off with the bar green. Just describe what you see in the image, add any emotional words. such as happiness, power, energy, etc and leave it at that.

[Alex Holder]

Thanks Colin! bad UX design indeed!

[Colin Woods]

5 minutes ago, Alex Holder said:

Thanks Colin! bad UX design indeed!

I think its more Alamy trying to get a bit of Instagram social media type credibility. I get the impression that they think that youngsters who pass lots of time on instagram, facebook et al will feel more at home here. I can't think of another reason that a function that encourages you to inadvertently harm your ranking in searches would be included. If you stay on this forum regularly I guarantee that you will see another newcomer asking advice on how to get the visibility bar green, and a whole raft of replies like this one - don't try to get it green. Just keyword.

[Paul Thompson]

May I add that some images need a bit of room to breathe as editors may want to add text around the subject, especially on your animal shots.

I too like to fill the frame especially with faces and animals but have learnt to pull back a bit to give someone a choice as to whether they want to crop the image or not.

 

Love this image - - Image ID: J39K99

Residents of Duke University Lemur Research Center at lunch time.

 

Actually I've just copied and pasted your keywords and a lot more have come up than is showing -

america american south animal animals biology bull city bull durham carolinas duke duke university durham exhibit exotic habitat learning lemur research center lemurs

show all

life lively lunch time madagascar natives nature nc north carolina primates rescue rough neck lemurs south east special species the south tour travel triangle unique united states of america usa

 

Personally, IMHO, I would omit - Residents of Duke University in the title and add the Latin - "Varecia" and from what I can find they are "Ruffed Neck Lemurs" with furry "ruffs" running from the ears to the neck. I'm not an expert so you'll need to check on the right Genus.

This image is also going to turn up in searches for Durham (UK and USA), Madagascar, Carolina, Carolinas and USA but no mention of the habitat.

It's a steep learning curve but there is lots of help here on the forum with years of experience. Keep up the great work

Regards

Paul

 

https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/paulthompson

[Alex Holder]

Paul, I appreciate the advice. I had never considered the text and the cropping needs for copyright. I also appreciate the advice for the keywords too! I will dig in to work on this each day.