Funny old world, and Alamy Ranking

[KateR]

So, yesterday I spent an un-fruitful afternoon getting to grips with the All Alamy tool in Alamy Measures. My rational conclusion was that I had slightly more chance of being hit by lightening than ever selling anything - based on the fact that, say, there's been maybe 2 or 3 searches for most of my topics in the past year, with maybe 2,000 images competing for the results.

 

Anyway. Today I had a look at my measures and this pic has had 6,715 views in the last few weeks, and 16 zooms. Obviously it hasn't sold because it's largely without merit - I couldn't rescue the blown out highlights, and to be honest I only uploaded it because I was annoyed with myself for the amount of "not up to scratch" shots from that trip and it was one of the few i thought might pass inspection on the focus front!

 

But my point is, when i went onto Picniche just out of interest and had a look at "ginger cat", it came up with an index of 4.3, which broadly correlates to "your chances of anyone ever seeing that shot are equivalent to those of catching Ebola in the same week you win the lottery AND get struck by lightening". Or to put it another way, I'd have pretty much staked my life savings on that image never seeing the light of day ever.

 

Ho hum.

 

On a slightly related matter, can anyone tell me how a new contributor with no past "form" can improve their Ranking enough for a particular photo to show up on the first page or two of search results, when there will inevitably be thousands of photos ahead of them for that keyword?

The time I spent playing with Alamy Measures yesterday pretty much convinced me that there's no viable (ie actually has searches, if not sales!) keyword left in the universe which doesn't already have hundreds of shots against it...

[spacecadet]

Upload more well-executed, well-keyworded images.On my rate of sales, which is pretty poor,  with 49 you could expect a sale every couple of years.

Presumably you realise that it's not your particular image getting all those searches and zooms- it's the search term "ginger cat". I expect about 1 view/image/month on average.

Rank depends on views, zooms and sales. There's no short-cut.

Work on range. There are 6800 ginger cats, but only 45 in France. If it were a little clearer that it was in France you'd have a better chance of a travel editorial sale.

 

PS. If that's Abney Park, say so! I've had sales for Clissold Park in the last year. Standard, I think.

[Robert Convery]

It can take 3 months to be notified of a sale so the ginger cat could have sold.

 

The small red bug F3PHK9 looks like a lily beetle - Lilioceris lilii which only returns 237 search results.

 

You will need around 3000 images to get a payout every month.

[Armstrong]

Have a think about how a buyer would find your photo - what would  they type into the Search Engine. Not only words but word order.

 

So for example : F5PXMP A Greek church. The word Greek isn't in your keywords.  So add Greek and also "Greek Church".  Also add in the the name of the religion practised in this church. Also the Churches specific name.

 

Also you could add "Blue Sky" or "Blue Skies". It's Santorini which is associated with white buildings against blue skies.

 

I like your images. You just need to increase your volume of the right kind of images (not just volume alone) and also improve your keywording.

[Allan Bell]

It can take 3 months to be notified of a sale so the ginger cat could have sold.

 

The small red bug F3PHK9 looks like a lily beetle - Lilioceris lilii which only returns 237 search results.

 

You will need around 3000 images to get a payout every month.

 

Depends on the images in your port.

 

Allan

[Ed Rooney]

"Anyway. Today I had a look at my measures and this pic has had 6,715 views in the last few weeks, and 16 zooms. Obviously it hasn't sold because it's largely without merit - I couldn't rescue the blown out highlights, and to be honest I only uploaded it because I was annoyed with myself for the amount of "not up to scratch" shots from that trip and it was one of the few i thought might pass inspection on the focus front!" - KateR

 

No, that image of yours did not have 6,715 views and 16 zooms . . . the subject had that level of attention, not your image. 

[Sultanpepa]

Clients using the new button may see your image on the first page depending on the search so there is always a chance of a sale. 

[David Davies]

I would have put "Ginger cat" or "ginger" in the keywords as they have a better weighting than the title!

[MircoV]

KateR,

 

You have good images i think you can have success here.

 

Just one thing......... you need as already few times repeated far more photos online before you even can think about a possible sale. Get a couple of thousands photos online and take then a look at measure to make healthy conclusions . You will get there.

[Bryan]

Yes some very nice shots in that collection, love the infinity pool photo - not keen on that cat mind (too small in the frame, too much background clutter) !

 

There are still some subjects out there with very few or no images available on Alamy. My advice would be to concentrate initially on your own area. A significant proportion of my sales have come from within a 15 mile radius of my house. You should know the best viewpoints and the best times of day to capture them - and if you don't, it's time to find out.

 

Search in All of Alamy using the % symbol to find all occurrences of a given subject relating to where you live. You might just find some customer searches that draw a complete blank , and there you go, a real possibility.

 

For most of us it's a numbers ( i.e. thousands) game, more decent uploads without excessive duplication and plenty of variety equates to more sales. 

 

Don't expect to get rich however, the rate of pay in this particular employment is nowhere near the minimum wage.

[KateR]

Ahhhh no I didn't appreciate that those were subject stats rather than mine. That would explain why it said 0 zooms on the summary page before I clicked into the pseudonyms section. ..I just thought I had changed the date range or something.

Mystery solved, then

 

I'm on the mobile so can't quote easily, but thanks to everyone for the other tips too.

 

Spacecadet sadly no that isn't Abney. It's the considerably lesser searched Tower Hamlets Cemetary park - from the same era as Highgate, Abney etc but without the profile!

 

Robert - amazing bug ID! Yes now you mention it it was a lily beetle, the sods had just devastated my bulbs and I thought I might as well get a shot out of it.

 

In general I know I need a gazillion more images and will probably never get that far. But I'm not really expecting to earn, it'd be a nice bonus, but I'm using this to discipline improving my shots. Already enabling the horizon level indicator and resisting the urge to shoot everything at f1.8 (result: nothing ever in focus) has paid great dividends

[Phil Robinson]

I agree the pictures are good. I also agree that you'll need to add a couple of zeros on your number of images on file to get regular sales.

Perhaps the most important thing though is a captioning/keywording.

That is definitely a lilly beetle, so that and the Latin name are needed.

Also, with the cat, as well as 'sleeping' I would add 'sleep' and 'asleep' - that kind of thing isn't picked up by the search engine. Plurals and different forms of words have to be added individually.

Also, on the iguana, I'd add the Latin name if possible, animal, wildlife, head, not to mention the location (Country, Continent) in case people are looking for the wildlife found in a particular area.