What do you think now?

[Reimar]

 

I count 4 months now. 

My views are down to almost half.  Zooms also down the same, so CTR is not changed for me.  Overall income for 2017 down substantially.

 

I resent having to redo all my captions just to try to get back to where I was.

I can't change tags since the majority of my images are filled to double or more the tag limit.

At this point I'm hoping Alamy's supertags go the same route as quotes for phrases - long promised, never rolled out.

 

Do you think that having so many tags might be part of the problem? Just a thought...

 

I don't see how.  Do you?

As I indicated in the Proof... thread, duplicate regular tags count as high as having the keyword in the caption.  Doesn't get any better than that.

Supertags would work against me, but I haven't touched these, and as long as there is a regular tag for the keyword, the supertag is irrelevant.

[John Mitchell]

 

 

I count 4 months now. 

My views are down to almost half.  Zooms also down the same, so CTR is not changed for me.  Overall income for 2017 down substantially.

 

I resent having to redo all my captions just to try to get back to where I was.

I can't change tags since the majority of my images are filled to double or more the tag limit.

At this point I'm hoping Alamy's supertags go the same route as quotes for phrases - long promised, never rolled out.

 

Do you think that having so many tags might be part of the problem? Just a thought...

 

I don't see how.  Do you?

As I indicated in the Proof... thread, duplicate regular tags count as high as having the keyword in the caption.  Doesn't get any better than that.

Supertags would work against me, but I haven't touched these, and as long as there is a regular tag for the keyword, the supertag is irrelevant.

 

 

No, I don't. I'm as confused as everyone else. However, a little voice inside keeps whispering that having an accurate, descriptive caption and a lean list of relevant keywords / tags is still the best path to "discoverability." As systems get more complicated, they also get more chaotic, it seems to me.

[christian58]

I am quite happy with the placement, cant complain but not happy with sales!  with my placement I should at all accounts sell 3 times more! but not!  and then my conclusion is simple:  lack of buyers! lack of trafic.

[Reimar]

Maybe your right John.  But I'm not going with lean, just because if it describes the picture, I'd rather have it there than leave it out.  One never knows what a client is looking for, or what they will pick.

 

If I was getting more views and fewer zooms, I'd worry about overdoing my annotation.  But I don't see that. 

In the past I did go lean with captions since they were not supposed to count much.  I'm hoping that filling out the captions now will make a difference for me (at least until Alamy gives the rug a tug again).

[John Richmond]

Views up starting in January and almost doubling over the previous years average.  That has continued over Feb and March.  Zooms a bit down in January and then shot up, exceeding my previous best (33) by one in Feb and then hitting 50 in March.  Encouragingly a lot were the only image zoomed.  I even had a direct Alamy reference zoom - I'd thought those were long gone.  CTR has been well above Alamy average.  27 sales to date this year with average prices about 15% up on last year.  February gave me my best earnings month since I started with Alamy, both gross and nett.  So, all in all, I'm not complaining.  For me it all looks positive - even if the three figure sales for any of my images appear non existent,

[Betty LaRue]

 

I am quite happy with the placement, cant complain but not happy with sales!  with my placement I should at all accounts sell 3 times more! but not!  and then my conclusion is simple:  lack of buyers! lack of trafic.

 

. . . or that buyers are buying them elsewhere . . .

I used to duplicate with micro.  The pictures sold where they were available for the cheapest price.  It takes only seconds to check where else they are on sale, and there's nothing more dispiriting than to see that an image has been viewed/zoomed on Alamy and on the same day sold on micro.  Now I upload to Alamy and only very rarely elsewhere.   My sales here have increased dramatically since I did this. 

Good for you, Kay. People here have tried to communicate your findings forever, but you're the only one I am aware of that found it out the hard way, and then came on here and owned up to it. Again, good for you.

Your word means more than someone who theoretically knows the facts but aren't duplicating work on micros and here. Experience counts.

 

Betty

[Doc]

 

Not as good as before 5/12;  - for March, overall views and CTR down by about 25%, CTR therefore unchanged but sales also down about 25% on expected.

 

Kumar (The Doc one)

 

 

Oh dear! Sounds like the photography trips may be a bit curtailed this year.

 

Allan

 

 

Not that serious yet, Allan!  

 

Kumar (the Doc one) 

[wiskerke]

I've just been enjoying an evening of opera, and in particular Sarah Brightman and Andre Bocelli singing "Time to say goodbye"

 

Gotta take the hint. Good luck folks. It's been a gas but life's too short.

Now I've been to the opera too. And I too came back with a strong message: it's all totally confusing and scary.

And in the end one goes mad and the other gets killed. But boy does it all look good!

 

(Wozzeck link 1 - link 2 - link 3)

Note the Klaus Kinsky look-a-like main character ;-)

 

wim

[Hellonearth]

 

 

I am quite happy with the placement, cant complain but not happy with sales!  with my placement I should at all accounts sell 3 times more! but not!  and then my conclusion is simple:  lack of buyers! lack of trafic.

. . . or that buyers are buying them elsewhere . . .

I used to duplicate with micro.  The pictures sold where they were available for the cheapest price.  It takes only seconds to check where else they are on sale, and there's nothing more dispiriting than to see that an image has been viewed/zoomed on Alamy and on the same day sold on micro.  Now I upload to Alamy and only very rarely elsewhere.   My sales here have increased dramatically since I did this. 

Good for you, Kay. People here have tried to communicate your findings forever, but you're the only one I am aware of that found it out the hard way, and then came on here and owned up to it. Again, good for you.

Your word means more than someone who theoretically knows the facts but aren't duplicating work on micros and here. Experience counts.

 

Betty

 

I have also discovered the same phenomenon so I have now abandoned micro in favour of Alamy. I havent uploaded to micro for 6 months now. My new strategy is yet to turn into more sales but last month 2 of my images were used but they havent turned up in my sales yet.

[TobyH]

I'm another whose zooms have taken a complete nosedive, never seen anything like it. It's the lowest it's been in a year despite increasing my image numbers.I appreciate I don't have the largest portfolio but it's been growing and steadily improving.....until the new engine, then my stats just go through the floor.

 

I've read a few threads after I found ridiculous megatags in some of my images and have been working through them to remove them. I've always made sure I have a reasonable caption.

 

Really not inspiring. What on earth is going on???

[Martin P Wilson]

Oops, wrong thread!

[christian58]

Well to leave micro in favour of Alamy is fine. The thing is I think everybodys aim is to survive exclusivly on stock-photography and IMO that is completely impossible today being with just one agency. Sure there are a few but they are VERY few indeed.

In the film days it was quite easy but nowadays its almost impossible!

[Ed Rooney]

So true, Christian. I'm a retired pro shooter. I do stock now because I want something to do that is involving and not easy: I don't play golf or watch much TV. 

 

I think Alamy is a bunch of good people who are doing their best to be good to us. 

 

Money is nice; I need money. I want some money. But I don't do this for the money. 

 

Edo

[John Mitchell]

So true, Christian. I'm a retired pro shooter. I do stock now because I want something to do that is involving and not easy: I don't play golf or watch much TV. 

 

I think Alamy is a bunch of good people who are doing their best to be good to us. 

 

Money is nice; I need money. I want some money. But I don't do this for the money. 

 

Edo

 

Well said, Edo. Alamy is indeed good people doing their best in a difficult business. I know that I tend to complain too much.

 

So I guess we won't see you teeing off at Mar-a-Lago any time soon.

 

P.S. I tossed my golf clubs in the river (metaphorically speaking) over 40 years ago and have never looked back.

[Betty LaRue]

When I said things seem about the same, basically,they are. But I am seeing wild fluctuations in zooms, when they used to be more steady, albeit slow. Now I'll get a chunk of them, sometimes skirting highest ever, then they'll dry up for a week. Then another chunk.

 

I'm not sure if it's the search engine or not. Sales are slow this month. Maybe I can hope for a chunk of those all at once! Dream on....

Betty

[TobyH]

Thanks for the responses.

 

I had been going through making sure all images had 10 supertags but given the efforts of others here (much appreciated) I think i'll stick to getting rid of megatags and i'll not worry about bumping my supertags to 10 on all images until we get a reasonable answer on where we stand.