Craig Yates Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Key wording. You have some irrelevant keywords. Example JM5FYB Ashphalt-none in this shot blue-nothing blue here cloud-no clouds here curves-no curves that i can see destinations ?? grass?? highway?? landscape?? lane?? road??sky?? street?? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 4 hours ago, KODAKovic said: I just tried to use the tool i suggested and found out "Ecuador" has a very low ranking. Try focussing on something more interesting with a higher ranking. I spent some time in Ecuador about 12 years ago. It's a wonderful country to travel in. I have a handful of images from my Ecuador trip that have done surprisingly well on Alamy. Guess I was lucky in that I manged to stumble upon some subjects that weren't represented well here. At the time, I was disappointed (I still am) that I didn't make it to the Galapagos Islands. However, from a photographic POV, it might be a good thing given that the islands have been so extensively covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Great info above - much appreciated. Yes, 13 +-3 images over 2 years is quite disappointing and only have myself to blame. If it means anything these are my stats...I'm still learning how to interpret them: Period : 01 Aug 2016 to 07 Aug 2017 Total views: 19241 Total zooms: 83 Total CTR : 0.43 Average CTR 0.43 Last month average CTR on Alamy: 0.57 I need to step up my game in Alamy by focusing on key concepts, keyword better and not mix microstock images with the stuff on Alamy. As for promoting my book, I can see that antagonised some people but it's a piece of research I'm proud of and the nature of the game is that I must use all avenues to promote (legally). It's more about the blog than the book though and a way for people to perhaps pick up on some pieces of wisdom I occasionally spew out with my articles (for example: Microstock isn't all evil) but most importantly I want to make friends and learn to improve. Photography can be lonely and it's always great to share this passion with people. Unlike some people, I don't consider fellow contributors as competitors, but instead as colleagues. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 I know almost nothing about the micro world, but my impression is that the big microstock agencies are now poised to start eating each other alive (along with contributors). This has already happened to a large extent with traditional stock agencies, as evidenced by how few are left standing. And the carnage probably isn't over ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Quote I was contributing to Alamy in 2004 I didn't jump on the microstock bandwagon, so I know what that makes me - foolish! Do you have a t-shirt written: "Never surrender to Microstock!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KODAKovic Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 23 minutes ago, Brasilnut said: Great info above - much appreciated. Yes, 13 +-3 images over 2 years is quite disappointing and only have myself to blame. If it means anything these are my stats...I'm still learning how to interpret them: Period : 01 Aug 2016 to 07 Aug 2017 Total views: 19241 Total zooms: 83 Total CTR : 0.43 Average CTR 0.43 Last month average CTR on Alamy: 0.57 I need to step up my game in Alamy by focusing on key concepts, keyword better and not mix microstock images with the stuff on Alamy. As for promoting my book, I can see that antagonised some people but it's a piece of research I'm proud of and the nature of the game is that I must use all avenues to promote (legally). It's more about the blog than the book though and a way for people to perhaps pick up on some pieces of wisdom I occasionally spew out with my articles (for example: Microstock isn't all evil) but most importantly I want to make friends and learn to improve. Photography can be lonely and it's always great to share this passion with people. Unlike some people, I don't consider fellow contributors as competitors, but instead as colleagues. Alex Alex welcome onboard About statistics i forgot to say i often go to the Last 7 Days section and see if there are some of my images which were viewed for a mistake (i.e. i didn't use a phrase and a buyer used two separate words). Another thing i do regularly is to remove "obvious" keywords which i see get too much views among thousand of other "colleagues" pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 8 minutes ago, Brasilnut said: Do you have a t-shirt written: "Never surrender to Microstock!" No, but I do have one with a picture of a family and a caption reading "They're happy because they eat lard". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Quote I know almost nothing about the micro world, but my impression is that microstock agencies are now poised to start eating each other alive (along with contributors). This has already happened to a large extent with traditional stock agencies, as evidenced by how few are left standing. And the carnage probably isn't over ... That's correct, although that's been happening for a while and has picked up pace lately. Market share is dominated by the big players. Smaller players are struggling and probably won't be around soon or be bought out. Some interesting sites emerging specialising in mobile phone images which should grow. Some contributors are jumping ship but where to go? The boutique agencies most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Quote Brazilnut (and others) - Please try to not keep mentioning other agencies here. I'm not trying to be admin, I'm just thinking of the fact that I'm nearly exclusive, and people keep mentioning other agencies and seemingly promoting them. That won't help any of us who only submit to Alamy. Thanks. Oh and good for you Alex forkeeping a cool head and not biting back to some of the comments. I wish I was able to stay so calm and still write positive friendly posts. it's nice to be able to disagree with a fellow contributor without fighting amongst ourselves. Don't have a cow just kidding. Ok, will do. I don't mind the negative comments, I find that in life 99% of all negativity isn't personal. Often people just want to dump their frustration on someone, I guess today was my turn. Some contributors hate Microstock and it's completely understandable. Some would go as far as call it a cancer haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Quote It may pay to do a risk analysis before you do such a trip. Or any investment of time and money. I have just sold a shot on Alamy which was taking from my living room window in my old flat. Risk - little to none. Flying to Ecuador you are already €6-700's down before you have left the airport. If you only concentrate on one particular area, for example the travel pages with a highly saturated supply through one vendor, then you have painted yourself in a corner. If you are going just to have a holiday and hopefully earn a few cents on the side, not a problem, enjoy the holiday. If you are going to make money, you have to look at ways of mitigating that risk. In todays market its a challenge. Great point. Lucky that I was going to visit friends and photography wasn't the main purpose although I did take so many pics! Flights to Ecuador from Europe are like 1k euros at least...crazy! Just disappointing that haven't had much success with the Ecuador images...yet (I was there over the new years). I only stayed in Quito and surrounding volcanoes. Staying in such high altitude (>3000 metres) for many days is really interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 9 minutes ago, arterra said: Au contraire, mon frere. The traditional agencies work together. Just see the list of Alamy's partners. Cheers, Philippe Tu as raison, mon ami. But the list of casualties is long. So many agencies (including some I used to contribute to) have bitten the dust or been swallowed whole that I've lost count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaJ Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Alex, I agree with Jill that your travel photos need to stand out more in terms of colour and also subject matter. I see some problems with captioning, for example, J886EM has a rambling caption (which is cut off) and doesn't really describe the image. Also, as Johnnie5 said, you need to compare your images to what alamy already has. If there are already volumes of high quality images on a particular subject, I won't add my image unless it's timely or unique in some way. Similarly, if a travel photo I've taken has dark shadows, and/or it's a really dull day, I don't submit it unless there are few images on that subject and/or the dull day could make it a useful "story" in that particular context. Maria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regen Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 8 hours ago, arterra said: Au contraire, mon frere. The traditional agencies work together. Just see the list of Alamy's partners. Cheers, Philippe And reduce the photographers take still further- dangerously close to micro stock prices in many cases! regen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 13 hours ago, Brasilnut said: 13 hours ago, Brasilnut said: Don't have a cow just kidding. Ok, will do. I don't mind the negative comments, I find that in life 99% of all negativity isn't personal. Often people just want to dump their frustration on someone, I guess today was my turn. Some contributors hate Microstock and it's completely understandable. Some would go as far as call it a cancer haha You miss the point. It's a breach of forum rules to discuss rival agencies. You're likely to get the thread locked by doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quote And that's why I call microstock a CANCER because it does exactly what cancers do. What does that say about the buyers of such images? Quote You miss the point. It's a breach of forum rules to discuss rival agencies. You're likely to get the thread locked by doing it. Ok. Noted and won't happen again. Quote It was just plain obvious to me from the minute that I saw it that microstock was a dead-end. I wasn't contributing in 2004 but from the stories I heard it was a goldmine then, but I guess that goes for stock photography in general when there were less images floating around. No doubt that microstock is dead-end now but for the top 10% of contributors who make 80% of revenues. Even Yuri Ancurs, the world's most successful microstock photographer, saw the light in 2011/2012 and looked elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quote Anyway, now that you have seen the light and are committed to Alamy isn't it time you switched off the microstock music? I've seen the light Although I do have very generic images (mainly isolated stuff) that would make for good Microstock material. This thread has been a real wake up call on how lazy I've been with my keywording and captions and I thank you guys for pointing it out. Now i'll have to spend the next 30 hours going thorough the captions + keywords which is fine if it will lead to more downloads. Also nice tips about making images a bit more vibrant...there was a period about a year ago that I was experimenting with some VSCO filters and some results were less than desired. Most importantly, the subject matter needs to be relevant to buyers...I'll be spending more time in the UK in the coming months and will think about which types of images will have the greatest prospect of success - perhaps themes related to : Brexit, security, protests, austerity and of course Alamy Live News on the weather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quote Apparently, judging the above, you didn't learn much about the basics of stock photography at your magnificent microstock sites. I hope that by the time I have a portfolio consisting of 45,062 images I'll be more proficient at this game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernest Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 From what I see in your port, first thing to do is improving your photography. Photos are dull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 37 minutes ago, ernest said: From what I see in your port, first thing to do is improving your photography. Photos are dull. I must say you have some powerful images of India, Ethiopia, Madagascar. Great stuff! My best work isn't on Alamy, it's with boutique agencies (both fine art and travel). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 47 minutes ago, Brasilnut said: My best work isn't on Alamy, That sort of attitude is not likely to endear you to many here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quote That sort of attitude is not likely to endear you to many here. You guys sure are tough! These agencies request exclusivity (RM). Out of curiosity, do most of you only submit to Alamy? Ernst, Your images have inspired me. I'm digging through some images I took when I visited a favela in Rio about 2 years ago which I'll be submitting to Alamy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilnut Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quote Why upload work that is not your best? I cannot name the agency but probably won't take very long to find out who with a search on google. In any case, this agency does also submit to Alamy so indirectly I'm submitting my best work to Alamy but it doesn't show up in my portfolio. As for the fine art stuff, I don't think it would do so well here anyway. Anyway, fine art is really subjective so what I think is interesting someone may think is junk. Stock tends to be more objective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernest Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Looking for inspiration ( in terms of travel photography) ? Check the collection of Alamy contributors like Pascal Mannaerts, Eric Lafforgue, Frans Lanting, Leonid Plotkin,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 7 hours ago, Brasilnut said: My best work isn't on Alamy, it's with boutique agencies (both fine art and travel). Alamy has a "virtuous circle". If you put your best images here, you're more likely to get sales. If you get more sales your Alamy Rank will improve, this will lead to your images coming higher up in searches. This will lead to more views and, if the images are good enough, more sales. Success can grow on Alamy. Similarly, failure to put your best stuff here can lead to a "vicious circle" of decline. No sales, declining ranking, fewer views, disappointing sales over 2 years. Give Alamy your best shots, keyword them well, and you may be less disappointed. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 12 hours ago, geogphotos said: Norfolk is good but you probably know that there is nothing in Suffolk. Just get the train straight through from London to Norwich. You'll have to put up with me at the weekend. Anywhere within cycling distance of Leiston. Do you have railways at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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