James Lupson Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 I can't seem to get any sales, how can I start to get sales? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 There's 134 million photos available on Alamy, 20 images is a tiny fraction of the total. Upload several thousand of attractive photos with excellent keywording and you will have better chance of success. There's no easy way, no magic bullet, it's getting harder all the while.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 This may sound harsh, but... Take a look at the images sold threads and look at what has sold and why Revisit your captions - this is not a blog, buyers are not interested in your personal life Likewise, work hard at your tags: no buyer is concerned about which camera you used and... Follow Bryan's advice above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colblimp Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Patience, regular quality uploads and good captioning and keywording are the key. The sales will come, but it's going to be a long investment in time and effort. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 3 hours ago, James Lupson said: I can't seem to get any sales, how can I start to get sales? James, that's the question you ask after uploading just 20 images in the past year? Inactivity just won't cut it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 6 hours ago, James Lupson said: I can't seem to get any sales, how can I start to get sales? I have enough trouble getting sales with my 5,000 images competing with millions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lupson Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 14 hours ago, Ed Rooney said: James, that's the question you ask after uploading just 20 images in the past year? Inactivity just won't cut it. Sorry, but I must disagree, I am not inactive, astrophotography takes a long time to plan out and is dependant on location, time of year, and weather, and living in London doesn't cut it. I might not have uploaded lots of photos in a year, but I have most certainly not been inactive. Is there any way I am able to see how many people are seeing my images, so I know if it is a matter of people seeing my images or wanting to buy my photos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avpics Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, James Lupson said: Is there any way I am able to see how many people are seeing my images, so I know if it is a matter of people seeing my images or wanting to buy my photos? On your dashboard, go to Alamy Measures/Your images Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 7 minutes ago, James Lupson said: Sorry, but I must disagree, I am not inactive, astrophotography takes a long time to plan out and is dependant on location, time of year, and weather, and living in London doesn't cut it. I might not have uploaded lots of photos in a year, but I have most certainly not been inactive. Is there any way I am able to see how many people are seeing my images, so I know if it is a matter of people seeing my images or wanting to buy my photos? I think you have misinterpreted the word inactive, which clearly and simply meant inactivity uploading photos. If you go to your dashboard and click on Alamy Measures/Your Images you will find a wealth of information about searches and zooms. T took me a while to realise that this was there, so I’m not surprised you haven’t seen it. See the other thread about how big portfolios were when first sales occurred. And, if you have a very specific niche of astrophotography, then a relative lack of diversity many mean few sales even with a large portfolio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeCee Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 15 hours ago, losdemas said: This may sound harsh, but... Take a look at the images sold threads and look at what has sold and why Revisit your captions - this is not a blog, buyers are not interested in your personal life Likewise, work hard at your tags: no buyer is concerned about which camera you used and... Follow Bryan's advice above +1 In approximate terms here, one sale per month per thousand images. You're a long way from making a sale I'm afraid. Plus... there are 27,251 pictures here on Alamy of the Taj Mahal, you need to make yours stand out, with composition, post processing and great captions/key words."The stunning Taj Mahal in Agra, the heart of India. We spent a few weeks working with Seva Mandir, and just had to stop at the Taj Mahal on the way" As Danny points out, no-one cares about your trip to India, think like a buyer, not like a blogger. 47 minutes ago, James Lupson said: Sorry, but I must disagree, I am not inactive, astrophotography takes a long time to plan out and is dependant on location, time of year, and weather, and living in London doesn't cut it. I might not have uploaded lots of photos in a year, but I have most certainly not been inactive. Is there any way I am able to see how many people are seeing my images, so I know if it is a matter of people seeing my images or wanting to buy my photos? On the upside, if your main interest is astrophotography, you may find a handy niche that'll serve you well. On the downside, if it takes that long to pop up one image, again, you're a long,long way from a sale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 24 minutes ago, James Lupson said: Sorry, but I must disagree, I am not inactive, astrophotography takes a long time to plan out and is dependant on location, time of year, and weather, and living in London doesn't cut it. I might not have uploaded lots of photos in a year, but I have most certainly not been inactive. Is there any way I am able to see how many people are seeing my images, so I know if it is a matter of people seeing my images or wanting to buy my photos? How could anyone know from your port that you do astrophotography? NB all the above advice is sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 More images - best of subjects with less images on Alamy. Also find a niche. Use the "Alamy Measures" - "Your images" to see your own results - and "All of Alamy" to see what has been searched for. Try f.inst. using the % with no space before a city, subject, interest, etc. and see if this has been searched recently.This may even give ideas to more appropriate key words. Keywording is your friend - and not so easy as it looks. You have excellent images from India, especially the ones with people in. Some kind of job or student exchange? Better keywording and caption would help you. Remember the caption is also searchable. Instead of "we" perhaps use "exchange students", "exchange teachers" or whatever. In this case perhaps also think of what the journalist, writer dealing with the subject would search for if not the cold facts. In case you want to elaborate or tell more of a story, use the description field in "Optional", "Additional info", this field is not searchable. You will need to get some views, zooms and eventually sales to move your images up front. Niels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamo Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 It took 1 year and 2 months and over 600 uploads to get my first sale. Keep uploading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 And this is your competition for astrophotography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lupson Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 On 15/05/2018 at 10:20, Niels Quist said: More images - best of subjects with less images on Alamy. Also find a niche. Use the "Alamy Measures" - "Your images" to see your own results - and "All of Alamy" to see what has been searched for. Try f.inst. using the % with no space before a city, subject, interest, etc. and see if this has been searched recently.This may even give ideas to more appropriate key words. Keywording is your friend - and not so easy as it looks. You have excellent images from India, especially the ones with people in. Some kind of job or student exchange? Better keywording and caption would help you. Remember the caption is also searchable. Instead of "we" perhaps use "exchange students", "exchange teachers" or whatever. In this case perhaps also think of what the journalist, writer dealing with the subject would search for if not the cold facts. In case you want to elaborate or tell more of a story, use the description field in "Optional", "Additional info", this field is not searchable. You will need to get some views, zooms and eventually sales to move your images up front. Niels Thank you for the advice, I'm glad you like them! I'll be sure to do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 2 hours ago, James Lupson said: Thank you for the advice, I'm glad you like them! I'll be sure to do that! - great - and now we are at it, I know many here only write the absolute minimum of keywords, but I can easily reach the fifty keywords for some images. I want to use any relevant keyword that I could imagine might be used in a search - either for a strictly narrow or a wider intellectual use of the image in articles, books, etc. We don't really know what idea the writer / editor has in his/her brain. And also add US as well as British spelling for the common words - and all forms and even some misspellings of the words that are often misspelled. You could pair a few keywords in one tag. Sticking to the above mentioned type of images: example of more keywords and grouping of the keywords in the same tag: act, acts - kindness selflessness - job, jobs - international exchange - program, programs, programme, programmes Just rack your brains - and very important: go through the keywords and remove the ones you find irrelevant - also done after a while. I often do this after a sale - or after using the "Alamy Measures" "All of Alamy". This ever ongoing job, that can be very interesting, educating - and even rewarding, will probably be easier for you as a native speaker of English than it is for a Viking. Good luck Niels PS: Last hint - this will be valuable to you: https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/9528-how-best-to-keyword-age-ranges/?tab=comments#comment-170369 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobPhoto Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 your keywords are awful, that's going to kill your rank.. Your taj Mahal photo with Udaipur, Jaipur, Rajasthan, Poverty, kids, portrait, wildfile and so on as keywords... You not going to see sales soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Zajchikova Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 On 5/14/2018 at 15:08, James Lupson said: I can't seem to get any sales, how can I start to get sales? Same here, I started at Alamy this January, I am an experienced photostocker and food photographer. I already uploaded over 3000 images but still no sales. What could be wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 16 minutes ago, Elena Zajchikova said: Same here, I started at Alamy this January, I am an experienced photostocker and food photographer. I already uploaded over 3000 images but still no sales. What could be wrong? You have a specialist collection. Alamy is a general agency. So your results here may be limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 In your case Elena, the answer is time ... just time. You have some good images, but remember many publications do not report their usage until months after the publication date. Alamy is a long game, but I think you'll make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, Russell said: In your case Elena, the answer is time ... just time. You have some good images, but remember many publications do not report their usage until months after the publication date. Alamy is a long game, but I think you'll make it. Exactly the point I was going to make. It seems that the vast majority of 'new' contributors here (mostly from a MS background) do not understand the necessity of patience when placing photos with Alamy. Your images have me dribbling, Elena ; keep uploading and you will start to have regular sales soon enough, but 4 months is no time at all here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Zajchikova Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 10 minutes ago, Russell said: In your case Elena, the answer is time ... just time. You have some good images, but remember many publications do not report their usage until months after the publication date. Alamy is a long game, but I think you'll make it. Thank you for your prompt answer. That explains everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Zajchikova Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, losdemas said: keep uploading and you will start to have regular sales soon enough, but 4 months is no time at all here! Thanks, I will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 2 hours ago, Elena Zajchikova said: Same here, I started at Alamy this January, I am an experienced photostocker and food photographer. I already uploaded over 3000 images but still no sales. What could be wrong? I find it hard to understand why you haven't yet had any sales. You have an excellent portfolio with good quality images + for the most part good key wording. Are you getting views and zooms?. As a new contributor your rank is probably around average, so it may take a while for your images to climb higher in the searches. I don't think it will be long before sales start to appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Zajchikova Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, BobD said: I find it hard to understand why you haven't yet had any sales. You have an excellent portfolio with good quality images + for the most part good key wording. Are you getting views and zooms?. As a new contributor your rank is probably around average, so it may take a while for your images to climb higher in the searches. I don't think it will be long before sales start to appear. I've got around 2000 views and 8 zooms since January. Average CTR is 0.42. Don't know whether this is good or bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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