Keywording
What they are: Keywords are the words that the image buyers use to search for images on the Microstock sites. The more accurate your keywords are, the better chances you have of your image coming up in a buyer's search. For instance, if a buyer is looking for an image of a stack of books, they may search using the terms books, stack, and pile. If you only use the term periodical and library, your image will not come up in their search. For optimum sales, you always want to maximize your ability to come up in searches performed by buyers.
Choosing Keywords: The best way to choose keywords is by locating images on stock sites that most closely resemble your image and seeing what keywords are being used. It's really a balance between what you feel are proper keywords for your image and what you see is being used elsewhere. The best results are always a combination of keywords you thought of yourself and those you found elsewhere. A thesaurus is always a handy tool as well. If you are not comfortable coming up with your own keywords, some of the sites offer keywording services, but they will charge you to do this. There are also several free keywording tools that can be found on the Resources page.
Embeddng IPTC Data: IPTC data is the name of the information that is attached to an image digitally. For every image that you upload, you need to provide the site with a Title, Description, and Keywords. By embedding this information directly into your image, it automatically uploads along with the image and you do not need to re-type it once the image successfully uploads to a site. This one action is probably the biggest time-saver available to Microstock photographers, especially those who upload to many different sites. Many of the editing software programs (such as Photoshop) have features that allow you to enter and edit the IPTC data for each image. There are also several free programs that can be found on the Resources page. I recommend Irfanview as it allows you to cut and paste a list of keywords from elsewhere, which is essential if you are using Yuri Arcurs Keywording Tool (which I also recommend).
Controlled Vocabulary: iStockPhoto and Veer both used what is known as a "controlled vocabulary" or "CV. This is basically a system of words and phrases to help manage the image searches and to reduce the ambiguity of certain search terms. For example, if you use the keyword "park", that could mean a man made outdoor space, or the act of parking a car. For iStock, the contributor controlls what terms are matched up with their keywords at the time of uploading. With Veer, however, it is done by the system and the keywords that you end up with may not be the ones you wanted. With these two agencies, the CV should be noted and used to maximize the results for each of your images.
Uploading
Uploading is the process by which you get your images onto the sites that sell them to the buying public. Each Microstock site has a different user interface for uploading. On all interfaces, you must enter a title, description and keywords for each image you upload. For some sites, you must also choose categories for each image.
Get an FTP program: An FTP program can save you a lot of time in the uploading phase. By using FTP, you can bypass all of the different uploading interfaces and upload your images directly onto the sites via the FTP program. You will still need to go into each site to finalize and submit your images, but it is a lot quicker. I have listed some of the free FTP programs available in the Resources page. Note that at this time, iStockphoto does not offer FTP for uploading. Their user interface can be slow and cumbersome, especially for large uploads. I would recommend the free software program Deep Meta for uploading to iStockphoto, as this can save you a lot of time in the uploading process for this site.
Know the Shortcuts: Each site's user interface for uploading images is different. Familiarize yourself with the features of each one, and know where their shortcuts are. Even with FTP, many of the sites require you to pick one or more categories for each image, which cannot be imbedded into the image like the title, description and keywords. This step is probably the most time consuming in the uploading process. Many sites contain features that allow you to duplicate the categories that were entered for a previous image. By knowing where and how to access these features, you can cut down your uploading process considerably.
A general rule of thumb I would offer is this: If you are working on one of the Microstock sites and you feel like there has to be an easier way to do a particular task, there probably is. Utilize the forums to search for answers to any of your questions (I've listed several on the Resources page) . Microstock Group, in particular, is a great site, as it has separate discussion groups for each of the Microstock agencies. Chances are that whatever problem you are having, someone else has also experienced it and may have already discovered a solution.
What they are: Keywords are the words that the image buyers use to search for images on the Microstock sites. The more accurate your keywords are, the better chances you have of your image coming up in a buyer's search. For instance, if a buyer is looking for an image of a stack of books, they may search using the terms books, stack, and pile. If you only use the term periodical and library, your image will not come up in their search. For optimum sales, you always want to maximize your ability to come up in searches performed by buyers.
Choosing Keywords: The best way to choose keywords is by locating images on stock sites that most closely resemble your image and seeing what keywords are being used. It's really a balance between what you feel are proper keywords for your image and what you see is being used elsewhere. The best results are always a combination of keywords you thought of yourself and those you found elsewhere. A thesaurus is always a handy tool as well. If you are not comfortable coming up with your own keywords, some of the sites offer keywording services, but they will charge you to do this. There are also several free keywording tools that can be found on the Resources page.
Embeddng IPTC Data: IPTC data is the name of the information that is attached to an image digitally. For every image that you upload, you need to provide the site with a Title, Description, and Keywords. By embedding this information directly into your image, it automatically uploads along with the image and you do not need to re-type it once the image successfully uploads to a site. This one action is probably the biggest time-saver available to Microstock photographers, especially those who upload to many different sites. Many of the editing software programs (such as Photoshop) have features that allow you to enter and edit the IPTC data for each image. There are also several free programs that can be found on the Resources page. I recommend Irfanview as it allows you to cut and paste a list of keywords from elsewhere, which is essential if you are using Yuri Arcurs Keywording Tool (which I also recommend).
Controlled Vocabulary: iStockPhoto and Veer both used what is known as a "controlled vocabulary" or "CV. This is basically a system of words and phrases to help manage the image searches and to reduce the ambiguity of certain search terms. For example, if you use the keyword "park", that could mean a man made outdoor space, or the act of parking a car. For iStock, the contributor controlls what terms are matched up with their keywords at the time of uploading. With Veer, however, it is done by the system and the keywords that you end up with may not be the ones you wanted. With these two agencies, the CV should be noted and used to maximize the results for each of your images.
Uploading
Uploading is the process by which you get your images onto the sites that sell them to the buying public. Each Microstock site has a different user interface for uploading. On all interfaces, you must enter a title, description and keywords for each image you upload. For some sites, you must also choose categories for each image.
Get an FTP program: An FTP program can save you a lot of time in the uploading phase. By using FTP, you can bypass all of the different uploading interfaces and upload your images directly onto the sites via the FTP program. You will still need to go into each site to finalize and submit your images, but it is a lot quicker. I have listed some of the free FTP programs available in the Resources page. Note that at this time, iStockphoto does not offer FTP for uploading. Their user interface can be slow and cumbersome, especially for large uploads. I would recommend the free software program Deep Meta for uploading to iStockphoto, as this can save you a lot of time in the uploading process for this site.
Know the Shortcuts: Each site's user interface for uploading images is different. Familiarize yourself with the features of each one, and know where their shortcuts are. Even with FTP, many of the sites require you to pick one or more categories for each image, which cannot be imbedded into the image like the title, description and keywords. This step is probably the most time consuming in the uploading process. Many sites contain features that allow you to duplicate the categories that were entered for a previous image. By knowing where and how to access these features, you can cut down your uploading process considerably.
A general rule of thumb I would offer is this: If you are working on one of the Microstock sites and you feel like there has to be an easier way to do a particular task, there probably is. Utilize the forums to search for answers to any of your questions (I've listed several on the Resources page) . Microstock Group, in particular, is a great site, as it has separate discussion groups for each of the Microstock agencies. Chances are that whatever problem you are having, someone else has also experienced it and may have already discovered a solution.