Marketing
Externally (outisde each agency site): Obviously, the more attention you can draw to your images, the more traffic you will create, resulting in increased sales. Some of the ways you can create increased traffic is by marketing your images on your own personal website, as well as social media sites such as Facebook. The more you can "point" people towards your images, the more traffic you create.
Internally (within each agency site): In addidition to marketing your images externally, there are ways to market your portfolio inside of each of your Microstock agencies. It is a very smart idea to spend time researching each of the sites your portfolio is selling on and familiarize yourself with the various methods that each site has to market your images. It can take a bit of time as each site can vary greatly, but it is well worth the time. If you don't have the time to utilize the marketing features of every one of your sites, at the very least you should be marketing internally on your 3 top selling sites.
Two of the most effective marketing features are:
Creating Links
Many of the sites allow you to create links to similar images for each of your images. For example, if you have 5 images of a New England beach, you can create links for each image so that when the buyer looks at one of the images, they will see the other 4 similar images below it. This is a great way to keep a buyer browsing within your porfolio instead of moving onto someone else's images.
Creating Lightboxes and Collections
Some sites allow you to create collections of similar images from your portfolio and keep them together in what is called a Collection or a Lightbox. These collections can then be seen by buyers who are looking for specific categories of images. In some cases, such as iStock, you can create a link from one particular image to your entire lightbox. In others, the collections are searchable by the browsing public if your collection meets certain criteria. And in other cases, you can add your own image to someone else's collection. These are all excellent ways to drive traffic to your portfolio.
Not all sites have these features, and the ones that do all work in different ways. Some of the best sites for these contribultor-controlled marketing features are iStock, Dreamstime, and Canstock. You will also notice in your research that many sites automatically show "similar" images when an image is brought up. This is helpful, but some of those similar images may not be from your portfolio, and therefore do not keep the browsing buyer within your portfolio.
In order for any photographer to maximize their sales potential in Microstock, their job cannot end at uploading their images. They must constantly be looking for ways to get their images noticed. The various online forums on the Resources page, especially Microstock Group, are excellent sources of information when it comes to marketing your portfolios. Spend time reading other photographers experiences and learn from their successes.
Externally (outisde each agency site): Obviously, the more attention you can draw to your images, the more traffic you will create, resulting in increased sales. Some of the ways you can create increased traffic is by marketing your images on your own personal website, as well as social media sites such as Facebook. The more you can "point" people towards your images, the more traffic you create.
Internally (within each agency site): In addidition to marketing your images externally, there are ways to market your portfolio inside of each of your Microstock agencies. It is a very smart idea to spend time researching each of the sites your portfolio is selling on and familiarize yourself with the various methods that each site has to market your images. It can take a bit of time as each site can vary greatly, but it is well worth the time. If you don't have the time to utilize the marketing features of every one of your sites, at the very least you should be marketing internally on your 3 top selling sites.
Two of the most effective marketing features are:
Creating Links
Many of the sites allow you to create links to similar images for each of your images. For example, if you have 5 images of a New England beach, you can create links for each image so that when the buyer looks at one of the images, they will see the other 4 similar images below it. This is a great way to keep a buyer browsing within your porfolio instead of moving onto someone else's images.
Creating Lightboxes and Collections
Some sites allow you to create collections of similar images from your portfolio and keep them together in what is called a Collection or a Lightbox. These collections can then be seen by buyers who are looking for specific categories of images. In some cases, such as iStock, you can create a link from one particular image to your entire lightbox. In others, the collections are searchable by the browsing public if your collection meets certain criteria. And in other cases, you can add your own image to someone else's collection. These are all excellent ways to drive traffic to your portfolio.
Not all sites have these features, and the ones that do all work in different ways. Some of the best sites for these contribultor-controlled marketing features are iStock, Dreamstime, and Canstock. You will also notice in your research that many sites automatically show "similar" images when an image is brought up. This is helpful, but some of those similar images may not be from your portfolio, and therefore do not keep the browsing buyer within your portfolio.
In order for any photographer to maximize their sales potential in Microstock, their job cannot end at uploading their images. They must constantly be looking for ways to get their images noticed. The various online forums on the Resources page, especially Microstock Group, are excellent sources of information when it comes to marketing your portfolios. Spend time reading other photographers experiences and learn from their successes.