-
Posts
-
Hi!
I am currently exclusive with istock, with a very small portfolio. My husband and I are about to move out of state. After we get settled, I am going to go nonexclusive, set up my symbio site, and upload to several other agencies as well. I think i’m going to upload public domain engravings to all agencies and symbio, but only upload my own photography to my symbiostock site. My niche will be victorian and old west images. So: should I use janeenwsearles as my username for all accounts (except istock where I signed up with a different name years ago) or just use my actual name only as my username to represent myself only for my symbio site? Maybe it doesn’t really matter? Just wanted to get others’ thoughts. Thank you!I would use the name your buyers know you under.
My business plan is multi-pronged, meaning I will be selling more than stock photography, on non-stock websites as well. . But I guess it’s basically just selling different products through different distributors. One business name, not a different one associated with each different product or distributor.
since most sites are found thru online searches, the actual domain name is less important these days. but unless you’ve established a brand with your name, i’d suggest using a business name rather than an individual’s name.
also, take a look at the current sym sites to get more ideas
Someone suggested to me that I embed my stock web site user name into every page of my symbiostock site (which I’ve done) to make it easier for prospective buyers to find me.
If I do a google search for either jsnover stock photo or Jo Ann Snover stock photo I get very similar results (the microstock sites are more prominent in the former). Image search has lots of agency photos, but my site’s images are now in the first chunk, which is good. And as my title on the home page is “You’ve come to the source!” that shows up in the google image search if you click on the thumb, which I hope gives buyers the hint to check it out.
if I search for digital bristles my site is the first in the list, but I’m not sure too many people will be looking that way (versus by subject or by my name).
@jsnover wrote:
Someone suggested to me that I embed my stock web site user name into every page of my symbiostock site (which I’ve done) to make it easier for prospective buyers to find me.
…..
if I search for digital bristles my site is the first in the list, but I’m not sure too many people will be looking that way (versus by subject or by my name).which was my point about branding — for most of us, no one will be searching for us by name
even on the agencies, it’s not clear that anyone searches for particular artists (despite agencies attempts to make us think it’s the case [encouraging us to provide links to their site, etc]
images are commodities and most buyers don’t care who created them
thank you for the replies!
about branding..yes, that is interesting. I can very easily see selling many of my images both as stock and as fine art just as they are. Or, the same image plain as stock, but if I add more layers and create a composite it becomes more obviously fine art. The thought about stock buyers not being terribly interested about the photographer behind the work I think is true. However, with fine art, the person behind the style and subject matter seems to be much more important. Hence my confusion.
Yesterday I came up with a possible business name that should be a good umbrella to put everything under…stock photography, fine art photos, public domain engravings, T-shirts, mixed media collages, etc…as long as I keep the theme to the victorian era. So, the business name plus my personal name with bio under it, everywhere I sell…I think?
@janeenwsearles wrote:
…..
Yesterday I came up with a possible business name that should be a good umbrella to put everything under…stock photography, fine art photos, public domain engravings, T-shirts, mixed media collages, etc…as long as I keep the theme to the victorian era. So, the business name plus my personal name with bio under it, everywhere I sell…I think?sounds good – as flexible as possible — maybe ‘steampunk digital daugeurreotypes’
Just my thoughts…
a) Your domain name DOES count when people search. Search engines search for sites that have the highest match to your search parameters in various ways. Domain names DO count. If they didn’t I would have used http://www.photography.jorodrigues.com instead of registering Stock…Y…Image. Short relevant (to your artwork) domain names count in your favour in search engines.
b) I feel that your Meta data in your artwork is worth its weight in gold. If your keywords are properly done and appropriate, they will turn up in the search engines. MOST importantly is to have your Meta data IN YOUR files and not manually added in afterwards online. Not only does it save you time but your actual files carry those very keywords too which some other sites/search engines/etc. may make use of.
Some of my images turn up a lot on Google search because of my keywords. If you type in “Bo Kaap” into Google image search, about a third of the images on the first two pages (didn’t look further) contain my images from stock agencies. Yes Bo Kaap is an area in Cape Town and not as famous as Paris but it shows HOW search engines make use of your key words.
Jo
@jorodrigues wrote:
……
Some of my images turn up a lot on Google search because of my keywords. If you type in “Bo Kaap” into Google image search, about a third of the images on the first two pages (didn’t look further) contain my images from stock agencies. Yes Bo Kaap is an area in Cape Town and not as famous as Paris but it shows HOW search engines make use of your key words.Jo
unfortunately those stock agency images often have the meta data stripped out afterwards, plus they’re now competing w our sym sites
@cascoly wrote:
unfortunately those stock agency images often have the meta data stripped out afterwards…
Whether they strip it out afterwards or not makes no difference to the importance and usefulness of your Meta data and the amount of time it can save.
@cascoly wrote:
plus they’re now competing w our sym sites
This shows how much support for Meta data there is on the search engines. Hopefully shortly the same images on SymbioStock will be showing up in search engines and I’ll be glad to remove them from the agencies.
Anyone who is still living in denial that producing stock is a competitive market needs a needle for their bubble.
Jo
@jorodrigues wrote:
….
@cascoly wrote:plus they’re now competing w our sym sites
This shows how much support for Meta data there is on the search engines. Hopefully shortly the same images on SymbioStock will be showing up in search engines and I’ll be glad to remove them from the agencies.
Anyone who is still living in denial that producing stock is a competitive market needs a needle for their bubble.
Jo
definitely — one major problem is we can’t get solid information about what’s really working or even how it’s supposed to work
meta for images is a good example – eg, once a microstock has one of your images indexed, is it possible for your sym version to overtake it? or be listed in addition? sometimes it happens, other times not — what’s the difference?
removing images from agencies is one method, but it’s timeconsuming unless you remove the entire portfolio, and some agencies lock you n for years — one of the worst is 3D studio – from which I haven’t had a sale in months, but refuses to remove my portfolio
@cascoly wrote:
definitely — one major problem is we can’t get solid information about what’s really working or even how it’s supposed to work
meta for images is a good example – eg, once a microstock has one of your images indexed, is it possible for your sym version to overtake it? or be listed in addition? sometimes it happens, other times not — what’s the difference?
removing images from agencies is one method, but it’s timeconsuming unless you remove the entire portfolio, and some agencies lock you n for years — one of the worst is 3D studio – from which I haven’t had a sale in months, but refuses to remove my portfolio
Ok, I’m done with this conversation. Almost nothing you’re saying has any relation to my initial post and I have no desire for friction on this fine Sunday evening.
If you are so worried about if SymbioStock works or not type “Stock Image+Bo Kaap” into Google. First page, half way down, http://www.stockyimage.com. Do you STILL need proof that Meta tags together with a good Domain Name are working for photographers?
My site has been up for two weeks and probably only ready for one week and I have a hit on the first page of search. I don’t know about you but after 2 WEEKS of being live to get a hit on Google’s first page is good enough for me.
Before you go any further, yes I know “Bo Kaap” is a fairly obscure area to rest of the world. The point is that I am getting indexed BECAUSE of correct Meta Tags. As for actual images, it will take a little longer to show up on a search and yes there will be competition.
Have a great Sunday ahead.
Jo
The forum ‘Archives’ is closed to new topics and replies.