bmattock
Veteran
I was just thinking of this from another thread. People often complain that they don't get the views or comments on their photos. Without making any judgments about the quality of the photos in question, I can say this - selling photos is much more about selling than it is about photos.
When I have sold photos on Flickr, it has been because a buyer found them by searching. Flickr is well-indexed by Google - often a photo I put on Flickr will show up in a Google search within minutes.
Think about things from the buyer's point of view. They are not going to go to Flickr and start browsing. They're going to search for photos of the specific thing they have in mind.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigwam/2598477867/
The key to being found is to describe your photos. The event, the location, the time and date, anything that you can think of that adds specificity to the photo. In the case of Flickr, you can add descriptions and 'tags', both of which are searchable.
In the case of the photo I linked to, I licensed use of it to someone looking for a photo of this specific tugboat - the JW Wescott. The name is seen in the photo, but if I had not entered it in the description, no one would have found it by searching for the name. I also licensed some other photos from this race that were found by searching for 'tugboat race' and other similar terms. Again, if I had not put in the descriptions, no one would have found them in a search.
One thing I really like about Flickr is that they offer 'stats' that show you not only what photos are being looked at, but how they are found. This is important if you want to see how people are finding your photos.
For example, in the case of the photo above, I can see that on June 11, the photo got three views from someone who searched for the name of the boat, from Yahoo's 'Image Search'.
This advice, of course, isn't really applicable if you're trying to sell fine art photos. But if you have any interest in selling photos as stock, this is one way to go, which doesn't cost much (Flickr Pro is $24.95 a year) and definitely works.
Remember, as much as we concern ourselves with the photography itself, the truth is that buyers can't buy what they can't find. In terms of selling your photos, it's all about selling, not about photography per se. Lots of people take nice photos. If you put them where they can be found and then make it easy to find them with a search, you have a leg up on better photos that no one can find.
When I have sold photos on Flickr, it has been because a buyer found them by searching. Flickr is well-indexed by Google - often a photo I put on Flickr will show up in a Google search within minutes.
Think about things from the buyer's point of view. They are not going to go to Flickr and start browsing. They're going to search for photos of the specific thing they have in mind.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigwam/2598477867/
The key to being found is to describe your photos. The event, the location, the time and date, anything that you can think of that adds specificity to the photo. In the case of Flickr, you can add descriptions and 'tags', both of which are searchable.
In the case of the photo I linked to, I licensed use of it to someone looking for a photo of this specific tugboat - the JW Wescott. The name is seen in the photo, but if I had not entered it in the description, no one would have found it by searching for the name. I also licensed some other photos from this race that were found by searching for 'tugboat race' and other similar terms. Again, if I had not put in the descriptions, no one would have found them in a search.
One thing I really like about Flickr is that they offer 'stats' that show you not only what photos are being looked at, but how they are found. This is important if you want to see how people are finding your photos.
For example, in the case of the photo above, I can see that on June 11, the photo got three views from someone who searched for the name of the boat, from Yahoo's 'Image Search'.
This advice, of course, isn't really applicable if you're trying to sell fine art photos. But if you have any interest in selling photos as stock, this is one way to go, which doesn't cost much (Flickr Pro is $24.95 a year) and definitely works.
Remember, as much as we concern ourselves with the photography itself, the truth is that buyers can't buy what they can't find. In terms of selling your photos, it's all about selling, not about photography per se. Lots of people take nice photos. If you put them where they can be found and then make it easy to find them with a search, you have a leg up on better photos that no one can find.