February 4, 2012

Why Getting Started in Microstock Photography

I just recorded a short but important video on why you should get started in Microstock photography and it’s a real eye opener.

Microstock photography is much easier to begin with compared to traditional stock photography and is very rewarding for several reasons.

Here’s the 3 main reasons you should get started in microstock photography:

  1. Easy to get started
  2. Fun and rewarding
  3. Almost instant feedback

Just watch the video and let me know what you think. Good or bad comments to the video, please make a comment below.

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STEP #12: Wait for approval

After you uploaded your images you usually have to wait a few days before you know if they are accepted or not. If you followed the advice in the previous steps you have a good chance to get them accepted in your first attempt but don’t give up if you failed the first time.

If they are rejected you need to find out why. It’s not always easy because many agencies just say “rejected” and leave some vague reasons why. Analyze all information you have and redo step #7-12 again and do NOT give up. It sometimes takes a few attempts but eventually you get the hang of it.

If you’re images are approved then congratulations!

After your images are approved you still have some work to do. First you have to give the images a title and don’t forget to include the most important keyword in the title if possible.

You also should write a short description of the image and here you should also include keywords whenever you can.

If you didn’t embed the keywords in the image you now need to copy and paste your keyword from the text file to the web interface.

REMEMBER: Keywords are extremely important to make your images visible when the photo buyers search for keywords. Without relevant keywords your images exist in vacuum and will not be noticed.

OK, so you have now passed the 12 steps to a big profit microstock photography business is ready to try your wings but guess what…

There’s More To Come

I have added two more steps that will transform it from being a “big profit” microstock photography business to a “kick-ass mega profit” photography business.

The last two steps is what separates the leaders from the followers in this business so read, underline and memorize the last two steps.

But before you continue – you need to promise me to take action. It will make you no good if this information ends up slumbering on your hard drive or as a nagging thought in your brain making you feel as a procrastinator.

Next step is due tomorrow so stay tuned!

Previous posts in this series:

  1. Microstock Photography Tutorial
  2. Types of stock photography
  3. STEP #1: Research hot selling markets
  4. STEP #2: Leverage on your strength
  5. STEP #3: Research for lame and lazy competition
  6. STEP #4: Determine A Niche For Your Microstock Photography
  7. STEP #5: Shortlist Microstock Photography agencies
  8. STEP #6: Select one (1) microstock photography agency
  9. STEP #7: Select stock images with good technical quality
  10. STEP #8: Select images that are commercially useful
  11. STEP #9: Remove images with potentially legal issues
  12. STEP #10: How To Keyword Your Images
  13. STEP #11: Submit your images to microstock agencies
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Start A Big Profit Microstock Photography Business

Maybe I’m confused (I hope I’m OK :-) but I decided to release my new special report “Start A Big Profit Microstock Photography Business – 12 Steps To Sell & Resell Your Images” for free.

16 pages of pure content.

No email address required, no jumping through hoops…

… just download the report from this link.

I need to know what you think about the report. Drop me a mail or make a comment below.

Over and out.

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STEP #11: Submit your images to microstock agencies

You’re now ready to submit your first images! This is a big step and a very important milestone for you.

I hope you realize the magnitude of what you learned in the previous steps and I will summarize the key points to make sure you remember them.

Step 1-4: You identified a market with hungry desperate buyers and limited competition. You hopefully also selected a market you’re passionate about but that’s optional (but it certainly helps to keep the motivation up).

Step 5-6: You shortlisted a number of stock agencies and prioritized them based on some important criteria’s to maximize your success.

Step 7-9: You selected your best images based on technical quality and how useful they are commercially. You also saved your own ass by removing images with potentially legal issues.

Step 10: You tagged all your images with relevant keywords to make sure your images are found by the photo buyers when they search the database.

If you follow these steps you’re miles ahead of your competition and you can literally run circles around them. They will have no clue what hit them when you enter the market, all they will know is that you crushed them.

Now it’s time to submit your images. Most agencies nowadays support digital upload via the Internet but some “anti technology” agencies might still require you to submit CD’s or DVD’s. They are relatively few though so I’ll assume they accept that you upload your images over the Internet.

Make a final check to make sure you upload the right images and use the upload interface the agency provide. It’s usually self explanatory how to do it so I won’t bother you with too many details here.

After you bumbled through the previous steps a number of times you’ll realize you need one extremely important tool to save time and reduce frustrations to a minimum.

Previous posts in this series:

  1. Microstock Photography Tutorial
  2. Types of stock photography
  3. STEP #1: Research hot selling markets
  4. STEP #2: Leverage on your strength
  5. STEP #3: Research for lame and lazy competition
  6. STEP #4: Determine A Niche For Your Microstock Photography
  7. STEP #5: Shortlist Microstock Photography agencies
  8. STEP #6: Select one (1) microstock photography agency
  9. STEP #7: Select stock images with good technical quality
  10. STEP #8: Select images that are commercially useful
  11. STEP #9: Remove images with potentially legal issues
  12. STEP #10: How To Keyword Your Images
Share and Enjoy:
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