How Keywords Sell Your Stock Photos

Using Keywords to Sell Stock Photography

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It is impossible to sell stock images that can't be found.

Keywords are the key to getting your pictures found on the Internet and on stock photo sites. This is because of the way people look for things online.

What Is A Keyword?

These web pages or pictures are then offered to the searcher on the search results page.

As someone who is trying to sell stock images, you want your stock photos to be offered on those results pages. In fact, you must get your photos into these search results if you want to make much money selling stock photography.

How do you make this happen?

Tag your images with the appropriate keywords. These are the words people who want the pictures you are selling will use to look for them.

The #1 mistake people make at this point is making phrases up.

This will cost you money. Believe me.

I own 2 websites. Site A attracts about 100 visitors each day. Site B attracts about 1,300 visitors per day. I built both sites myself.

Site A was built before I had come to understand how to use keywords properly. I built Site B after I had learned how to use keywords to attract web traffic.

These 2 sites currently generate enough revenue to make my monthly mortgage payment.

If I had understood keywords better when I built Site A, it would be receiving 1,300 visitors per day right now and earning me enough money to pay ALL my living expenses by itself.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking that photo quality is the key to selling stock photos. It is the key to getting your images accepted by the stock photo websites. But keywords are what will get those fantastic photos found and sold.

Choosing Keywords to Sell Stock Photos

First of all, keywords are real terms that people use. They are not made up phrases. Do not just tag your photos with words you think people looking for pictures of that item will use to search for them. Use the actual search terms that pull similar photos up in the results.

You can find these terms by entering the terms you think someone might use into a search box on a stock photo site. See what results you get back. If the results you get are similar to the photo you are uploading then you have stumbled onto the right keywords. If they are not similar, do not use those keywords to tag that photo.

Another way is to find similar images and look at the tags. If 10 images similar to yours are all tagged with the same keywords, those are most likely the right keywords for that kind of photo.

A third way is to enter the terms you think someone looking for that photo might use into a Google search box. Google will then suggest similar phrases. These are all keywords you might want to use as well.

Keyword Tips

Your keywords need to be relevant to and descriptive of the image you are selling.

Specific 2 or 3 word phrases are usually going to be better than 1 word keywords.

For instance, people looking for photos of magnolia flowers are unlikely to type in just the keyword flowers. They will search for magnolia flower or magnolia flowers.

Using relevant keywords will also help you get your photos accepted by the stock photo sites more quickly.

As you sell your stock photos, you will come to understand that keywords are an important tool of the stock photography trade.

Can You Still Sell Stock Photography Or Is It Too Late?
Do you want to sell stock photography but wonder if there is still money to be made selling stock images online? With so many people selling stock images, can you still sell your stock photos?

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Freelance Photography Work
The best advice someone who wants to do freelance photography work can get will come from someone who's already made a successful career of it.

That's why I interviewed longtime freelance photographer (and excellent friend of mine) John Saade: to see what insights he could share.

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