Selling Stock Photography for Amateurs
Make Money Selling Stock Photos

Squirrel Monkey, Investigates Camera, Amazonia, Ecuador

Photographic Print
Oxford, Pete
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It is.

But there's a catch.

You have to know what you're doing.

Before I go any further, let's talk dollars. I'm sure you want to know how much money you can expect to make selling stock photography online.

It varies depending on how much time you put into it, how many photos you offer for sale, how good those photographs are and how well they suit the needs of the marketplace.

But that is not the answer you want, is it? You want figures.

O.k.

$500 per month would not be a difficult amount for an amateur to build up to working at this part time over a few months.

Someone who's photography skills are more developed could expect to earn as much as $1,600 per month.

A professional photographer can make much more than this.

Think of what you could do with an extra $500-$1,600 per month!

You could make your car payment and have enough left over for fuel no matter how high the price of gas becomes.

You might even be able to make your mortgage payment.

And the best part about this income is that it is largely residual. Once you have uploaded the photos, they just keep selling. Earning you more and more cash each month.

Stock Photography Selling Tips

1. the photography and
2. the selling.

You have to go about both in a business-like fashion.

Let's take each in turn.

Taking Stock Photos

Depth of Field I

Art Print
Goldstein, Ed
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The vast majority of people earning consistent cash selling stock images have good cameras.

Do not expect me to tell you which camera to buy. I am not a professional photographer. I can barely use a point and shoot.

Selling stock photos is not something that just anyone can do.

That's what makes it a great financial opportunity for you! If everyone could do it, they would. The pie would be divided up into so many pieces you could hardly get a sliver.

In any case, my point is that you don't have to own any particular camera to succeed at this. The one you have now may be good enough.

Check the stock photography sites submission guidelines before you even think about investing in a new camera. They will tell you what resolution they require among other things. For example, they usually want you to check your image at 100% for noise and scratches before submitting it.

If you can't get good enough photos with your camera, go into the forums of a stock photography site and find out what cameras other photographers using that site to sell images prefer.

Photographers love to talk about their cameras. They are not keeping this information secret.

The forums of these sites are gold mines of free info about taking better stock images and selling more of them.

Selling Stock Photos

Forties Camera Shop

Art Print
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Wrong!

The big trick to making money selling stock photography is MARKETING the pictures.

Now, by marketing I do not mean that you need to go around handing out fliers trying to get people to buy your images. What I mean is this:

You have to understand WHO wants to buy stock images and how those people go about LOOKING FOR the photos they need.

I'm going to do you a big favor and just tell you the answers to these questions.

I don't know what everyone who uses stock images does with them, but I do know an awful lot about 1 group of people who buy stock photos--people who build websites, like myself.

I don't use stock photos on this site. But this isn't the only site I own. I have another website which is much more visual than this one. I have searched for stock photos for that site on more than a single occasion--in vain.

I gave up looking when I could not find what I wanted.

I'm sure the photos were there. They just were not tagged with the keywords I expected to find them under.

This is how your prospective customer look for your photos.

Using keyword searches. Either on a website that is selling stock photography or in a search engine.

I am convinced that most photographers know next to nothing about keywords.

The few that do are selling most of the stock photos and making most of the money!

The bottom line: When selling stock photography, tag your images with all the keywords that apply to that image.

Do not try to make keywords up. They are not made up phrases, they are the terms that actual people type into search engines to look for things. Google keeps a record of them which you can access for free.

Type a 1-3 word phrase into Google's Adwords Keyword Tool that best describes the subject of your image. For instance, I just typed in the words "orange" and "fruit" as I would if I had an image of an orange that I wanted to sell.

The tool shows no results for the word "fruit" on its own. But the term "orange fruit" gets 27,100 global monthly searches. "Pictures of fruits and vegetables" gets 4,400. So these would be the phrases to use, not "fruit".

The more adept you become at using keywords, the more money you will make as you sell stock photography online .

How to Sell Stock Photos PDF

This is a downloadable PDF guide to selling stock photography. It was written by a photographer with many years of experience. He knows the ropes and can teach you how to make hundreds--maybe thousands--per month selling stock photos.

The guide covers traditional stock where your images can sell for hundreds of dollars each and micro stock which can be even more lucrative even though each image sells for much less.

You have nothing to lose if you decide to download the PDF, Clickbank offers a 60 day, no-questions-asked, money back guarantee.

In the interest of complete disclosure, I will make a small commission if you order How to Sell Stock Photos through the link on this page.

Rest assured that I would not recommend a product I didn't believe would help you just to make a few bucks.

Click Here for More Info

How Keywords Sell Your Stock Photos
How keywords sell your stock photos is a must read for anyone who wants to make money selling stock photos online. Keywords are the key to selling stock photography. Here's what you need to know to sell stock photos.

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.

Go from Selling Stock Photography to Freelance Photography Opportunities
There are two different types of people with freelance photography opportunities for you: people who want to hire you to take pictures and people who want to use pictures you have already taken.

Go from Selling Stock Photography for Amateurs to
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