Fotolia Optimization Experiment
Posted by Lee Torrens
Next month I’m going to optimize my keywords for all my photos at Fotolia as an experiment to see what affect it will have on my earnings.
Fotolia are generally my fourth largest earning microstock agency. However, I know that other microstock contributors experience better earnings relative to other agencies. I want to know if the fact that I haven’t optimized my keywords yet is part of the reason.
The optimization will simply involve re-ordering the keywords. Fotolia don’t allow contributors to add or remove keywords after a file has been approved as a measure to fight keyword spam, so re-ordering is the only method available to optimize the performance.
To keep the experiment as accurate as possible, I won’t be uploading any new files during the month. Fotolia have my forth largest portfolio already with 469 photos approved. I’ll be doing all the work as close to the start of the month as possible, so there’s more time to see the results.
I have no idea how much I could increase my earnings with this experiment, but accounts from other contributors indicate it could be significant. The average variation in my Fotolia earnings over the past six months is 18%, with the largest variation being 45% in September. Any increase derived from the experiment will need to be significant to stand out.
At the end of next month I’ll report my earnings as usual and address the results of the experiment. If the experiment shows a noticeable increase in earnings, it will make a good case for optimization. I will then look at my portfolios at other agencies to see what else can be done. If the experiment shows no noticeable change, I won’t bother re-ordering my keywords at Fotolia. At least until my portfolio is substantially bigger when I may repeat the experiment.
Posted November 27th, 2007 by Lee Torrens
It is a good experiment to do but I am not sure you will be able to say something because of the large variation in sales at FT. I wonder sometime how buyers are finding pictures there with such a poor search engine. Anyway look forward to see your November stats
Laurent
I started submitting images to Fotolia fairly recently. My first images were accepted last month. To me, the number of views on most files seems low, however, the number of downloads in relation to these views is quite good. So far, I have 75 approved images and 41 downloads — nothing to shout about but proof that the site works. Some files have been viewed about 30 times while others haven’t been viewed at all, but I reckon this is more to do with subject matter and less to do with a poor search engine. Fotolia isn’t a bad site — the approval times are quick, the acceptance/rejection criteria is reasonably consistent and downloads are steady (at least, that’s what I’m finding). I’m betting your downloads will increase after your keywords are prioritised. Let’s hope so. I too look forward to seeing your next month’s stats.
Best regards.
Mark
what about the result ?
See my December 2007 earnings report for the results François.
Intersting article!