Many blogs and message board postings are dedicated to tips, thoughts, tricks, comments and questions about improving portfolio sales. It seems that much of the mystery and frustration surrounding this topic results from the fact that just because a photo is impressive to you, your friends, family, fellow photographers, etc.. does not mean it is going to be a top selling stock image. Bummer right, well not necessarily.
Here on dreamstime we have an incredible resource for improving the odds our images are going to sell. So what's the big secret you may ask, well it's the incredible photo library made up of all of our images. By looking through the photos that sell, in general and by topic, you should begin to understand what designers are looking for when they are shopping for the perfect image to communicate their message and/or sell their product/service.
Top sellers on Dreamstime:
A second resource you have is your own portfolio. By reviewing what images of yours sell and the keywords were used to find them you can ensure the time you spend on expanding your portfolio is spent efficiently. We all have limits on our time, so by focusing your efforts on taking photos of subjects that designers are looking for you will improve your sales and streamline your workflow.
In my own portfolio I have taken the steps described above to increase the variety of images appealing to designers and improve my sales. As a new photographer to dreamstime I, of course, expected lots of sales within just a few days of uploading images to the site.
Here are some of my first uploads (and worst sellers):
After several weeks and months had passed and my sales were disappointing I began to try to figure out why. After looking through pages and pages of the top selling images on dreamstime I began to realize that my images, while nice to look at, were not commercially viable. I decided to do two things, 1) go back through my old photos to look for images I had previously skipped over that fit the look of images that sold well, and 2) in the future intentionally shoot images that looked like those that sold well.
Here are some of my top sellers:
One thing that these images all have in common is that you would probably not hang them on your wall. They are not pretty, visually stunning images, but they do convey a message, sell a concept, or represent current events. These are images designers can use to tell their story or sell their product.
No matter how many years you have been a photographer there is always something else to learn. By keeping abreast of what images buyers are looking for you will keep your work relevant and your sales high!! Good luck and happy shooting!!
