Could be anything: Alamy's customers don't always buy the sorts of images you can get cheaper on the micros, they are slow sellers (I had over 800 before I got my first sale) or it could be your keywords, or any number of other reasons; but where's your port so we can check?

Quote from: ShadySue on September 26, 2016, 12:12

Could be anything: Alamy's customers don't always buy the sorts of images you can get cheaper on the micros, they are slow sellers (I had over 800 before I got my first sale) or it could be your keywords, or any number of other reasons; but where's your port so we can check?

You can check the images on my SS portfolio link below.

You have the same images on SS? Well, that could be part of the reason.
I did look at your SS port, but something must be odd about SS, as I could only see keywords on one of the five I randomly clicked on, which presumably isn't your doing.

I would try to review a bit your keywords...

IF you have the exact same portfolio on the micros as you have on Alamy, it's possible those interested in your images found them cheaper elsewhere. My portfolio on Alamy is different from the one I have on the micros, but there is a little overlap. I've been with Alamy since 2008 and have regular sales there, sometimes of images I have on the micros, but I've had many zooms on Alamy of images on both the micros and Alamy where, after a zoom on Alamy , the image was purchased on Fotolia or SS instead. This could be the issue.

On average, people in the Alamy forums say you can expect one sale per month per 1000 images. I have just over 900 images and saw regular monthly sales there after about 800, though my first sale came with far fewer images. However, I have a high rank there having been there for years, and that makes a difference too, though you seem to have a good number of views for the size of your portfolio, so don't give up. But I'd try to shoot more of the types of images you've had zooms on just for Alamy and leave them off the micros to see if that helps with sales. One $100-400+ sale is worth far more than many subscriptions on the micros so it may be worth your while.

I get regular sales every month on Alamy with 3,000 images (small by Alamy standards).

Most of Alamy customers tend to be looking for none microstock concepts.
Check their searches they are quite open about it look under Alamy measures then All of Alamy.

You'll see what sold and it isn't micro concepts of smiley business people.

Yesterday images of ilia kulik sold 36 times and then Kevin Kostner loads of times times.

I have a mix of micro stuff which you can buy elsewhere but they sell just as well.
I also have rights managed stuff.

In my view if you use the same keywords demanded by other sites like iStock's controlled voacbulary you will not get sales.

If you use the Shutterstock keyword system you'll get no sales.

You have to put in concise keywords (no spam) and you need to be more detailed so plurals like duck, ducks, cat, cats and you can add more keywords than the paltry 50 maximum you get on most micro sites.

These days I keyword for Alamy submissions and if the same image goes to microstock sites I let their submission process get rid of plurals or not as they see fit.  (Shutterstock strips out those words).

I'm new to Alamy and it's interesting what you say.

If you submit some images only to Alamy not to the micros because of what you said, it's sort of exclusive images at Alamy or where do you submit these images additionally if not to micros?

Alamy sell rights managed images which can not be sold as Royalty Free.

I choose which goes where.

Unusual subject matter, travel or editorial images to RM

The usual guff goes to micro.

Hi All,
I've about 600 images on alamy and I've received 2986 views - 6 zoom but never got any sale, Is it still keywords fault or just the Alamy slow sales?

Thanks!

I got my first sale at 400 images. Wich  images do you sell on Alamy?

Tedious, time consuming keywording of each file to get no sales. 

Every agency requires you to keyword it goes with the job

Hi All,
I've about 600 images on alamy and I've received 2986 views - 6 zoom but never got any sale, Is it still keywords fault or just the Alamy slow sales?

Thanks!

6 zooms out of 3000 views equals a click thru ratio of only 0.2%, while the Alamy contributor average is usually around 0.6%. This means your pictures are thee times less likely to be clicked on than average.

This is a strong indicator that there's something wrong. Maybe you added too many irrelevant keywords, so your images show up in searches they shouldn't. Remember to keyword only what the image is of, not everything that's in the image. Or maybe your images just can't compete with other similar images on Alamy. Professional postprocessing is a must.

In the end, without a link to your Alamy portfolio, or without knowing your Alamy contributor name, it is impossible to tell what's wrong.

While I agree that it is probably not wise to have the same pictures on Alamy and on microstock agencies, I don't think this is the main problem in your case. After all, potential customers don't even click on your images to zoom them (I assume a customer zooms an image before trying to get it cheaper somewhere else).

Alamy is all about editorial content. The creative material is just completely drowned by editorial. To make it even tougher the sort order will mix editorial with creative content. Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Every agency requires you to keyword it goes with the job

Yes but all keywords in one box. Alamy require sub keywording = more time.

No they don't.

You add keywords to the metadata of the image most important first

When it goes to Alamy you have the most important keywords first copy and paste in the important keyword box.

It takes less effort than submitting to Fotolia/Adobe.

Simple.

Jeez people are so lazy these days.  Gimme me stuff without effort.

I hate their time consuming 3 tier keywording because I know that however many images I upload, it makes no difference as I still get zero sales.