Is anybody else seeing a huge rise in sales at Fotolia this month?  Fotolia has been my best earner since I was able to double my  prices but this month is amazing.  I have already this month earnt 50% of what I earnt last month at SS or IS.  I was wondering if sales are especially good there at the moment or if they have had a change of their search engine and I struck lucky..

Constant rise in number of downloads, most are subscriptions, premium subscriptions and XS's. Small sample here, yet the tendency at least for me is very clear. May be my type of images...

My last 30 sales:
Premium subscription - 11
Subscription - 8
XS - 7
S - 2
L - 1
XL - 1

I'm not seeing a big increase there this month, but over the past year they are the site that has shown the most growth for me.

Congrats on your success there this month, whatever the reason

I'm not seeing a big increase there this month, but over the past year they are the site that has shown the most growth for me.

Congrats on your success there this month, whatever the reason

+1

-Mark

Thanks all for the feedback. Sounds like I just had a lucky week rather than a new trend.   Although the lucky run is still going as I made as much there yesterday as I do on some week days.   Can't find any of my images on front page which would have explained the extra attention.

Yes!  good increase in sales and just about everything else. In fact its been good for quite some time now.

I doubled my prices about a year ago which virtually doubled my earnings but this is a more recent thing. This last week has been amazing with my earnings 50% higher than normal and if this carries on it will be my Bme anywhere by a huge amount on my previous BME.

Doubling your prices will clearly impact your revenue for the month.  I've been running with my prices at max for the past 3 months ($5-$40).  The results have been pretty interesting.  

When are you able to do that?  Do you have to hit a certain level?

Yes, you have to be Emerald level although you can increase the prices of exclusive images at any ranking.

Yes, you have to be Emerald level although you can increase the prices of exclusive images at any ranking.

The Emerald goal post is so ridiculously high, most people starting out today (and staying non-exclusive) may never reach it.

It has taken me well over a year to get to about 3,500 "paid" downloads.  To get to Emerald status, I need about 22,000 more paid downloads. 

If I had 3,500 paid downloads a year, it would take me another 6 years or so to reach Emerald.  But since my portfolio has grown each month, I should estimate based on the current level.  If I have about 550 paid downloads per month now, and assuming some conservative but steady growth over the next few years, I might still not see the Emerald level for about 4 years. 

I know Fotolia's motive is to make us see exclusivity as a good deal... and if I can raise my prices and my revenue that's a pretty good argument... but I have never believed in exclusivity as a principle or a good revenue decision.  Even iStock exclusivity doesn't seem to be a smart decision when I do the math, and Fotolia would be less so.

Quote from: lisafx on March 08, 2010, 12:25

Can FT exclusives double there prices without reaching emerald? 

Yes __ individual images can be made exclusive and increased by up to 4 credits for XS size.

Thanks for explaining.  I had forgotten about the image exclusivity option there. 

I'm having a similar month at Fotolia...it's out earning SS & IS by 2:1.

Andy

Is anybody else seeing a huge rise in sales at Fotolia this month?  Fotolia has been my best earner since I was able to double my  prices but this month is amazing.  I have already this month earnt 50% of what I earnt last month at SS or IS.  I was wondering if sales are especially good there at the moment or if they have had a change of their search engine and I struck lucky..

I had a spectacular - at least for me - February, and March looks to be equally good. Since my rank has not improved significantly despite a BME, everybody else should be doing fine, too...

Maybe StockXpert's PPD customers migrated from one "european" agency to another?  Also subscriptions downloads are not as dominant for me as they were before - lots of Ls and XLs for me  Good thing that FT picks up, too - with StockXpert gone, BS and CS in constant hibernation and DT in a drastic decline 

Quote from: Ploink on March 09, 2010, 04:07

Good thing that FT picks up, too - with StockXpert gone, BS and CS in constant hibernation and DT in a drastic decline  

I'm seeing different results on the others you mention.  BS, yes, is flat... CS is doing very well for me, with "Fotosearch Regular" sales bringing in $20 or $30 commissions on a regular basis... and DT has been very strong lately.

I have yet to have one of those famous "Fotosearch Regular" sales, I personally don't believe they exist  

And DT is a complete mystery to me - I uploaded like crazy there and photos that sell well on SS for example don't have views, let alone downloads - my best selling agencies in 2009 were SS, Alamy and IS - in that order, believe it or not