Using Microstock Data To Determine What Sells

Posted on 6/4/2009 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (1)

One thing microstock has done for all stock photographers is give them access to better statistical data than has ever been available in the traditional industry. Getty Images, because it was a public company, used to provide the industry broad statistical data that was helpful, but that changed when the company went private in early 2008. Now, Alamy is the only traditionally priced company that gives image producers useful information beyond the individual's personal sales.

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Copyright © 2009 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.

Comments

Lee Torrens Posted Jun 4, 2009
Jim, being the stat maven you are you'd love picNiche - http://www.picniche.com

You enter a keyword or combination (string) of keywords. It does an analysis on the data at microstock agencies and returns an index value. That value is calculated on the supply and demand of images using that keyword or keyword string.

If there are relatively few photos with those keywords but they each have a relatively high quantity of sales, the index value will be high. If there are lots of images with those keywords and they've each sold relatively few times, the index value will be low.

It essentially gives you an instant insight into the opportunity of each keyword or keyword string. It's an extremely valuable tool when researching what to shoot or what keywords might help your images sell.

There are obvious caveats given all the factors that can influence the stats (age of the photos, quality of the photos, quantity of keywords searched, etc, etc) but if you keep in mind the simple calculation it's doing, it's a great tool for stock photographers, very easy, and actually fun to use!

You'll love it!

-Lee

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