By Rohn Engh
Why? In the past, photographers had to go out and deliver samples of their work to prospective buyers. The delivery was either in person, by FedEx, or by the postman, and risked loss or inconvenience. Prospective buyers would take a look at your work, usually on Thursdays. Ugh! Awkward and expensive, time-wise.
Then along came the Internet and you built a private website where you felt you were in charge. Or, you joined a portal. Or joined a stock photo agency or two. These can all be helpful, but their success depends on the volume of traffic - buyer traffic - that gets to the sites.
But what I want to talk about today is how the Internet can be harnessed to work really well for the individual freelance stock photographer.
You see, photobuyers are like the rest of us. They want to do a good job, but as quickly and easily as possible. In reality, the photo editors that we deal with here at Photosource International, when they're searching to find the exact picture they need for their article, book, or specialized task they're working on, find it tedious to pore through hundreds or thousands of images, trying to find a particular photo that might match the article or content of their publishing project.
Search capability on the Internet has improved so well to date that it's no longer necessary to employ an Internet image-based search to find a difficult-to-locate picture. A photobuyer can use a text-based search. It culls through thousands of text descriptions of photos to pinpoint likely candidates, with lightning speed. It's quite remarkable how a photobuyer can type some words into the Google, Yahoo, or MSN search bar and locate the source of an obscure photo, such as: 140 Mile Sahara Desert Run Morocco
This falls into the "hard-to-find" category, usually a sticky time-consuming search task. For the photobuyer who knows how to use text searches, however, they can find it within minutes.
Incidentally, you won't find "140 Mile Sahara Desert Run Morocco" on the Corbis, Getty or Jupiter portal sites. For the reason that these companies prefer to feature more generic photos that they feel will appeal to the commercial big spenders: ad agencies, PR firms, corporate graphic departments, etc.
Well, you say, "How does the editorial photobuyer find this picture? I just typed it into Google, Yahoo, and MsM, and I didn't find any photographers listed to contact."
TEXT-CENTRIC SEARCHING
Here's what photobuyers have learned. Rather than starting with single or double keywords such as "desert," "Sahara," or "Morocco," they nail it right away with what's called the "long tail search phrase." Yes, they type in the phrase: 140 Mile Sahara Desert Run Morocco ... but they also add the word "photosource," to tap directly into the hundreds of thousands of images listed on the PhotoSourceBANK, a text-based image source. In this way they can find a photographer who has been to Morocco and has photos of the race.
It comes out like this: 140 Mile Sahara Desert Run Morocco+photosource
Let's type this phrase into the Google standard search bar. Up comes a photographer's site in the PhotoSourceBANK. We click on his page. Then we scroll down to look for the subject, which will be highlighted in red. Photobuyers know they have found a photographer who has been there, and probably has several other pictures of the race.
The photographer's contact information is at the top of the page. The buyer can also contact the photographer through email, given at the bottom of the page.
SAVING TIME
So the secret for photo researchers is to start with the 'long tail search' - a detailed description - rather than use a more general, one or two-word search, and then try to narrow it down. So as a photographer, to get buyers to land on your descriptions, you should make them detailed and specific. For example: bison taking mud bath. A buyer knows not to search for 'bison.' Nor for 'mud bath.' A buyer searches for 'bison taking mud bath.' And then adds 'photosource' - bison taking mud bath+photosource - to tap into the PhotoSourceBANK image resource.
Try it in Jupiter, Corbis or Getty - you'll get bogged down - or find nothing but wasted search time.
This gives you a clue doesn't it? When you enter keywords in your database of photos, go ahead and enter single words if they're specific, but to be most effective, also enter phrases of multiple words (the long tail phrase).
FUTURE SEARCHING
Before learning the technique, most photobuyers looked at a search engine as if it were a dictionary. That is, they would search for a single word. But they have learned, "Why take more time starting with general categories and working down to the specific? Start with specifics (the long tail phrase) right away."
Increasing numbers of photographers are reaping the benefits of entering specific multi-word key phrases in text-description sites.
The wizardry of search engines has just begun. In the near future, the long tail search will be the method of choice for photobuyers. If you prepare now to enter your keywords as long tail descriptions, in addition to standard specific single key words, you'll be way ahead of the game.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report:
"8 Steps to Publishing Photos," visit his website at PhotoSource International or call 800 624-0266.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rohn_Engh
http://EzineArticles.com/?Are-You-Missing-Out-On-Sales?&id=1029702
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