The Relationship Between Your Blog and Your Sales

Stock photo Rubik's Cube

Possibly way too early for a post like this, but what the heck, I’m currently devoid of any other ideas. I noticed when I posted “April Showers“, that I had a surge of sales, ok an extra trickle of sales in the few days after the post. I currently have over 500 files online in various places, with 345 of these files on agencies which sell on a regular basis. This might sound like a lot to some, but is actually microscopic in microstock terms. Often trying to get photos online with various agencies, is a bit like trying to complete a rubik’s cube and I was never very good at that. However, I seem to be doing ok for sales with the few photos I have online.

I started this blog with just one objective, to have fun and so far I’m enjoying it. It is also a nice release for me to write about my experiences in the microstock industry, and to comment on the industry in general. With the exception of a few uploads in 2007, my uploading really began in April 2008, and I started this blog at the end of December of the same year. Since January 2009, my sales have started to improve.

Is my blog helping to improve sales? Below is a graph outlying sales I receive from Dreamstime, BigStockPhoto, 123rf and Shutterstock. These are the 4 agencies that I get regular sales with. The graph compares sales for the 3 days before posting blogs with the 3 days after. I only had my application accepted with Shutterstock on April 17, so Shutterstock figures are included in the graph from April 30. microstock downloads

Mmm, “elementary my dear Watson”. Ok I’m open to the  suggestion that these results are not conclusive, as I don’t have enough photos online. Maybe I will do a follow up blog in the future.

Probably the most well known microstock blogist is a man called Lee Torrens. He started contributing towards microstock agencies in 2005 and set up his blog Microstock Diaries, in 2007. The blog has become so successful, that he has for several months had little time for shooting or adding more images to his portfolios. Despite this, his sales show no signs of decline, in fact he reached a record high in May.

Read Also  Stock Images Market Size to Grow by $1.82 Billion

Below are some blogs on microstock that I visit with varying degrees of regularity. Obviously none of them are a scratch on this one, but they’re getting there. 😉

Ordered alphabetically:

www.microstockdiaries.com – for people selling photos online
www.mystockphoto.org – how to sell, buy, download royalty-free photos www.shootingstock.blogspot.com – hints, tips and progress reports on my journey to be a full time stock photographer

Anyway, nice to get this post out before the end of the month. Summer months are traditionally poor for microstock sales. Maybe I will get a late flurry, to help pick up my July figures from off the floor.

Photo: Andrea Presazzi – Dreamstime

Related Posts

5 thoughts on “The Relationship Between Your Blog and Your Sales

  1. Thanks for the kind words about my blog Komar!

    Just to be clear, it’s not just my blog that keeps me from shooting and contributing new photos, but it’s a contributing factor for sure.

    I don’t think blog posts like yours and mine have any impact on sales at all, but I haven’t checked my data. I think those of us who write for other photographers get little in the way of extra sales. I’d be interested to hear Yuri’s thoughts on this topic though, given he has both a popular blog and an awesome portfolio.

    -Lee

    1. Yeah fair enough. I’m not entirely convinced myself especially as my readers are more likely to be photographers than buyers, although often people are both. Anyway, July was about to become the worst month of the year, but a few hours after I posted this blog post, I got my first ever Extended License sale, it was on Shutterstock and was $28. I’m not saying the sale is a direct result of my post by the way, but blogging certainly seems to be bringing me some luck.

  2. Hi Komar, thanks for the mention. I know I have a long way to go with my blog! Seriously, to address your point I’m not sure that there is a direct connection between posting and sales. Possibly for someone like Yuri maybe. He posted a video of a skateboarding shoot a while back and I can imagine some buyers then seeking out those shots. I do think though that having a blog does build sales in general, simply by raising your profile and pointing potential buyers towards your portfolios. Congratulations on the EL sale at Shutterstock. Can I have a few of those please? Regards, David.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let me know of follow up comments..