Avoid Digital Noise in Your Photos

Some photographers think that candid shooting is the best way to capture brilliant photographs.  While this may be true for artistic exhibitions, it is definitely not the way to go if you are looking to sell images to stock websites.  The reason for this is that candid photographs almost always end up gathering a lot of digital noise because they need to be heavily processed.  In contrast, if you click photographs with clear lighting, composition and focus, you would not have to process them a lot which would result in great stock photographs that you can sell.

The Photos Have To Look Professional

There is a stark difference between a photographer who clicks photos as a hobby and a photographer whose aim is to click and sell images.  This means that you would never be able to sell images that are amateur looking or tourist-like snapshots.  Effectively, if you want to sell photos online as a career then you will need to ensure that they are professional looking with all the elements clean and of high quality.

Your Photos Should Not Contain Anything That Can Be Considered Sales Related

Stock photographs are photographs that can be licensed to someone for any number of uses.  The majority of stock photographs are used by designers, artists, art directors, advertising agencies, marketing professionals and other similar professionals. This basically means that there has to be no copyrighted material, brands or logos in them.  Hence, the moment a stock agency sees a logo, trademark or anything else similar in your photos your efforts to sell images would fail.

Get  a No Objection Certificate or a Release Certificate from Your Model

Almost all respectable stock agencies and websites require their contributors to provide no objection certificates or model release certificates for every image that contains a recognizable model.  While you can use your own standard model release in many cases, if you want to sell images to the high end stock websites then you will need to follow their templates for the same.  Therefore, if you are looking to sell images with recognizable people in them, then you will need to get your models to sign the model release.

Picking Out the Right Stock Agency to Sell Images

Choosing the right stock agency or website is crucial to how successful you are in your efforts to sell photos online.  The reason for this is that different stock agencies are known for different kinds of photos because they have a client base that has specific preferences.  Therefore, it is important for you to evaluate all the various agencies and websites before you actually sell images on them.  There are various things that you should be analyzing such as the kind of images they provide, whether your images would fit in the group and even if the remuneration is to your liking.

In addition to this, it would also be beneficial for you if you check the number of visitors the website gets, the amount of views their images get and also the amount of downloads it gets with respect to image views.  Most of this information can be found on the internet and if collated and analyzed properly can really help you sell images.  It might also be worth it to register for some forums and ask people about the kind of performance different stock agencies have.

Categorizing Your Images Is More Important Than You Think

After you register to any one agency and try to sell images, you would see that you can include your images into multiple categories.  Most potential buyers who visit these websites and agencies browse through the available images on a category by category basis.  Moreover, the better you categorize the images you are looking to sell, the more likely it will be that they are displayed to the right kind of audience.  Effectively, if you place your images in as many categories as is logically possible, you improve your chance to sell photos online.

Choose the Right Keywords to Ensure Search Engine Optimization

When you try to sell images by getting them approved by stock agencies and websites, you would always be asked to provide keywords with them.  The keywords are required with your photos because they determine how your photos perform on search engine results.  Therefore, what keywords do is improve your chances to sell photos.  In fact, if you want to sell photos online and make a lot of money you would have to pay a lot of attention to details that seem minor at first glance but turn out to be important for the whole process.

When you send your photos for approval to stock agencies and websites, you would get a certain amount of character space for your keywords.  You should look to use this amount to the full with relevant and properly targeted keywords that you should, ideally, figure out through other images and online keyword tools.

Using Platforms Apart From Stock Agencies and Websites

While just using stock agencies and websites to sell photos can be enough, if you compliment this with other options you stand a better chance to sell images online.  There are numerous options on the internet that you can use to sell images.  The simplest of these is your own website or blog but the more feasible would be to do so through digital product marketplaces such as PayLoadz.

Both these digital product marketplaces are also known to be good for people who want to sell images because they have a technically savvy customer base.  Moreover, such websites almost always have elaborate packages for their users which consist of various services such as customizable shopping carts, affiliate marketing networks, online marketing support and many others.  By combining the benefits of stock agencies, your own website and digital product marketplaces, you can ensure that you are able to sell photos online.