These days, it is easy to turn your passion into profit. If your hobby is taking amazing photos and post them online, you might also want to earn some money by selling stock photos aside from praises for your hard work.
Selling stock photos online is quite easy nowadays, mostly through using a number of websites offering you this option. A large collection or variety of stock is often found linked with people who are successfully selling stock photos.
How To Earn Money By Selling Stock Photos
1. Go royalty free
When you sell stock photos online you do not sell the photo but the right for its usage. The person who buys your photo can use it as per the agreement of the website and you will have the copyright to sell the photo as many times as you want to.
2. Selling rights.
A few websites, such as iStock photom, also offer you the option to sell the exclusive rights for your photos. This offers you more price in the beginning but then only the person whom you sell rights to is eligible for further selling the photo.
3. Commercialize
Take your focus on taking photos which have a deeper meaning to them. A selfie or a photo of your kid might not be a good option for a stock photo, unless it is tastefully or artfully done. Think what the customer has to gain through your photo.
Begin by searching websites, magazines and other sources which need photos to determine what kind of photos would be good to sell. Once you know the commercial market, you can easily sell your photos and click them accordingly.
4. Signing up
Look for certain websites which allow you to sign up as a contributor or a seller for selling your photos. You can choose the best method depending on the guidelines and conditions.
A few famous websites might ask you for a few sample photographs before allowing you to post any photos for their website. There are a number of websites such as iStockPhoto, Bigstock etc. which you can explore to sell your photos.
5. Contracts
Thoroughly and carefully read the contracts for the company. There are a number of things you have to consider before you simply press the upload button.
The following are the usual things that you see in a company’s contract:
a. Rights: It is essential to know who will have the rights to use your photographs. This can be found easily in the contract before you sign up. Some websites might not let you upload the photos to other websites and some websites might require you to let the photos be posted for designated time before you can take them off.
b. Payment: Payment methods and options depend from one company to another. You can be paid from $0.25 to more than $10 for a single photo depending on the website. Some websites pay you more for images if they are downloaded in larger sizes. These payments might not seem much in the beginning but once your photos start selling then the addition of payments will make a huge difference.
c. Minimum threshold: Some websites might offer you money only when your photo sells more than 5 or 10 times. If the minimum amount is above 5 then don’t go for the website.
d. Submission: Read the guidelines of the website and submit your photos accordingly. Some websites review your content while others may not, anyhow you have to be the fair judge to not surpass any guidelines and upload most profitable photos.
6. Rejection and rework
If the photos are not appropriate or up to the website’s specifications then the photo might get rejected. The websites provide a clear idea and guidelines for rejecting your photograph so that you can edit and resubmit it.
7. Relevant keywords
Internet users search for photos through typing keywords. If your photo description has relevant keywords then your photo will appear at the top of the search results page… or it might go down. Do not attract negative feedback through misleading keywords.
8. Updating your stock
Keep adding new photos to your stock from time to time. Fresh photos with the trend will keep your sales high and going.
9. Expectations.
Selling stock photos online will not make you a millionaire or anywhere near to that place overnight. You should know that selling stock photos is not a high-returning profession especially for beginners and hence should be prepared for similar rewards.