This post follows on from Indexing Images To Sell – A Fotolia Guide.
Want to sell more pictures using our Fotolia Instant App? Used right, the new keywording tool is an effective short-cut for buyers to find your images.
If you’re like most contributors you’ll submit multiple pictures of a subject. But typing the same keywords over and over again when uploading images is time-consuming and boring, and means great pictures are often let down by less-than-great keywording.
To fix this, our technical team have been updating the Fotolia Instant App, and keywording is now approximately 57.2% easier and 94% faster!
So, what’s the right way to use it?
All the right keywords…
Let’s say you submit a seasonal picture like our Halloween image here. Seasonal subjects generally re-use 80% of the same keywords – there are only a limited number of ways to say “Halloween” or “Christmas” or “Valentine’s Day”.
The good news is that now Instant App keywords can be copied from previous uploaded images, and then you can edit, erase, or add even more keywords.
..In the right order
The next step is to rank your keywords by importance. Top-ranked keywords are given more importance in searches, so when a buyer searches for one of your top-ranked keywords your image will automatically appear higher in the search results.
If the main subject of your image is a ship the top-ranked keyword should be ship, NOT sea, blue, water, or sky.
Keyword ranking isn’t always as obvious as this, but try to put yourself in the buyer’s head; what keyword(s) would you search for if you were them?
Keyword ranking is done after all the keywords and a title have been added. Click on the button saying Check keyword order and a list of your keywords will appear. Slide the little grip on the right to move your keywords up and down – the higher a keyword is in the list, the more prominence it will have in search results.
Hopefully, these new tools should help you to improve sales.
But always remember the basic rule: Try to put yourself in the buyer’s head; what keyword(s) would you search for if you were them?