Are you struggling with How to sell more stock photos and videos?
In this video, I’ll reveal powerful strategies to boost your stock photography and videography sales.
Selling stock isn’t just about uploading files—it’s about standing out, optimizing metadata, and understanding what buyers really want.
Whether you’re on Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Pond5, or other platforms, these 10 actionable tips will help you increase visibility, improve your keywording, and maximize earnings from your creative work.
We’ll cover everything from researching trending topics, creating marketable content, writing SEO-friendly titles and descriptions, and building a portfolio that keeps earning over time.
You’ll also learn how to avoid common mistakes that hold back contributors, plus insider tricks to make your photos and videos rank higher in search results.
If you’re serious about turning your passion into profit, don’t miss these proven steps to grow your income as a stock contributor.
For a video that includes 10 out-of-the-box ideas on what to shoot, click on the link below..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRzjVXCWY0
#StockPhotography #StockFootage #PassiveIncome #SellPhotosOnline #Shutterstock
In this video, I’ll reveal powerful strategies to boost your stock photography and videography sales.
Selling stock isn’t just about uploading files—it’s about standing out, optimizing metadata, and understanding what buyers really want.
Whether you’re on Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Pond5, or other platforms, these 10 actionable tips will help you increase visibility, improve your keywording, and maximize earnings from your creative work.
We’ll cover everything from researching trending topics, creating marketable content, writing SEO-friendly titles and descriptions, and building a portfolio that keeps earning over time.
You’ll also learn how to avoid common mistakes that hold back contributors, plus insider tricks to make your photos and videos rank higher in search results.
If you’re serious about turning your passion into profit, don’t miss these proven steps to grow your income as a stock contributor.
For a video that includes 10 out-of-the-box ideas on what to shoot, click on the link below..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRzjVXCWY0
#StockPhotography #StockFootage #PassiveIncome #SellPhotosOnline #Shutterstock
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LearningTranscript
00:00All right, you want to turn your travel memories into cash, you know, while you're getting paid,
00:05while you're still traveling, your lifestyle photos and videos. With the right strategy,
00:10you can do that, and that's what we're going to talk about today. I'm going to give you 10 tips
00:14on how to sell more photos and videos on Shutterstock and these platforms. Okay,
00:20so why even get into selling lifestyle photos on Shutterstock? Well, the main reason is I've
00:26actually had a lot of fun doing this, and I made some money. So that's a big win in my book.
00:31So I'm a little on the addicted side. There are other places to post your photos and videos,
00:37but Shutterstock is super chill, like maybe a little bit too chill. It's very user-friendly.
00:44You know, for example, if I've accidentally posted a photo that should be editorial,
00:49they'll just remind you, hey, just change real quick, right? Nearly all the photos and videos,
00:55from the shittiest camera you can imagine, they've accepted. Even mistakes. I'll actually,
01:02I'll just post it anyways, and they've accepted the thing. It's very chill. And Shutterstock's a
01:08big, big player, so why not? It's the first place that I've gone to, but there's others as well.
01:14So let's talk about how to sell more photos and videos. Number one is, I like this, right?
01:20If you submit the perfect photo or video, but nobody can find it, it's not going to sell. But
01:28if you post an okay photo or video, but everybody can find it, there's a good chance that it could
01:35sell, you know? So basically, these platforms are big old search engines, you know, a keyword
01:43machine. So the keywords are really half the battle. You really got this, so how do we do that? Well,
01:50the title, you really want the title to be as specific to the image as you possibly can, so people
01:56can find it. If people can't find it, they're not going to buy it. And really, you want to include any
02:03unique information that sets your image apart from everyone else's, right? Like, here's an example.
02:09You know, be as descriptive as you can. Adult sheep covered in a blue shirt looking at me in a barn full
02:16of wood shavings and sawdust. You know, so that the more detail you can write into your title and
02:23description, the better it's going to be. And that really is the battle right there. You want to
02:30make it as descriptive as you can and set it apart from other people. Because if somebody's looking for
02:36a specific image and only your image pops up, even if it's a garbage image, you could get a sale,
02:45right? Because they want that. If it's something unique that nobody else has taken the picture of.
02:50So, but that's the key. You want it to be descriptive. All right. All right. Tags are another thing,
02:56too. And that also can help your photo or your video get found. You know, it's best to use between
03:027 and 50 tags. And to be very honest, I just use AI to do all the heavy lifting. I'll just kind of
03:09plug this formula, you know, tell exactly what I want to do, describe the photo in as much detail
03:15as possible. And it comes up with all the ideal tags that I just post it. And you can steal this
03:22from me. That's what I've been doing. I don't know a better way of doing it. But that's about it.
03:28So it's pretty easy. Number three is you want a variety of photos and videos. Now, when it comes
03:33to exactly what you take a photo or a video of, I don't really think everybody, nobody has the exact
03:39answer for that. I mean, it kind of depends. But what you don't want is the same photo, like,
03:51for example, a thousand photos of one little leaf from different angles. Unless you're, like, stoned.
03:57Look at this video. Cheech and Chog. They guys look so stoned. So you want, like, a variety of
04:04different photos and videos. So it increases the chance of a sell, right? So I've been mixing up
04:09so much stuff out there with cool signs and just things that people maybe, you know, haven't thought
04:16about it. And that makes it very less competitive. I mean, you could do research and you could, like,
04:20go on Shutterstock and see how much competition there is. But it takes a lot of work. But some
04:25things like landscapes and, like, flowers, you know, I mean, you could still submit them. Just
04:30realize that the pretty things, there are a lot of people, like sunsets, it's going to be very
04:38competitive because there's a lot of photos of sunsets on these platforms. So anyways, next up
04:46is real and authentic is better, okay? And one thing that most experts can agree on is the real
04:53photos and videos do better than staged, okay? And that's why I usually, I kind of throughout my
05:00travels and my, yesterday I went on the hike, you know, so, you know, as I was going, you know,
05:05throughout town and stuff like that. I saw some cool stuff and I took a photo and video
05:09of it. So it wasn't too much out of the way. It wasn't too much trouble, you know? Worst
05:14case scenario, the photo or video doesn't sell. You know, I didn't go out of my way. I just,
05:18you know, throughout my day I kind of did. And this is also why, this is a side note, UGC,
05:25I don't know if you've heard about this, it's called user-generated content. It's big on
05:28Fiverr. It actually does better for ads because people want to see that. And companies pay
05:35top money for that. So it just does better, these real stuff. And I'll give you one more
05:38story. I went to an antique store yesterday. I was talking to the lady that had all these
05:43cool antiques, right? And she was telling me that sometimes when she cleans them up,
05:48they don't sell as good. People want to see, even one with cobwebs, that's sold. They want
05:54the realness of the antique. They don't want it to be cleaned up and polished. It's kind of
06:00crazy, you know? And there's a couple stories I've heard about this as well. But people want
06:06natural. And this is another reason why I don't really edit my photos and videos. Because
06:09it takes a lot of time. And I just pump them out there. Like even this YouTube, I ain't
06:13going to edit this YouTube video. I'm just going to pump it out there. All right. Next up
06:17is get lost. And one of the cool things about Microstock, which I'm a big fan of, is I love
06:23getting lost. You know, I've traveled all over the place and when I got off the beaten path,
06:28I had the most fun. You know, some ideas, you can sit on a park bench for a while, straight
06:33down the street that's off the beaten path. You will see cool stuff. These hidden gems,
06:40right? Traditional mom and pop stores, street graffiti and stuff. Normal people don't take
06:48photos and videos of. So don't be normal, okay? Now I got to say this, but your personal
06:54safety is definitely number one. So, you know, don't go down a dark alley all the night,
07:00you know, or something like that. You know, you got to listen to your, if something that
07:03feels unsafe, don't do it. You can just bounce. And the funniest thing, I was listening to
07:08a YouTube video as I was submitting these puppies, you know, these photos and videos, and it had
07:13to do with this true life story about this photographer who's out in the wild. He sees these
07:19bears, a mama bear or cub bears, and he starts taking these photos. He gets super up close
07:25and all of a sudden you see the photo where they turn around and look at him. The next
07:29photo, they're running at him. It didn't end very well for the guy, okay? So, yeah, I
07:34mean, don't get yourself killed over taking a photo. You see it. People taking selfies in
07:40the canyon. Next thing you know, they fall over. So, that's my point. All right, next up.
07:46When it comes to quality, you know, this is subjective. I go for okay quality. I don't
07:55look for, like, the best quality or the worst. Because if you aim for perfection, nothing's
08:01going to get published. You don't know. I'll give you a story. A while ago, I published a
08:06TikTok video, right? It was a horrible video. The lens was blurry. I cut out the editing,
08:13the worst. It was all, I posted. I'm serious. That was one of the best videos I've ever
08:19published. I don't know why. I don't know. So, you just don't know. I mean, when in doubt
08:26post it, you know? I mean, these platforms, they'll delete, they'll reject it if it's not
08:31good enough. So, let the market decide. And I will say this, though. If I have an image
08:37or a video that's, like, blurry, I can't stand looking at it, I won't publish it because
08:42I don't want to make an eagle suffer. So, that's what I do. But anyways, sometimes I
08:49think this, too, that sometimes quality is attached to somebody's ego when they want,
08:54like, it's not good enough. It's, you know, it's like an, I think it's an ego thing in
08:59some ways. Anyways. But yeah, next up is publish more. You know, when in doubt, I mean, this is
09:04a numbers game. I mean, you know, the more photos and videos you have out there, the
09:08more chance of a sale. That's just the truth. The next up is random stuff. I think I've touched
09:15on this a little bit earlier, but, you know, I love taking photos of sunsets and flowers
09:20and shit. But the reality is a lot of people like taking photos of that and videos. There's
09:25a lot of competition. And there's a really good book called Blue Ocean Strategy. It's all
09:30about how to go into areas where there's not a lot of competition. And I do, you know,
09:34I do this for everything, like blog posts. I do this for, this works for Amazon Direct
09:41Publishing. It's all about the keywords. You want, if it, you know, YouTube's a little
09:46bit different. YouTube's a strange beast. But you get what I'm saying, okay? You want
09:53to find areas where there's not a lot of competition so that you can get seen and stuff like that.
10:00Right. Like, I'll give you an example. Like a fortune cookie, you know, message with a weird
10:05message. You know, I mean, nobody's going to take a photo of that. Right? Like a refrigerator
10:11magnet. Like a funny-ass one. I took a photo of that. Boom. Right? So, there you go.
10:19So, sometimes things that are not touristy or visually appealing can sell more. Like hospital
10:24settings, business settings, you know, technologies. You get my point, though.
10:30Next up is other platforms, you know. And I have a massive list of a lot of great platforms out there.
10:39And I'll include a video as well. If you're not sure on what to take a photo or video of,
10:45I actually made a big old video that gives you a shit ton of ideas. Like outside the box. Boom.
10:49And I'll include this in the link below or I'll put it in the video as well at the end. You can check
10:55it out. But yeah, post the photo and video to as many platforms as you can because if it doesn't
11:02sell on one platform, it can sell on another one. And it doesn't take that long. It really doesn't.
11:07And there's tools that can do it, but I just can manually do it while I listen to like a really
11:11cool scary story or something kind of entertaining, you know, or whatever, or music. Lastly, well,
11:18not lastly, but have fun, okay? Have as much fun as possible, you know, go throughout your day,
11:24like a staggered hunt, like you're 12 years old, you know, see some cool stuff, just take a photo
11:27or video of it. Boom. Don't go crazy, you know, and because if you're having fun, the more likely
11:34you are to stick with it. And of course, you want to keep learning and adapting, you know.
11:40Don't get discouraged if something gets rejected. Just move on, you know, follow other content creators,
11:46blogs, apply to more websites, keep uploading, you know, and this is a long-term investment.
11:54And these, you know, this stuff can continue to make you money into the future.
12:00And in conclusion, you know, I've had a lot of fun with Microstock, but there's so many other ways
12:05to make passive income, like illustrations, AI art. You can create beats and actually sell them.
12:12There's a way to do that. There's writing e-books. I've done a lot of this. Blogging, videos.
12:18There's drop shipping. Online store. There's a building a list. I can, you know, I've had a lot of success
12:25with a list as well. And so there's a lot of other ways that you can make passive income.
12:31But if you're interested in Microstock, and again, I made a video that has all kinds of different ideas
12:40on what you can take photos and videos of, so there's no competition.
12:44And I'll include that link below, and I'll put it somewhere on the screen here, you know, around there,
12:51to help you if you're interested, okay?
12:52So hopefully this was at least, this video or whatever was at least a little bit useful.
12:57You know, thanks for your time, and you have a wonderful rest of your day, okay? Bye.
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