How to Sell Stock Photos Online

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

When you sell stock photos through these royalty free stock photography websites, you are not selling the photo, you are selling the right to use the photo. As the photographer, you retain the copyright to the photo and can sell it in more than one place and as many times as you want to. Some of these websites allow you to sell exclusive rights to your photo, meaning that the person who bought it is the only one who can use it, but this is optional.
Step 2

In order to sell stock photos online successfully, you need to take the types of pictures that others want. This means that pictures of your kids playing or your family vacation won’t cut it; you need to think about how commercial your images are. Look through magazines and browse some websites to get an idea of the kinds of photos that sell. Another good place to check is the stock photography websites. Look through the photos that are already offered for sale and pay attention to how many times they have been downloaded.
Step 3

Next you need to sign up as a contributor at the stock photography websites. There are several companies that will allow you to sell your stock photos online, so you will need to visit each website, read the guidelines, and sign up. Many of them require you to submit sample images before they will accept you as a contributor. Some of the bigger microstock photography sites are:

www.dreamstime.com
www.istockphoto.com
www.shutterstock.com
www.fotolia.com
www.stockXpert.com
www.123rf.com
www.bigstockphoto.com
Step 4

When you sign up as a contributor, you are entering into a contract with the company. Make sure you understand exactly who retains the rights to your photographs, whether or not you can submit them to other websites, how long your photos are required to be on the site before they can be removed and how much you will get paid. Each company is different, but you can expect to be paid anywhere from $0.25 to several dollars each time your image is sold. Images are usually offered in several sizes and customers are charged more if they want to get a larger image. A few dollars may not seem like much in return for your hard work, but you have to remember that the images can be sold multiple times. If you have a popular image that is sold many times, you will generate quite a bit of income. Of course, the inverse is also true, and you will find that some of your images don’t earn very much at all. Those dollars add up, however, and contributors who have a portfolio of hundreds or thousands of images can make a very decent residual income.
Step 5

Once you have been accepted as a contributor of a stock photography website, you can add your images to their collection. Each company has different requirements for uploading images, so read and follow the guidelines carefully. Every photo you submit will be reviewed for quality, composition and content. Anything that the reviewer feels will not be a valuable addition to the collection will be rejected. Depending on the problem, you may have the option of correcting any issues and resubmitting your photo.
Step 6

Expect many of your photographs to be rejected, especially when you are first starting out. As your photography skills improve and you learn what the stock photography websites are looking for, you will have fewer rejections. You need to have a tough skin when you are selling stock photos online because it is a very competitive business. If your image is rejected, that does not necessarily mean that it is a bad photo. Photos are rejected for a variety of reasons, including poor quality, not being commercial enough or because there are too many of that subject already in the collection. Just because your photo was rejected by one website, doesn’t mean it will be rejected by the others. It is beneficial to submit your photos to several stock photography websites because each site has different needs and standards.
Step 7

Adding appropriate keywords to your images is important when you are trying to sell stock photos online. When a potential buyer visits a royalty free stock photography website, they perform a search and any images that match the search terms will show up. Think about what customers would search for if they were looking for your image. Use both broad and specific descriptive words. Add word to describe any emotions or ideas portrayed by your image. For example, if you have a picture of a soccer player kicking a ball into a goal, you could use terms such as soccer game, kicking, ball, net, goal, soccer player, victory, triumph and win. Use as many terms as possible, but make sure that they are appropriate for your image. Your keywords will also be reviewed and if they are inappropriate, your image may be rejected.
Step 8

Selling stock photos online is not a way to get rich quickly, but it is a way to get paid to do what you love. With some hard work and persistence, you can build up your portfolio and begin generating a good residual income.