Customers go on microstock websites to purchase images for a variety of reasons, ranging from; acquiring creative images for the promotion of a new hair product on social media, or a new websites’ graphic design, to editorials for an article in a newspaper, magazine or blog.

Selling microstock is a numbers game, the more content you upload, the more likely it is that one of your images gets purchased. Also, the more versatile your uploads, the higher the chances of you meeting a customers need. So when uploading images, think quantity, think variety.

Okay so … How much are we talking here?

Some sites such as RDMStock, start their image pricing at just N750 for the smallest size, with costs increasing as image sizes increase.

Some may say 'N750 [NGN]? But that is too cheap ... selling my images on a microstock platform may not bag me as much cash as I thought after all, so why bother?'

Think of it this wayon a microstock site, you can sell one image 200 times at N1,000 per image, or you can sell that image one time at an art show for N50k'.Plus, no one said you had to choose

Also, another thing to note is that, on microstock websites, whilst artistic images will get a 'wow', they tend not to sell as often as the simpler images, that convey a clear message of culture, family, lifestyle, or emotions and concepts such as fear, joy, success, wealth etc.

Also, generic is best. “There can’t be any recognizable brands in your photos,” or else this can only be used for editorial content. Read about editorial and creative contents here

The titles, tagging and description that you give your image also plays a part in the sales of you image. How easy is it for buyers to find your image? When tagging, it helps to Imagine yourself as the buyer ... and think … 'if I was looking for an image similar to mine on Google, what words would I use to search?'

Stock photography websites such as RDMStock.com, make it easy for all passionate photographers to get started selling their photos online.

All you need to do is sign up for free and get approved as a contributor.

RDMStock does not charge its’ contributors to upload content to their portfolios. Instead, they split all earning on each sale 50/50.

Visit us at RDMStock today. For more information or send an email to rdmstock@ringier.ng

Written by Immaculate Okorie

This is a feature by RDM.