why.why.why. are the hits SO low

Greypics

Hi all,
I am No computer guru and I admit that I don't yet have all my key words and descriptions complete BUT I have many photos on SmugMug (Pro) for over a year or more now, hundreds of hours of upload work and the number of view results (best one pic 50 views) are extremely poor compared to over 2000 in two months on "Bonzle" for one pic alone, and for another example 200+ on "Posterious" in one month for the top pic.

Am I on the " Wrong Horse " to eventually sell some pics. with SmugMug ???
Or am I stuffing up big time !!

I don't make this call for help lightly,
Please help if you can,
kind regards Geoff.
sunnypicsoz's photos smugmug.
www.sunnypicsoz.com

denisegoldberg

Unfortunately for all of us it's not as simple as posting our photos online.

Start with these articles on seach engine optimization:
http://news.smugmug.com/2011/01/05/seo-on-smugmug/
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93327

Why have you so severely limited the viewing size on your site? I've found the largest photos I can see are "small". Even on my laptop screen that is too small for viewing pleasure.

Do you have any inbound links to your site? A blog, or?

--- Denise

jonh68

You don't have keywords for your pcitures, nor do you name your galleries in a way that would get hits on a web search. Smugmug gives you tools to work with, but you have to use them.

Greypics

Thanks Denise

denisegoldberg wrote: »

Unfortunately for all of us it's not as simple as posting our photos online.

Start with these articles on seach engine optimization:
http://news.smugmug.com/2011/01/05/seo-on-smugmug/
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93327

Why have you so severely limited the viewing size on your site? I've found the largest photos I can see are "small". Even on my laptop screen that is too small for viewing pleasure.

Do you have any inbound links to your site? A blog, or?

--- Denise

Thanks for your input Denise.

The reason I reduced the size of our images to "Medium" was to discourage unwanted downloads temporarily until i worked out how to "watermark" my existing pics in smugmug now that i have upgraded to Pro. As a result of your "size" comments i am increasing all of my pics to "large" right now.

I have read those help Documents you listed but i will re-read.

I am still at a loss loss to understand (my unanswered question) of how can it be that one pic on Smugmug for a few months , gallery & pic key worded, results in only about 50 views when the same pick on "Bonzle" ,with no key words, receives 2,000 + views in seven weeks.??? and the same pic on "Posterious" has about 200 views in three weeks ??? I have to ask myself "Why is this so". What could explain this disparity in viewing results?

Cheers Geoff
Sunnypicsoz.com

denisegoldberg

Greypics wrote: »

I am still at a loss loss to understand (my unanswered question) of how can it be that one pic on Smugmug for a few months , gallery & pic key worded, results in only about 50 views when the same pick on "Bonzle" ,with no key words, receives 2,000 + views in seven weeks.??? and the same pic on "Posterious" has about 200 views in three weeks ??? I have to ask myself "Why is this so". What could explain this disparity in viewing results?

Just putting your photos on smug does not generate hits. What have you done to attract attention? You need keywords, descriptions, and inbound links. You could try participating in some of the daily communities, post on forums with links to your photos, write a blog with links to your photos.

I can't help with your comparison with "Bonzle" and "Posterious".

--- Denise

Greypics

denisegoldberg wrote: »

Just putting your photos on smug does not generate hits. What have you done to attract attention? You need keywords, descriptions, and inbound links. You could try participating in some of the daily communities, post on forums with links to your photos, write a blog with links to your photos.

I can't help with your comparison with "Bonzle" and "Posterious".

--- Denise

Hi Denise,

Many thanks again for your prompt input.
I am working on the suggestions you have made.

I still feel however that the question over the disparity of viewing results is a pivotal question that, to my mind at least, dose need an explanation.

If forum members cant answer this question -who can - maybe a Smugmug hero can !

Thanks Denice
Cheers Geoff
sunnypicsoz.com

Greypics

Thanks John

jonh68 wrote: »

You don't have keywords for your pcitures, nor do you name your galleries in a way that would get hits on a web search. Smugmug gives you tools to work with, but you have to use them.

Thanks John68 for making time to respond to my plea.

I would very much like you to expand on " nor do you name your galleries in a way that would get hits on a web search" sounds like i need specific guidance in this area.

Additionally any input you may wish to add re the disparity of viewing results between Smugmug & and other sites (see above) would be really appreciated - or maybe i have CROSSED the line with this query.

Thanks again John
Cheers old Geoff (just had my 70th birthday cake)

sunnypicsoz.com

jonh68

You have to name your galleries in way that will get hits. Unless people are actually looking for your photography, you need names that people do look for. I have many pictures of my local town called Fairhope. I have a gallery called Fairhope Phoography. In my metadata, I have keywords "Fairhope Photography". Their is a pier in Fairhope. I will put in a keyword "Fairhope Pier Photography", "Fairhope Municipal Pier". If it's a sunset, I will add "sunset" as a keyword. You have to think who would be looking for the pictures and how they would look for them. Also caption your photos, and gallery descriptions that contain the keywords.

Greypics

Thanks John
Many thanks for your input John.

Kikoprice

Im just curious, do you have any sales on either site?

Greypics

HI frank
Frank i have not as yet attempted any sales on any of the afore mentioned sites.
SmugMug has been my priority focus for several months now,( since my disappointing foray into the photo stock market) i am still preparing this site for selling... & researching other sites viewing volumes as well.
Some time back i did dabble in the main stream "Photo stock" arena Eg .Fotalia,Big stock ,Can Stock and Alamy Etc. Despite having many acceptances, results were negligible.

I am not looking to set the world on fire, just to add a few dollars to the aged pension with pics that i am interested in and in a position to take (while cruising.)
Cheers GEOFF

AceCo55

I just looked at "Bonzle.com.au". To me, it is obvious why you would get more hits on the same photo from that site than you own Smugmug site. Bonzle already has "brand awareness" ... people know about it and what that site can do for them. People doing research for a holiday would likely go to that site and bingo, get a hit on one of your photos. Bonzle works because I bet they have spent time/energy making people aware of their site. What have you done to drive people to your Smugmug site? How would anyone even know that you site exists? What could anyone punch into a search engine that would direct them to your Smugmug site?
I'd suggest that your Smugmug site is virtually invisible to the world but Bonzle is much better known and so more traffic goes there. As Denise said, just having your photos on Smugmug doesn't mean ANYONE will ever see them. People have to know you exist, what you do and you need to provide a way of getting new people to discover your site and you.

Greypics

Many thanks
I do appreciate your input aceCo55

inthesmoke

I'm quite an analytical person (it's my job) so I probably spend way too much time looking at the stats in numerous ways. My main sources of info are Flickr stats, SM stats, and Google Analytics on my SM site. I'm aware of a lot of the concepts of SEO, internet marketing etc but quite novice - I'd suggest both of us would benefit from stydying these aspects more, we can focus on the photos too much at times - any 'pro' tog will tell you that the marketing is almost more important than the photos.
I was on Flickr for some time before joining SM. Just like the other sites you mentioned, there is an audience already there, with people actively looking for information and photos. With flickr, my photos are in many groups where people with similar interests can browse the photos. With my SM site, people need to be aware of the site, or land with a search. When I compare the stats between the two sites, I can see that search hits are similar (and low- niche subject), but Flickr gets alot more hits from people browsing from other groups and photos.
Flickr, Posterious etc have an audience already and market themselves well - the challenge for you using SM is that you need to establish yourself, draw traffic, and ensure that once you have a visitor that they are intersted in staying on your site.