you get differ from one library to another. Below is a description of
how the “top four” operate.
SHUTTERSTOCK
Shutterstock offers $0.03 cents for every image downloaded from a
photographer referred by you. If you refer buyers, you get 20% of the
price paid by referred buyers for their subscription, up to a maximum
of $50.
To participate, you need to set up referral links so that Shutterstock
can determine that you are responsible for the introduction of a new
photographer or buyer. As an example, my Shutterstock number is
- My photographer and video footage referral link thus reads
http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=11718 and the buyer link is
http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=11718.
Those are my referrer links. Full disclosure: if you use those
links to join Shutterstock as a photographer or buyer, then I
will receive the referral commission. Well, I did say this book
was about making money from microstocks, and what kind of
an author would I be if I didn’t take advantage of every available
opportunity!
iSTOCKPHOTO
iStockphoto pays $10 for each member you refer the fi rst time that
member buys credits. Unlike Shutterstock, you don’t get a slice of
royalties, just a one-off fee.
iStockphoto provides the HTML source code to add a link button
to iStockphoto from your own Web site to your portfolio or to any
iStockphoto page. Just embed the code and away you go.
FOTOLIA
Fotolia runs something called an “affi liation program.” This rewards
both sales and purchases. As Fotolia explains: “An affi liate is anyone
who is referred to Fotolia meaning someone who opens an account on
Fotolia after the recommendation of a member. Someone is referred
to Fotolia by a member if [he or she creates] an account after clicking
on the affi liation link. An Affi liation link is an Internet hyperlink or
web link pointing to the Fotolia website with a member’s reference id.
The reference id is a unique code assigned to every member of
Fotolia.”
If you click on the “Affi liation” tab in your member area on Fotolia,
it will detail the various ways to set up an affi liation link. For example,
you could add a link in an e-mail signature line (here is mine as an
example: http://en.fotolia.com/p/6195/partner/6195)) or a hyperlink
for your Web site.
TIP 9: SET UP REFERRAL LINKS 147