Microstock Photography

148 Twenty Tips and Tricks to Winning on Microstocks

Additionally, Fotolia has gone a step further by developing

an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows business

and Web designers to integrate access to the Fotolia search engine

and display images on their own Web sites and to earn money

through sales (Figure 8.2). There are presently three levels of

sophistication: Partner, Business, and Developer APIs. It is an

interesting way for the more savvy of you to make money partnering

with Fotolia.

DREAMSTIME

Dreamstime also offers an affi liate/referral program through the use

of Web site links approved by Dreamstime. Once up and running, you

get certain benefi ts:

• A $5 bonus for the fi rst visit Dreamstime receives from a site badge on an approved
  site (basically a mini “golden handshake”)


• 10% from all credit packages purchased for 3 years after referred people sign
  up


• 10% from all sales made by referred photographers for 3 years after their
  registration

Referral income is added to your earnings account and can therefore

be cashed in the same way, that is, as soon as your total earnings

reach $100.

I know of several microstock photographers who make a signifi cant

portion of their income from referrals. However, referrals can prove

to be unproductive. Only a few of my referred photographers at Shut-

terstock have portfolios of more than a handful of images. Nonetheless,

it is worth considering as an additional, if often small, source of

revenue, particularly if you have a Web site where you can place

referral links.

FIGURE 8.2 Fotolia’s midrange Business
Application Programming Interface for online
shopping sites. Different versions exist for dif-
ferent users. Earn money by allowing visitors
to your Web site to search for and buy images
from Fotolia. © Fotolia 2007