Cold and grey outside so I thought I would spend the day trying to work out how to improve my tactics on FlickR to improve the hits I have been receiving. The first thing to do was work out which of the groups I was a member of was effective in generating hits. This meant I reduced the groups down to a more manageable 60 in total.
The second step was to try and identify the groups that generate the largest number of hits per photograph. This is somewhat hit and miss but it would seem the best groups to join are those with strict post one/comment 5 rules. It is amazing how convoluted some of these rules can get and you have to take a moment to make sure you understand all the ins and out.
Once this has been done you then have to start posting your photograph. The one I chose was the puffin above. This had been on my Flickr site for some time but not generating any hits - an ideal candidate for the experiment. So I have spent the greater part of the day posting this to groups and placing the required comments on other photographs. What were the results?
Well spectacular - but not just for the obvious reasons. First the obvious result. As I write this I have generated 166 hits since midnight. Before this I had about 50 in over 6 months so I think you can see it has been a success so far - and the hits keep coming. Now for the less obvious result. I have found some outstanding photographs - which I have added to ever increasing list of favourites This has been really inspirational stuff. Flickr is a huge vat of bubbling photography. There is a thick crust of pornographic at the edge of the vat - some actually very unusual and almost Mapplethorpesque - however most exactly what you might expect. Another ingredient is the mundane. This is even greater than the porn. I just cannot understand why people take so many photographs of their cat - but they do and they are almost as popular as the porn. However amongst all these are the gems - the photographs that, for me, make Flickr worthwhile.
So what have I learnt? Well to have a successful Flickr presences you need to work at it, nothing surprising there. Quality alone is no guarantee of attracting hits you have to sell your wares. In the end Flickr is like life - the more you work at it the better things get.
One final thing. In the time it has taken me to write this paragraph I have had another seven hits.
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