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Monetizing an Image?

by Dan C. Rinnert
7 replies
Is there any way of capitalizing on a Google image search?

I have an image on one of my sites that's #1 in a Google image search. I've thought of editing my robots.txt file so that it gets de-indexed, because some months it gets so much traffic I get extra bandwidth charges on my hosting bill.

But, then I've thought maybe there is a way of monetizing it somehow. I'm not sure if there is a way, though. I've tried putting some CafePress products on my site with the image, but no go on that.

I think maybe people are just looking for the image, and not to buy anything, which may be the problem too.

If I remember right, I had 14,000 hits on it one month. I'd just rather find a way to make money from it rather than it costing me money. As I said, I can always get it de-indexed, but I'd rather try some way to capitalize on it before I go that route.
#google image search #image #monetizing #monetizing images
  • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
    Dan,

    I'd kill to get that much free traffic. I don't know how much extra you're paying for the bandwith, but I do think you should monetize the opportunity instead of killing it.

    I'm also guessing you don't want to include the link for obvious reasons, but perhaps if we had a clue as to what the image is some of the marketing brains here could suggest how to capitalize on this.

    So just for grins, what is the image about? Perhaps a small lowrez thumbnail, or the general niche the image is attracting would help get the ideas flowing.

    Just curious...

    KJ
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      The free traffic is killing me. ;-)

      I am looking at my stats for last month.

      I had just 6,638 visits to the page that has the image. But, I had 102,343 views of the image itself. As near as I can tell, 13,302 of those came from Google image searches. 4,338 came from a regular Google search, where the image shows too. 12,658 views came from a guy who has a web site hotlinking the image (as well as many others) in a site that's just all pictures of this type. The image I have is listed as his favorite. The other views must come from like a gazillion other sites that I assume are hotlinking to the image as well.

      So just for grins, what is the image about? Perhaps a small lowrez thumbnail, or the general niche the image is attracting would help get the ideas flowing.
      Horror. Does that help?
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      • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
        Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

        Horror. Does that help?
        So does that mean it's related to the dating niche?

        That should be easy to monetize.

        Or is this a picture of Kevin Riley?

        KJ
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        • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
          Originally Posted by AnarchyAds View Post

          If the image is a GIF, change the photo
          to an ANIMATED GIF which will be a
          little banner advertisement for your
          affiliate stuff ...
          It is a GIF. Hmmm...

          Originally Posted by jmidas View Post

          what if you changed your alt text to say something like: more images like this at www. your site name .com/ a squeeze page? Or some other text to make them go to your page??

          then, maybe you can capture some of that traffic to a squeezae page that sells whatever you sell or even adsense or cpa offers, etc.. May be a good way to build a list too. Just a thought. Not sure how it would work.
          I'm not sure. I think the biggest problem is that people looking for the image aren't necessarily looking to buy something. Actually, I'm not sure what they're looking for, or why the image has become so popular.

          Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

          So does that mean it's related to the dating niche?

          That should be easy to monetize.
          No, but maybe I could use it on the cover of a dating eBook. "How to Make Sure Your Internet Date Doesn't Look Like This." LOL!

          Or is this a picture of Kevin Riley?
          If it was, I've heard I could just contact Dana_W for a direct sale. ;-) ducking...
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          • Profile picture of the author sylviad
            Did you say the topic is "horror"?

            Why not find an affiliate program related to horror movies, DVD sales and/or related horror-image embossed clothing items? Then, change the alt tag on your horror picture to the name of your offer or the name of a very popular horror flick that you will be offering.

            Don't recall seeing anything mentioned about your image. Is it yours or one you found on Google? Is it public domain? If it's on Google, you'd run into problems putting it on your own server and changing the name. You want to make sure it IS in the public domain before doing that.

            Of course, if it's your own image, you can do whatever you want - rename the file, give it a name and alt tag more relevant to your offer.

            Sylvia
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            • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
              Originally Posted by sylviad View Post

              Did you say the topic is "horror"?

              Why not find an affiliate program related to horror movies, DVD sales and/or related horror-image embossed clothing items? Then, change the alt tag on your horror picture to the name of your offer or the name of a very popular horror flick that you will be offering.
              I think there are a few movies with this type of character.

              Or, maybe I could make one. That'd probably take too long though...

              Of course, it it's your own image, you can do whatever you want - rename the file, give it a name and alt tag more relevant to your offer.
              Yes, it's mine. And I was smart enough originally to make the copyright line part of the image, so my sitename is on every hotlinked copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnarchyAds
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author jmidas
      Dan, this may be too simplistic, but:

      what if you changed your alt text to say something like: more images like this at www. your site name .com/ a squeeze page? Or some other text to make them go to your page??

      then, maybe you can capture some of that traffic to a squeezae page that sells whatever you sell or even adsense or cpa offers, etc.. May be a good way to build a list too. Just a thought. Not sure how it would work.
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