Is Sponsoring Pages Taking The Mickey?

I found similar results

My thought on sponsoring pages...can't hurt, may help. It's about all the "marketing" I do.

Oh, OK, I thought it was a paid-for thing. Not really an issue, then. I'm pleased 'cos so far I haven't identified anything unfair to do with this site (unlike a lot of others) I thought this was the first.

you don't pay for it, you just stick a link (the code you're provided with) on your blog.

I consider it a pro to always see our sponsored images in the third row of search results for a keyword when we are logged in to our own account.
This way we always know immediately if we've already sponsored this word or not. It shortens the whole sponsoring process significantly.

Sonja, you have to use another website of yours, or a blog... something like that. I use my blog and just post the links at the bottom of posts that no one really reads, so no one ever clicks the links. I don't want anyone actually clicking those links created since it just takes them to the search results of that keyword. I'd rather they go directly to my website to buy my images.

If people were complaining that they didn't feel they were getting what they paid for, then it doesn't seem to me that the best solution was to hide reality and give them a more comforting image of what was happening....

Sponsoring pages is a complete waste of time.

No social media sites

I don't really get the sponsored thing. Does it work if you post a link in a tweet? I guess I'm not really sure where a good place to post a link would be. It doesn't really make sense to put it in my professional website. Would it work if you linked it to a facebook page post? And does it always remain or does it get bumped off eventually?

I submitted a ticket to support about it but it probably isn't a priority since it only effects a small amount of images and then only with certain search keywords.

We will see.

The only reason I posted it is if you know about it, there are things you can do to work around it.

It seems like that should be considered a bug. Surely it wasn't the intention that sponsoring a search meant that you got to eliminate your competition? Rise past them, sure, but eliminate them?

I have myriad examples and they are GONE from the search with that word or phrase. I just changed my Hoboken wording so it would fall LOWER in the search and maybe at least be there.



I may do the same for my seagull image.

JC - I thought the same thing was happening but wasn't sure. I'm glad to see someone else who also notes that the images in the third row of a sponsored search vanish entirely. Very unllucky for someone who has managed to appear there. I saw it with one of my images but thought maybe it had been pushed back further than I was willing to hunt.

I tried for you and entered 'Chicago' and I saw 3 of your images on the 3rd refresh

Semmick - have you tried clearing your cache/cookies, then doing your IP experiment again?

Does sponsoring work???
Has anyones sales increased?

When you are logged in to your own account and do a search for a keyword that you have sponsored, you will always see your images in the third row. If you are not logged in to your account, then your images will appear at random with all of the other members' images who have sponsored that same keyword.

We had to do it this way because when we didn't do it in the past, we were getting tons of e-mails each day saying "I've sponsored XYZ, why aren't my images appearing in the third row?"

Sean

Semmick,

For what it is worth, I searched for one of your sponsored words - Chicago - and found you in the third row after two refreshes. It seems like it works for you.

Here is an interesting fact about the sponsored row BTW, the images that would naturally appear in the search in the third row are overwritten and no longer appear in the search for that keyword or phrase at all instead of simply falling to the fourth row.

What is the word or phrase you sponsored so we can take a look?

Edit.... Disregard, I found it.

No Heather, its not dumb luck. I see them every time when I click on the sponsored links. Logged in or logged out, yet when I hide my IP address or use a different IP address I do not see my images. Meaning, my images are shown to me using my IP address or because of cookies. I want to see what the buyer sees, not some custom view.

When you logged out and saw them immediately it was probably just dumb luck, provided there are many others sponsoring the same keyword. It happens.

Ok, thanks for explaining, so I am correct in my OP. You show me my images but when buyers search, its a different result? I think I should see the same result as buyers, not a skewed result. But thats only my humble opinion,.

Thank you Beth.

When you sponsor the images, it says, that you are now at random with everyone else sponsoring those same words.

If you choose a word that is unique, you will appear there more or less constantly.

of you choose a word like...for instance, cat, or landscape, or sky, then you will appear once in hundreds of clicks

So choose the term carefully.

when you are logged in, the area always shows the images so you know it works.

I haven't ever done the sponsor page thing because when I looked at it then you had to generate code for the link. I assumed that meant that only buyers that saw the link and clicked on it would see the 3rd line layout. But perhape this isn't how it works.