In How to Keyword Your Stock Video Part 1 - The Basics, we worked with my clip from Bali. Our goal is to find accurate non spam keywords which drive buyers searching for the footage to your clip. Let's continue working with this clip and find some new keywords I may be overlooking.
The first thing I do, after I have listed all the keywords which come immediately to mind is to find similar clips online and see which keywords successful clips are using. By successful I mean clips which have lots of downloads. I used to do this with a search at iStockphoto using the keyword search bar. I sorted by downloads and wrote the keywords down in a list. Tedious. I discovered a great free tool which does the same thing more efficiently. It gives you a sorted list of keywords based on several sort options, including downloads/newest and oldest. There are many versions of this search indexing program but the most popular is the Yuri Arcurs keywording tool. This program was developed for still photographers, but it's useful for video stock footage. Let's use it.
I want to set to search by popularity (which is default derived by downloads and views) and to show icons in 25 rows, use large icons so I can see them, and only use Shudderstock photos for comparison. I'll set up the search bar for that:
Click for large view
I type the search words fisherman boat ocean in the search bar and enter. The program then returns you a visual sampling of the most popular photos which come up using the popularity sort search.
Click for large view
Click on the images which are closest to your clip – near exact visual matches if possible. They'll be highlighted in red. Avoid clicking on images which are obviously from the same photographer, as this will skew your results counting the same keywords multiple times. Again, don't click on images which are not a near match to yours, this will also skew your results.
By altering the search words in the search box each time, you can get a broader sample and add them to your compiled list. Do this by changing your search words and pressing "Accept chosen images and search again." at the top of the page.
When your finally ready, click on the bar at the bottom of the page labeled:
Here are the results:
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The Uri Arcurs program will generate a sorted list of 50 keywords. Scan them carefully and remove keywords which are not right on target by checking the box or "remove". Be VERY selective. Note the rating of the words immediately to the right (this one is 6 to 3) and keep it in mind as you select. This number rating, proceeds from the most relevant to less used - or represent popular search terms.
Remember, the idea is to have accurate keywords, both literally and conceptually. Resist the urge to fill up the your list. LOOK at your clip. It's accuracy and relevance, not quantity which wins you the sales. Once you have cleaned the list you can add the keywords you generated yourself to the box at the top. Now we are ready to generate the new keywords by clicking this box:
The list appears and you can cut and paste it.
Scan the list again and remove any keywords which are vague and misleading. Cut and paste. You are ready to go!
Notes:
- Non Alphabetical search. The Uri Arcurs keywording tool generates a list sorted alphabetically. Some sites, such as ClipCanvas and Shutterstock, ask you to list the first 7 to 10 keywords in order of importance and relevancy. You'll need to do this manually.
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