Freelance Confidential - Amanda Hackwith [22]
Product support. Sometimes marketplaces will allow sellers to answer questions or comments from buyers about a particular product. If your product is in any way technical or complex, make sure you actively respond to questions from potential buyers and comments from existing sales. New buyers will frequently read comments to discern a quality item from the trash, so a well-supported product will only help future sales.
Once you have some fantastic stock files and the prep work to support them, there are many stock sites out there on which to sell. Some of the biggest contenders include:
iStockPhoto – www.istockphoto.com
The grand-daddy of all stock sites, iStockphoto has expanded to include photos, vectors, and video. It has the largest collection and exposure of any of the marketplaces, but author rates vary.
Envato Marketplaces – www.envato.com
One network with multiple marketplaces, Envato's stock marketplaces cover everything from flash files to web templates to graphic design. These marketplaces benefit from a very strong author community, and include:
ActiveDen – Flash, Flex, and Unity3D files and templates. www.activeden.net
ThemeForest – Web templates, including Joomla, Wordpress, HTML/CSS and more. www.themeforest.net
AudioJungle – Audio and music files of all kinds. www.audiojungle.net
VideoHive – Motion graphics, stock footage and project files. www.videohive.net
GraphicRiver – Graphic design templates and tools, including Photoshop add-ons, fonts, and print templates. www.graphicriver.net
3DOcean – 3D resources and project files. www.3docean.net
CodeCanyon – Code and script files of all kinds, including JavaScript, PHP, .NET, and various plug-ins. www.codecanyon.net
TutsMarketplace – downloadable guides, screencasts, tutorials, and eBooks. marketplace.tutsplus.com
[Disclaimer: Envato is also the parent company of FreelanceSwitch and Rockable Press.]
RevoStock – revostock.com
One of the larger stock marketplaces for stock video, motion templates, and project files.
TurboSquid – turbosquid.com
In addition to selling models and other 3D resources, TurboSquid also offers a custom service for made-to-order requests from buyers.
Dreamstime – www.dreamstime.com
Dreamstime is a major stock photography marketplace with seller pay scales that are modeled on a per-file basis.
And many more! There are dozens of options for selling stock online that we didn't list here, especially for photography and vector files.
Direct Sale Products
Rather than sell a product through a third party marketplace, some freelancers will opt to sell their work directly. You benefit from a larger amount of the sales, but you'll also be contributing more time to development and support. There are a few products that can be better to sell yourself:
eBooks and written guides. Capitalize on the experience and knowledge you have by selling it to others. You can frequently offer print copies of books through services like CreateSpace.com,
Lulu.com or other online publishers.
Educational videos or screencasts. If you have a technical skill that can be taught via a simple webcast, frequently users are willing to pay for it. This is especially true if it solves a common problem or walks users through a production-oriented task.
Webinars or workshops. This might require a lot more interaction and planning than other passive income options, but if you have a credible reputation as an expert and have valuable information to share, buyers are often willing to pay to learn from the experts.
Templates and other web tools. There are plenty of stock marketplaces where you can sell templates, but if you have a product that is unique and more complex than the average stock item, you can profit from selling it directly.