500px is one of the most popular photo-sharing websites, with more than 10.000.000 photographers. This is a chapter from my Photographer’s Guide to Social Media & Marketing.
This is how I always hit 90+ pulse score & get followers
I’m Frederik Trovatten on 500px and writing this I have 1784 followers. I started my 500px account about 6 months ago and all of my photos now get 90+ pulse score.
It’s not anything special, but it’s a lot better than the average.
In the post, I will share my tips and tricks on how I got there.
This photos you see below are one of the best in terms of pulse-score. It has a score of 99.4 out of 100.
Understanding “Pulse” on 500px
The Pulse-score ranges from 1 to 100 points and it measures the popularity of each photo based on an algorithm made by 500px.
- Pulse is based on the number of views and likes your photo gets.
- 500px made this pulse-algorithm to feature the best photo and photographer category every day.
- When you upload a new photo to 500px, your photo will have the status of “fresh”, as long as you put at least 3 tags, a title and a category.
- When your 500px photo reaches a pulse over 70, it’s promoted to the upcoming page.
- With a pulse over 80, your photos are added to the popular pages.
- All photos’ Pulse drops after 24 hours, and again after a week.
- Your photo’s highest achieved Pulse is recorded and displayed on your photo-page.
Reaching a pulse of 100 on 500px
It’s incredibly rare to reach a pulse of a 100 and it hasn’t happened for me yet, but I’ve been very close in the high 90s.
First, you need an excellent photo. Like an incredible photo.
Secondly, you need a lot of followers who press “like”
Thirdly, you need to know how to tag your photos correctly.
When you tag your photos remember to add tags related to:
- What’s in the photo, obviously
- What camera you shoot with (tag your camera’s brand)
- What kind of photography-genre it is.
- Is it a black and white photo? Use black and white tags.
- Where is the photo shot? Add the location as a tag too.
Getting followers on 500px
As with Flickr, Ello, Instagram and 500px work the same.
- Post high-quality photos.
- Follow people who like similar photos as your take.
Selling your photos on 500px
I’m not really in the game of selling my photos since I do street photography and not stock photography, which is the photos that work commercially.
But 500px do have a partnership with Getty Images, so if you want to make money on your photography, 500px might not be a bad place to share your photos.
That said, it’s incredibly hard to make a living, selling photos online, which you already know.
Facts about 500 pixels
500px bought by Visual China Group 5ebruary 26, 2018, which caused a bit of chaos among the photography community. It resulted in their marketplace was shut down and a partnership with Getty Images.
500px also removed all publicly-licensed images (such as Creative Commons).