Another source of residual income is affiliate marketing which is a model of advertising where publishers (people with websites / blogs ) include links to an advertisers website in return for some kind of financial reward ( referral income).
Most reputable stock photography agencies feature a referral incentive program to either attract new photographers or new image buyers. Affiliate marketing is a powerful tool in stock photography because of the number of photographers each agency has. Each agency has in effect an army of marketers creating links and promoting them.
Top 3 - Stock Photography Agencies
Buyer and Photographer referrals can be quite a generous income source if you focus your attention on the most lucrative stock photo agencies, unfortunately not all agencies will pay you for photographer / buyer referrals.1. Shutterstock
20% on sales of new subscriptions, $0.03 per image download from your referred photographers forever.
Shutterstock
2. Dreamstime
10% of buyers purchases and 10% purchases from referred photographers' uploads for three years.
Dreamstime
3.iStockphoto
20% of first purchase for recruiting a new buyer who purchases a minimum package in 30 days.
iStockphoto