A new year and lots of new changes in the microstock industry.

Ellen Boughn Launched a New Blog

Industry guru and consultant Ellen Boughn launched a new blog on her website at the start of the month. Most microstockers are familiar with Ellen through her regular blog posts on Dreamstime. The site also includes details of her up-coming book: Microstock Money Shots.

PantherMedia New Website

Late in the month, PantherMedia announced significant changes to the customer-facing portion of their website including design, navigation and, most importantly, search. They also hinted that long-awaited changes to the contributor-facing portion of their website might be coming within a week!

Changes at Veer

Veer announced that they’re moving all Rights Managed content back to the Corbis website and will be integrating their microstock search results with traditional Royalty Free content. The ‘Veer Marketplace’ brand will no longer exist for customers, but will become the brand of the contributor interface only.

iStockphoto added to TinEye

Action is heating up in the image index space as Idee Inc announced the inclusion of the iStockphoto and Photoshelter portfolios in their TinEye image search engine.

Spiderpic Launched

Generating a high level of discussion, the makers of Ginipic launched their latest tool this month: Spiderpic, a microstock price comparison tool. Since launching they’ve added Alamy price comparison, creating some controversy over the massive difference in license terms between Alamy and standard microstock licenses.

Fotolia Reduces Infinite Collection Commission

Production companies contributing to the Fotolia Infinite Collection had their commission rates cut from 50% to 40% this month, though individual contributors remain at the 50% rate.

123RF Enters Editorial

Joining many other microstock agencies, 123RF announced they will soon be selling editorial images alongside their existing commercial portfolio. Submissions are open now and sales will commence shortly.

Pixmac Makes iSyndica their Exclusive Upload Facility

In an original and unexpected move, fast-growing microstock agency Pixmac announced they’ll be decommissioning their upload facility and using iSyndica as the sole upload mechanism.

More Logo Action with stocklogos.com

WebMediaBrands, previous owner of Jupiterimages/StockXpert is getting back into the user generated content market with the launch of their own logo store at stocklogos.com

New Year Updates

January brought out some agency reviews, looking back and looking ahead:

• Vivozoom launched a new blog (tagline: “blog posts you can trust”) with a review of sales progress over their year of launch.
• Cutcaster also provided a information-rich summary of the year 2009.
• YAYmicro provides sales statistics, encouraging contributors to be patient with steadily increasing sales growth

If you haven’t seen them yet, microstock comparison websites do a simple but useful task. They help buyers search multiple microstock agencies at once. Some do this by showing search results from multiple agencies on a single page. Others show a single group of search results but show which photos are available at which agencies and at what prices.

Leading buyers to the cheapest source doesn’t sound like a positive thing for microstockers. But as microstockers and microstock agencies we are hardly in a position to protest a new idea forcing down the prices in our market.  Let’s take a closer look at some of these sites and then consider what might be their net impact.

SpiderPic

SpiderPic impresses me most. It comes from the makers of Ginipic who partnered with Picitup for images recognition technology. It’s just entering private beta now and they’ve offered 200 beta accounts to Microstock Diaries readers via this link.

Like most microstock comparison sites, it shows search results from a customizable list of agencies on a single page. What sets it apart is the image detail page which lists all agencies that have the image and their price ranges. Hovering over the thumbnail for each agency shows the specific prices and sizes available. Buyers can then click through to the agency of their choice. Check out some of the big price differences on the examples page.

SpiderPic also comes with a browser plugin for FireFox and Internet Explorer (Chrome coming soon) which lets buyers compare prices of any photo they find online with just a right-click. Of course the photo must be available at one or more of the agencies SpiderPic support, but it also works on microstock agency websites themselves. Don’t like the price of the large size at agency X? Just right-click and you can see where else that photo is available and at what prices.

StockBlend

StockBlend is another very new site. It’s from Anders Peter Amsnæs, creator of Arctic Stock Images. Its unique point is that it also searches video and shows illustrations separately from photos.

The interface is gracefully simple with a useful horizontal scroll bar for each search result, avoiding the need to page through results of all agencies together.

StockBlend includes options to search Flickr, Flickr Creative Commons images, and Google Image Search alongside the results of microstock agencies.

Cyclo.ps

Cyclo.ps differs from the others by placing search results on separate tabs. This makes it more difficult to compare but there’s more space to display images. The search is performed when a user switches from one tab to another, speeding up the initial results but slowing down the switching between result pages.

Like StockBlend, Cyclo.ps support Flickr searches, but adds traditional stock photo outlet photos.com (which at the time of writing is broken).

ImageTrail

ImageTrail is the oldest of these sites. The primary difference is there is only one search result. When a buyer clicks one of the images it shows which agencies have that image, which is sometimes just one agency. This focuses the buyer on image choice rather than cheapest price.

It doesn’t allow the buyer to choose which agencies are included and only searches Fotolia, Dreamstime and 123rf. It also only shows photos that have been ‘indexed’ in advance, so it doesn’t catch the most recent photos and the quantity is limited. The site is also quite neglected with more page links broken than functioning.

How they Work

Monetization is via the agencies affiliate programs. As a buyer-focused application, they can be much more lucrative than microstock contributor blogs! However, judging by the lack of maintenance at the two older comparison sites ImageTrail and Cyclo.ps, it’s not easy money.

The data is collected from code that ’scrapes’ the content from the website in most cases.  Some agencies allow these applications to work via their APIs – a cleaner and more reliable method. However, when not all agencies have an API or don’t permit it’s use for this type of application, it can be easier for the developers to just scrape the data from all websites in the same way.

What the Agencies Think

The larger and more successful agencies are usually the most expensive, so naturally they’re not happy to have their prices compared against other agencies. Their rate of customer acquisition is often high enough to make the traffic from these small websites unappealing. It’s not uncommon for agencies to block access for websites like this, though it’s not always motivated by not wanting to be compared. Sometimes these websites can have an excessive strain on server resources due to the nature of scraping.

On the other end of the scale, most newer and smaller agencies are happy to be included for the exposure and potential supply of new customers. Most comparison websites are happy to hear from agencies wanting to be included, even though the potential affiliate earnings are lower.

Do Buyers Really Shop Around?

There’s a lot of evidence to suggest weak price resistance in the microstock market.  However, there’s no doubt some buyers will consider price the dominant factor in purchase decisions. Even if they’re a minority, the combined traffic (via Alexa) for the above four websites suggests there’s enough to make a small difference to the market, though probably not a noticeable difference to the top agencies.

What is the Impact on Microstockers

There’s a chance these sites could bring new customers into the market and help focus on credit based sales (not subscriptions), but that’s about the only positives for us microstockers. These tools are built for photo buyers, not contributors.

Just as microstock stripped the traditional stock photo industry of lucrative inefficiencies in supply and distribution, new technologies will continue to make photo buyers better informed about availability and pricing. The recent PicScout ImageExchange browser add-on does the same thing, allowing buyers to see which photos on more expensive agencies are also available at Dreamstime. We’re getting closer and closer to a perfect market.

I always intended microstock agency affiliate programs to be a primary revenue generating source for this blog. Almost three years since starting, I’m neither delighted nor unhappy with the results, but I’ve got enough data and experience to share some conclusions. Here’s why I want to share:

1. Help new microstock agencies design an affiliate program that’s more likely to achieve their objectives
2. Help clear some of the spin that some agencies put out about their affiliate programs
3. Push existing agencies toward improving their affiliate programs by highlighting which ones aren’t worthwhile

The big caveat here is that my affiliate income comes entirely from this blog which is aimed at microstock contributors, not buyers.  Take this into account if you’re using them with an audience of photo buyers because your experience will likely be completely different.

For details on how these programs work and what they pay, see my previous comparison of microstock affiliate programs.

My Affiliate Earnings

My own affiliate income is low. I personally know five people who earn more than me with the same programs and there’s undoubtedly many more. Of the five that I know, each has a website, or multiple websites, with higher traffic rates than myself and many focus on buyers. None just use a single blog like me. They’re either forums, highly optimized information pages or systems which plug into other websites.

Below is my all-time chart of microstock affiliate revenue, April 2007 when I started this blog until end of December 2009.

See, quite low.

Some context for this chart:

• In 2009 there were over 18,000 clicks on my affiliate links (combined, not each)
• Revenue peaked in November 2009 at $772.60
• Total earnings since April 2007 is just under $13,000
• From what I can tell over 90% of this income comes from contributors, not buyers
• The three random spikes form Crestock and the large one from BigStockPhoto were buyer referrals
• If an agency doesn’t appear on the chart it’s because I’ve made less than $10 from their program (I use them all)

Affiliate Program Effectiveness

Excluding iStockphoto as an exceptional case, is it that the top microstock agencies have the best affiliate programs or that the best affiliate programs have driven those agencies to the top? Of course it’s not that simple, but can new and up-and-coming agencies afford to dismiss the effectiveness of an attractive affiliate program?

And what could be a simpler method of attracting buyers and contributors? The affiliate commission is the entire marketing cost for each buyer or contributor. Unlike magazine ads, agencies know the exactly effectiveness and there’s zero cost if it doesn’t work.

Some Programs are Better Than They Need To Be

This is the part where I shoot myself in the foot.  Successful microstock agencies attract contributors because of their reputation for selling lots of photos. They don’t need affiliate programs which pay for referred contributors.  iStockphoto is the perfect example of this. Their affiliate program only pays for referred buyers. Unless I’m over-simplifying the situation (and I hope I am), Shutterstock don’t need the generous contributor affiliate program that they have.

New agencies don’t have this luxury.

And everyone needs affiliate programs to attract buyers. Everyone!

Program Weaknesses

Limited Time – most agencies pay revenue for affiliates for a limited amount of time. None of the programs with a short period (many are just six months) have been worthwhile for me. Most new contributors take at least six months to get a reasonable portfolio online and start selling. The length of time affiliates stay active has a much bigger impact on the performance of the program than the commission rate. I initially wrote a glowing review of Crestock’s referral program when it launched, but the six-month limit cripples its effectiveness for me. You can see in my chart the effect of the six-month limit of 123rf’s program too.

Separate Referral Links – the key weakness – and the most cunning strategy – of Shutterstock’s affiliate program is that there are separate addresses for referring contributors and buyers. If a buyer clicks your contributor affiliate link to Shutterstock and buys a subscription, you get nothing. If a contributor clicks your buyer affiliate link to Shutterstock and sells a bjillion photos, you get nothing. As quoted in a recent press release, I find Shutterstock’s program to be the most lucrative because my audience is photographers and not buyers. Shutterstock’s buyer referral program actually compares poorly to other agencies. However, requiring separate referral links is the biggest negative.

Inflexible Links – being able to link to any part of a microstock agency and include the affiliate code is a big advantage. Some agencies have a set referral link or make it difficult to know how to include the referral code. I frequently link to individual photo pages, contributor portfolios, forum threads, information pages and even lightboxes. When I do, I link to the agencies that make it easy. iStockphoto make this easiest by simply appending the referral code to the end of any URL. However, Dreamstime also make it easy for most pages and have a better program, so I usually choose them.

Broken – this is the worst weakness. A few times in the past I’ve cleared the agency cookies from my browser and tested my referral links to make sure they’re working. One agency was never reliable until a “bug” was corrected at the same time as a major policy change. After that it started working reliably and the rate of new affiliate registrations recorded on my account instantly tripled. StockXpert’s referral program has also been completely broken for over a year now with no intention of bringing it back. It’ll be difficult to win back trust of affiliates if they ever try.

Single Code Only – no microstock agencies only offer a single affiliate code so there’s no way for affiliates to see which of their campaigns or websites is generating revenue without registering multiple accounts.

The Holy Grail of Affiliate Programs

The ultimate strength of a microstock agencies affiliate program is not in the payment schedule. It’s in the technology. Take a look at all the partnership opportunities that iStockphoto, Dreamstime and Fotolia have thanks to their APIs (Application Programming Interface – a way to connect websites). From my observations, Fotolia get many more partnerships and services plugging into their website to sell photos thanks to the open information about their API, flexible API functionality, their readiness to partner, and a solid (ongoing) affiliate payment schedule.

While not needing an API but still an example of technology, most microstock agencies have a simple search form that can be embedded on any website by pasting a few lines of code. This is how easy it is:

That’s just five lines of code, copied and pasted in 5 seconds. Now anyone can search via this page and see results on Dreamstime, complete with my affiliate code attached. Steve Gibson from Microstock Insider pasted one of these forms on a relatively high traffic free photos website and almost instantly started earning an extra $1,000 each month in affiliate revenue. Most established microstock agencies have these search forms but it’s too often overlooked by newer agencies.

Today, any stock photo agency without an API is missing out on a growing chunk of the photo buyer market.

Final Point

If you’re thinking of starting a microstock blog to earn microstock affiliate income, consider focusing on buyers, not contributors. I’ve been very fortunate with the many great (and some lucrative) opportunities as a result of this blog, so it’s been well worthwhile for me. However, if you look at the quantity of time invested in my blog posts (I’m slow but average over 5 hours per post) compared to the affiliate revenue I’ve generated, it’s not smart business. Extra benefits aside, I would be generating more revenue if I’d invested my time creating photos for microstock. Or blogged for photos buyers instead.

In contrast to last month, December was full of action in the microstock market.

iStockphoto New Pricing and Exclusivity Changes

iStockphoto announced price rises for all exclusive content, an intermediate collection (called Exclusive-Plus, for now) where exclusive contributors can sell up to 20% of their portfolio at even higher prices, and changes to the quantity of sales required to reach higher canister levels. Prices for larger sizes of the main collection will be slightly reduced. All the details are in the iStockphoto discussion thread.

As usual, hot debate has ensued and the response is mixed. Many exclusive contributors are concerned sales volume will drop now that their prices are so much higher than non-exclusive content. Buyers will not be able to exclude higher priced content from the search results.

Many non-exclusive iStockphoto contributors see exclusivity as more appealing than before the changes, which is one of the explicit intentions of these announcements. Given their selling power and the search result boost given to exclusive files, iStockphoto exclusivity is indeed now a more appealing option.

Dreamstime New Pricing

Dreamstime announced new credit prices, raising the price and thus the commission for contributors. They’re also changing the quantity of downloads required for each file to reach the next pricing level, effectively raising prices and commissions even further. Contributor response has been understandably positive.

Fotolia New Pricing

Fotolia, persisting with their don’t-announce-negative-news strategy, quietly cut contributor commission rates for all but contributors on the highest level (of which there is only one). Prices for sizes above extra small will rise by 1 or 2 credits, making the net revenue per sale higher, despite the commission cuts, for sales of most sizes for most contributors. Fotolia still pays higher commission rates than many other top microstock agencies, but contributor response to the persistent cuts is consistently negative despite the agencies rapidly growing selling power.

Veer Guarantee

Following the trend set by Vivozoom and continued by iStockphoto and Shutterstock, Veer have this month added a guarantee to their Veer Marketplace microstock collection.

StockXpert Now 100% Getty Owned

Getty Images purchased the remaining 10% of Haap Media, the company that owns microstock agency StockXpert. They acquired 90% as part of the Jupterimages acquisition late last year. Previous owner and StockXpert creator, Peter Hamza, is melancholic about the end of the StockXpert era but already working on his next project.

Zymmetrical Closes

Announced on 30th, Zymmetrical, the “Fair Trade” microstock agency is closed for business. Contributors were all sent their outstanding balance as their final payout. CEO, Keith Tuomi, cited the hard situation of the stock industry and the economy in general as reasons for the venture’s failure.

Ok, maybe not quite ten years yet, but close enough. As 2009 comes to an end, rather than look back on just one year, let’s have a look at some of the major developments that have shaped the microstock industry over the past decade.

2000 – Photo Sharing
As the famous story goes, bitter from rejection of traditional stock photo agencies, Bruce Livingstone puts thousands of his own photos online for free. Registering a domain name with the then-cool now-cliche leading ‘i’, iStockphoto is born. It quickly becomes popular with designers who contribute their own photos, turning it into a thriving community. 2001 – Microstock is Born As the famous story continues, a $10,000 hosting bill forces Bruce to change strategy. He consults the community and the decision is reached to attach a small fee for downloading files. The microstock business model is born. 2002 – 2003 – Business as Usual iStockphoto enjoys having the market to itself.
2004 – Dreamstime, Shutterstock and Andres
In March, Romanian designer, Serban Enache, converts his stock photo sharing utility (online since Feb 2001), Dreamstime, to the microstock business model and quickly joins the ranks of top microstock agencies. Late in the year in a somewhat familiar story, New York computer programmer Jon Oringer converts his website where he sells 30,000 of his own photos by subscription (online since Jan 2004) to the microstock model. Shutterstock is born and quickly dominates the microstock subscription business. London-based Colombian-born graphic designer Andres Rodriguez discovers microstock and registers as a contributor.
2005 – Fotolia and Yuri
On the back of several successful ventures, entrepreneur Oleg Tscheltzoff launches new microstock agency Fotolia in French. The new agency overcomes the microstock catch-22 by paying contributors 5 cents for every image accepted. They grow fast and quickly dominate the European microstock market. Danish psychology student and graduate photographer Yuri Arcurs discovers microstock and registers as a contributor.
2006 – Jupiterimages and Subscriptions
Jupiterimages enters microstock by purchasing controlling interest of StockXpert parent HAAP Media Ltd. Shutterstock narrowly beats iStockphoto as the first agency to offer microstock video. StockXpert and Fotolia follow in 2008. Chasing the subscription market, Dreamstime is the first to introduce subscriptions in addition to credit-based sales. StockXpert follow in 2007, Fotolia in 2008 and iStockphoto in 2009. Microstock agencies issue press releases about their portfolios passing the 1 million milestone.
2007 – Corbis and Editorial Microstock
Corbis launches SnapVillage, a “fresh” approach to microstock which fails to catch on and is supported for just two years. Shutterstock are first to add editorial licenses followed by Dreamstime in 2008 and BigStockPhoto in 2009.
2008 – Guarantees and Services
Vivozoom launched as the first agency with guaranteed microstock images. StockXpert parent Jupiterimages is sold to iStockphoto parent Getty Images for $96 million. LookStat arrives as the first serious third-party service provider in the microstock market.
2009 – Consolidation
Corbis folds SnapVillage content into their new acquisition creating Veer Marketplace. iStockphoto, Shutterstock and Veer Marketplace follow Vivozoom’s lead introducing their own image guarantees. iSyndica launches their microstock distribution service, later adding basic analytics and support for illustrations and video. Shutterstock buys BigStockPhoto.
Agency portfolio growth rises to 250,000 – 300,000 per month.
2010 – ???
What are your predictions for 2010?

Screenshots courtesy web.archive.org