Comments on: Microstock Earnings Report April 2009

By: Maher

Maher — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:46:47 +0000

Hi Lee and Many thanks for your comment. Can you recommend a good agency or web developers that may help in building such an internal custom built CMS.

Please let me know your thoughts,

regards,

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:39:28 +0000

Hi Maher, there’s no off-the-shelf CMS for a microstock agency. There are some programs which can be adapted to perform a similar set of functions, but none are built specifically to be a comprehensive microstock agency.

iStockphoto and the other successful microstock agencies do not use CMSs. They’re all entirely custom built.

-Lee

By: Maher

Maher — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:55:37 +0000

where do I need to go to learn about how to start a microstock online business… also can you recommend a good Web CMS used by istockphoto and others…

Please let me know

thank you..

Maher

By: Sourabh

Sourabh — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:52:29 +0000

Ahhh…..very interesting…..makes good sense. Thanks!

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:48:44 +0000

It’s an intentional function of search algorithms. It servers (at least) two functions:

1. It stops contributors gaming the system with continuously refreshing the view page of their own images. If increased view counts meant better search placement, contributors could do this. But as the algorithms look at the view-to-download ratio, it actually works against them.

2. It improves the quality of images at the front of the search results. Some images might look great at thumbnail size but have problems visible at preview which stop buyers downloading it. The algorithm’s view-to-download ratio helps move these images down in the search results.

By: Sourabh

Sourabh — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:29:06 +0000

Mmm……ok. Why would increasing the view count without simultaneously increasing the download count work to reduce your earnings though?

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:21:33 +0000

Actually, it would be the opposite. By increasing the view count without simultaneously increasing the download count, it would work to reduce my earnings rather than increase them. This blog is for photographers rather than buyers, so any traffic that goes through to my portfolios is unlikely to result in increased sales.

Additionally, the site isn’t designed to drive traffic to my portfolios. I occasionally link to my photos in the content of a post when discussing a point, and I have links on my About page, but that’s all.

-Lee

By: Sourabh

Sourabh — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:41:41 +0000

Mmmm……..is it possible that this blog has prevented your revenues from decreasing due to increased views of your pictures/portfolio? Could the number of views of a picture potentially factor into search engine algorithms? It would be interesting if it did…..

By: Ann Parry

Ann Parry — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:37:41 +0000

Congrats on reaching $10,000 at Shutterstock, Lee – so well-deserved!

Certainly seems most stock photo photographers – who continue to be actively involved in photography as a business – migrate to, or also do, other photog work, for individuals and families, commercial clients, selling prints and canvases on-line, at Art Fairs, galleries…

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:29:48 +0000

Fabrice, take some time to better understand this well-covered debate. Of course microstock is eating into the opportunity for traditional stock photographers. Digital photography and Internet distribution broke the barriers to entry and microstock is the logical model to leverage these changes. This puts the opportunity to create and sell stock photos in reach of many more people, so naturally the price will come down. There’s a relatively small number of people upset about this, and that’s the few photographers who had all the revenue the past but now have to compete with every interested and capable photographer across the globe. Your monopoly is broken and you have to adapt. Complaining won’t help.

-Lee