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Author Topic: CALLING! all members of Warmpicture!!  (Read 17236 times)

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« Reply #25 on: August 12, 2012, 02:10 »
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I think warmpictures is a great idea. BUT having had a look at the images it clearly lacks the diversity of the existing sites. Too many gaps.Maybe you need not to be so exclusive? When you are missing a good coverage of niche categories as well as may stream buyers can't stay there. They have to go back to other sites so why go there and complicate their working life if they still need to go back to SS etc? Its like IS without independents.

I looked up "koala" - none , "Cambodia" - none , "Sydney " -none (three categories i had recently uploaded). Have lectured in marketing the analogy I used for students was it is like carrying one tyre in stock. Inevitable customers need two or four. What do they do? Buy the one from you and one or three elsewhere? No they get them all somewhere else. I don't shoot main stream business people shots. They sell more than other shots but the market is very full. For many of us uploading popular categories is becoming pointless because getting your files seen is too hard. Niche areas need coverage by wp. You can get the main picture types/portfolios off any site.

I am not a member of wp so ignore me if you like. Understand however that marketing is not just "promotion". You need to consider your whole marketing mix and tailor you promotion to the stage of the life cycle you are currently at.


« Reply #26 on: August 12, 2012, 02:16 »
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ps. Yuri is a brand himself and is different in his approach. Having a site for him gives options and leverage. He is organised administratively. For those addicted to Yuri type shots it is perfect for them. They know what they are getting top quality stock people shots. I am sure his marketing strategy will evolve to suit the outcomes (maybe to include other artists in lean categories?).

Lagereek

« Reply #27 on: August 12, 2012, 02:20 »
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I think warmpictures is a great idea. BUT having had a look at the images it clearly lacks the diversity of the existing sites. Too many gaps.Maybe you need not to be so exclusive? When you are missing a good coverage of niche categories as well as may stream buyers can't stay there. They have to go back to other sites so why go there and complicate their working life if they still need to go back to SS etc? Its like IS without independents.

I looked up "koala" - none , "Cambodia" - none , "Sydney " -none (three categories i had recently uploaded). Have lectured in marketing the analogy I used for students was it is like carrying one tyre in stock. Inevitable customers need two or four. What do they do? Buy the one from you and one or three elsewhere? No they get them all somewhere else. I don't shoot main stream business people shots. They sell more than other shots but the market is very full. For many of us uploading popular categories is becoming pointless because getting your files seen is too hard. Niche areas need coverage by wp. You can get the main picture types/portfolios off any site.

I am not a member of wp so ignore me if you like. Understand however that marketing is not just "promotion". You need to consider your whole marketing mix and tailor you promotion to the stage of the life cycle you are currently at.

Well I think you do have some valid points here! OTOH, whats the point really in aiming to become a main-stream supplier of stock, theres enough of that I think. Perhaps as you say, WP, could market itself as the agency, housing special material, etc, nieched material, hard to find elsewhere, or something like that.
Ofcourse, any agency do need their bread and butter categories. I think it would be pretty tough trying to survive on special material alone.
I can see your point though.
best.

« Reply #28 on: August 12, 2012, 02:28 »
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They can get mainstream anywhere. TS? lol. Unless it is a brand preference eg Yuri. They may as well stay where they are. Good luck with the current strategy but mainstream with low brand awareness and limited product range?  mmm better if you sought niche buyers because you don't have niche product. It is not the public you need to inform but niche buyers and look to what is in it for them, not you.

« Reply #29 on: August 12, 2012, 08:17 »
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They can get mainstream anywhere. TS? lol. Unless it is a brand preference eg Yuri. They may as well stay where they are. Good luck with the current strategy but mainstream with low brand awareness and limited product range?  mmm better if you sought niche buyers because you don't have niche product. It is not the public you need to inform but niche buyers and look to what is in it for them, not you.

@Lagereek: no blood, so no harm, no foul ;)...onward.

@Mark: this was the point I was making about content being so specific that you'd only have a limited audience.  So, for WP to be viable, maybe they should focus on becoming GREAT in the areas where traditional MS is failing:

1. Keywording accuracy
2. Search accuracy and fairness will attract good photographers
3. Reward good selling ports with higher upload limits and/or commissions.  I may get flamed here but my thoughts are along the lines of a carrot and a stick.  If contributors are uploading content that sells, wouldn't you want to find ways to encourage them to upload more, excite and energize them?  And those whose ports don't do well remain more controlled by upload limits and commissions. You can base this on things like sales as a percentage of your port size so that you don't discriminate based on portfolio size.  I think this encourages people to be more selective on what they upload because it truly does affect their income.
4. Limit similars.  I mean this in the way that some peeps submit slightly different angles of the same exact shot 7-10 times.
5. System audits.  I know this sounds impossible (and maybe it is) but conducting collection audits for keywords, similars and search (those things that are MS killers) would add a level of discipline that contributors are aware of and fearful of if they try to buck the system.
6. Exclusivity.  If this is an option make it worthwhile for the exclusive contributor.  They are throwing all of their eggs into one basket.  How do you do this? I don't know without giving them better placement in the search, which affects #2.

Just a few thoughts.

« Reply #30 on: August 12, 2012, 09:17 »
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Boy you take a long afternoon nap, and look what you miss.  :D

Specifically what Warmpicture needs right now is a better link profile. We have made some important changes to the website recently, and those have directly resulted in higher sales. However we need to build out our links to achieve the traffic we need to succeed. As it is, we are right on the edge of profitability, which I am very proud of. The best way to do this is to write interesting blog articles on topics which apply to our industry. (photography tips, views on the stock industry, graphic design, etc).

Lisa and Jami are each contributing articles. I write a few per week. It's important to get more people involved, and also to get our "street team" actively participating on graphic designer forums and getting our name out there (without spamming of course). I have long said that I believe fellow artists would identify with our predicament, and think very hard about switching out of the traditional agencies if they knew they could get a good price, while directly supporting other artists.

This probably belongs on a private message board, or at least in the selling stock direct forum.

I've tried writing articles and I don't enjoy it.  Even found keeping a blog going too tedious.  Why not pay people that enjoy writing and are good at it a small commission whenever someone that signs up through their links buys something?  There wont be any upfront costs, because they will only make money from new buyers that spend money.  There's lots of bloggers using affiliate schemes, wont they be ideal to drive traffic to WP?

Did a search and found this site.  Not what I was thinking of and I only found one positive comment in a forum about it but it might be worth a look http://www.referralcandy.com

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #31 on: August 12, 2012, 09:26 »
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Sorry! but I thought I said in my OP, "members of warmpicture",  if not a member?  then why on earth are you posting in this thread? ::)
Because as bhr said, one moment you're saying you're going exclusive with iStock the next minute you start a thread about Warmpicture, so naturally the rest of us want to see what you're raving about now.

Is there a Mrs Lagereek (or other form of significant other)? S/HE! must go, nuts! with your constant, vacillations.

Lagereek

« Reply #32 on: August 12, 2012, 09:36 »
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Sorry! but I thought I said in my OP, "members of warmpicture",  if not a member?  then why on earth are you posting in this thread? ::)
Because as bhr said, one moment you're saying you're going exclusive with iStock the next minute you start a thread about Warmpicture, so naturally the rest of us want to see what you're raving about now.

Is there a Mrs Lagereek (or other form of significant other)? S/HE! must go, nuts! with your constant, vacillations.

Oh yes indeed theres a Mrs Lagereek around and SHE IS WORSE! then I am. totally unpredictable in every way.  ;D ;D almost as you are ;D

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #33 on: August 12, 2012, 09:44 »
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Sorry! but I thought I said in my OP, "members of warmpicture",  if not a member?  then why on earth are you posting in this thread? ::)
Because as bhr said, one moment you're saying you're going exclusive with iStock the next minute you start a thread about Warmpicture, so naturally the rest of us want to see what you're raving about now.

Is there a Mrs Lagereek (or other form of significant other)? S/HE! must go, nuts! with your constant, vacillations.

Oh yes indeed theres a Mrs Lagereek around and SHE IS WORSE! then I am. totally unpredictable in every way.  ;D ;D almost as you are ;D

Nah, I am mind-numbingly, boringly predictible.
I keep telling myself to do something unexpected, but it never seems to happen.

« Reply #34 on: August 12, 2012, 09:56 »
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Nah, I am mind-numbingly, boringly predictible.
I keep telling myself to do something unexpected, but it never seems to happen.

LOL. Can you plan to do something unexpected?  ;D

« Reply #35 on: August 12, 2012, 10:23 »
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Nah, I am mind-numbingly, boringly predictible.
I keep telling myself to do something unexpected, but it never seems to happen.

LOL. Can you plan to do something unexpected?  ;D

 :D

I'm not a blogger/writer or twitterer or much of a FBer either, but I can help out with graphics (and have in the past).

Lagereek

« Reply #36 on: August 12, 2012, 11:14 »
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Nah, I am mind-numbingly, boringly predictible.
I keep telling myself to do something unexpected, but it never seems to happen.

LOL. Can you plan to do something unexpected?  ;D

 :D

I'm not a blogger/writer or twitterer or much of a FBer either, but I can help out with graphics (and have in the past).

No and neither am I but Im pretty good in writing actually and ofcourse ( insulting people) but I suppose thats not a must, although I could easily bully buyers into buying. :D could probably palm off a refridgerator as a hot stove.
Im very good with PR and advertising, etc.


« Reply #38 on: August 12, 2012, 13:59 »
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I think you might be better off contacting WP contributors via email. Much more personal and looks a lot less desperate - maybe talk to WP buyers of the past to find out where the problems are?

I don't think Christian was trying to make it sound desperate (it's just his writing style), I think that's very far from the truth. I think WP is gaining momentum every day. I think he just meant that we could push it even farther, faster, if we all contributed. A good portion of us do already, and yes, we are already in contact through another means.

Lagereek

« Reply #39 on: August 12, 2012, 14:08 »
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I think you might be better off contacting WP contributors via email. Much more personal and looks a lot less desperate - maybe talk to WP buyers of the past to find out where the problems are?

I don't think Christian was trying to make it sound desperate (it's just his writing style), I think that's very far from the truth. I think WP is gaining momentum every day. I think he just meant that we could push it even farther, faster, if we all contributed. A good portion of us do already, and yes, we are already in contact through another means.

Halfhag is just trying to be funny, silver exclusive at IS, smallfry. Exactly theres no panic and theres nothing wrong, nothing going on. So we are all trying to speed things up and participate a bit.

lisafx

« Reply #40 on: August 12, 2012, 14:50 »
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Really a wealth of good info in this thread.  I am impressed with the idea of targeting niche buyers.  Perhaps once the desirable niches are identified, it would be worth approaching contributors who have good material in those areas and asking them to join up. 

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #41 on: August 12, 2012, 14:54 »
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I have no personal stake in this site, but at the beginning you have the ability to have the best search engine around. But what do I find? Puppies in the 'wildlife' category.
'Should do better'.


« Reply #42 on: August 12, 2012, 15:16 »
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I think you might be better off contacting WP contributors via email. Much more personal and looks a lot less desperate - maybe talk to WP buyers of the past to find out where the problems are?

I don't think Christian was trying to make it sound desperate (it's just his writing style), I think that's very far from the truth. I think WP is gaining momentum every day. I think he just meant that we could push it even farther, faster, if we all contributed. A good portion of us do already, and yes, we are already in contact through another means.

Halfhag is just trying to be funny, silver exclusive at IS, smallfry. Exactly theres no panic and theres nothing wrong, nothing going on. So we are all trying to speed things up and participate a bit.

I'm not trying to be funny, I was trying to help - that was quite insulting, especially as I was a diamond last time I looked.

I bow to you and withdraw a beaten man.

All the best,

Smallfry. (Halfshag)

Lagereek

« Reply #43 on: August 12, 2012, 15:21 »
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I think you might be better off contacting WP contributors via email. Much more personal and looks a lot less desperate - maybe talk to WP buyers of the past to find out where the problems are?

I don't think Christian was trying to make it sound desperate (it's just his writing style), I think that's very far from the truth. I think WP is gaining momentum every day. I think he just meant that we could push it even farther, faster, if we all contributed. A good portion of us do already, and yes, we are already in contact through another means.

Halfhag is just trying to be funny, silver exclusive at IS, smallfry. Exactly theres no panic and theres nothing wrong, nothing going on. So we are all trying to speed things up and participate a bit.

I'm not trying to be funny, I was trying to help - that was quite insulting, especially as I was a diamond last time I looked.

I bow to you and withdraw a beaten man.

All the best,

Smallfry. (Halfshag)

Well actually it was meant as a joke, I know youre diamond, we are all open for suggestions, who knows one day you might be forced to join us. :)

all the best.


« Reply #45 on: August 12, 2012, 22:28 »
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I have no personal stake in this site, but at the beginning you have the ability to have the best search engine around. But what do I find? Puppies in the 'wildlife' category.
'Should do better'.

I think you are right Sue that I have to do better. But most sites have an animals/wildlife category which encompasses everything from goldfish to dogs to killer whales. Our categories are very broad, per SS. What we allow people to do is to drift to a category, then search within that category for something specific (like dogs or killer whales).

Internal search is something which would bare fruit later down the road. Most of our traffic lands directly on an image (through Google Images mainly), so when they click to our image they have essentially already found what they are looking for. I think our landing page accounts for something like 10% of our entry traffic.

« Reply #46 on: August 13, 2012, 02:29 »
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...I honestly wish WP a lot of success but not as much as Stockami - fair? :)
It's level pegging so far for me.  Total earnings on both sites is $0.00 :)  I wish both sites lots of success and hope all contributors are as patient as I am.

« Reply #47 on: August 13, 2012, 03:03 »
0
I have no personal stake in this site, but at the beginning you have the ability to have the best search engine around. But what do I find? Puppies in the 'wildlife' category.
'Should do better'.

I think you are right Sue that I have to do better. But most sites have an animals/wildlife category which encompasses everything from goldfish to dogs to killer whales. Our categories are very broad, per SS. What we allow people to do is to drift to a category, then search within that category for something specific (like dogs or killer whales).

Internal search is something which would bare fruit later down the road. Most of our traffic lands directly on an image (through Google Images mainly), so when they click to our image they have essentially already found what they are looking for. I think our landing page accounts for something like 10% of our entry traffic.

If you search "wildlife" as a keyword in the seach it returns animals that I would consider to be wildlife. i.e. not horses,puppies and goldfish.

Is warm picture an agency or a co-op ?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #48 on: August 13, 2012, 04:08 »
0
I have no personal stake in this site, but at the beginning you have the ability to have the best search engine around. But what do I find? Puppies in the 'wildlife' category.
'Should do better'.
I think you are right Sue that I have to do better. But most sites have an animals/wildlife category which encompasses everything from goldfish to dogs to killer whales.

Yours isn't animals/wildlife, it's just 'wildlife'.
The point it that 'most sites' have spammers and the ignorant who don't know what things are and just keyword them any old way. At the beginning this should be weeded out so that you get a clean search. That would be your USP.
Indeed, "internal search could bear fruit further down the road", but by that time, who's going to clean up the mess?
No matter, it's totally irrelevant to me. Just a potentially helpful suggestion, based on a real-life experience when I showed iStock to a potential image buyer, and the search results were so poor (because of spam/ignorance) that he was calling others over to have a laugh at the results.

Lagereek

« Reply #49 on: August 13, 2012, 06:27 »
0
I have no personal stake in this site, but at the beginning you have the ability to have the best search engine around. But what do I find? Puppies in the 'wildlife' category.
'Should do better'.
I think you are right Sue that I have to do better. But most sites have an animals/wildlife category which encompasses everything from goldfish to dogs to killer whales.

Yours isn't animals/wildlife, it's just 'wildlife'.
The point it that 'most sites' have spammers and the ignorant who don't know what things are and just keyword them any old way. At the beginning this should be weeded out so that you get a clean search. That would be your USP.
Indeed, "internal search could bear fruit further down the road", but by that time, who's going to clean up the mess?
No matter, it's totally irrelevant to me. Just a potentially helpful suggestion, based on a real-life experience when I showed iStock to a potential image buyer, and the search results were so poor (because of spam/ignorance) that he was calling others over to have a laugh at the results.

Come on now Sue, drop this silly crown!  and join us, we fight for a good cause here! a real, genuine Scotish lass would have gone with us ages ago. ;D ;D ;D


 

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