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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Michael Krabs on May 28, 2021, 15:45

Title: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on May 28, 2021, 15:45
Zoonar releases powerful WordPress picture search plug-in

Hamburg, 05/25/2021
Hamburg based picture agency Zoonar has released a plug-in that allows bloggers and webmasters to use the Zoonar picture search tool in WordPress. With the plug-in you can search for and license photos and illustrations in WordPress, purchased images are directly imported into the media library. The tool has direct access to the RF library of the Hamburg based picture agency and licensed images can be used for multiple projects.

WordPress repository:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/zoonar-image-search/ (https://wordpress.org/plugins/zoonar-image-search/)

Further information:

https://www.zoonar.de/landing/zoonar-wordpress-plugin (https://www.zoonar.de/landing/zoonar-wordpress-plugin)

Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on May 29, 2021, 05:34
English Landing  Page:
https://www.zoonar.com/landing/zoonar-wordpress-plugin (https://www.zoonar.com/landing/zoonar-wordpress-plugin)
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Roscoe on May 29, 2021, 09:45
So, can we finally expect sales starting to take off?  ;)
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Firn on May 30, 2021, 00:43
Sorry for hijacking this thread Michael, but what delay is there usually in sales being reported from distribution partners? I had the feeling that it always happened at the end of the month, but I found a photo of mine being credited to dpa picture alliance and as far as I know Zoonar is the only agency I submit to that has them as distribution partner, but no sale for that photo showed up for me on Zoonar.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on May 30, 2021, 04:32
Hi Firn,
no problem, but in the future it is better to ask directly to [email protected], because I only read here sporadically.

It takes about three months for you to receive such fees. The publishers have to settle the picture with the DPA first. This usually happens collectively at the end of the month, but sometimes also on a quarterly basis. Then the sale appears on our next sales report and we post it at the end of the month.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Firn on May 30, 2021, 07:08

Thanks for the info! Then I'll wait patient to see whether the sale shows up in the next 3 months.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Uncle Pete on June 01, 2021, 10:18
So, can we finally expect sales starting to take off?  ;)

(https://i.postimg.cc/mkQyVB8n/takeoff-3nu-web.jpg) Taking Off

Interesting plan, which would be nice if it actually brings downloads. Is this the next big thing for this week?  ;)
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 01, 2021, 12:34
We have nothing against that! Good things take time  ;D

Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Roscoe on June 03, 2021, 01:59
We have nothing against that! Good things take time  ;D

Sure, I understand. But I can only conclude that Zoonar is my worst performing agency.
I like Zoonar's concept and the distribution to other partners like DDP, PA and Age, but none of my content seems to sell (while it surely does on other agencies).
Age is not even reviewing submitted content. Why keep them on board?

I only have a few hundred images at Zoonar, so I'm not expecting to rain gold. But after one year no sales yet? That's weird, and I've never seen this at any other agency I submit to. Hell, even that clunky 90's looking PantherMedia is performing better than you guys, and I only have a handful of images there. And yes, I manually edit the English title and set the releases.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: kall3bu on June 03, 2021, 02:58

Sure, I understand. But I can only conclude that Zoonar is my worst performing agency.
I like Zoonar's concept and the distribution to other partners like DDP, PA and Age, but none of my content seems to sell (while it surely does on other agencies).
Age is not even reviewing submitted content. Why keep them on board?

[/quote]

Just aguess:
Because I newly know that ALL images submitted to Alamy (directly or via Zoonar/wirestock...) appear on Agefoto!
So, if you upload your images to Alamy AND Zoonar, your images will already online on Agefoto - maybe before Agefoto even view your images upload to Zoonar.
But finally still interesting, if Agefoto at all still check the images on Zoonar or not.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 03, 2021, 05:18
We have nothing against that! Good things take time  ;D

Sure, I understand. But I can only conclude that Zoonar is my worst performing agency.
I like Zoonar's concept and the distribution to other partners like DDP, PA and Age, but none of my content seems to sell (while it surely does on other agencies).
Age is not even reviewing submitted content. Why keep them on board?

I only have a few hundred images at Zoonar, so I'm not expecting to rain gold. But after one year no sales yet? That's weird, and I've never seen this at any other agency I submit to. Hell, even that clunky 90's looking PantherMedia is performing better than you guys, and I only have a handful of images there. And yes, I manually edit the English title and set the releases.

You can see very consistently on the right in the list that not everyone is like you ... But it's true, we are an SME agency and certainly not the right choice for all photographers. That's ok too.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Roscoe on June 03, 2021, 06:37
Because I newly know that ALL images submitted to Alamy (directly or via Zoonar/wirestock...) appear on Agefoto!
So, if you upload your images to Alamy AND Zoonar, your images will already online on Agefoto - maybe before Agefoto even view your images upload to Zoonar.
But finally still interesting, if Agefoto at all still check the images on Zoonar or not.
Valid point, yet, I would expect rejections in that case instead of pending reviews. I use Wirestock for submitting to Alamy and disabled distribution via Zoonar. Age is still enabled at Zoonar. So it's a matter who's first at reviewing submitted content, and how fast the distribution and further cascading takes place. Funny to read though how images are further distributed amongst agencies. Before the commission ends up in the contributor's account, two or three other parties already took their share.

Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Roscoe on June 03, 2021, 06:45
You can see very consistently on the right in the list that not everyone is like you ... But it's true, we are an SME agency and certainly not the right choice for all photographers. That's ok too.
No doubt here that Zoonar has it's customers, and some contributors are doing relatively well, otherwise you wouldn't be able to keep it up and further develop it. The point I was trying to make is that, taking into consideration that some agencies have their own niche, I've seen selling my content on all of them, except for Zoonar. I find it a bit weird, but as you said, it's fine. It is what it is and I keep an eye on further developments.

Maybe you can share with the community what type of content tends to do well with you customer base.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 03, 2021, 09:37
Because I newly know that ALL images submitted to Alamy (directly or via Zoonar/wirestock...) appear on Agefoto!
So, if you upload your images to Alamy AND Zoonar, your images will already online on Agefoto - maybe before Agefoto even view your images upload to Zoonar.
But finally still interesting, if Agefoto at all still check the images on Zoonar or not.
Valid point, yet, I would expect rejections in that case instead of pending reviews. I use Wirestock for submitting to Alamy and disabled distribution via Zoonar. Age is still enabled at Zoonar. So it's a matter who's first at reviewing submitted content, and how fast the distribution and further cascading takes place. Funny to read though how images are further distributed amongst agencies. Before the commission ends up in the contributor's account, two or three other parties already took their share.

With us the partners are optional. You can activate it or not. The solution is then simple: do not activate AGE, but DDP and DPA do, because otherwise your photos will not arrive there ...

Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 03, 2021, 09:41
You can see very consistently on the right in the list that not everyone is like you ... But it's true, we are an SME agency and certainly not the right choice for all photographers. That's ok too.
No doubt here that Zoonar has it's customers, and some contributors are doing relatively well, otherwise you wouldn't be able to keep it up and further develop it. The point I was trying to make is that, taking into consideration that some agencies have their own niche, I've seen selling my content on all of them, except for Zoonar. I find it a bit weird, but as you said, it's fine. It is what it is and I keep an eye on further developments.

Maybe you can share with the community what type of content tends to do well with you customer base.

It's not easy to say. Of course we are looking for newer content, less editorial, more stock. We are also sometimes picky and don't accept everything.

There is one more important thing. If you upload photos to agencies, then the listing in the search there and the additional work are also important. We actually offer AGE or Alamy more for German photographers because we do the translations. For English-speaking photographers it makes more sense because of the essential keywords (on Alamy) or the listings in the search. We set these, which takes a lot of time but then leads to different search results and often to more sales.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Roscoe on June 03, 2021, 11:24
It's not easy to say. Of course we are looking for newer content, less editorial, more stock. We are also sometimes picky and don't accept everything.

There is one more important thing. If you upload photos to agencies, then the listing in the search there and the additional work are also important. We actually offer AGE or Alamy more for German photographers because we do the translations. For English-speaking photographers it makes more sense because of the essential keywords (on Alamy) or the listings in the search. We set these, which takes a lot of time but then leads to different search results and often to more sales.
Thank you for further clarifying Michael. Not sure I completely get it, but I understood that depending on the language you submit your content (English in my case, both captions and keywords) there might be an issue?

I submit my content with English metadata (title and keywords), and indeed noticed that Zoonar adds German keywords as well.
This often results in a lot of keywords (50+ or even 100+), exceeding the maximum allowed keywords for most agencies and can, as you said, negatively affect the ranking of content.

Knowing this, what is the best practice then for submitting, keywording and titling content on Zoonar?

What I do: I prepare my content with English titles and keywords in the metatdata, optimized for submitting to the big three: Adobe, Shutterstock and iStock/Getty.
This means that keywords are ranked according to priority/importance, and for iStock also some dedicated keywording.
Same files end up on other agencies, and it seems to work fine for those as well. But not for Zoonar apparently, because another bunch of keywords are added afterwards, and I don't know which keywords will finally make it to Zoonar's database or the agencies Zoonar distributes to.
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 03, 2021, 13:38
Dont`worry: We are deleting german keywords for international Partners. There are three marks for Keywords: english, german and international. "Big Ben" or "Köhlbrandbrücke" is international and will not be deleted at all...
Title: Re: Zoonar releases WordPress picture search plug-in
Post by: Michael Krabs on June 03, 2021, 13:43
It's not easy to say. Of course we are looking for newer content, less editorial, more stock. We are also sometimes picky and don't accept everything.

Knowing this, what is the best practice then for submitting, keywording and titling content on Zoonar?

What I do: I prepare my content with English titles and keywords in the metatdata, optimized for submitting to the big three: Adobe, Shutterstock and iStock/Getty.
This means that keywords are ranked according to priority/importance, and for iStock also some dedicated keywording.
Same files end up on other agencies, and it seems to work fine for those as well. But not for Zoonar apparently, because another bunch of keywords are added afterwards, and I don't know which keywords will finally make it to Zoonar's database or the agencies Zoonar distributes to.

Of course, one problem always remains: We translate your English keywords into German. Such translations are prone to errors and often they are not the best or most important search terms. Therefore you will have fewer photo sales than in the English-speaking agencies (but also because we sell less than Adobe or Shutter :-)

To alleviate the problem, our editors have added certain german keywords to some photos, but not to all. This has proven to be quite successful so far, but it is time intensive.