I only have 131 images there, but have found that there definitely seems to be more xsmall images this month, having said that I am on target for bme in downloads and earnings (although I've most probably jinxed myself by saying that)

[knocks on wood] Everything is normal so far this month. No drops or other odd stuff. 

I wonder how accurate Alexa is. A drop of traffic in half in one month? I can't image that many buyers are on vacation. Or for no apparent reason traffic falls off a cliff.

no apparent reason? err ... perhaps their most recent price rise may be to blame ... thier second in 5 months ...

So a 5% increase and adding more pricing options for images caused half of the buyers to suddenly drop istock?

I think it's more of a cumulative effect actually ... a kind of "this is the last straw" feeling among buyers. If I could think of another reason that explains the huge drop ... but I can't to be honest - if you look at Alexa, all the sites have something of a summer drop but none of them on the scale of IS ... and the drop does coincide with the last price increase ... could there be another explanation? perhaos yes, but what could it be then?

caspixel? is that you? 

Quote from: bittersweet on July 17, 2008, 07:09
caspixel? is that you? 

Woa, that Alexa graph is scary!!!
Fortunately, I'm sure those buyers will be getting their images elsewhere and I'm not exclusive.
My own earnings with IStock have been level for a few months, not very impressive considering that I am adding images all the time.

Maybe it is due to the credit crunch and talk of recession, looking at other reported trend like nostalgic toys due to make a comeback this year.

So it could be that buyers are looking for different images to meet the "Comfort Feeling" that people are looking for, if the Inspectors have not picked up on this they they could have rejected the images the buyers want.

Maybe the days of the scary, false, isolated and "Cheesy Smile" is numbered and real images with natural real looking people in natural surroundings that you can "relate to" (comfort zone) will become the order of the day?

David 

Every month had been better than the previous month all year long...until June 20th.  BAM!    All of a sudden my sales fell through the floor.  The same exact thing happened last year around the same time when my sales suddenly dropped by 50%.  It took me nearly a year to recover.  It makes me wonder if they have regularly scheduled best match tweaks.

Seems to be picking back up just a little since I started the post.  Would need an awesome 2nd half of the month to just get back to normal for me. 

Shutterstock seems to still be on fire for me.

Again, same here.

Our $ 59.99 investment was worthwhile!!
-> http://microstockpix.com/supplies/page9/page9.html

MIZ, we thank you!!

Quote from: faber on July 18, 2008, 06:18
Again, same here.

Our $ 59.99 investment was worthwhile!!
-> http://microstockpix.com/supplies/page9/page9.html

MIZ, we thank you!!

Works everytime!

On another note, I just saw the blog/thread in the Istock community news indicating that they have been having search issues the past several weeks due to server issues (or lack of).   Wonder if this isnt part of it?

The Alexa graph is really interesting    it's good they loose their lead competition is important 

Gee... when iStock fixed their search issue problems, things picked up at StockXpert, DT, SS, FT, BS and even at Snap?

Go figure?

I don't understand the Alexa graph. It's impossible that IS have 50% to 65% less reach and views without having an other agency receiving a huge improvement. Or at least seeing an improvement with all the others.

I looked even the macros and none are improving that much.

However my sales at IS are OK and still on the move..?

Alexa is not an accurate measurement of traffic to a site.

Quote from: michealo on July 24, 2008, 13:22
Alexa is not an accurate measurement of traffic to a site.

accurate? certainly not but it is a good relative one and the rise of IS beginning five years ago and lasting three years was well documented by Alexa also the climax after Getty bought IS etc. so i don't see any reason why this time it should be completely off the record.
The Alexa stats are for certain better indicators what is going on a site than any single contributor experience. (especially the ones with three-month experience and a port of twenty pictures  )

I didn't notice a dramatic slow down on IS  ok it is a bit slower than usual but for me it has been better than june.
declining trend in web traffic not necessarily means less buyers looking into IS it could also mean less contributers browsing  the site since it summer time in many places.
To me it looks nothing  more than the usual summer slowdown  besides you wouldn't expect them  handing over their leading position in  just a month would you?

Quote from: stokfoto on July 24, 2008, 13:48
I didn't notice a dramatic slow down on IS  ok it is a bit slower than usual but for me it has been better than june.
declining trend in web traffic not necessarily means less buyers looking into IS it could also mean less contributers browsing  the site since it summer time in many places.
To me it looks nothing  more than the usual summer slowdown  besides you wouldn't expect them  handing over their leading position in  just a month would you?

there was never such a slowdown in the past. And for the"less contributors browsing the site" this should effect all sites but shutterstock and fotolia are extremely steady (despite the summer slowdown) actually fotolia is even on the rise!

i actually was on track for a BME until around july 12th or so with multiple downloads a day (with my portfolio size that is a good thing )

Since then i have had 2 sales - it literally seems as though someone flipped a switch 

Ah well i'm still on an upload frenzy - hoping things will pick up soonish. When does the "summer slump" tend to finish on ISP?

Is it just me, or is iStockphoto's site still kind of sluggish? Sometimes it's just fine, but at other times it's pretty lousy. I know it's not my connection because I'm not having trouble elsewhere.

They have some issues whit the search performance and maybe whit the stats also. See the comunity news on the IS main page

for me

is down about 8-10% so far
ss down about 20%
ft up about 10%
most the others about the same

Quote from: Whiz on July 24, 2008, 15:24
Is it just me, or is iStockphoto's site still kind of sluggish? Sometimes it's just fine, but at other times it's pretty lousy.

It's been always like that for me.  It takes many seconds for an image to open.  No other site is so slow for me.

Regards,
Adelaide