Author Topic: It's not just Alexa. (Read 12248 times)

Whiz · « **on:** August 16, 2008, 20:31 »

If you go to Alexa's website, you'll see that iStockphoto's ranking has been plummeting for a few months. Some people say that Alexa changed their search methods or something to that effect, which explains the drop. But it's dropping with these other website ranking companies as well. I'm not saying that it's nothing more than summer slowdown, but it's interesting to observe. Time will tell.

Alexa alternatives:

http://www.quantcast.com/
http://www.compete.com/

khoj.badami · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2008, 22:41 »

Ohh my God! I just looked at the istock Alexa graph! Its a steep steep fall.

Who do you suspect is eating istock's traffic.

Would love to hear some opinions!!

bittersweet · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2008, 23:36 »

Don't at least two of these count only those visitors who have installed their proprietary toolbar? And one of the "alternatives" you listed only measure U.S. traffic?

But I'm sure you're right that the end is near. With all the new posts being started about Cutcaster, I bet they are going to take the microstock world by storm.

Seriously though, my numbers are not correlating with these traffic numbers at all, not by a long shot. I'm not really going to be all that concerned as long as my paycheck is roughly the same (or more) at the end of every month. When THAT number drops off, then I'll be concerned.

ericfoltz · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2008, 23:51 »

Just a couple of thoughts about all of these stats:

1) If you have the largest percentage of market share, you'll probably see more dramatic changes when there are dips in the economy (especially if the bulk of your buyers are in the US where the economy is pretty dismal right now).

2) I don't see a corresponding rise in traffic at any of the other sites that would lead me to believe the IS customers are going to the main competition.

3) The new sites do show some growth but this is alot like the new contributors who post huge growth percentages when they first start. If you start with no traffic, then any traffic makes a dramatic increase in your stats.

I personally think the economy is what is driving the downturn. Every business is being affected and many small businesses (the bulk of micro customers) are going under.

Hopefully when/if it turns around, sales will go back up.

DanP68 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2008, 23:59 »

The whole thing seems a little wonky to me.

My sales have dropped quite a bit at IS, and there are plenty of other contributors (mainly non-exclusive) observing the same trend. But not anything near the magnitude of what these charts show.

What is particularly interesting is that the trend happens over time. If it was being caused by a change in the IS website, the dropoff would be instantaneous. I really don't know what to make of it, and I've used these analytic charts for years.

ericfoltz · « **Reply #5 on:** August 17, 2008, 00:14 »

Housing crisis and rising gas prices both started hitting the news and making an impact right around late Feb/early March.

thesentinel · « **Reply #6 on:** August 17, 2008, 01:38 »

This from quantcast, which is derived from their stats, does it accurately describe what you regard as your target microstock buyer?

Site Description

Istockphoto.com is a top 5,000 site that reaches over 1.3 million U.S. monthly people. The site is popular among a teen audience.The typical visitor visits cartoonstock.com, uses Photobucket, and reads celebritywonder.com.

dnavarrojr · « **Reply #7 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:33 »

I asked a friend who works as an editor for a magazine what they use and he said they did not renew their corporate account with IS when it expired, they moved over to SS. He says they got a better deal from SS and there is more to choose from.

bittersweet · « **Reply #8 on:** August 17, 2008, 12:01 »

I work for a magazine too, and we use istockphoto exclusively. I'm also pretty sure most of us have outgrown our teens and I haven't visited cartoonstock.com in at least a couple of weeks.

Whiz · « **Reply #9 on:** August 17, 2008, 12:58 »

Quote from: bittersweet on August 16, 2008, 23:36

Don't at least two of these count only those visitors who have installed their proprietary toolbar? And one of the "alternatives" you listed only measure U.S. traffic?

But I'm sure you're right that the end is near. With all the new posts being started about Cutcaster, I bet they are going to take the microstock world by storm.

Seriously though, my numbers are not correlating with these traffic numbers at all, not by a long shot. I'm not really going to be all that concerned as long as my paycheck is roughly the same (or more) at the end of every month. When THAT number drops off, then I'll be concerned.

I never said the end was near.

Jimi King · « **Reply #10 on:** August 17, 2008, 13:32 »

It may be because iStock seemed to have pulled the same nasty trick they did a few months back on overseas customers. It's no longer a dollar a credit for UK buyers. 10 credits costs £8.63 (just over $16). I certainly don't buy from them any more. If I need an iStock image I wait until I've got enough credits from my downloads and convert them. Then I get one for one.

bittersweet · « **Reply #11 on:** August 17, 2008, 15:20 »

Quote from: Jimi King on August 17, 2008, 13:32

It may be because iStock seemed to have pulled the same nasty trick they did a few months back on overseas customers. It's no longer a dollar a credit for UK buyers. 10 credits costs £8.63 (just over $16). I certainly don't buy from them any more. If I need an iStock image I wait until I've got enough credits from my downloads and convert them. Then I get one for one.

10 credits costs $14.00 for US buyers, not $10. The smallest packages haven't been "a dollar a credit" for a couple of years now. You also always have the option of purchasing in dollar instead of pound.

But yes, the best discount is the contributor convert to credit feature, where it is still a dollar a credit, and you can buy only what you need rather than a set package.

bittersweet · « **Reply #12 on:** August 17, 2008, 15:22 »

Quote from: Whiz on August 17, 2008, 12:58

Quote from: bittersweet on August 16, 2008, 23:36
Don't at least two of these count only those visitors who have installed their proprietary toolbar? And one of the "alternatives" you listed only measure U.S. traffic?

But I'm sure you're right that the end is near. With all the new posts being started about Cutcaster, I bet they are going to take the microstock world by storm.

Seriously though, my numbers are not correlating with these traffic numbers at all, not by a long shot. I'm not really going to be all that concerned as long as my paycheck is roughly the same (or more) at the end of every month. When THAT number drops off, then I'll be concerned.

I never said the end was near.

Sorry, guess I didn't put enough smiley faces to make it clear that I was joking.

Jimi King · « **Reply #13 on:** August 17, 2008, 18:48 »

Quote from: bittersweet on August 17, 2008, 15:20

The smallest packages haven't been "a dollar a credit" for a couple of years now.

I never realized that. I seem to recall that they went up to one pound a credit for UK customers a while back and quickly had to reverse that when people complained. I guess I just assumed that their standard price started at a dollar a credit.

I just looked and both FT and DT's cheapest packages are a dollar a credit. BigStock is even more expensive than IS. $2.50 a credit for the smallest package!

Aetherial · « **Reply #14 on:** August 18, 2008, 02:00 »

Quote from: bittersweet on August 16, 2008, 23:36

Seriously though, my numbers are not correlating with these traffic numbers at all, not by a long shot. I'm not really going to be all that concerned as long as my paycheck is roughly the same (or more) at the end of every month. When THAT number drops off, then I'll be concerned.

when THAT number does drop off, it will probably be too late to prevent it.

bittersweet · « **Reply #15 on:** August 18, 2008, 02:37 »

Quote from: Aetherial on August 18, 2008, 02:00

Quote from: bittersweet on August 16, 2008, 23:36
Seriously though, my numbers are not correlating with these traffic numbers at all, not by a long shot. I'm not really going to be all that concerned as long as my paycheck is roughly the same (or more) at the end of every month. When THAT number drops off, then I'll be concerned.

when THAT number does drop off, it will probably be too late to prevent it.

Well, yeah, if it is already done, you can't really prevent it after the fact. I'm not sure what I should be doing to prevent it now. I put little value in these Alexa toolbar users because I'm not convinced they represent a significant number of actual buyers. Yes, I know it was touted as a big "woo yay" when istock ranked so high there, but I wasn't impressed then either.

I'm not one to worry about things "just in case". It's very counterproductive.

thesentinel · « **Reply #16 on:** August 18, 2008, 09:47 »

Ooh look alexa suddenly shot up again

What a load of nonsense.

lisafx · « **Reply #17 on:** August 18, 2008, 10:33 »

I've seen all these charts before. It is somewhat worrying, but I have to agree with Dan and Bittersweet that my numbers aren't reflecting that kind of severe drop.

Nor have my numbers on other stock sites reflected a huge corresponding gain.

bittersweet · « **Reply #18 on:** August 18, 2008, 12:06 »

Quote from: thesentinel on August 18, 2008, 09:47

Ooh look alexa suddenly shot up again
What a load of nonsense.

WOO YAY! I'm having the best sales day ever!!! Can't you tell?? Alexa says it right there!

Actually, it's 1:00 pm and I haven't had a single download.

DanP68 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 22, 2008, 01:00 »

I like the Compete.com chart the best on a 12 month view.

The most noticeable drop is not during the summer, but actually from January to March. Now this starts to make a little more sense. Wasn't this about the time iStock significantly raised their prices? It would be logical that a certain amount of buyers started looking elsewhere in reaction.

The Compete chart from May to July isn't exactly pretty, but it is also not dissimilar from other agencies as we moved:

- into summer
- more clearly into recession
- and energy costs peaked

Shutterstock shows a similar, albeit slightly less pronounced drop, from May to July.

The Alexa numbers look flaky. I trust what I am seeing with Compete.

epixx · « **Reply #20 on:** August 22, 2008, 04:09 »

Quote from: DanP68 on August 22, 2008, 01:00

The Alexa numbers look flaky. I trust what I am seeing with Compete.

I trust what I'm seeing in my bank account

bittersweet · « **Reply #21 on:** August 22, 2008, 08:50 »

Quote from: epixx on August 22, 2008, 04:09

Quote from: DanP68 on August 22, 2008, 01:00
The Alexa numbers look flaky. I trust what I am seeing with Compete.

I trust what I'm seeing in my bank account

Couldn't have said it better myself.

DanP68 · « **Reply #22 on:** August 22, 2008, 13:20 »

Yep, and yesterday you said,

Actually, it's 1:00 pm and I haven't had a single download.

So are your download numbers sufficient enough to guage whether or not an analytic site is accurate?

bittersweet · « **Reply #23 on:** August 22, 2008, 13:55 »

Quote from: DanP68 on August 22, 2008, 13:20

Yep, and yesterday you said,

Actually, it's 1:00 pm and I haven't had a single download.

So are your download numbers sufficient enough to guage whether or not an analytic site is accurate?

Maybe, because by the end of the day I had had an excellent day. Maybe my buyers are in a different time zone.

Which is kind of my point. What difference does the "middle of the day" make? It's what I have at the end of the month that I care about, and as long as that amount is consistent, I have absolutely no interest in whether one day on some graph falls through the floor, or whether you had a bad sales month, or someone else had only 3 downloads one day when they'd usually had "twice that many".

To me, it doesn't seem like a difficult concept to grasp.

ETA: In retrospect I should probably not have participated in this thread at all. Those who will obsess about graphs are not going to be dissuaded by those who do not obsess about graphs. So I do apologize for derailing your theorizing and analysis. Please carry on.

DanP68 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 22, 2008, 18:11 »

No theorizing here, Bittersweet. Just echoing what many contributors (non-exclusive that is) have stated for several months...that they are seeing a drop in downloads which is being masked by a rise in RPD. Our Site Poll used to have iStock either in 1st or in a dead lock with Shutterstock every month. Now Shutterstock is the clear leader in the poll and has been for several months.

So the question is...Is there something going on? Nobody is claiming that iStock's business is falling off the edge of the world. What I see is a clear loss in visitors, which coincided with a large price increase at iStock. As I recall from reading the iStock boards back in January, many contributors were concerned that the price hike was too much, too soon. Maybe they were right? Is it possible iStock lost market share? Is it possible 3 analytic sites actually have it right, and you have it wrong?

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Author Topic: It's not just Alexa. (Read 12248 times)

Whiz

khoj.badami

bittersweet

ericfoltz

DanP68

ericfoltz

thesentinel

dnavarrojr

bittersweet

Whiz

Jimi King

bittersweet

bittersweet

Jimi King

Aetherial

bittersweet

thesentinel

lisafx

bittersweet

DanP68

epixx

bittersweet

DanP68

bittersweet

DanP68

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