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Author Topic: Microstock Analytics - track files sales and ROI on photoshoots  (Read 36588 times)

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« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2011, 09:15 »
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3 mins to enter sales and $? you arent placing their size.. if so it would take a lot more.. I used to do that and I have little sales but have given up and now only do the stats once a month on an excel, during the month I keep a txt


« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2011, 09:23 »
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3 mins to enter sales and $? you arent placing their size.. if so it would take a lot more.. I used to do that and I have little sales but have given up and now only do the stats once a month on an excel, during the month I keep a txt

no, the only thing I am tracking is $/day/site .. which I can then figure out RPI (Return per Image.. overall) and monthly income, and a very approximate return per shoot (through Dreamstime)
I don't really care which size is bought really, or even how much each download earned, although if the info was presented to me, it would be interesting to see.

« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2011, 10:29 »
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I don't have a problem with the pricing, if you have 3000 images online you should be making plenty to pay $50.00 a month.

I just can't get the software to work, it tries to process files but fails shortly in. Tried on Windows 7 (2 comps) and Windows Vista. I've already e-mailed him about it.

« Reply #28 on: May 25, 2011, 10:46 »
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My opinion is that it should be a one time price.  Since all the information is stored locally, there are no hosting costs or any further costs to the writer.  It looks useful, but I wouldn't be up for a graduated monthly fee like that.

JMO...

« Reply #29 on: May 25, 2011, 10:59 »
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I don't have a problem with the pricing, if you have 3000 images online you should be making plenty to pay $50.00 a month.

I just can't get the software to work, it tries to process files but fails shortly in. Tried on Windows 7 (2 comps) and Windows Vista. I've already e-mailed him about it.

It's not about 'making plenty'. Personally I would just prefer to spend $500 (a year price) on extra photoshot, flash light or even short cool holidays,.
$500 a year is EXTREMELY exaggerated for something yeah cool and convenient, but not necessary. Even though I don't get funky graphs and exact numbers, I spend maximum 15 minutes browsing those 4 sites (about 2500 images porfolio) to see which pictures and sessions were successful.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 11:02 by niserin »

« Reply #30 on: May 25, 2011, 11:37 »
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I don't have a problem with the pricing, if you have 3000 images online you should be making plenty to pay $50.00 a month.

I just can't get the software to work, it tries to process files but fails shortly in. Tried on Windows 7 (2 comps) and Windows Vista. I've already e-mailed him about it.

It's not about 'making plenty'. Personally I would just prefer to spend $500 (a year price) on extra photoshot, flash light or even short cool holidays,.
$500 a year is EXTREMELY exaggerated for something yeah cool and convenient, but not necessary. Even though I don't get funky graphs and exact numbers, I spend maximum 15 minutes browsing those 4 sites (about 2500 images porfolio) to see which pictures and sessions were successful.

Then don't spend it. If the pricing structure is "unsustainable" then he will find out the hard way. I'd rather him start high and lower the price than start low and have to raise the price.

« Reply #31 on: May 25, 2011, 11:46 »
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Then don't spend it. If the pricing structure is "unsustainable" then he will find out the hard way. I'd rather him start high and lower the price than start low and have to raise the price.
It's almost as expensive as buying Photoshop every year! As Sean says it should be a one-off price. I can't think of any other simple software that you have to effectively 'rent'. It's not going to work.

« Reply #32 on: May 25, 2011, 12:07 »
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I just want to join the choir: its almost ten times more expensive that what I'm willing to pay, and subscription does not make much sense...

« Reply #33 on: May 25, 2011, 12:08 »
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its not a micro product for sure :)

« Reply #34 on: May 25, 2011, 14:44 »
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niserin, I surprised you refering to price of Unlimited account. I just quickly checked using Google search. If you keep current upload rate Pro 3000 account will be enough for another year or so. This account is two times cheaper.

Of course you can spend money on another photoshoot. However, knowing exactly in which photoshoot and concepts to invest, can be much more efficient.

« Reply #35 on: May 25, 2011, 14:53 »
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leaf, 3 min / day makes around 18 hours by the end of the year. This is not counting return on photoshoot calculations for Dreamstime. Even then calculations are very rough. Using Microstock Analytics you also benefit from seeing a lot more stats.
It is all personal, I cannot judge here, but for example, I would rather spend time making more photoshoots then in front of speadsheet.

« Reply #36 on: May 25, 2011, 15:16 »
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sjlocke, I think it will be possible to introduce license for lifetime use of the program.

Storing all information locally has a lot of benefits for users:
  • users have full control and ownership of this information. This eliminates possibility from selling this information by anyone except user
  • it is possible to receive up-to-date stats as often as you need (the is no limit on how often server will update stats)
  • in general user interface is faster and much more responsive

Monthly fee allows contributor to pay smaller amounts per month instead of paying whole amount upfront. It is much easier to pay per month if your income is also monthly based. Also it is less risky for users. You are not bound to software forever and you can test it with less risk. Also I understand that some people will prefer to own the software. I think there will be lifetime license in future.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 15:22 by Andrey Popov »

« Reply #37 on: May 25, 2011, 15:39 »
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I don't have a problem with the pricing, if you have 3000 images online you should be making plenty to pay $50.00 a month.

I just can't get the software to work, it tries to process files but fails shortly in. Tried on Windows 7 (2 comps) and Windows Vista. I've already e-mailed him about it.


It's not about 'making plenty'. Personally I would just prefer to spend $500 (a year price) on extra photoshot, flash light or even short cool holidays,.
$500 a year is EXTREMELY exaggerated for something yeah cool and convenient, but not necessary. Even though I don't get funky graphs and exact numbers, I spend maximum 15 minutes browsing those 4 sites (about 2500 images porfolio) to see which pictures and sessions were successful.


Then don't spend it. If the pricing structure is "unsustainable" then he will find out the hard way. I'd rather him start high and lower the price than start low and have to raise the price.


Agreed, he should charge what he thinks he can sell the software for.  That said, people are just expressing their opinions and for Andrey that is also very valuable to hear.. even it isn't someone saying they think the price is great.

perhaps it is wrong to compare it to another program.. but I find it hard not to... You can now also rent photoshop.  The price is $35/month.  For me, I use photoshop 6-8 hours a day.  I think $35/month is a crazy high price and imagine only business who need a rental would go for such a deal.  I have rather purchased Photoshop outright.  I would probably use Microstock Analytics a few times a month to check on my shoot ROI .. so I can't justify spending $50/month.  If there are enough people who DO feel it is a well worth a $50/month investment then Andrey has priced the software well and I'll just have to stick to my graphs in excel ;)  Again, I certainly feel Andrey should price the software as he feels fit and should try and make the most income from it he can.

Anyhow, back to the software.  
It seems to run very well and loads the thumbnails quickly.  Also switching graph types and collections is very fast.
I had problems logging into Shutterstock though.. did anyone else manage?
I like that you can change the size of the various windows to increase the size of the graph
It would be nice to be able to search the thumbnails shown.. or break down which ones are shown
I like the option to change the thumbnail size
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 15:42 by leaf »

traveler1116

« Reply #38 on: May 25, 2011, 21:26 »
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its not a micro product for sure :)

I was thinking the same thing, if the microstock model doesn't work for this...I guess I wouldn't buy it either.

« Reply #39 on: May 26, 2011, 02:55 »
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Tyler, did you see Captha window for Shutterstock? If code entered is wrong it will appear again. If login data is incorrect there will be error message in update window.

How would you like to break down show thumbnails? By month uploaded?

fotorob

  • Professional stock content producer
« Reply #40 on: May 26, 2011, 04:16 »
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@Andrey:

I was willing to try your tool, but I got many error messages in the first place:

Quote
http://submit.shutterstock.com/stats.mhtml
Error: ShutterStock: Failed to fetch a page: System.Net.WebException: The operation has timed out
   at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
   at MicrostockAnalytics.LogicBase.DownloadFile(String Url)
 Check your internet connection settings
Error: IStockPhoto: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Year, Month, and Day parameters describe an un-representable DateTime.
   at System.DateTime.DateToTicks(Int32 year, Int32 month, Int32 day)
   at MicrostockAnalytics.LogicIStock.ProcessFile(Int32 FileId, String Html)

(this goes on for some pages)

In general the tool looks nice, but 50 dollar per month feels to much for me (I have more than 3000 files). The Photoshop comparison above says it all. A fixed price or a lower montly fee (e.g. 5-10 dollar) woul probably be more reasonable.

« Reply #41 on: May 26, 2011, 04:41 »
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Tyler, did you see Captha window for Shutterstock? If code entered is wrong it will appear again. If login data is incorrect there will be error message in update window.

How would you like to break down show thumbnails? By month uploaded?

I guess that is sort of what the collections do, but if I wanted to find stats for one image.. and I know it is an image of a ring. .but not sure where it is, in a list of 10,000 images, I could be looking for a while.  it would be nice to break down what is shown with a simple search for 'ring' without having to create a collection for just that image.
It would also be nice to sort the images by highest ROI or best selling image etc.

yeah, I did see the shutterstock captcha but still couldn't log in.  It said the captcha was wrong...  I tried about 10 times but no luck. 
« Last Edit: May 26, 2011, 04:43 by leaf »

« Reply #42 on: May 26, 2011, 10:34 »
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My opinion is that it should be a one time price.  Since all the information is stored locally, there are no hosting costs or any further costs to the writer.  It looks useful, but I wouldn't be up for a graduated monthly fee like that.

JMO...
I would agree 110%. I don't like the idea of having to pay monthly in perpetuity. I like idea of paying once and being done with it.

« Reply #43 on: May 26, 2011, 11:39 »
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Robert, there an isssue with sales dates reported by IStock. Looks like dates are wrong. There is new version available on server. Please download and install it. Now it has error reporting function - this will help to track the issue.

« Reply #44 on: May 26, 2011, 11:42 »
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leaf, sometimes Captcha's are completely unreadable and it takes several tries to type them correctly. Shutterstock update function works for others. Please give it another try.

« Reply #45 on: May 26, 2011, 19:19 »
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Issues reported by Adamkaz and Robert has been fixed. New version is available for download. Thanks for feedback and error reports.

« Reply #46 on: May 26, 2011, 19:31 »
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Tyler, I agree that possibility to search images will be usefull. It is very high on my list and will be implemented soon.
It possible already to sort images by Revenue, Revenue/Month, ROI, IStock upload (best use of limited slots) and Hourly Rate Estimate. Combobox is located on top next to Thumbnails size.

« Reply #47 on: May 27, 2011, 01:42 »
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Tyler, I agree that possibility to search images will be usefull. It is very high on my list and will be implemented soon.
It possible already to sort images by Revenue, Revenue/Month, ROI, IStock upload (best use of limited slots) and Hourly Rate Estimate. Combobox is located on top next to Thumbnails size.

ah.. yes sorry.  I was blind, I see it now.

« Reply #48 on: May 27, 2011, 01:49 »
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leaf, sometimes Captcha's are completely unreadable and it takes several tries to type them correctly. Shutterstock update function works for others. Please give it another try.

I think I found the problem.  It wasn't captcha and I was quite sure it wasn't as I usually get it right on the first time on Shutterstock.  I tried 20 times through your software and it still didn't work.

Then I thought maybe some of the strange characters in my password were sending the software for a loop.  I had a & and a ! symbol in the password and now I suspect that was the problem.  I just changed my password to only numbers and letters and it worked.  Could that have been the problem?

« Reply #49 on: May 27, 2011, 02:16 »
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Ok, maybe a bug...

When I hover over the images it says the number of files and 'online since'  I am guess that if the image is on 2 of the 4 sites it should say 2 with the date it is online from. So the maximum 'number of files' is 4.  Am I understanding this correctly.

Anyhow, I have one image with 'number of files' at 15 ... and no I didn't upload that file 13 times to shutterstock ;)


 

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