Photo Request – Urgent

Description : Wilmington NC shot from the other side of the river of the skyline including the old church steeple.

2 shots needed of the same angle Day shot and Night shot
priority : urgent
deadline : 02/28/2009

Cutcaster March 2009 Newsletter

Well… I made it.

Cutcaster is now officially bi-coastal. We have extended our reach to include a San Francisco office as well as our “Big Apple” one and as I sit here looking out at the Golden Gate bridge from my new home, I wanted to touch on a lot of great things that have been happening since the move.

We will be introducing a new credit purchasing system and the availability of corporate accounts for large buyers who want to be invoiced at Cutcaster over the next week. These new payment options are in addition to being able to download content by credit card over the site.  Keep an eye out for this next week and if you are interested in a corporate account or more details, email john@cutcaster.com.

We just introduced coupons and discounts for buyers. As a thank you, here is a code for 25% off your first or next Cutcaster purchase.  Use it yourself or send it to a buyer with your referral codes so they can try out the site and you get credit for sending them. 

Here is the code you enter upon checkout- FTCS20OFFCutcaster

Need ideas for your next shoot or want to know what is missing from the image marketplace.  Check out: Image Requests – Show us Your Creative Minds or this to see where there are holes in the image market that can be targeted and filled by your next shoot: Conversation with Large Informed Buyer.

Keywording. We need your help. Can you please go refine your keywords from your studio page if you have not and make sure they are specific to what is in the image or illustration?  Here is a link for how to keyword better at Cutcaster so you have more sales: Keyword tag requirements help and a link for how search works so you can tailor your keywords: Advanced Search tips at Cutcaster.

Join the debate on extended licensing and how we should set it up: Extended Licenses = Print Run and Seat Restrictions.

Don’t forget about our referral program where you can make more money just by referring people.  Log into your studio and click on the “Referral” tab to learn more. 

Are there features you want us to build?  Let us know here: Feedback/Bugs.

Can you help us with a survey we are conducting for photographers?  I will post the results of this anonymous poll once we are done so you can see the answers. 

And finally follow us on twitter, myspace or Facebook  if you are not already.  We want to stay in contact with you so connect with us.   

Best, 

John and the Cutcaster Team

Posting your work at Cutcaster- You own it. Not us.

I received this email yesterday from a Cutcaster contributor. With all that is happening at Facebook with regards to ownership of posted content on their webiste, I thought I would respond. This email is the body of the email,

“Maybe this is overreacting but with the uproar over Facebook’s terms of service changes and in spite of their decision to revert to the old TOS, could you perhaps please clarify somewhere (blog?) your position on what happens to uploaded material and especially in the event someone cancels their account?
I’m very satisfied with where Cutcaster is going but am now sitting here second guessing myself on having high res. images “out there” now that a trusted service like Facebook has comprised that trust.”

I told the user this.

Bottom line is YOU own the content. It’s yours. Not Cutcasters. A lot of it I wish I was the owner of it because it is so well done but YOU are the owner and you can choose to do with it what you like.  Cutcaster and I have no ownership over it at all.  Not one iota.  If you close your account I have no rights to hold it, use it or keep selling it. I am sad to see you and your content go but that choice is yours and there is no restrictions on how long you need to post your content at Cutcaster or time period that I hold the content.  You have the choice to upload and remove content at your convenience.  In almost all cases, I will pay the user if I use one of their images in our marketing efforts to be fair even when in the terms of the contract I can use it for promotional purposes.  I just think it is fair that I have to pay for it when I use it.

If we ever do change the terms, I will make sure I post the changes before they are made in the forums, blog and in a newsletter and won’t do any changes until it has been fully explained and discussed with the Cutcaster community at large.  I’m just as sick of seeing sites that change terms “mid-game” without telling anyone and under the shadow of darkness.  That is totally unfair and will never happen here.  This site is as much mine as it is yours so I make this promise that any changes will always involve the feedback from any member that raises their voice. Comments are welcome.

Image requests – Show us your creative minds…..

Hello Everyone!  I am preparing to send a large buyer a clipfolder of images and vectors for a project they are working on. He wants to see what types of images we have that could match up with the following book covers. You can use your imaginations to find files that conceptually or symbolically could work for these book titles. If any contributors have pictures that could be used with the following book titles, can you please upload them to the site and direct my attention to them. (I’ve included a hyperlink on the ones that have a book cover to show what the publisher is looking for):

 

 

Business Ethics by Stephen K. Henn (notice how there is lots of copy space for the title at the top of the buildings)

 

Full Throttle  by Gregg M. Steinberg (notice how the speedometer is going on full)

 

Wrench in the System  by H. Hambrose

 

Intuitive Manager  by Eugene Sadler-Smith (sorry, don’t have a cover for you because the book hasn’t been released yet – but lets see what you can come up with!)

 

Space Exploration for Dummies  by Shana Priwer

 

Gre test for Dummies

 

Trading for Dummies  2nd Edition  

 

Reconnecting  by Joseph J. Luciani

 

Fire Your Therapist  by Joe Siegler (sorry, don’t have a cover for you because the book hasn’t been released yet – but lets see what you can come up with!)

Conversation with Large and Informed Buyer

Recently we had a conversation with a large and very informed buyer.  We wanted to pass along these nuggets of wisdom and knowledge (these are shorthand notes to help you the reader):

 

Looking for more diversity with university and middle school students.  For school kids, they need different types of schools…urban, public, etc and avoid trendy clothes and looks if they take off uniforms.

 

Need plenty of older and younger, not a lot in the middle.

 

Wood working class was too posed, and needed to have safety gear.

 

Too many posed shots and not enough looking like they where engaged.

 

School kids form other cultures like South America.

 

Looking for more disabled, not just the elderly, but all types of disabilities with them doing every day things (not focused on the disability).

 

Native Americans living in every day life with demographics in keywords

 

Need more photos with minorities in them and to be keyworded with the word ‘minority’ because this is a popular search term.

Having trouble making your website?

Having trouble designing your very own website….fear not my brave friends, we have some nice links for you to make your website building experience fun instead of frustrating!

 

But first, if you just don’t have the time or don’t really care to know how to build your own and just want an easy, ready to go platform to display your lovely photo’s…we suggest you look into…

 

Jalbum – With this fun and free software, you will have many different themes and designs to choose from to display your own photo lovin’ website (these are called skins).  Jalbum boasts free software, free hosting and a friendly community.  So if you don’t feel like starting from scratch, you should dive in and give them a try.

 

Now, some helpful links for those that want a more personal approach for their website…the brave builders with their own design in mind.

 

We’ll start off this venture with HTML & CSS help:

 

Having trouble keeping your code clean…does it look unkept and messy?  Well, there is a great article called 12 Principles for Keeping Your Code Clean by Chris Coyier for cleaning up that mess!  This article provides screen shots of how to clean it up and some before and after shots of what looks clean.

 

I know what your thinking, yes I want clean code, but how can I streamline this never ending process!  You can stop pulling out your hair now, because Megan McDermott has created a wonderful article on 21 Ways to Streamline Your CSS.  Or if you would like a little more information about streamlining and keeping your code clean, there is also this nifty little article by Jacob Gube: Resetting Your Styles with CSS Reset.  So now that you have learned how to keep the code clean, you can breeze through the process.  What more could you ask for???

 

How about when you run into problems and you just don’t know how to fix them or even how to avoid them?  Slamming your keyboard and cursing at your monitor is just not fixing the problem, huh? Well maybe you should look into this blog post – Using CCS to Fix Anything: 20+ Common Bugs and Fixes.  This is only the first part of a series, so if your problem isn’t on there…it could be in the future.

 

Finally, you’re probably wondering what could make life a little easier…how about some cheat sheets!  Here is a comprehensive list of cheat sheets ready to print Cheat Sheets for Front-end Web Developers.  Don’t spend grueling hours trying to remember the code when you can just look it up on your cheat sheet.

 

 

 

Now that you have the coding in check, what about the Design of your website?

 

 

Are those creative juices letting you down?  Do you have too many ideas to narrow them down?  Or is it just taking your forever to accomplish your design?

 

If it’s taking you forever to accomplish your design, what you need to know are the 48+ Greatest Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts provided by Dainis Graveris.  So stop all the mousing around and go faster with your keyboard!

 

Still wondering how to get things done in Photoshop?  Have an idea, but not sure how to apply it?  Well, what you need are some tutorials and Dainis Graveris is helping in that area too with 45 Photoshop Tutorial Sites.  Learning Photoshop doesn’t require a 4 year college degree when you can learn from others tutorials….so save yourself those college years.

 

Looking for some structure?  Not sure how to make your design strategy?  Look no further as Kathy McShea has an intriguing post Web Design Strategy Step-by-Step.  This post will give you the questions to ask yourself on how and what you want out of your design.  It will help you get organized and provide a structure for your website.

 

Looking for a dark website design but unsure how dark?  Need some inspiration to see what others dark websites look like?  We all need inspiration and Jacob Gube has provided and excellent blog post to help you see what dark can do: 50 Beautifully Dark Web Designs.  So check it out and watch how a dark background on your website can make your colors pop!

 

 

Wanting to check your websites usability without is costing you your first born child?

 

Checking your sites usability can be an expensive task, so let’s look into some cheaper options:

 

To help your users navigate your website without expensive testing, there is 10 Usability Tips for Web Designers.  This blog post helps you remember important components that should be added into your website for your visitors.

 

Wondering about your interface and how easy it is for your visitors?  Where should I put my buttons, how should I space me text, and what colors should I use?  Well, all these questions and much more are answered in 10 Useful Techniques to Improve Your User Interface Designs. 

 

 

Now you may be wondering about your hyperlinks and how to make them stand out from the rest of the information on your website.  David Hamills blog post Let your hyperlinks shine not only tells you why to have hyperlinks, but also how to make them get noticed on your website.

 

Wondering why people are ditching your site once they are on it?  Don’t understand what is wrong?  Then you should probably read 14 free tools that reveal why people abandon your website.  These tools will help you realize where you have gone wrong and why people are leaving.  Having a better understanding of why people are leaving your website will help you get a better understanding on how to make them stay!

 

 

Don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you hanging here…let’s get some finishing touches on that website of yours!

 

Times New Roman just not your style?  Looking for something a little more eye catching or wild and crazy?  You might want to check out 40+ Excellent Freefonts For Professional Design to feed your need for exciting font.

 

Another question that might be looming in your head is what about the color? What colors should I use and how will they affect my visitors?  Good question and Colourlovers is here to help you. They even provide color trends!  But if you’re looking for something a little more color basic, you should take a peak at this Colorchart.

 

In conclusion, we hope you find all this information helpful – so now it’s time to get to work!

UGCX Conference- Who is going?

Let’s meet up.  Here is a link to the upcoming conference in San Jose on User Generated Content.  And Cutcaster will be there.  Or John will be there now that I am so close after my move to SF

I will be speaking on two panels which both take place Monday Feb. 9th. The first panel is on Making Money with Other People’s Photos and the second panel is titled Matching Photos to Buyers – Search Dilemmas in the UGC Photo Business.  I couldn’t be more excited.  On the second panel, I get to speak and meet with James West, the CEO of Alamy and Kelley Thompson, COO of iStockphoto.

If you are going to be at the event or planning to go you can use this discount code to get 15% off the tickets.  I am not sure the cost but they are on the UGCX site.  Here is the code for 15% off the full conference rate: SPKRUXJGN.

Please let me know if you want to grab a coffee or a beer during the week.  I am now out in SF so just a short drive to San Jose.

Server update – Introducing a faster Cutcaster

We are now completely moved over to EC2 at Cutcaster and running the site from there virtual servers.  I am so excited to get this completed and want to publicly thank all the developers on the Cutcaster team for making it a reality.

Here are somethings you will notice now and some things we are still working on.

1. The site in general and search will be moving much quicker now.  What I mean is moving from page to page you will see a difference in the speed of the page loading. You may still see a slight drag when you log onto the homepage and logging into your studio page but we are working on optimizing those pages so they load quicker.

2. The backend is moving at lightning quick speed so reviews will speed up even though they were pretty fast before.  We also refined the backend review process to make it easier to review more images in a shorter period of time but still be as meticulous as possible.  Right now we are moving at about a rate of 1 or 2 days to review images which is really fast.

3. We are optimizing our database so that search queries are even faster.  We have been getting a lot more traffic and the amount of searches has risen so we need to make sure that when we get thousands of people on the site at once that it is ready for the load.  This should be completed in the next week or so.

I will have more updates in the next few days about some exciting upcoming news.  I was in Denver this past weekend finalizing a big traffic deal and have been meeting with and chatting over the phone with a lot of publishing, graphic design and advertising buyers.  Things are looking great and I am very excited.  2009 is off to a great start and thanks for your continued support.  And remember I am off to SF next Monday but you will not notice a change or difference except for our new mailing address.  I can’t wait to get out there.

Clipfolder views added to Cutcaster

You can now see how many views your clipfolders have at Cutcaster. Go to My Clipfolders and you will see the addition.  Hope this helps you see traffic to your created clipfolders.

Server work 7pm EST to 10pm EST

You might notice a slight outage in the upload area for some server work we are doing in the next hour. If you are using the FTP upload portion of the site you might be affected. Let us know if you see anything wacky around the site but most likely you will not.

No monkeying around! These Photographers mean business!

In 2009, we plan to ask our Cutcaster photo buyers and contributors to share their knowledge and experiences in the image and vector licensing industry to help the entire community. We recently asked one of our newer photo contributors to Cutcaster, Monkey Business Images, a few questions about the changing landscape of the photography industry, their work-flow and process when deciding what/how to shoot and any advice they have to help the Cutcaster community sell more images. The great folks at Monkey Business Images were nice enough to share their experience with us and we thought we would share what we learned with you.

1.       In today’s visual language, how do you make images that are authentic to “your” brand?

We strive to create images that portray an idealistic and aspirational lifestyle, but one that is potentially achievable to the viewer. This is achieved by careful selection of models, who we find from both professional agencies and by using friends and families and ensuring that our styling is just right.

An elderly man barefoot waterskiing with no hands

2. How do you, in this new media landscape, convey an image that “sells” and seems honest as opposed to the professional imagery of 5 years ago?

As well as constantly trying to reinvent the traditional and popular subjects in a contemporary and relevant style, we always consider how images might be used before we shoot them. This ensures that we do not spend time on irrelevant subjects and keeps us thinking about what clients may want today and in the future. The uploading principle of microstock means that subjects can get from camera to client more quickly than in the traditional business.

Small school child at a computer

3. What’s changed in your mindset? Are all the images just personal based?

Essentially our methods of selecting subjects and shooting have remained the same over the years. We take the view that it’s still the same clients buying pictures but they are using a different model to source the images. Regardless of the price clients still require the right image for the job and will not compromise on quality just because an image is at a lower price.

Image of a woman after yoga relaxing

4. What is the biggest challenge facing Monkey Business?

Like all companies in the business we are working through a time of great change in the industry and economic uncertainty worldwide. I think these challenges are the same for everyone at the moment.

5. What do you ask yourself when you are shooting an image?

One simple question. Will it sell?

Paris Brest with mixed berries and cream

6. Subscription vs. a la carte downloading?  What is your opinion of the  different microstock pricing model’s and how they affect your bottom line?

The great thing is that both these business models offer real choice to clients. There are pros and cons to each one of course but by offering choice and variety to our clients creates many more opportunities for sales.

7. What are some techniques you have learned over the years to help you get your images seen and sold?

We have sold successfully over the years both through our own direct websites and through our distribution partners. Strong relationships with our partners have always been vital as it helps us to understand what subjects they need.

8. How was Monkey Business started and who is involved in the business?

The company is owned by Cathy Yeulet who was the creative force behind Bananastock. Bananastock was one of the most successful RF companies and sold to Jupiter Images for $20M three years ago. One of the reasons that Cathy chose to sell at that time was that she could see the market changing as microstock and subscriptions were beginning to emerge. After two years of shooting for Jupiter Cathy has chosen to enter the microstock industry and has been joined by Mark Butler in sales and Ian Allenden in production, the same team that made Bananastock so successful. For more information click here to learn about the people behind Monkey Business.

9. Image theft has been a problem for a long time. How would you suggest photographers go about protecting their work when they have found it misused or blatantly stolen?

This has been a long term problem and it will be interesting to see if selling images at  low prices has the effect of encouraging people who would have stolen images to pay. Either way any misuse should be robustly defended by both agencies and photographers.

10. Where do you see the microstock industry 5 years in the future?

Microstock is still developing and the business still has a long way to grow. It is an innovative part of the market and the challenge is to continue that innovation both photographically and through  sales models. Most importantly we need to listen to our clients to see what they really need.

11. How did you come up with the name Monkey Business Images?

We just like the name and it was a natural progression from the previous companies name Bananastock.

We like it as well and I hope this helps give some of the contributors at Cutcaster things to think about when planning and shooting what they think will sell.  To license Monkey Business’ Images check out there Cutcaster studio here.

Costa Rica Earthquake – Image Request

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook Costa Rica on Thursday and we have had some requests for images of the destruction. Does anyone have images of the Costa Rica earthquake that they can upload to Cutcaster? We have had two requests for images of the Costa Rica earthquake in the last two hours and would be great to upload some of these editorial images. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. Thanks again.

Getting more views for your Cutcaster images

Here is something very easy you can do to drive traffic to your studios and work. Some of you may not use these “share” buttons on your media details page or your studio pages but you should be.

They are a very important form of driving traffic to your studio as well as your images on Cutcaster or your own site and you should use this button to leverage getting more traffic and views/downloads of your content. And they are completely free.

On the media details page on the right side…

To promote your work or someone else’s work (if you like their stuff) on Cutcaster you hover over the “share” button and click on the different networks you want to send the content to. The different sites will allow you to title it and put in a description and then feed it to their millions of users. It is very Easy. From our research and experience, this works in driving traffic and buyers to see your work and translates into sales.

Try it out for yourself and see how the views and traffic will pile up for you. Just click on the share button and send to the networks that you are a member at. My personal favorites are StumbleUpon, Digg, Myspace, technorati, facebook, reddit, twitter and delicious. But there are many places you can drive traffic from and I bet you will be happy that you tried it.

If you need some help understanding how to do this, just email us.

Cutcaster year end wrap up- An idea turns into a movement

Cutcaster began 2008 as an optimistic unknown; an innovative idea that was just taking shape and full of potential. Our aim was to develop a dynamic marketplace where buyers could easily find and license fresh and unique user-generated content while content creators worldwide could discover the true value of their work. No one had heard of Cutcaster outside of a handful of people. We had 800 accepted files, fewer than 300 members and I was still trading stocks on Wall Street. At the end of January, I left the stock market to work full time on Cutcaster. What started with a few hundred files blossomed into a community of over 3600 members and 107,393 accepted files on January 1st 2009. (Congrats to both Marburg and Beth Pulsipher for having the closest predictions to our year end total accepted files). What a difference a year makes.

What Happened in 2008 – A few highlights:
1. Buyers outreach program started in mid-September- Email, print and web advertising, Google Adwords campaign, press releases, direct sales calls and email blasts, SEO techniques, joined two affiliate programs, our internal referral program, handwritten introductory letters, onsite Cutcaster demos, participation in buyers’ conferences i.e. Picturehouse, and participating in different forums.
2. Contributor outreach program- Grew from 800 files to over 107,000 by years end. Pretty amazing growth, I’d say, and the quality has been excellent so keep up the great work.
3. Started the year with 300 members and now we are over 3600 members and 1700 members have uploaded a file or more.
4. Numerous site features and enhancements rolled out. We have always been fast to correct things and roll out features that the community needs and things will continue to be like that in 09.
5. New image and vector search algorithm
6. Best customer service in the industry- We roll out the red carpet for everyone.

What to expect in the New Year
1. I’m moving the Cutcaster headquarters to San Francisco at the end of January and you shouldn’t notice any changes except a new address. This is so I can efficiently run Cutcaster and be close to the talent and money that I need to take on our competitors. I’m sad to leave NYC but extremely excited to be on the West Coast.
2. A lot more attention and work on the buyer front i.e. roll out corporate accounts, introduce credit packages and extended licensing, enhanced clipfolders, search algorithm tweaking and re-weighting the results, more direct sales calls, attending more buyer conferences, Cutcaster API’s, promoting more exclusive content on Cutcaster, tiered pricing for different resolution sizes and much more advertising in both print and web.
3. More sales, more data to help you make better decisions, more tutorials to help you know what to shoot and how to shoot it, more image and illustration requests
4. A much faster site

Goals for 2009
1. More sales, more revenue lines for contributors, more ease of use on the site.
2. Surpass 1,000,000 images and vectors
3. Get over 400,000 new images in the marketplace from sources that weren’t in the shallow pool of stock we see today
4. Increase membership to 20,000
5. More fun

Obviously, Cutcaster is a tool to earn money from your content or find outstanding content for the projects you are working on. However, Cutcaster is a community in action and is only as good as our contributors, supporters and buyers. We know we have nothing if we don’t have a strong community and that is why we work tirelessly to best serve our members. A special thank you goes out to Ashley, My family, Justin, Michael B., Zac, Lope, Barbara, Tara, Charley, InSITE, Lita, Dennis, Janie M, Linda, Carolyn, Jeffbeck, Martin, Shaolan, Victoria, Moriya, Dan M, Vasiliy, Jason, the whole Blip.tv team, Gracie, Henrik, Jeff S. and Shawn to name just a few.

There have been more, and I can’t thank you all enough for providing your support and patience as we grow. We know that it is a community in action that accomplishes more than any individual does, no matter how strong they may be. Spread the word, keep up the enthusiasm, and continue to be a part of something from the ground floor.

Here is to a great 2009,

John and the Cutcaster team

New Image Ideas for your new year shoots

At Cutcaster, we have been speaking with more and more with the magazines out there and are hearing from quite a few that they are working on their spring issues. This is a great time to think about upcoming shoots. Here are some ideas we heard kicked around from our calls.

1. Spring Break travel spots/Concepts
2. Kids activities inside or outdoors
3. Fixing up the home/Home Renovation
4. Diet/dieting concepts
5. Upcoming fitness season
6. House/Spring cleaning
7. Home Gardening
8. Moving Season

Lets kick around some ideas here and see what new shots we can come up with. I will make sure it is seen.