STOCK PHOTO
NEWS no. 9
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The first Modern eZine combining Stock Photography and Marketing
September 2001
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CONTENT
* From the Editor
* Tips for using conceptual pictures # 4
* Going digital (with scanner and camera)
* Take better Travel Pictures, Tip # 4: Look for colors.
* Guest article: The evolution of Search Engine Marketing
- by Robin Nobles
* Do you need more subscribers to your newsletter ?
* The digital workflow
* Learn from free marketing courses
You find the web-based edition of this issue at
http://www.azfotos.com/STOCKPHOTONEWS/stockphotonewssept01.html
To visit the latest earlier edition of the
Stock Photo News, go HERE
http://www.azfotos.com/STOCKPHOTONEWS/stockphotonewsaug01.html
This edition was send to 987 picture professionals.
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FROM THE EDITOR
In the past month since last issue of Stock Photo News,
images
has played a bigger role than probably ever before in history.
The chock and our anger has a lot to do with the imaging
ability of our time. By pictures - still and live - we are
informed all over the World, and from all over the World.
For me it is strange to re-read what I wrote in this introduction
last month at
http://www.azfotos.com/STOCKPHOTONEWS/stockphotonewsaug01.html
Let me just stop here, and wish all my loyal readers a peaceful
and lucky future on our shared planet.
Soren Breiting
A-Z FOTOS
" Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
www.azFotos.com
Comments, tips and relevant articles are appreciated,
please email me at sb@azfotos.com
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TIPS FOR CONCEPTUAL PICTURES # 4
This new list can hopefully further your own ideas.
Conceptual pictures function as symbols, metaphors,
icons or analogies in advertisements, for book covers,
illustrating articles and features etc.
Peace, peaceful, hoping for peace
... White dove
... White dove with oil palm twig
... Lightening a candle
... Grave / cemetery
... Handshake
... Peace contract being signed
Free as a bird
... A swallow flying up
... Riding wildly over the plains
Digital future
... Display of digits 1-2-1-1-1-2 etc
... Digital display
... Key boards
... Electrical cord-'spaghetti'
... Communication technology e.g. communication towers
Send me additional ideas for these concepts,
and I will publish them with your name/website
in the next issues mailto:sb@azfotos.com .
New concepts will also be listed in the next issue.
All will later be put together and displayed at
www.azfotos.com/STOCKPHOTONEWS/concepts.html
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GOING DIGITAL
On-line search for stock photos and digital delivery is
now
more the rule than the exception in some parts of the world.
But many picture researchers, editors and publishers still
want to have access to the real stuff, i.e. the pictures
on
film for own quality control and scanning.
For the picture providers this means that we have to cater
for a kind of hybrid solution, to be able to deliver both
kind of picture material. How long time we need that is not
possible to say concerning the whole world situation. Changes
might go very fast suddenly, when infrastructure are developed
and digital equipment of the right quality and price are
available.
At A-Z Fotos we have just started to use the quite new medium
format scanner Nikon Coolscan 8000 ED. This is an excellent
scanner for 120, 220 and 35mm films and single pictures for
a
reasonable price.
A resolution of 4000 dpi with additional features like multi
scanning and ability to compensate for dust and scratches
makes
this an ideal tool for our scanning of the best pictures
in
our files. It is nice, for example, to be able to "renew"
pictures which have been misused by customers without our
attention. As all picture agencies know, a picture which
has
been sold once is more likely to be sold again than other
pictures.
The quick development in the digital field is very difficult
for
most of us to follow. Therefore it is so fine to have easy
access to quality information at the web.
We have much belief in the reviews available at:
Digital Photography Review, done by Phil Askey
http://www.dpreview.com/
You will find reviews very fast when new equipment are in
the
pipeline, like the hot new Canon Eos 1D. You find an overview
of the available pro digital cameras at
(You need the two line url)
Phil Askey's review of the coming 5 mega pixels camera with
Zeiss zoom lens Sony DSC-F707 is very promising at
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf707/
........................................................
Take better travel pictures. Tip 4
LOOK FOR COLORS
Try always to look for one good color before you take
a picture: A blue door, a red bike, some yellow fruits
or some red flowers can each contribute to a more
interesting picture.
Contrary to the belief of many it is rarely the variety
of many colors which makes a good picture. One good color
which is repeated in the picture can often give a much more
stylish picture.
An alternative is two different colors which really match
each other to make an exceptional expression.
Modern film emulsions offer a wide variety of options related
to how you want the colors of your pictures to look and ?feel?.
The good old days? strive for colors as close to nature as
possible has been overrun by a strive for impressive colors.
These can be produced in different ways.
The easiest is to use films with highly saturated colors.
Films like Velvia from Fuji and Ectachrome VS from Kodak
deliver that kind of results. Personally I use Ectachrome
VS
for my 35 mm. stock photography.
In general simply measuring the light is enough to have
these
saturated colors delivered from the film. To expose the film
a
little below the meter reading gives deeper colors, and to
over
expose the film will wash out the colors. The Velvia film
is
rated as 40 ASA by many pro photographers, and not the film?s
official rating of 50 ASA.
The best object for your shooting is usually without a mixture
of highlights and heavy shadows. The ?colors? white and black
are on the other hand even difficult to handle together in
full
sunlight With digital cameras the type of film emulsion is
out
of concern, and you can always enhance the colors by increasing
the hue in Photoshop, ImageReady or with a similar program.
Anyway the same principle with the colors is also relevant
when
taking digital pictures.
Have continued good luck with your travel photography.
Soren Breiting
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THE EVOLUTION OF SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
-- By Robin Nobles
For those fortunate enough to have attended the Search Engine
Strategies 2001 Conference
(http://seminars.internet.com/sew/sf01/index.html) in San
Francisco a few weeks ago, the evolution of search engine
marketing couldn't be clearer.
Whereas a few years ago, when participants would have been
drilled on the "all important" META tags and keyword
density
requirements, participants at the latest conference learned
strategies for writing search engine friendly content,
researching search terms, and building link popularity.
The importance of directories and pay engines was also stressed,
as well as advanced search engine optimization strategies
such as
cloaking and tracking the conversion to sales.
So, to answer the question of what's important today when
working
on your sites, keep these points in mind.
1. Don't forget the basics! Though META tags alone won't
carry
you to a top 10 ranking, it's still crucial to create effective
title, description, keyword, and other tags as well as
remembering the importance of keyword prominence in your
tags and
body text. Tip: To help you remember what's important on
your
pages, use handy Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) software
(http://www.se-optimizer.com), which will make your search
engine
optimization work much easier.
2. Don't
spend countless hours trying to arrive at the "perfect"
keyword weight. If you'll search for top ranking sites at
any of
the engines for your most important keyword phrase, you'll
more
than likely find keyword weights that range from virtually
non-
existent to rather high, even 8%. For general optimization
purposes, aim for a good average of between 3-5% for the
body
text, and be prepared to raise or lower it as needed.
3. Research your search terms! Don't assume that you know
how
your customers will search. Instead, use a service like
WordTracker
http://our.affiliatetracking.net/wordtracker/af.cgi?1529
and find out how people are really searching.
4. Good, solid content is definitely the way to go with
your
pages. Create your pages as if you're writing a focused article
about one particular keyword phrase. Keep your word count
in the
neighborhood of 200 to 600 words in the body text, and use
your
keyword phrase prominently on the page.
5. Keep it simple! Remember that the engines like simplicity,
and
so do Web users. Don't use technology that makes it difficult
for
either the engines or users. Stay away from frames, Flash,
heavy
graphics and image maps, and lengthy JavaScript.
6. Work hard on building link popularity with other related
sites. Remember that it's not sheer numbers that are important
here. Rather, it's having links pointing to and from your
site
from other related and important sites.
7. Monitor your search engine rankings carefully, and be
prepared
to do further tweaking if those rankings slip. A really sharp
new
Web-based ranking service was introduced at the conference,
and
I'm in the process of trying it out myself as a beta tester.
It's
called WebRank, and rather than running a hefty software
program
and using my own resources, WebRank checks my rankings for
me,
then notifies me by e-mail of those rankings and when the
rankings slip, etc. While they're in the pre-launch mode,
membership is still free, so now's the time to try out this
brand
new service at http://my.webrank.com.
8. Track your traffic and pay attention to the conversion
of
traffic to sales. Another new service that was announced
at the
conference was WebPosition Gold's new Traffic Analyzer service
that's included in version 1.60.
http://www.webposition.com/cgi-local/index.pl?DS1=RP&DS2=DZW-556E
The service is available for a free 30-day trial at
http://counter.hitslink.com/webposition/.
Gold customers, however, get an additional 90 days of free
service as well as substantially discounted pricing over
regular
HitsLink.com customers.
9. Don't forget the importance of the major directories
like
Yahoo!, the Open Directory Project, and LookSmart, and be
sure to
submit your site to them. Also, look for other "vertical"
directories in your focus area by visiting a site like Beaucoup
(http://www.beaucoup.com), which lists over 2,000 search
engines
and directories.
10. If you want visibility fast, consider the pay engines
like
GoTo and FindWhat. With so many of the major engines now
using
the top results from the pay engines, if you're having a
difficult time achieving top rankings using standard optimization
efforts, paying for keywords will get you where you want
to be
much faster.
In Conclusion . . .
The search engine industry continues to evolve at an alarming
rate, and if you aren't willing to keep up, you'll be left
behind.
How can you keep up?
Planet Ocean Communications publishes an excellent monthly
newsletter (http://www.searchenginehelp.com/acws/). You can
also
sign up for a couple of free monthly newsletters, such as
http://www.acws.com/newsletter.html or
http://www.webposition.com/newsletter.htm.
Finally, consider attending the next Search Engine Strategies
conference yourself, and learn the latest happenings in this
dynamic industry.
http://seminars.internet.com/sew/sf01/index.html
-----------
Robin Nobles is Director of Training for the Academy of Web
Specialists (http://www.acws.com). Robin has taught well
over a
thousand students in her online and onsite search engine
positioning courses during the past several years. Her latest
book Web Site Analysis and Reporting, as well as her past
book,
Streetwise Maximize Web Site Traffic, can be ordered through
Amazon. Visit the Academy's training site to learn more about
their search engine ranking courses and products.
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com
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........................................................
THE DIGITAL WORKFLOW
You can ask experts about the digital workflow here:
http://www.pdn-pix.com/forums/experts/
........................................................
LEARN FROM FREE MARKETING COURSES
You are offered a number of useful courses in marketing
and
other relevant aspects of having a successful website.
Just go to
www.ALLeMarketingTips.com
........................................................
Please remember !
If you have any idea of friends or colleagues you think
would find this newsletter useful, PLEASE send them a
personal email or send an email by a click on Recommend-It.
(You can win 10.000 dollars)
THANK YOU for reading and recommending Stock Photo News.
See you in the next Stock Photo Newsletter!
Soren Breiting
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Copyright 2001 by Soren Breiting, A-Z FOTOS.
www.azFotos.com
"Find
Stock Photos from most of the World"
Email me at: sb@TAKE_AWAY_azfotos.com
You are welcome to forward this newsletter to a friend or
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Stock Photo News is a monthly newsletter edited by Soren
Breiting.
Due to many travels abroad it is impossible for me to keep
the schedule of the issues strictly fitting to each month.
My intention is to bring quality information which is not
outdated a month or two later.
To sign up for or to cancel your subscription go to
www.stockphotonews.com
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