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STOCK
PHOTO NEWS from A-Z FOTOS
No. 18
The
first Modern eZine combining Stock Photography
and Marketing
'Equally
important for picture buyers and image providers.'
January 2005
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CONTENT
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From the Editor
*
Please, white-list your SPN mail
*
News: Consolidation in the Stock Photography Industry
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My Web Hosting History considered
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Marketing With Photo Postcards.
Guest article by Kevin Nunley
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Press release:
10,000 downloads of Graphic Exchange PDF magazine
*
Press release:
Sports Betting and Gambling Image Library
*
Online photo sharing options
*
Spam check your mail before sending
Archive
of earlier issues of Stock Photo News at
www.StockPhotoNews.com
Subscription
information at the end of this ezine.
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FROM THE EDITOR
The
consolidation and concentration in the stock photo
industry is continuing. At the same time a multitude of
new online image providers apply to the attention of the
picture researchers every week.
To say it mildly the marketplace for images is highly dynamic
in our time. The reason is a mixture of the need for capital
and
consolidation linked to the globalization offered by the
Internet and the global outlook in general. And this is
coupled with the increasing availability of digital images
(and cameras) and software and services to bring the
pictures online.
>From school children to the most well known professional
photographers 'online photo sharing' is a hot topic and is
expected to explode in the nearest future.
As
I have had the pleasure to travel a lot the later years
and have worked overseas for many months I have also
been in many areas now suffering from the Southeast
Asian tsunami disaster.
Info and relief: http://www.to-b.com
Please help spread the message of tsunami relief!
Looking
forward sharing issues of stock photography
and marketing in 2005; please enjoy this issue of
Stock Photo News!
Happy New Year!
Soren
Breiting, Editor.
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A-Z FOTOS
"Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
www.azFotos.com
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Comments, tips and relevant articles are appreciated.
Send email to sb@TAKETHISAWAY-azfotos.com
(please remove the inserted part added to avoid email
harvesters).
***
Important note: I will not sell or rent the email
addresses belonging to our subscribers - I respect your
privacy. This mail list will only be used to send you the
monthly ezine. - This ezine uses opt in addresses.***
........................................................
PLEASE,
WHITE-LIST STOCK PHOTO NEWS
See at the end of the newsletter how to avoid that you
loose coming issues of Stock Photo News because of
SPAM filters.
........................................................
NEWS: CONSOLIDATION IN THE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY INDUSTRY
The
consolidation of the providers of stock photography has
continued in 2004. The well known German stock agency
leader Zefa was bought by Corbis in 2004. Zefa has more
than 7.5 million images of which over 450.000 are digital.
Zefa
HQ is based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Zefa was founded
in 1958 and employs 140 people with posted sales of about
$38 million for 2003. Zefa sells the images to advertising,
public relations and design agencies.
The
acquisition of Zefa boosts Corbis' position in Europe
and increases Corbis' collection of 70 million images by
adding more architecture, lifestyle, sports, food and
general interest photography.
Corbis
is the second-largest digital-image company in
the world. Corbis has 900 employees and sales of
$140 million in 2003. In the first 6 months of 2004 Corbis'
commercial photography business, which includes images sold
to advertising agencies, grew at 35 percent, according to
Corbis spokesman Dov Schiff. Corbis is owned by Microsoft
co-founder Bill Gates.
Getty
Images is the biggest stock photography house
with 1,800 employees and sales of $523 million in 2003.
In 2004 Getty Images bought E-Lance Media that is
a German distributor of sport images, entertainment
and news.
Getty
Images was already strong in the European Stock market.
2004 was also a hectic year for smaller players in the
stock photo industry, among others:
Veer purchased Solus Images, PictureArts acquired Nonstock,
a21 bought Superstock, Jupitermedia bought Comstock as well
as Thinkstock.
........................................................
MY WEB HOSTING HISTORY CONSIDERED
As
an owner of many domain names and web sites I want to
give you a few points for your consideration before you
sign up to get a new domain name or sign up for web
hosting.
When
you realize the potential of the Internet you easily
come in need of several websites, each with their special
profile and of course each with a good domain name.
Many
people have realized that, and the need for multiple
domain hosting has become clear. Some web hosting company's
offer discounted rates when you sign up for more than one
domain. Some people find the solution to hire a 'dedicated
server' so they have a server for their own websites
without any competition for space and bandwidth (traffic)
from others. But these solutions are rather expensive.
In
my case I added new websites by the way during the years
and often had them hosted at the company that seemed to be
giving me the best offer at the time of purchasing the
domain. This ended up in a very complex situation.
The
domain names I bought but didn't have the time to
elaborate with a home page I finally moved to DirectNic
that offers domain name hosting for just 15 USD a year and
the option of having a free website up 20 MB of space and
free traffic and statistics included. You just had to
accept a banner at the top and bottom of each webpage. In
this way it became easier for me to quickly develop small
websites for domains I already owned. But at the end of
2004 I came across a much better solution I am now moving
over to.
Multiple
domain hosting
The company New Web Sites (NWS) offers multiple domain
name hosting and multiple web hosting with unlimited
bandwidth and unlimited disk space.
You can host up to 200 domains for a very reasonable fee.
In
fact I doubted this offer very much as I found it too
good. I went to a number of online discussion groups about
web hosting to find out what people were saying about this
company. With a few minor exceptions all claimed very good
experience of using NWS. Finally I decided to make the big
move.
At
the same time I will reduce my total costs by changing
my domain name provider to GoDaddy and the hosting of all
websites to NWS, see http://www.newwebsite.com/azfotos.
As
a photographer I have a rather big photo website for
A-Z Fotos (http://www.azfotos.com)
hosted at an expensive
web hosting provider with good service and security but
new fees are adding up every time I am successful
building additional pages and getting more traffic.
If
NWS will be as good as I expect at the moment I intend to
switch to that web hosting provider also for my photo
website.
You
find NWS at http://www.newwebsite.com/azfotos.
With
the use of AD-Sense from Google you can easily have
the full expense of using NWS covered.
I will keep you up-dated in future issues of Stock Photo News.
Building
a successful website
Among my different web hosting providers I still enjoy
the Site Build It (SBI) service developed by Ken Evoy and
I will keep that.
The SBI solution is a whole solution to develop a successful
website and internet business, also to a reasonable price.
Alone the tools and ideas are of more value than the actual
cost of the website. I make use of all this service from
SBI to my many other websites, including educational
websites, and websites about nature and about marketing.
Also
at SBI we have unlimited space and traffic. This is
interesting as the idea of SBI is in fact to optimize the
traffic and success of each website owner.
Many
of the owners of SBI are common people with a dream of
developing their own business. With the SBI solution
most are surprisingly successful. But they need to follow
the steps developed by Ken Evoy to website success.
I
have learned quite a lot just from their case studies.
You find these case studies at
http://contact.sitesell.com/case-studies/
It
is easy to mimic some of these cases to work with stock
photos or pictures or photography in general.
A
year ago I added an extra SBI site to my portfolio
because of a special holyday offer. And this should also
apply just now, if you look at
http://contact.sitesell.com/buildit/
If
you are already well served with websites I can still
recommend you to learn from the SBI experience,
e.g. from
http://contact.sitesell.com/results/
It is all about good content and how to build relevant traffic.
…………………………
Soren Breiting, Editor of Stock Photo News
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MARKETING WITH POSTCARDS
By
Kevin Nunley
To
be successful, your marketing plan needs to have two
essential things. First, it must get attention. If it
doesn't catch people's eye, it's not going to work, period.
Second, it must be cheap enough for the long haul. If your
marketing is too expensive, your profits will feel the
pinch.
Using
postcards is an effective marketing strategy that is
both affordable and attention-grabbing. Because a postcard
doesn't need an envelope, your message has a head start at
getting attention-- it's in your customer's face right off
the bat. Today's bright, full color postcards practically
jump out of your prospect's stack of mail.
Postcards
are far cheaper to send than regular mail. You
can make small, targeted postcard campaigns and get the
same results as an expensive print or broadcast campaign
might bring.
Your
postcard's main message needs to be simple and direct.
If your message is too long or seems too complicated, your
postcard will end up in the trash. Your card might double
as a coupon, thank customers for purchases, advertise a
sale, or simply remind people you're still there. Whatever
you do, don't try to pile too much information on one
postcard--focus on one objective.
When
writing your postcard, start with a great headline.
Begin with an action word. Promise a main benefit customers
will get when they buy from you. Cut out extra words.
Headlines
work best when they are black, bold type on a
white background. White on a dark background works well,
too. Avoid colored type. It can easily blend into the
background, giving your headline less impact.
Use
a full-color photo to make your postcard look more
impressive and stand out from the other mail. That used to
be expensive, but now online suppliers can give you a vast
catalogue of stock photos to choose from at a low price.
Choose a photo that people who buy from you might identify
with or find amusing.
You
can even send a series of cards. For example, your
floral shop might first send a postcard to addresses in the
neighborhood letting people know you're open for business.
Next, try sending a second postcard advertising a sale or
special item.
When
you target consumers, consider these ways of
categorizing your audience: where they are located, what
they do for a living, family size, income range, ages, men
or women, how much education they have, and the lifestyle
they embrace. Targeting your audience will get you better
response and more bang for your advertising buck.
Cheap,
effective postcards are a great way for a very small
business to gradually build its customer base and sales.
Postcards are also a good way to augment a larger company's
print and broadcast campaigns. By following these simple
tips, you can insure your postcard gets noticed and brings
results.
…………………………
Kevin
Nunley provides no-cost marketing
advice. He also writes sales letters, web copy, and press
releases fast and at low cost. See all his marketing and
writing deals at http://DrNunley.com
Send your question to him at
mailto:kevin@drnunley.com
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ONLINE PHOTO SHARING
You
will find an overview with reviews of online photo
sharing options and online photo albums at
http://www.OnlinePhotoSharing.NET
........................................................
10,000 DOWNLOADS OF GRAPHIC EXCHANGE PDF MAGAZINE
Press
Release, Dec 10, 04 Over 10,000 downloads of Graphic
Exchange Fall 2004 PDF magazine Graphic Exchange reports
that the latest issue of the world's first rich PDF
magazine has generated more than 10,000 total magazine
downloads since its October 21st release. "The success
of
gX in rich PDF has demonstrated that the market is ready to
experience a downloadable rich media publication with
video, virtual reality, music, web links and other
interactive features, and that in this new era of broadband
delivery, file size is not an impediment," said publisher
Dan Brill.
According
to Brill, the 10,279 downloads of the Fall 2004
issue of Graphic Exchange (as of December 9th) -- adding up
to over 850 gigabytes in download volume -- have already
surpassed the total for the Summer 2004 issue. The 79 MB
full embedded rich PDF version has accounted for about 75%
of the total. Downloads since the initial launch of gX in
rich PDF in mid-July have topped 19,000 individual digital
magazines, representing a total of 1.4 terabytes (1,400
gigabytes).
Among
the features in the current 52-page PDF issue of gX,
a well-respected Canadian graphics journal, are stories on
the future of publishing technologies, by industry veteran
Gene Gable; a report on musician Richie Hawtin (aka
Plastikman) and new performance motion graphics software
from Toronto's Derivative, by Toronto DJ Bob Kim; tips for
budding photographers on using the latest tools, by new
media expert Bob Connolly; a discussion on selling stock
photography, by Canadian photographer Mike Grandmaison; an
introductory tutorial on switching from QuarkXPress to
Adobe InDesign; an image gallery section featuring a full
screen 360-degree QuickTime VR image by internationally
known photographer Hans Nyberg; plus special news features,
reports and online resources by gX editors.
Embedded
into the full version of the PDF, which requires
Adobe Reader 6, are dozens of rich media elements and
hundreds of live links to websites. The basic version of
the magazine, a smaller 8 MB file which allows users with
older versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view pages,
includes all Web links but no rich media.
"What
many people don't know is that PDF is now a file
format that can do virtually everything that can be done on
a web page or a television screen, on almost any computer
or hand-held device," observed Dan Brill. "But what
really
sets PDF apart is the added ability to print pages with
full color and resolution, including all type and graphics.
There is simply no other file format in existence that can
match this."
The
first two rich PDF issues of Graphic Exchange were
co-produced by Toronto's BC Pictures and Brill
Communications, and may be downloaded from
http://www.gxo.com/download.php For more information, contact
Dan Brill by e-mail at dan@gxo.com or by telephone at
416-961-1325.
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SPORTS BETTING AND GAMBLING IMAGE LIBRARY
Press
Release (PRBot.Com) November 16, 2004
Cut and Deal - www.cutanddeal.com - the new source
for sports betting and gambling image library, had won
three major contracts in its first three months of operation.
About
Cut and Deal
Cut and Deal, www.cutanddeal.com, was founded in order to
fill a niche in the stock photography market, focussing
exclusively on sports, betting and gambling content. Cut
and Deal Ltd. was founded by Glen Conybeare and Alex
Kelleher. Glen Conybeare has worked with many of the large
sports betting and gambling companies including: Ladbrokes,
Victor Chandler, Intercasino and Paradise Poker. He also
worked as a freelance consultant with leading Soho design
agency NOWWASHYOURHANDS.
Alex
Kelleher founded his own internet design agency in
1995, and worked with some of today's most successful
online companies. Having built the company to 50 people, he
sold it in 2000 and following the sale co-founded Touch
Clarity, a fast growing marketing automation software
company.
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NEW RELEASE OF BREEZEBROWSER
To
get an overview of our pictures in a quick way many of
us use BreezeBrowser. Now there is a new version:
BreezeBrowser Pro at
http://www.breezesys.com/BreezeBrowser/index.htm
In BreezeBrowser Pro you can make webpages in different
design, e.g. in picutre frames in a simple process, see
http://www.breezesys.com/BreezeBrowser/templates/pictureframe/index.htm
More
BreezeBrowser templates:
http://www.peterberger.at/articles/index_e.html
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SPAM CHECK YOUR MAIL BEFORE SENDING
Spam
is a big problem for every one with an email-address.
But it is also a big problem for us who publish ezines and
newsletters because many of our subscribers fight against
spam with filters and the like. You can use this service to
have your future issue or letters checked if they will be
filtered away: http://contact.sitesell.com/spamcheck/
........................................................
WHITE-LIST STOCK PHOTO NEWS
Hotmail:
Place the domains azfotos.com and
StockPhotoNews.com on your Safe List, so that you can
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AOL:
Place the domains azfotos.com and StockPhotoNews.com
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Yahoo!
Mail: If one SPN issue is filtered to your 'bulk' folder,
open the message and click on the "this is not Spam"
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The
same goes for support e-mail. Some spam filters: Place
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You may need to search a filter's help for how to do this
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add the "azfotos.com" and "stockPhotoNews.com"
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address book or contact list.
THANK YOU! / Soren
........................................................
Copyright 2005 by Soren Breiting, A-Z FOTOS.
http://www.azFotos.com
"Find Stock Photos from most of the World"
Email me at: sb@ azfotosTAKETHISAWAY.com (email spaced
etc to avoid email harvesters).
You
are welcome to forward this newsletter to a friend or
to post it on your own website as long as you keep ALL
content, including the copyright notion and contact
information, intact and keep all links.
Stock
Photo News is 'in principle' a monthly newsletter
edited by me, 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
that is not outdated a month or two later.
To
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Go to http://www.StockPhotoNews.com
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