The stock photo business has been around in one form or another since 1920. In fact that very first stock photography company, called RobertStock, is still in business. In the days before the internet, stock photos were primarily the outtakes or “seconds” from studio shoots. It wasn’t until the 1960s that stock photography became its own photography specialty and in the 1980s there was a surge of interest by individual and freelance photographers.In the days since the internet and digital photography, the number of companies in the stock photo business has blossomed and the number of pictures has soared into the tens of millions.Digital photography and the explosion of reasonably priced high end cameras have democratized stock photography but also changed the entire pricing structure. The days when photographers could make a living strictly from stock photography are pretty much over, except for a select few at the top agencies. There are a few people who manage to earn as much as $300 per day, but it takes a huge amount of effort. For the majority of photographers it’s a part-time income that covers some of the bills for their photography habit.It should be noted that stock photography can be a pretty decent part-time income. Those who have been at it regularly for a number of years are reporting incomes of $20,000 to $30,000 a year. That kind of income doesn’t come easy, but it’s a way to pay for your camera gear.When comparing stock photo agencies there are a number of factors to consider before deciding which ones to submit your images. There are two basic types of stock photography sites: Stock photography and microstock photography sites.Stock photography sites are the old school type sites where photos are licensed for fees ranging from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. They are primarily the domain of truly professional photographers and the screening process for photographer acceptance can be both tedious and time consuming.Microstock photography sites are the newer type sites on the block where both amateur and professionals mix and photo rights are sold for anywhere from $1 to $5. The idea is that lower license fees lead to more sales and more revenue for photographers.Each type of site has different requirements for image submission and not all images are accepted. All sites screen images, but not all apply the same standards. Every site has different types of image licensing and determines price differently. They also have different requirements for photo releases.LicensingStock image galleries have three basic types of licenses: Rights Managed Exclusive, Rights Managed Non-Exclusive and Royalty Free, which includes several sub-classes of Royalty Free licenses, depending on the intended use.Rights Managed Exclusive – A customer buys rights to use an image for a limited amount of time and no other company can use that image.Rights Managed Non-Exclusive – A company buys time-limited rights to an image, but other companies are also free to license the same image. It’s a generally a bad idea for companies to use non-exclusive rights for advertising photos because competitors can license the same pictures.Royalty Free – Royalty free licenses have become the default license type for most stock images. It allows the customer to purchase the image once and use it multiple times in different applications.Editorial Use License – Images which feature logos, brands or recognizable products, events, and even some celebrities are licensed as editorial use photos, which means they can only be used as part of a news story and not in commercial advertising or applications.Extended Licensing – Extended licensing and buyout licensing are for companies that want to purchase the rights to use images on products, logos or copyright use marks and use them, essentially, forever.ReleasesAll stock photography sites insist on having commercial photo releases for every identifiable person in the image. Minors must have a release signed by a parent or guardian and witnessed. Some sites will accept any commercial photo release; most have their own specific release.Selecting the best stock photography sites for the individual photographer will require a screening process to determine the best match between the photographer’s images, interests and skills. Also the split between the licensing agency and the photographer can make a big difference in earnings.It might be enlightening to review specific sites, how they’re alike and different and how much average photographers make off each site, when that information is available. What follows are reviews of five different stock image sites.1. Getty ImagesGetty is one of the largest stock photography sites, located in Seattle, Washington. Getty has over 80 million images and illustrations and 50,000 hours of stock video footage and also owns microstock agency iStockPhoto. Getty is most famous for celebrity and media, sports, and photojournalist images.The easiest way to get your photos into Getty is posting them on Yahoo’s Flickr, but they also have contracts with photographers of exceptional talent. Getty will accept a portfolio for review, but don’t expect the review to happen fast.For Rights Managed pictures Getty charges between $500 and $600 for limited-time use. The photographer gets between 30 percent and 40 percent of those fees. For Non-Exclusive image rights, Getty charges an average of $250, of which photographers get about 20 percent.The fees for Royalty Free images are based on the image size.Like most stock image companies, Getty requires a commercial release for every identifiable person.Lately Getty has fallen out of favor with many creative companies and photographers because of what they consider overly-aggressive pursuit of even incidental use of their images. Many creative agencies have cut back on using Getty images and switched to microstock agencies.2. ShutterstockShutterstock offers their subscribers access to more than 10 million royalty-free images from 210,000 photographers, illustrators, and videographers around the world. Shutterstock is generally recognized as the king of the microstock market and consistently one of the better earners for photographers, although they do not offer exclusive arrangements with photographers.Shutterstock works on a subscription model. For $249 a month customers can download up to 750 royalty free images per month. Their license supports use in web sites, magazines, newspapers and brochures, though not in trademarked items or logos.For a subscription service, Shutterstock maintains very high standards of image quality. Each image goes through an “inspection queue” where it undergoes rigorous testing for quality. Lately photographers have been complaining about the acceptance rate at Shutterstock.For every photo that’s downloaded, photographers get $0.25 to $0.30 cents. The compensation goes higher when they reach a certain level of downloads. The payout threshold for photographers is $100.3. Jupiter ImagesJupiter has a commanding reputation for customer service and quality, offering rights managed and royalty free images. Jupiter offers multimedia subscriptions for $599 per month or a high-resolution subscription for $2,499 a month.Jupiter Images offers a catalog collection that is colorful, bright and provocative. Their catalog also includes illustrations, clip art, and object photos as vector images.License fees vary by the type of license and intended use, as do the payments for photographers. Jupiter, like Getty, does offer exclusive deals to certain select photographers.Getting into Jupiter Images as a photographer can best be described as “don’t call us; we’ll call you” kind of arrangement. Jupiter or Getty are not the place to start for photographers trying to break into the stock photography business.4. FotoliaFotolia is a relatively young but growing microstock agency that started out with a focus on the European market and worked its way into broader markets around the globe. They have struggled with web site performance in the past and have few exclusive contributors.Fotolia currently boasts an inventory of over 2 million images and licenses their products through standard Royalty Free and Extended licenses.Where Fotolia shines is through their pricing, which runs from $1 to $5 for their standard license and is unique in letting contributors set their own prices within certain parameters.Fotolia is also generous with its split, giving photographers a minimum of 33 percent and half of any deals for exclusive images. Their payout threshold is also $50, about half of most other stock image sites.If you’re just starting out in the stock photography business, Fotolia is definitely worth a look.5. DreamstimeDreamstime is one of the top microstock agencies and work hard to maintain their position in the industry. It is particularly attractive to photographers as their commission is 50 percent, one of the highest in the market and certainly in the top tier of microstock agencies.While Dreamstime started as a royalty free CD store in 2000, it became community enabled in 2004. Despite slower sales early on, it has preserved the loyalty of their contributors with high commission rates.Dreamstime is currently boasting an inventory of 1.5 million images and specializes in Royalty Free image sales, but also offers Extended licenses and buyout licensing. Prices range from $0.75 to $6.00.Commissions for photographers run in the range of 50 percent to 80 percent with a $100 payout threshold.ConclusionAnyone interested in starting in stock photography, will have better luck and more income starting with microstock agencies. After building up a catalog of 1,000 to 2,000 images, the income for popular shots can start to add up over time.Once you’ve established yourself in the business and build a name for yourself, then look at sending a portfolio to an agency like Getty.
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Life Insurance – Finding the Right Policy For You
Getting a life insurance is a vital decision to make. This will help you make sure that your family will be well taken care of and will not go through any financial stress in the event that you pass away. But finding the right life insurance policy is not a walk in the park. The ideal life insurance policy to get is one that best meets your needs.Defining Life InsuranceThe term life insurance is defined as the contract between the policy owner and the insurance company, where the latter agrees to pay a total amount of money in the event that the insured individual becomes critically ill, suffers from a terminal illness, or dies. The policy owner, in return, agrees to pay a predetermined amount known as the premium at specified time intervals or in lump sums. Different insurance companies from various countries will have variations in their life insurance policies. But generally, life insurance policies are the working contracts between the policy owner and the insurer where designated beneficiaries are paid off if an insured event that is covered by the policy occurs.Deciding on the CoverageChoosing a life insurance policy is not something you should rush through. A lot of factors need to be considered before deciding on the kind of policy to get. Before you visit your life insurance policy, you should already have an idea or the amount of coverage you want and the amount that you can afford to shell out every month. While people will generally opt for the maximum amount of coverage that they will be able to reap with their monthly premium, you may have a financial need in mind that will greatly affect this decision. Decide on what coverage you want, how much coverage you need, and how much you can readily spend for your monthly payments and you should be ready to talk to your life insurance agent.Collecting Life Insurance QuotesFinding the right life insurance policy needs a careful process of assessment and evaluation. You don’t sign up with the first insurance agent that comes up to you and claim that they have the best offer. Try to collect as many quotes you can from online as well as offline resources. This is to give you a wide range when it comes to life insurance options to choose from. While online resources may be easily accessed, your local insurance companies may have added services and offers not available in their online counterparts.Weighing Your OptionsYou need to take into consideration a great number of things when comparing the quotes that you have gathered. Here are those vital factors that you need to look carefully into before finally deciding on the right policy for you:- the type of policy you want to take
- how much you need to be covered for
- the amount of debt you have (if you have any)
- the amount of money you can pay for your premium
- the future expenses your family will have to shoulder after your deathIn this case, approaching a financial advisor or planner will be helpful. He can help you determine how much your family will need to live comfortably even after your death.Closing the DealAfter you have narrowed down the policies to a chosen few, you need to sit down and take the time to examine and assess the life insurance quotes you have collected for the last time. With a careful evaluation of the quotes, pick one that gives the perfect balance between price and coverage, making sure that the policy you will get covers all the features that you need. If you’re confident with your choice, then it’s time to call your trusted life insurance company or agent.
Online Network Marketing Advertising Strategy
What I mean by advertising here is not just that: advertising. What I mean is more to “Think Marketing Communications” rather than simply “Think Advertising”.
Therefore, probably I should change the title of this article into: “Online Network Marketing Advertising & Marketing Communications Strategy”. Sounds better, right?
Ok, let’s move on.
It is to create a bond between YOU–not the program–and your downlines or your prospects. It is to build you as a Brand. As an Online Network Marketing Brand that gives meaningful values for your customers.
In this strategy, you have to cover the following points:
1) MARKETING OBJECTIVE – You need to set-up the amount of income you aim to get at the end of the year after you run your Advertising and Marketing Communications Campaign. For example, your Marketing Objective can be:
“Earn at least $10,000 monthly residual income or $120,000 annually”.
2) ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVE – The difference between this and point number 1 is Marketing Objective is talking about numbers. About achievement money wise. Advertising and Marketing communications Objective is talking about what happens in your customers’ minds after being exposed to your campaign.
For example:
A) Build awareness of you as a successful Network Marketer in your customers’ minds. An expert whose advices should be followed to succeed.
B) Build your name as a trusted “BRAND NAME” in the Online Network Marketing industry.
C) Build positive rapport and make your prospects or downlines perceive you as their “profit source”.
D) Convince your prospects that to join and stay with the program you offer is a smart and profitable choice.
You see, the basic content in the point #2 of this strategy is first arising Awareness, second generating Interest, third provoking Desire, fourth motivating Action and the last building Loyalty. In short, it’s AIDAL. (A slight improvement of the old AIDA theory.)
3) TARGET AUDIENCE – Here you should clearly understand who you are talking to. It depends on the products and services offered by the program you join. If the program you join offers Autoresponder Accounts, Leads, and Web Design Templates, for example, then the Target Audience of your Advertising and Marketing Communications campaign are Internet Marketers, Network Marketers and people who want to profit from their Internet Marketing and Network Marketing activities. If your program offers Diet Pills, then your target audience are overweight people. But don’t stop there. Dig deeper. Dive into their minds and try to find out what their worries, needs or wants are. In short, try to know them just like you know yourself.
4) BENEFITS – Why should people join the programs? And why should they join under you? Based on your knowledge about your Target Audience, first, list down the benefits of the programs that will appeal most to them. Once you’ve done that, think that your competitors are not only people who promote other programs but also those who promote the same program you join. Therefore, you should provide added benefits for your prospects, so they’ll get more values to join a program under you than under anyone else.
For example:
“If you join under me, I’ll personally help you so you’ll get at least 3 Paid Downlines in 30 days.”
5) SUPPORTS – Convince your Target Audience that they will get the benefits as promised. State here your arguments that will back-up your claims at point number 4.
For example:
“In the past, I’ve personally helped hundreds of my downlines to earn between $750 and $11,000 monthly residual income. Click here to see their testimonials. They are real.”
6) POSITIONING – Here you are talking about how you want your Target Audience to perceive your program and, more important, YOU in their minds. If your program provides excellent products and services needed and wanted by millions of people world wide, you might position it as “a cash machine that lasts” and you can position yourself as “a certified technician that can teach people how to operate that machine the best way for the best results”.
7) TONE AND MANNER – This is about how you deliver your messages to your Target Audience in your campaign. It’s about the way you talk to them. You can be Authoritative, Factual and Full of Confidence, if you already succeed with your program and you want your Target Audience to follow your path to be as successful as you are. But you can also be Helpful, Friendly, and Resourceful, when you just start your campaign and haven’t had worth mentioning results yet.
CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES – List down here the advertising and marketing communications activities you’d like to do to Build Your Name as a Trusted Brand Name in the Network Marketing industry and to promote your program to your target audience, for example:
- Writing articles and submit them to appropriate ezines and article directories.
- Google AdWords Campaign
- Solo Ads in appropriate ezines
- Forum posting
- You name it.
I always believe that “Once a great strategy is done, a great Advertising and Marketing Communications campaign is half done”. So, once you’ve done writing your own strategy, congratulations! You’ve reached half of your Network Marketing success. The other half is to implement this strategy to the fullest. And that’s the topic of the next article.