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Are Your Zooms Falling?


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Let's do our math homework then:

 

Legend:

ctr = click through rate

z = zooms

v = views

r = ranking

a,b,...z = parameters we don't know (photographer sign up date, # of uploads , image uploaded date, .....we don't know, Alamy controls them)

w1..wn = weight of each parameter (we don't know, Alamy controls them)

pv = # of page where an image is displayed in a search

s = sale

 

ctr=z/v

r=ctr*w1+a*w2+b*w3+...+z*wn

s= no math here.... 

 

We only know r affects pv (which somehow "improve the chance to get a sale" with no guarantees) so a sale has too many factors involved to be worried just about z

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I don't worry too much about CTR but I do worry about zooms because there seems to be a strong correlation between zooms and sort order (not just position) for a given search term now a days

 

Pearl

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9 minutes ago, Pearl said:

I don't worry too much about CTR but I do worry about zooms because there seems to be a strong correlation between zooms and sort order (not just position) for a given search term now a days

 

Pearl

 

I don't worry about zooms too... many zoomed-image search terms i can't replicate related images in a short period (had 2 zooms today of "african soccer player"... i don't live in Africa :) i only did many pics of that search term when i was there in 2009 ) 

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I think the main value of Zooms is reassurance that someone is actually noticing your images in between the wait for sales.

 

Having said that I had a zoom and a sale of the same image yesterday.

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2018 has been a rollercoaster for me in terms of views, zooms and sales, but with a downwards trend... views and zooms have plummeted the last 6 months of 2018... views are still much lower, but zooms and thus ctr better so far in January than last months of 2018... 

 

will see in the coming 2-3 months if the zooms became sales...

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Even though I know that not all sales first show up as zooms, if over several years I was consistently getting 60 to 90 zooms per month which equated to roughly 1 sale per 3 to 4 zooms per month; then one day my zooms crushed to only 20 per month for no comprehendible reason, shouldn't I be worried about future sales? 

 

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10 hours ago, KODAKovic said:

Let's do our math homework then:

 

Legend:

ctr = click through rate

z = zooms

v = views

r = ranking

a,b,...z = parameters we don't know (photographer sign up date, # of uploads , image uploaded date, .....we don't know, Alamy controls them)

w1..wn = weight of each parameter (we don't know, Alamy controls them)

pv = # of page where an image is displayed in a search

s = sale

 

ctr=z/v

r=ctr*w1+a*w2+b*w3+...+z*wn

s= no math here.... 

 

We only know r affects pv (which somehow "improve the chance to get a sale" with no guarantees) so a sale has too many factors involved to be worried just about z

 

Brilliant! And because of the unknowns you mention, I never look or worry about my CTR.

 

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13 hours ago, andremichel said:

Even though I know that not all sales first show up as zooms, if over several years I was consistently getting 60 to 90 zooms per month which equated to roughly 1 sale per 3 to 4 zooms per month; then one day my zooms crushed to only 20 per month for no comprehendible reason, shouldn't I be worried about future sales? 

 

 

Yes, you shouldn't worry too much 'cause it could be Alamy changed its algo or a below case is increasing.

From what i can understand nowadays a zoom is NOT registered when:

1) Alamy sales people make an order together with customers at their office (may be an internal CRM?)

2) non-VIP customers zoom an image

3) everyone searching for an image at Google or a partner site and zooming on these sites (not sure what happens if they would be redirected to the zoomed-image page at Alamy)

 

Case #1 or #3 in particular i suppose prevent a lot of zooms being registered on Alamy.

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views,zooms,CTR all just part of the smokescreen to divert attention from the real problems at Alamy like dubious licensing agreements,low prices,misuse of personal use ,failure to get reasonable recompense for image theft,bulk deals benefiting customer and alamy etc.

 

There are other reasons for a zoom including potential customer has poor eyesight, the search has turned up spurious results and curiosity takes over,the picture aint very clear and they wonder WTF it is, even if they are zooming with a view to purchase Alamy aint the only agency they visit and after zooming many will go elsewhere because of price or quality. There are so many factors involved which just make CTR meaningless.

 

My CTR is all over the place but my sales remain fairly consistent and the ratio of zooms to sales is also high but probably because i have minimal keywords ( no files hit their green visibility bar- another red herring designed to confuse and waste time.

 

 

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Thank you for the equations indicating that I needn't worry about zooms - I've considered doing that and I don't find it a helpful methodology. Sales are only occasional and so zooms remain the best indicator available to me that the images I am producing are marketable. Hence, I remain concerned when they reduce suddenly and substantially. It may be the result of a change in the market or, more likely, a change in the Alamy search engine algorithm. If I read in the forum that other contributors are experiencing similar declines in zooms it informs my thinking, even if there is little I can do about it in the short term. This thread has been useful in indicating that a significant number of others are having the same experience as me and  I need not panic. 

 

Zooms, for me, remain on a par with the occurrence of hen's teeth. 

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42 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said:

so zooms remain the best indicator available to me that the images I am producing

 

Why don't you put Sales in an Excel file and compare monthly and yearly when they happen?

It's a more "statistic" way to elaborate how you're performing.

Falling zooms indicate your images not being bought? NO

Other contributor falling zooms indicate your images not being bought? NO

Falling zooms help to diversify your collection? NO (it could be topics you covered are not hot in THIS month or week)

 

Don't panic, keep uploading and keywording as ever :)

Use Alamy Views instead to understand which are the hottest topics or Alamy tweets for buyer requests or Image Trends e-mails which are a sum of customer requests during a period.

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On 19/01/2019 at 19:31, andremichel said:

Jan 1 to 18 2018

Views 8792

Zooms 46

 

Jan 1 to 18 2019

Views 7169

Zooms 17

My zooms had a small jump today. Suddenly showing 30 for rolling month. 

I just checked Jan 1 to 18 again and it now shows 21 zooms instead of 17 originally. 

 

So Alamy appear to be recovering some of the 'lost' zooms behind the scenes. 

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24 minutes ago, peter_m said:

1 month here - only 2 zooms (from one search) with ~ 1000 photos :(

 

The key figure is not so much zooms per se, but how many zooms you get per x views/100 (which gives you your CTR, click through rate) . The Alamy average is 0.55. If you get lots of views but few zooms it would give you a low CTR and tend to suggest images are being returned in searches where they are not relevant. This can happen if an image's keywords are packed with words and phrases which are peripheral to the subject or ,at worst, quite irrelevant. 

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1 minute ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

The key figure is not so much zooms per se, but how many zooms you get per x views/100 (which gives you your CTR, click through rate) . The Alamy average is 0.55. If you get lots of views but few zooms it would tend to suggest images are being returned in searches where they are not relevant. This can happen if an image's keywords are packed with words and phrases which are peripheral to the subject or ,at worst q

Up for now 247 views, 2 zooms = Crt-0.81, that is not very bad for now i think. I am new here, only from 1 month, and i understand that if i have sale i will see it after few months ... 

 

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Just now, peter_m said:

Up for now 247 views, 2 zooms = Crt-0.81, that is not very bad for now i think. I am new here, only from 1 month, and i understand that if i have sale i will see it after few months ... 

 

 

That is a good CTR, fore the moment at least. As a new contributor you get a bit of a boost in the search rankings as you are given a median placing, which would tend to put you in the first few pages of searches where your image is appropriate. Make the most of it and try to keep  your CTR high, and for that I would stand by my thoughts on making sure keywords are relevant to the image - more is not necessarily better at Alamy.

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8 minutes ago, peter_m said:

.... i understand that if i have sale i will see it after few months ... 

 

 

You will see the sale on your dashboard page the day after it is made. However it takes six weeks, or in some cases some months for the sale to clear and the money to appear in your cleared balance. When your cleared balance reaches over $50, the money will be sent to your account by the method you have chosen. 

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9 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

You will see the sale on your dashboard page the day after it is made. However it takes six weeks, or in some cases some months for the sale to clear and the money to appear in your cleared balance. When your cleared balance reaches over $50, the money will be sent to your account by the method you have chosen. 

So if i have sale i will see it next day (dashboard is update every morning) , but money will appear later ? Or i will see sale when money are pays to alamy ?   For example - if someone buy picture today - i will understand this tomorrow, or i will understand this after 2-3 months when he pay ?

 

My 2 zooms are the only zooms from searching, so if i understand correct there is big chance to see after time that this zooms become sale ...

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2 minutes ago, peter_m said:

So if i have sale i will see it next day (dashboard is update every morning) , but money will appear later ? Or i will see sale when money are pays to alamy ?   For example - if someone buy picture today - i will understand this tomorrow, or i will understand this after 2-3 months when he pay ?

 

You will see the sale in your Sales History on your dashboard when the system updates (usually overnight, weekdays, UK time). It will tell you the gross price of the sale. You can also get more detail on your sales by clicking on the Download Sales Report button, which will tell you what percentage of the sale you will receive.  If someone buys a picture today, you will see it tomorrow in you Sales History and you can see how much you will eventually be getting in the Download Sales Report. When the customer pays (in six weeks or possibly more), your cleared balance (seen on your dashboard) will increase, and you will be paid when you your cleared balance gets to over $50.

 

The Download Sales Report gives a lot more detail,  but this is not the thread to go into detail on how that works. 

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