Views way up, zooms way down, CTR way way down

[tarsierspectral]

I haven't really added any images recently and with the same images several months back my statistics were pretty good.  In the past few months I noticed that these days my views are way way up but my zooms are way way down so of course my CTR is laughable. The number of sales this month is average for me.  Anyone else is experiencing the same?  Is this caused by all the tweaking in the search engine or something else is happening?

[Ed Rooney]

Of your long litany of observations and complaints the only one that popped out at me was "The number of sales this month is average for me." Relax. Maybe deep breathing would help.

[Paul Thompson]

As Said above if you are getting the sales then do not worry about the rest, Sales are the main goal for us all

[tarsierspectral]

Of your long litany of observations and complaints the only one that popped out at me was "The number of sales this month is average for me." Relax. Maybe deep breathing would help.

last month was way below average.  I just want to see if others are experiencing the same thing or whether I should be doing something different.  My CTR is the lowest ever and I am concerned about it.  Sales are average today but because my CTR is so low sales might be affected by it in the future.  I am trying to think forward.  Is that wrong? 

[JohnB]

I think I experienced the same thing. Last month my zooms almost disappeared to the point that zooms and sales were comparable in number but they seem to be back to normal for me this month.  I was convinced there was something wrong with the stats. Statistically you'd expect fluctuations especially with a relatively small sample but you do tend to get to know how your collection normally performs. If there had been some odd fault just affecting a few of us we'd never know. I know people say that only sales matter but I worry about these things because CTR is part of the ranking and (for me) at least zooms and sales are very much linked.

[Nick Jenkins]

I must be lucky. I have mentioned this a few times but there is, for me, NO correlation between zooms and sales. Currently I have 5 zooms-all from the Isles of Scilly. I will wager a dead haddock not one will manifest itself into a sale. Whereas those sales I have had have seldom come from zooms.

nj

[John Mitchell]

My zooms, CTR, and sales have been going up and down like a yo-yo this year. I find that Alamy is a lot more volatile than it used to be, probably because of all the changes that have been going on behind the scenes and the inexorable growth of the collection. Yoga breathing -- and perhaps Gravol -- will no doubt become increasingly popular among contributors as time goes on. Stay away from the hard stuff, though.

[Barking]

my zooms have disappeared completely the past month...but I rarely have any sales, so I suppose it's makes no difference :(

[Craig Yates]

This month my zooms are climbing up the roller-coaster and will probably

drop rapidly down the other side, then up,then down e.t.c.

 

Regards

Craig

[kensplace]

Still waiting for my first zoom.

[Duncan_Andison]

For me, views have steadied and zooms increased. I removed keywords from certain files to try and keep views to more relevant searches. Views were increasing a lot at one point but I put this down to adding about 2k of images since mid March. Zooms have been about 1 per hundred images in my portfolio for the last 2 months, so about 25-35 for a rolling 30 days.

 

One thing I have noticed are searches on reference numbers without zooming the image with no previous zooms either. I'm not sure how this will impact ranking if it becomes more popular amongst buyers.

[Stokie]

I've had record numbers of views this month - 4424 for the rolling month, but zooms are low/average with between 17-24 for the rolling month.

 

John

[dov makabaw]

Your sales are on average and that is all that really counts.

 

We are now in the holiday season and the activity will reflect this. Your drop in zooms may also reflect a seasonal influence for your image subject matter. Zooms are only recorded for registered buyers so there may be unreported activity which will continue to maintain you sales level.

 

As a Newbie it may also be that you had not yet built up a momentum although with 4,632 images on line you are certainly doing something right.

 

dov

[tarsierspectral]

Your sales are on average and that is all that really counts.

 

We are now in the holiday season and the activity will reflect this. Your drop in zooms may also reflect a seasonal influence for your image subject matter. Zooms are only recorded for registered buyers so there may be unreported activity which will continue to maintain you sales level.

 

As a Newbie it may also be that you had not yet built up a momentum although with 4,632 images on line you are certainly doing something right.

 

dov

I am not a Newbie (this forum is new so labels everyone a Newbie even though I've been active on the old forum).  I've been with Alamy since 2007.  I understand the seasonal fluctuations etc.  What I am experiencing is different than anything I have experienced before.  I know that zoom are only recorded for registered buyers.  How about the views, are those only recorded by registered buyers?  

For comparisons sake. My statistics for for last year (July 2012), the same amount of images:

views: 2,800

zooms: 16

sales: 8

CTR: 0.57

 

This year (July 2013):

views: 5,934

zooms: 4

sales: 6

CTR: 0.07

 

I have not added any images and I have not changed any keywords.

[Allan Bell]

Personally I don't think we can really make anything out of CTR/ZOOM/SALE figures ratios. It is all down to client and current market demands.

 

Allan

[Duncan_Andison]

I am not a Newbie (this forum is new so labels everyone a Newbie even though I've been active on the old forum).  I've been with Alamy since 2007.  I understand the seasonal fluctuations etc.  What I am experiencing is different than anything I have experienced before.  I know that zoom are only recorded for registered buyers.  How about the views, are those only recorded by registered buyers?  

For comparisons sake. My statistics for for last year (July 2012), the same amount of images:

views: 2,800

zooms: 16

sales: 8

CTR: 0.57

 

This year (July 2013):

views: 5,934

zooms: 4

sales: 6

CTR: 0.07

 

I have not added any images and I have not changed any keywords.

 

-----------------

 

Might be down to the enlarged mouse over views or increased use of lightboxes and zooming the image from there. You have a good sales / zoom ratio.... I wish mine was like that! The increased views could be the auto 120 images per page thing?!? I guess as long as those sales keep coming in, all must be well!

[Terry]

First time I have been on here for a while.

I used to check my Alamy daily, and up to them introducing the BO buttons used to get regular monthly sales.

Think I have had 1 or 2 zooms in months (can't be arsed to look) no sales for months either.

I have not bothered to upload anything for ages, I have around 70 images that need keywording for around 6 months, I can't be bothered doing them.

The images I have with Alamy will stay. I just cannot justify time spent uploading, keywording, for the minuscule returns. 

 

Terry.

 

[Allan Bell]

Welcome back to the forum Terry.

 

Allan

[CLSI]

I am not a Newbie (this forum is new so labels everyone a Newbie even though I've been active on the old forum).  I've been with Alamy since 2007.  I understand the seasonal fluctuations etc.  What I am experiencing is different than anything I have experienced before.  I know that zoom are only recorded for registered buyers.  How about the views, are those only recorded by registered buyers?  

For comparisons sake. My statistics for for last year (July 2012), the same amount of images:

views: 2,800

zooms: 16

sales: 8

CTR: 0.57

 

This year (July 2013):

views: 5,934

zooms: 4

sales: 6

CTR: 0.07

 

I have not added any images and I have not changed any keywords.

 

Hi Tarsier,

 

Thanks for the apples-to-apples comparison. The difference between this July and last July for you clearly has nothing to do with summer vacations, number of images, keywording, or anything else that is unchanged between these two months, and even without knowing what a normal amount of monthly variation is for you, I'm willing to bet that the increase in views and decrease in zooms you've seen are not due to random fluctuations. Although your sales are (roughly) normal now, I think you're right to be concerned about future sales.

 

The big question is What has changed between July 2012 and July 2013? The two big changes are the introduction of the "creative" and other buttons (last October), and the roll out of the new website (in March). The default to 120 images per page on the new website probably has a lot to do with the increase you've seen in views. A lot of customers undoubtedly do test searches just to see what's available (or before refining their searches by adding keywords), never checking beyond the first page, and if they've switched from 30 images per page to 120 images per page, there are 90 images now being viewed that weren't viewed for such searches on the old website. Many (most?) of these customers probably never bother scrolling down to actually view or zoom the later images on these test searches, so overall CTR has tended to drop (a trend we've seen in Alamy's reported average CTR).

 

I personally have seen an increase of roughly 20% to 25% in views (I don't have quite so good an apples-to-apples comparison to make as you do, as I've continued to add to my collection) since the new website went live, so I don't think the new website can account for your views more than doubling, but I'm sure it contributes. Another factor is just a general increase in activity at Alamy. I've checked "All of Alamy" for one week in July 2012 and found 35,722 unique searches; one week in July 2013 saw 41,899 unique searches, an increase of 17%. Perhaps you also have a large proportion of your images returned by searches using the "creative" button? Did you see an increase in views after the buttons were introduced? Have you had a boost in Alamy rank since last July, which would result in increased views? (I know we don't get to know what our rank is, but you can get a feel for this, either with BHZ or by checking where your images show up in test searches.)

 

As for the low zooms, I'm at a loss for theories, but you have my sympathy. More people are seeing your images than ever; why aren't they zooming them? I haven't seen much evidence (in the form of a thread complaining about disappearing zooms) that there's a flaw in Measures, and if everyone saw their zooms drop by 75%, it's a pretty safe bet that there'd be a long thread on the subject by now. My own zooms are down a bit, but well within the normal range. I'm sorry that I don't have any practical advice for you, but I hope I at least have helped clear up some of the mystery behind your increased views.

[tarsierspectral]

 

I am not a Newbie (this forum is new so labels everyone a Newbie even though I've been active on the old forum).  I've been with Alamy since 2007.  I understand the seasonal fluctuations etc.  What I am experiencing is different than anything I have experienced before.  I know that zoom are only recorded for registered buyers.  How about the views, are those only recorded by registered buyers?  

For comparisons sake. My statistics for for last year (July 2012), the same amount of images:

views: 2,800

zooms: 16

sales: 8

CTR: 0.57

 

This year (July 2013):

views: 5,934

zooms: 4

sales: 6

CTR: 0.07

 

I have not added any images and I have not changed any keywords.

 

Hi Tarsier,

 

Thanks for the apples-to-apples comparison. The difference between this July and last July for you clearly has nothing to do with summer vacations, number of images, keywording, or anything else that is unchanged between these two months, and even without knowing what a normal amount of monthly variation is for you, I'm willing to bet that the increase in views and decrease in zooms you've seen are not due to random fluctuations. Although your sales are (roughly) normal now, I think you're right to be concerned about future sales.

 

The big question is What has changed between July 2012 and July 2013? The two big changes are the introduction of the "creative" and other buttons (last October), and the roll out of the new website (in March). The default to 120 images per page on the new website probably has a lot to do with the increase you've seen in views. A lot of customers undoubtedly do test searches just to see what's available (or before refining their searches by adding keywords), never checking beyond the first page, and if they've switched from 30 images per page to 120 images per page, there are 90 images now being viewed that weren't viewed for such searches on the old website. Many (most?) of these customers probably never bother scrolling down to actually view or zoom the later images on these test searches, so overall CTR has tended to drop (a trend we've seen in Alamy's reported average CTR).

 

I personally have seen an increase of roughly 20% to 25% in views (I don't have quite so good an apples-to-apples comparison to make as you do, as I've continued to add to my collection) since the new website went live, so I don't think the new website can account for your views more than doubling, but I'm sure it contributes. Another factor is just a general increase in activity at Alamy. I've checked "All of Alamy" for one week in July 2012 and found 35,722 unique searches; one week in July 2013 saw 41,899 unique searches, an increase of 17%. Perhaps you also have a large proportion of your images returned by searches using the "creative" button? Did you see an increase in views after the buttons were introduced? Have you had a boost in Alamy rank since last July, which would result in increased views? (I know we don't get to know what our rank is, but you can get a feel for this, either with BHZ or by checking where your images show up in test searches.)

 

As for the low zooms, I'm at a loss for theories, but you have my sympathy. More people are seeing your images than ever; why aren't they zooming them? I haven't seen much evidence (in the form of a thread complaining about disappearing zooms) that there's a flaw in Measures, and if everyone saw their zooms drop by 75%, it's a pretty safe bet that there'd be a long thread on the subject by now. My own zooms are down a bit, but well within the normal range. I'm sorry that I don't have any practical advice for you, but I hope I at least have helped clear up some of the mystery behind your increased views.

 

Thanks CLSI.  I don't really have answers to the questions you posed.  I can't tell if I have a large portion of images returned by creative because that all depends on a client which images are presented to them.  I never played the BHZ game.  I always had average CTR, decent sales, good zooms etc. so I didn't care for playing BHZ.  I guess I will never know what is wrong with my collection if several months ago for years it was just fine and now it is not.