ClickASnap

7 Building Blocks of Photography 2

When Tom, myself and others came up with the concept of ClickASnap as a paid per view photography sharing site it seemed like a good idea, and now two years on it’s beginning to prove itself. With payouts to users at over $4,500 in paid views this year; 1,000,000 photo views a month; social sharing; feed; image sales and massively improved image quality, it’s come a very long way for a two year old.

Back when I first made a video about it there were only around 30 / 40 image views per day!  

This is in no small way thanks to our committed users who not only upload some lovely images, they tell everyone else they’re there by sharing links to them on their social media. They guide the development of ClickASnap by suggesting new features and tell us if they find a bug that needs fixing. Thank you guys, you all truly rock.

So what of the future? 

The profile pages are being redesigned to be more of a personal space for users, and made easier to move around between images, albums, items for sale etc. Image search is being improved.

Tagging images is a vital part of having them found in search (Google, Bing etc…) and earning paid views and potential sales, but as we all know it’s a bit of a drag. So besides manual tagging ClickASnap has now incorporated image recognition technology which adds tags to photos automatically. It’s early days but image recognition is expected to increase in organic search by at least 50%. 

Remember machines might be able to say what something is, but keep adding your own tags because it won’t know words like, beautiful, moving, exciting, inspiring, emotional…

ClickASnap will continue to pay photographers and artists for views of their work. When you share an image that viewers pause to look at, we know it’s a great image that’s giving someone pleasure, so you get paid a small share of ClickASnaps revenue. Yes’ it’s small right now because ClickASnap is still a youngster and we’re investing in improving the site, but imagine what it might become when there’s 1,000,000 photo views a day? Site revenue will be up so there’s more to share with creators in paid views alone. 

Sharing your photos is key so there’s a new automated social sharing feature being developed. You’ll soon be able to set your ClickASnap account to share your photos to your accounts on other platforms like Pinterest, Instagram etc, which will obviously get you more views… Cool eh!

And with more views comes desirability. Stock photography is another revenue stream for creators and this will be coming to ClickASnap as time and money allow for its development costs. Tom has had a brainwave for a new way for you to monetise your images as stock, without giving up your image. I’m sworn to secrecy by an NDA (non disclosure agreement) at the moment - but I can’t wait for it to happen.

The quality of imagery has consistently improved over the last couple of years and that’s very exciting. I love looking to see what’s new and how photographers and artists are creating some truly beautiful imagery. Now, that doesn’t mean ClickASnap’s just for the pros or the very good. Just by sharing an album of your family day at the seaside with relatives you’d be generating paid for views. But by uploading and sharing your best work, you’re increasing your views.

One of the reasons I became involved was because paid views are a fantastic motivator for new photographers to keep practising and evolving. And when you sell your 1st image, wow it’s an amazing boost and makes you hungry for more. There are two kinds of photos in my opinion. Memories like a family picnic, holiday, day out etc which can be shared in an album to others you know who will be delighted by them.

The other is what I call ‘Imagery’. Images that are compelling enough to stand up in their own right and make someone want to enjoy them. It’s this type of image that you should be thinking about when you upload, tag and share publicly. Don’t be shy or think no one else will be interested. If you are proud of an image, share it whatever ‘level’ you think you’re at.

Developers who can custom code a site like this don’t come cheap, so Tom is always looking for investment to grow the site, like the EU grant to develop the autosharing. He’s also in discussion with some Silicon Valley venture capitalists which is very exciting because just being in conversation with these guys means some very serious people are beginning to look closely at ClickASnap...

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