(Update #2: Potential for PicApp. Possible changes in the way it handles the ads. Read latest post on why I am not quite ready to give up on PicApp.)
(Update: I was mistaken. See post on why I think PicApp is annoying)
I don’t know how many of you 7 or 8 readers of this blog bother with photos for your sites. Sadly photos are frowned upon by the nicherati since they tend to grab the visitor’s attention and something crazy might happen like they might not click on an advertisement within the allotted 3.1 seconds. You only get a few seconds to royally piss off a visitor before they click away from your site in frustration. If you add something pleasing like a photo they may hesitate jjuuuuusttttt long enough to ponder your content and site. Only the most advanced nichemaster should attempt to deploy something as distracting as a photo on their site if the click and dash is your business model.
If you are feeling frisky and are willing to risk someone visiting your site and thinking “cool” instead of “oh for fuck’s sake”, then you might give photos a whirl. I know, I know. This is crazy talk. Splork’s off in the damn weeds again. Calm down. Take a breath. It’s not for everybody. That funny taste in your mouth may be just a little bit of vomit. I know how social media effects some people.
But if you want ****GASP!**** visitors to your site instead of click snipers then you should try PicApp. It’s a juicy photo aggregate site that allows you to post all kinds of photos from reputable media outlets.
PicApp has 20 million images from Getty Images, Splash, Corbis and alike, covering sports, news, entertainment, fashion, travel and more. All images are fully licensed and free to use. Images come tagged to improve SEO and promote reader interaction through image photo gallery available with each published image. An easy and seamless experience.
For those that are still with me here, ever create a blog and wonder where to get good photos without worrying if some suit is going to write and ask you to cease and desist stealing their copyrighted photos? You know, the ones you stole off their website to post on yours? Yea. Well now you can get choice photos to easily and legally drop on your blog. This is what we like to call, “fun”. I know. Who am I to suggest you have fun maintaining blogs? You cannot make money posting fun stuff!? You have to post clicks, dumbass.
fun
–noun
1. something that provides mirth or amusement: Using photos would be fun.
2. enjoyment or playfulness: PicApp is full of fun.–adjective
3. Informal. of or pertaining to fun, esp. to social fun: Adding photos is a fun thing to do.
4. Informal. whimsical: flamboyant: Those photos are definitely on the fun side.
Have a blog on The Detroit Red Wings? Say you’ve been writing commentary on the joys of watching the Red Wings choke on their quest to win the cup and failing despite having the most talent. You write your post and think that a photo from last nights game sure would look nice. Instead of going to the Detroit Lame Press or going to Yahoo Sports and stealing a photo, you can simply use PicApp. Go to PicApp and search on the RedWings. Most likely they will have some good action photos for you to use for your blog. If you are using WordPress.com then they give you code to paste into your blog. There is even a plug-in you can use for self-hosted blogs though apparently they are working on improving it or fixing it or something.
If you are clever, and really, who isn’t these days? You should be able to figure out a ton of things you can do with free quality commercial images. No more hoping for the best at stock.xchng. Or purchasing overpriced stock photography. In my opinion this is yet another threatening attempt to flush the crap. The web is making it too easy to create vibrant, entertaining and interesting sites. Bored people are always going to be clicking links but at some point they are going to demand something better than tired minimalist click holes for Adsense and Crapbank offers.
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Thanks for the resource!
Their photos are great. I used this on my last blog post.
The developers appear to be very responsive to inquiries and open to feedback– at least that was my personal experience with them.
Thanks Splork!
I just bookmarked this site and tried some searches I had trouble finding images for. And they were there. PicApp is definitely going to be used a lot by me. This is definitely a good freebie I am grateful for.
You chose the wrong Detroit team for choking. The Red Wings is so last year. The new king of the chokers are the Tigers. Thcy take choking to new levels of perfection.
The Tigers can’t be chokers. Choking is the art of failing at something you should be good enough to earn. The Tigers were NEVER that good and had positive variance for about 140 games. Then that variance turned the other way and took from them something that was never theirs to begin with.
If you were a baseball stathead you’d know that.
Of course, this doesn’t heal the hole in my 7-year old boy’s heart. At least he is picking up on the old man’s visceral dislike of the Yankees.
Thanks for letting us know about this great looking resource Splork.
Cheers.
I think that the Google Algorithm will give increasing weight to time spent on a site, further eroding the power of the niche model.
Photos here we come!
awesome thanks! i was tired of “borrowing” images from photodisc anyway lol
I’ve gotten where I use niche specific banners on a lot of my niche sites but I still try to keep it small and plain looking. I think it adds some credibility to the site while not taking away from the star of the show, the ad block.
Of course, I know how to use Photoshop and I can see someone who doesn’t not being able to do this in all cases. Does PicApp offer any kind of online editing/sizing of pictures?
There are also some interesting not-so-pure don’t-do-this-with-Adsense click tricks you can pull with pictures too. But maybe we ought not go there.
Great post the information here is always helpful I learn a lot everyday thank you.
do you know just how much time you save the rest of us poor souls by posting such good info? thnx. Will try this out.
btw tried to email you at yahoo but it got returned. is this still your email?
splork1 at yahoo
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