About Cutcaster | Design and Photography Highlights

Thinking Outside the Box – Huge opportunity in stock

Buyer Requests, Cutcaster Updates, Photography, Uncategorized 1 Response »

May 252011

In the last year, Cutcaster has seen an incredible improvement in the quality of photos and vector artwork, which are uploaded to the site. The quality bar keeps getting raised as we reach 1 million images at Cutcaster in the coming months. With that said, we still see gaps in our collection that have created massive opportunities. Find out here about what type of images we are actively looking for and are under-represented at Cutcaster. Fill these holes and you might find yourself with a hot seller.

To expand your portfolio into an untapped arena of stock photography, we urge you to create a portion of your portfolio that really shows your “outside of the box” thinking, i.e. get granddad out there on water-skis, or place your old credit cards in your kitchen’s blender or use Photoshop to create unique situations in your images by combining different elements. Get as creative as possible. Take chances and see what works and doesn’t work. Then carefully keyword and upload your new creative shots to Cutcaster.

Here are some examples of pictures we currently have but we’d love to see more of this type of photography and illustrations:

Crescendo Collection

We strive to provide our picture buyers with the unique images they seek. Thanks for your help creating more jaw dropping images that will impress our buyers and increase your long-term earnings potential!

Regards,

Your Cutcaster team.

Cutcaster’s April Newsletter

About Cutcaster, Cutcaster Updates No Responses »

Apr 192011

The new Cutcaster is rocking and rolling. Traffic and sales are improving each day and the reviews from our customers and contributors have been outstanding. Shortly, we’ll begin our first real advertising and marketing campaigns for the new site. Are you ready to take advantage of this opportunity?

Upload your newest artwork to attract the attention of picture buyers who are searching now at Cutcaster. Uploading new content, as often as possible, is the best way to get higher placement in our search results as well. Learn from this short uploading video how to upload multiple pictures at once via our new FTP system.

Want to know a great way to get more sales and impress visitors that land on your portfolio page? Organize niche sets of your images with our newly released Lightboxes. We’ve seen that creating lightboxes has led to an increase in views and sales for images included within them. Why not create your first lightbox now to see how it works? This short lightbox video shows you how easy they are to create.

Are you telling your friends and colleagues about Cutcaster and using your referral codes so you get earn easy cash at the same time? See how to add a referral link to your webpage, blog or forum signature that points to your portfolio and gives you cash when new users signup.

If we aren’t already connected on our Facebook page and Twitter page, please take a moment to connect with us.

Your Cutcaster Team.

Creating an Image Lightbox using Cutcaster Photos and Clip art

Cutcaster How To, Cutcaster Updates, Lightbox, Uncategorized No Responses »

Mar 082011

Here are two very short videos to help you understand how the new lightbox system works. We have a few more tweaks to make to the feature but the first video shows you how you should be
creating a new image lightbox and then second video shows you how you can add an image to a photo lightbox.

We will be releasing shortly the ability to delete lightboxes, set them to public vs private and also the ability to easily send them via the site instead of copying and pasting the URL into an email to someone. Hope these help and please pass along your feedback regarding the lightbox functionality.

How to change your photo or vector’s price?

Cutcaster How To, Cutcaster Updates 1 Response »

Feb 182011

This option is now available for files that were previously on the old Cutcaster. Remember you are setting the price for the medium size file and we will adjust your medium price to reflect the cost for larger or smaller file sizes. If you have problems adjusting your prices, please contact webmaster@cutcaster.com.

Image Review Back to Normal

Cutcaster Updates No Responses »

Feb 152011

Our review process is back to normal and review is in full swing again. Any pending images have started to be reviewed again by our review team. You can check the status of your uploads at any time from your account page under “Media Files” –> Overview.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to seeing your uploads.

UPDATE- FTP will be released in the next day or so. At that time you will be able to bulk upload files to Cutcaster. We will be releasing more information on the new upload process on the blog and within the upload area.

The simplest image search around

Advantages, Cutcaster How To No Responses »

Feb 092011

Our main goals for Cutcaster’s complete overhaul were to make the user experience unbeatable compared to our peers and drastically improve how people searched for images within our image library. Balancing the complexities that go into building a highly intuitive search system with an easy to understand and simple to use search interface for the image searcher is a challenge we met head on. The result is one of the fastest, most accurate and easiest to use image search engines online.

Using our search engine is so easy that it doesn’t need instructions. However we wanted to add some tips and tricks that will get you searching like a professional no matter who you are. It’s finally time to spend less time searching and more time creating.

In addition, we created a new feature just for our image buyers. It’s called “Grouping” and allows you to instantly see if there are more similar images like a particular one you like in a search results page.

View the status of your uploaded photos or vectors

Cutcaster How To, Cutcaster Updates No Responses »

Feb 052011

You can now view the status of your uploaded photos and vectors from your account under Media Files–> Overview.

Update regarding older files and earnings

Cutcaster Updates 2 Responses »

Jan 312011

All files that were REVIEWED and ACCEPTED from the old Cutcaster are now on the new site and should be up-to-date. This relates to files that were uploaded and accepted after the 21st of Dec as well as a few other lingering files which we pulled over.

Any files that were pending or submitted after the new site was released are still in REVIEW. They will be reviewed and moved to your portfolio by the end of this week.

In addition all your image earnings and referral earnings should be up-to-date and complete. If you see any differences, please contact webmaster@cutcaster.com.

FTP uploading will be available at the end of this week.

Thank you guys.

The Cutcaster Phoenix

Buyer Info, Cutcaster Updates 3 Responses »

Jan 252011

Today, we released the new Cutcaster, your royalty free photo and stock vector marketplace. Completely re-built from the ground up with a simplified search and dramatically improved user experience. We hope you will enjoy the upgrade.

Image buyers needed speed. They needed a top notch but simple to use image search. And they need great royalty free images at affordable prices. We pulled up in the ‘Ferrari of Search Engines’ with the passenger side-door wide open. Our image search tool is now superior in speed, accuracy and ease of use, freeing up users to focus on their creative projects.

Notable site improvements include faster image loading time, increased functionality, improved site layout, cleaner architecture and a simplified design that lets buyers focus on the image buying experience. As always, browsing by image categories or searching by keywords on Cutcaster is completely free and you don’t need to sign-up. When a user searches with keywords, they can then filter their search options by: categories, colors, contributor’s name, vertical or horizontal orientation, picture resolution, price, relevance and image format — including jpeg and/or vector files. The moment a user finds an image that meets their needs, they can further refine their selection from the “Similar Pictures” filter or by choosing another image from the same cluster of images. Picture buyers can immediately purchase images with any major credit card or use site credits to download the images, which comes with a record of it’s metadata.

While some photo agencies were pinching pennies from their users’ pockets or others were closing their doors because of the economy, the Cutcaster team dedicated themselves over the last 9 months to learning more about their customers’ needs, learning more about online image search and building one of the fastest and simplest user experiences for searching and downloading royalty free images.

Don’t ‘Betta’ against the Phoenix. We have risen from the ashes of our old site and now look confidently towards the future.

About Cutcaster
Cutcaster is a simple-to-use website for intelligently searching and downloading royalty free photos, hi-res pictures, stock vectors and free stock images for use on websites, presentations, newsletters, ads, books or any commercial project. Browse our enormous image categories, search faster with our intuitive search engine and download affordable creative imagery for as little as a few dollars.

Visit http://cutcaster.com/ to experience the dramatic improvement.

New Cutcaster Release and Scheduled Downtime

Cutcaster Updates, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jan 182011

Be aware that over the next 24-48 hours, we will be taking the site offline to replace it with the new Cutcaster site. We’re like a kid before Christmas. Our plan is to switch to the new site later this evening Eastern Standard Time EST. The site will be down for updates and when it returns we hope you love the drastic improvements. While some sites are “pinching” their contributor’s pay, alienating their customers’ needs, or closing their doors, Cutcaster delivered a more intelligent image search tool, that operates lightning quick speeds, with superior results and will move picture buyers beyond their dated agencies. Allow us a second chance to make a first impression.

Any updates we have on the release will be posted here, our Facebook page or our Twitter account.

UPDATE (12/19/2011 11:30pm PST) – Countdown is underway to move over a large chunk of the metadata from the old database to the new site which has been tested and is ready to debute. Tomorrow we will pull the site offline. It’s amazing how true it is that 99% of the work comes in the last 1% of the details.