A client of mine had a website designed, the images which were used were believed to be 100% legal. Last summer 2006 my client received a letter from Getty images demanding over £1500 pounds plus VAT for one thumb size image.
Obviously my client was shocked by this unexpected demand from Getty images. To cut a long story short, the webmaster had done everything right, he got permission from a hotel to use their images. Unknowingly the people who design the hotel's website took an image off Getty, how on earth then was my client meant to know. Of course the image was taken down immediately and I contacted Getty Images. They were not in the slightest bit sympathetic to my clients situation, and demanded payment even though the image was only on the site for a few weeks on an internal page.
I have been reading around and found some useful information, I am by no means a lawyer or have any legal training, but by the looks of it there are 1000's of people in the same boat.
Also from the same forum:
Found this on www.sitepoint.com/forums/
The UK Copyright, Patents and Designs Act 1988 states the following
Section 98.—(1) If in proceedings for infringement of copyright in respect of which a licence is available as of right under section 144 (powers exercisable in consequence of report of Monopolies and Mergers Commission) the defendant undertakes to take a licence on such terms as may be agreed or, in default of agreement, settled by the Copyright Tribunal under that section—
(a) no injunction shall be granted against him,
(b) no order for delivery up shall be made under section 99, and
(c) the amount recoverable against him by way of damages or on an account of profits shall not exceed double the amount which would have been payable by him as licensee if such a licence on those terms had been granted before the earliest infringement.
Advice to all...
If you live in the UK and have received a letter/email/telephone call from Getty asking for payment for copyright infringement:
DO:
1. Complain to Trading Standards immediately stating that you have received a very threatening demand for money and believe it to be an illegal scam. If you are any doubt that this is a scam, then take my word, IT IS!
2. If the invoice is charging VAT and has a) A US address and/or b) No VAT number, then report them to UK Customs and Excise. This is highly illegal.
3. Remove your site from the Waybackmachine. Both Getty and Picsout use this to get information. Inform the Waybackmachine that you have removed your site and tell them why - they frown on companies like Getty abusing their free resource.
4. Ignore all posts from photographers on this forum. They have no advice to offer you.
DONT:
1. Contact Getty in any way. Ignore all correspondence. If you have already spoken to them, and have not done so already, dispute the invoice and deny all responsibility.
2. Under no circumstances pay them any money. If you have already paid them, report them to the trading standards and write to them stating that if they don't refund your money you will report them to the police.
3. Speak to a solicitor. In my experience (like most others on this forum) is that advice is bad, conflicting and generally designed to maximise their own income rather than resolve your issue.
In the [very] unlikely event that Getty do take you to court - fight them! Legally, they do not have a leg to stand on!
I am not sure what is true and what is not but one thing is for sure it sounds like Getty's business model is not to make money from selling images but instead to make money from Sueing unsuspecting business owners. Ah the American way you gotta love it!!!
If I was a photographer I would be careful about using such a company. I can totally understand why such a law exists to protect your work, but I think Getty have gone a step to far. It's the small guys like me who used to buy of a company like Getty.
One last bit of advice if you have have been in contact with Getty then ask the for the copyright number for the image, the rates on their website for the period of time in connection and the full contact details for the photographer.
If you want this advice to be found by other people then either bookmark this page or link to it.
I now only use www.photospin.com and www.sxc.hu now for all my images.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Friday, 29 June 2007
Friday, 1 June 2007
SEO seems to be just like fishing
SEO to me was very much just like fishing, you sit there for ages waiting for a bite, never knowing if you are in the right place, have the right bait or technique.
Coming from a sales background where results in many cases was instant to SEO where much of your efforts become unnoticed for months sometimes years. Well the key I think is to be patient and methodical.
Like any type of success whether its body building, painting pictures or creating a wonderful garden, it all takes time and a strict routine.
SEO can be very intimidating and misleading with so many forums and guesswork going on, not know which argument is correct. Well here are some basic principles I have picked up over time.
1. KISS - Keep It Short and Simple. The truth still stand that less is more, sites that do well have a clear and concise message and aren't cluttered with extra stuff. I know I leave a site straight away if I see an affiliate banner on a home page.
2. All services and products should be easily accessible, the 3 click theory. It should take 3 clicks to get where you want on a site.
3. Make sure your menu is easy for search engines to follow. Text based links are always best.
4. Go after good quality links. Passed experience has shown the harder it is to get a link from a site generally means the site is better. Try and get relevant sites to link to you, difficult if they are competition.
5. Definitely have a site map, this helps spiders and surfers navigate your site.
6. Write good articles about the industry you are in and submit them to article sites.
7. Bookmark your site on social bookmark sites using widgets
8. Keep adding good content to your site.
This is just basic stuff that I do, the main thing is just to be patient and religious in your routine. Happy SEOing
Coming from a sales background where results in many cases was instant to SEO where much of your efforts become unnoticed for months sometimes years. Well the key I think is to be patient and methodical.
Like any type of success whether its body building, painting pictures or creating a wonderful garden, it all takes time and a strict routine.
SEO can be very intimidating and misleading with so many forums and guesswork going on, not know which argument is correct. Well here are some basic principles I have picked up over time.
1. KISS - Keep It Short and Simple. The truth still stand that less is more, sites that do well have a clear and concise message and aren't cluttered with extra stuff. I know I leave a site straight away if I see an affiliate banner on a home page.
2. All services and products should be easily accessible, the 3 click theory. It should take 3 clicks to get where you want on a site.
3. Make sure your menu is easy for search engines to follow. Text based links are always best.
4. Go after good quality links. Passed experience has shown the harder it is to get a link from a site generally means the site is better. Try and get relevant sites to link to you, difficult if they are competition.
5. Definitely have a site map, this helps spiders and surfers navigate your site.
6. Write good articles about the industry you are in and submit them to article sites.
7. Bookmark your site on social bookmark sites using widgets
8. Keep adding good content to your site.
This is just basic stuff that I do, the main thing is just to be patient and religious in your routine. Happy SEOing
Monday, 21 May 2007
Is it Goodbye Google?
For the last seven years I have been using google adwords over any other form of advertising. At the start, keywords were very cheap as there was very little competition, but of course, like all new things the honeymoon period is over.
Over the last 12 months Google has changed a lot of its algorithms to return better results and continue the fight against spam. However this fight may have gone one step to far...
As a small business every penny counts, I have invested a lot of our revenue into Google adwords over the years. I also look after quite a few of my clients adword campaigns, but over the last 12 month I've seen 3 major factors change, and it may be Goodbye Google as far as spending money on adwords is concerned.
1. Naturally there is more competition now on adwords than what there was 5 years ago, or even just 12 months ago. My cost per click has almost doubled in the last 12 months, and to also add salt to injury my conversion of enquiries has dropped considerably. These two elements compound the fact that costs have gone up and conversion has gone down, which in turn means the cost per sale has risen dramatically.
The content advertising has also seem to get weaker for many of our adword campaigns, we have recently stopped advertising on the content network. I have tracked many clicks coming from bogus sites over the years, and I'm not sure google can track all the bogus sites and clicks.
I know Google rewards sites for good conversion, I'm pretty sure that our conversion rate is one of the best, so I would hate to think how much the other sites with lower conversions are paying. Over the last 12 months I have managed over $200,000 in adword advertising.
2.The second reason we are looking at alternatives is our Adsense revenue is 1/4 of what it was last year. The weak Dollar against the GB Pound really also does not help. What I am unsure about is how Google is charging more for adwords and maybe paying less for adsense? Or is it because of reason 3?
3.Over the last 18 months has been a nightmare for any internet business relying on traffic from natural searches. Since Google's updates, many of our sites which were doing fantastic, have now gone. I can understand link popularity and the reasoning behind it, but the fact is most small business do not have the time or the resources to do the link building that is required of them.
I will give you an example, my number one revenue site for sales www.edinburghstagparty.com
After a long hard effort the site's home page came back for the keywords:
Edinburgh Stag Party
But the many 100's of keyords like Edinburgh Hen Weekend or Edinburgh Stag Weekend we have never returned for. I would expect at least Edinburgh Hen Weekend or Edinburgh Stag Weekend to be just as effective. I know there will be many of you out there saying well this page is not optimised that alt tags is missing etc, but I can give examples of sites higher than mine who mention the keyword once. Google used to rate them for the keywords, so it knows what the page is about, but for whatever reason has decided to supplement most of my pages.
I did a test last week and for the first time in a long time, I got a much better result from advertising in a paper than I did in Google adwords. What I think has happened is Google has taken such a large proportion of companies advertising spend like mine, that it's forced the traditional channels of advertising to me more competitive. So for 2007 I will be spending less with Google and more on other advertising mediums, I will also be advising my clients to also consider looking at similar avenues.
I would love to hear feed back from anyone else, I'm sure I am not the only one in the UK who has noticed it.
I saw this more feed back on other people with issues about google Scobleizer
Over the last 12 months Google has changed a lot of its algorithms to return better results and continue the fight against spam. However this fight may have gone one step to far...
As a small business every penny counts, I have invested a lot of our revenue into Google adwords over the years. I also look after quite a few of my clients adword campaigns, but over the last 12 month I've seen 3 major factors change, and it may be Goodbye Google as far as spending money on adwords is concerned.
1. Naturally there is more competition now on adwords than what there was 5 years ago, or even just 12 months ago. My cost per click has almost doubled in the last 12 months, and to also add salt to injury my conversion of enquiries has dropped considerably. These two elements compound the fact that costs have gone up and conversion has gone down, which in turn means the cost per sale has risen dramatically.
The content advertising has also seem to get weaker for many of our adword campaigns, we have recently stopped advertising on the content network. I have tracked many clicks coming from bogus sites over the years, and I'm not sure google can track all the bogus sites and clicks.
I know Google rewards sites for good conversion, I'm pretty sure that our conversion rate is one of the best, so I would hate to think how much the other sites with lower conversions are paying. Over the last 12 months I have managed over $200,000 in adword advertising.
2.The second reason we are looking at alternatives is our Adsense revenue is 1/4 of what it was last year. The weak Dollar against the GB Pound really also does not help. What I am unsure about is how Google is charging more for adwords and maybe paying less for adsense? Or is it because of reason 3?
3.Over the last 18 months has been a nightmare for any internet business relying on traffic from natural searches. Since Google's updates, many of our sites which were doing fantastic, have now gone. I can understand link popularity and the reasoning behind it, but the fact is most small business do not have the time or the resources to do the link building that is required of them.
I will give you an example, my number one revenue site for sales www.edinburghstagparty.com
After a long hard effort the site's home page came back for the keywords:
Edinburgh Stag Party
But the many 100's of keyords like Edinburgh Hen Weekend or Edinburgh Stag Weekend we have never returned for. I would expect at least Edinburgh Hen Weekend or Edinburgh Stag Weekend to be just as effective. I know there will be many of you out there saying well this page is not optimised that alt tags is missing etc, but I can give examples of sites higher than mine who mention the keyword once. Google used to rate them for the keywords, so it knows what the page is about, but for whatever reason has decided to supplement most of my pages.
I did a test last week and for the first time in a long time, I got a much better result from advertising in a paper than I did in Google adwords. What I think has happened is Google has taken such a large proportion of companies advertising spend like mine, that it's forced the traditional channels of advertising to me more competitive. So for 2007 I will be spending less with Google and more on other advertising mediums, I will also be advising my clients to also consider looking at similar avenues.
I would love to hear feed back from anyone else, I'm sure I am not the only one in the UK who has noticed it.
I saw this more feed back on other people with issues about google Scobleizer
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Looking For Well Organised Link Partners
I am looking for webmasters, SEO companies who understand the importance of good quality link exchange. We run many websites and feel with the right partners we can all benefit from good quality linking.
We have begun writing good articles with deep linking and placing them on 3rd parties websites. This has shown to be very effective if done correctly. If you are interested in teaming up with us and have good quality sites and don't do black hat tactics we would love to hear from you.
Email links@helpmego.to
We have begun writing good articles with deep linking and placing them on 3rd parties websites. This has shown to be very effective if done correctly. If you are interested in teaming up with us and have good quality sites and don't do black hat tactics we would love to hear from you.
Email links@helpmego.to
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