For those of you who are interested in the developments of Cutcaster I thought I would share some.  Here is our August newsletter.

Dear Cutcaster Family,

There are a number of episodes that have shocked me lately; The opening ceremonies of the Olympics, the fact that it is the middle of August (where has the summer gone?!), and the way that Cutcaster has quadrupled since the last time I sent out a newsletter just a month and a half ago.

What a crazy and exciting time! A number of our users are now getting sales on the site and also receiving bids from interested buyers.  If you haven�t had a sale yet, don�t worry; we are planning a big marketing push for the months of September and October so it is a good time to get more content into the marketplace or organize your old content.

We just passed 38,000 image files uploaded and have had over 15,000 files uploaded since the start of August.  That doesn�t even include all the video files we are going to release when we bring back video footage. We announced that our goal was to have 100,000 quality uploads by the end of the year.  You can bet on the year-end total amount by submitting what you think will be the year-end tally on our blog http://cutcaster.blogspot.com/2008/08/cutcaster-year-end-goal-your-help.html (www.cutcaster.com/blog) to win a cool prize. 100,000 files is a very doable goal and we are well on our way to accomplishing it!

Since the number of files is growing and we are still a small group of people running www.Cutcaster.com from behind the scenes, we need everyone�s help titling, describing and keywording their content. Take a quick moment to check out your keywords and make sure that your keywords accurately describe each image. If you need help let us know so we can target your content and organize it better.

Our move over to Amazon�s web services platform is complete and I am happy to say that we have increased the speed of the site so things are running much faster at Cutcaster. You will notice a difference when you check out the homepage, and it will only get faster as we continue to work on more ways to speed it up.

Here are a number of new features that we have rolled out over the last month:

1.   Must faster and streamlined FTP and http uploading process that parses out IPTC data and doesn't drag you down uploading for hours.
2.   We added the ability to �friend� contacts on Cutcaster; send site messages to other people who are members of Cutcaster and post comments to each other�s pages. 
3.   We added similar image results to the media details pages so you can find similar content without having to go back to the search areas.  This should help buyers find a variety of similar images without having to do multiple searches.
4.   Public clipfolders are now available on the site and are our version of lightboxes, which you may have seen on other sites. We added a featured clipfolder to the homepage to help get contributors more exposure and sales.
5.   We have added free images to the homepage to attract more buyers to the site and get your work more exposure. Free images at Cutcaster
6.   Exclusive spotlight on the homepage.  We need exclusive content and will pay out more for it.  Ask us about it.  If you have images that you want to test out on our site make them exclusive, you will earn more for them.
7.    The Cutcaster Forum www.cutcaster.com/forum is here and ramping up. Go there and say hello and join in the conversation. 
8.    We now offer vectors and you can upload and set your prices for your vector illustrations.

We are always listening, so please keep the feedback coming! 

In addition, if you want your images and illustrations to be seen by more people, you should read this little post we wrote about getting more interested traffic. 

Also submit/add your studio link to search engines like Google and Yahoo, which is a great idea for getting traffic, or you can link to them from your MySpace, Flickr or personal webpage. Remember to use your referral links as well so you get paid more.


Here are some write-ups on content we want:

Top 14 Best selling categories at Cutcaster http://cutcaster.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-14-selling-categories-for-last-two.html

Smaller and Popular categories we need http://cutcaster.blogspot.com/2008/08/smaller-and-popular-categories-we-need.html

We have been asked for these types of images http://cutcaster.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-have-been-asked-for-these-type-of.html

Desired content we need http://www.cutcaster.com/info/contents

If you need specific content please let us know and we will put out a request for you.

Hope the rest of August goes as slow as possible and you all enjoy the last bits of summer.   

Best,

The Cutcaster Team

On CutCaster I have three times more views than on StockXpert!!!

Viva Cutcaster!!!

Do we get notified if we get a bid?  While I am interested to know how the site is doing and am anxious for my first sale, the primary reason I keep going back is to see if I've got a bid.  My concern is that if a bid goes unanswered it could be withdrawn or the customer buys another image.

Has anyone had any bids yet and can answer?

I had an email for each of my bids.  No need to keep checking the site.

I had 2 bids and one sale in August with a very small port, and received both emails for the bids and sale.
I continue to build my portfolio on CC because I strongly believe in the concept.
CC is different from other microstocks and I like the relation between the team and contributors.