After considerable research we’ve settled on Global Eye for an additional brand for our stock library.  The OzImages site will continue to be maintained, developed and promoted , but long term we believe we can do better for all our photographers with a more universal name and a domain that isn’t country-specific.

The Global Eye Group is an ‘aged’ domain we’ve been able to secure, and it will be used as an ‘umbrella’ organisation for the existing OzImages stock library interface, plus a new Global Eye Images interface, plus all our additional associated websites.

The domain name ‘GlobalEyeImages.com’ has also been secured will become a new ’shopfront’ for the stock photo library.

We have registered these and several associated domain names and are now starting on redesigning our operation from the ground up.

It is an incredible opportunity that has us all quite excited.

When we first started, way back in 1998, we had no images, no photographers and no buyers. The internet was still quite new and we had to work most things out as we went along.

A couple of the established brick-and-mortar stock library were starting to venture onto the web, but I believe we were the first stock library to set up entirely online.

That was a lot of fun and I think overall we did quite well, but in hindsight there were a number of things we could have done differently. So this is a chance to address those issues and build a brand new website taking full advantage of all we’ve learned in the last 12 years.

It’s a chance to improve the service we offer our buyers and our photographers, to increase efficiency and performance, and to implement a lot of new technology that’s emerged in recent years.

From the business perspective, much has changed as well.

Originally our stock library was intended to allow a very small number of photographers to work together and represent themselves. We soon realised we would have to take on extra photographers and seriously broaden our coverage if we were to compete, but even so, it took us a couple of years to appreciate the implications of the ‘Oz’ brand and the .au domain.

To begin with most of our initial Clients were Australian and much of our initial marketing was directed to Australian buyers and the Oz references actually worked in our favour, bringing in new international buyers looking for Australian content. (That still applies today, which is why we will never retire the OzImages brand).

Both our Membership and our Clientele have long since changed though, and we’ve invested a lot of time, effort and money into branding ourselves as an international gathering of photographers. A change of name and domain are the next logical step in that direction.

The Development Schedule

Rebuilding our photo library from the ground up is going to be a huge job, and it’s not one we’ll be rushing into blindly.

We’ve put together a tentative schedule as a guide to the work that needs to be done, but our top priority is always the day to day operations of OzImages, so the actual timetable is open.

I have a small team of people lined up to assist with the design and development work, plus we’ll be utilizing a number of commercial services for specific tasks so that the entire project comes together as one:

• Design: Logos, Site Design, Additional Artwork, Visual Branding
• Development: Complete Rebuild Of Stock Library Interface
• Branding: Directory Advertising, Social Media Sites, Industry Sites
• SEO: Extensive Backlinking, Submissions, Authority Sites, Social Media
• Launch: Professional Press Release Service, Promotions To Existing List.

One benefit of a web-based operation is that we can work on a lot of this at the same time, right from day one.

This blog you’re reading now is part of that development plan for the primary domain name: http://www.GlobalEyeImages.com

• We will be posting regular updates here for any of the Members who are interested.
• We’ll also be publishing a lot of written content to target specific keyword phrases.
• We’ve already started a major backlinking/SEO campaign.

While this is going on, we’ll be building the new website on a temporary domain: http://www.GlobalEyeStock.com

When we’re ready to go, we’ll simply point the domain name to the new site, and we’ll be in business.

We’ll have a number of email promotions ready to go to our existing Client list and we’ll be purchasing some fresh photo-buyer lists in UK/Europe. USA and Australia to announce our new operation.

We’ll also be using a professional service to publish a series of Press Releases. We’ve had some impressive results in the past using these to announce minor news, so I’m expecting some serious interest this time around.

So all in all, the day we go live with the new site, your exposure will immediately increase dramatically and by the time things settle down it should still be double the current level.

That’s just the start though!

One Photo Library, Multiple Niche Shopfronts!

When we started discussing the idea of a new name, one thing that became totally clear was that we’d NEVER come up with a name that really suited everyone. We are an eclectic group of photographers, currently based in over 40 countries, shooting vastly different subjects and styles.

That diversity has always been our strength and we plan to capitalize on that with this new structure. Two of the key criteria for the development of the website is that it must be easily duplicated and totally brandable.

This means that once it’s done, we’ll be able to set up multiple niche shopfronts, each one representing the many different fields of work we carry.

We can put each shopfront on it’s own domain, set it up with it’s own theme, and market it to those buyers who use images in that niche.

This approach opens up all sorts of possibilities … targeting specific subjects, geographic locations, styles of work etc. There may even be the option to allow individual members to create a unique ‘brand’ of their own!

The OzImages Brand / Domain

The OzImages brand will continue to be maintained, developed and promoted. There are definite advantages to the new domain and the new name, but the OzImages brand and domain are so well established that we’d have to be crazy to let either of them go.

What we will be doing is, once the photo library interface has been rebuilt, we’ll make OzImages the first duplicated shopfront.

We’ll keep the existing design and apply it to the rebuilt stock library interface. That way our exisitng Clients will get the same operation they’re already familiar with, plus a seriously improved interface.

This ‘relaunch’ will offer additional marketing opportunities with another round of press releases and email campaigns to new and existing Clients.

Final Thoughts … For Now …

The one thing I want to stress before I sign off, is that the existing OzImages operation is always top priority.

The new name and new stock library interface is big, and we’re all pretty excited around here, but it is secondary to our exisitng operation.  I am deliberately staying out of the day-to-day of the development work so I can concentrate on OzImages.

I also want to stress that any changeover will be entirely seamless for you.

You won’t need to do anything differently or change any of your existing content … you can keep working business-as-usual!

We’ll just flick a switch when it’s ready to go, and you’ll have two distinct stock libraries marketing your work for you. As we set up additional stock fronts, your exposure will continue to increase.

So for now, I encourage you to follow our progress via this blog, share your thoughts and ideas often, and help us build a brand new stock library that is everything you want!

Thanks in advance for your help!

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