Business Model Built on Revenue Sharing for Photographers, Image Users and Advertisers; Company Also Secures Capital from Sun Wah Hi-Tech Group
Toronto, July 08, 2009. Fotoglif today launched a new service that makes it easy for bloggers, social media fans and other Web publishers to add high-quality, royalty-free and timely images to jazz up their written content.
The beta version of the Fotoglif image-sharing community and licensing platform is available now at www.Fotoglif.com. The site features more than 3 million images, with thousands of new ones from professional photographers and respected news agencies added each day from global breaking news, entertainment and sports stories. Traditional stock photos and images of everyday life will be added over time
In addition to providing professional images for Web authors, Fotoglif offers photographers a revenue-generating outlet for use of their photos in the exploding online content market. While providing images royalty-free, Fotoglif allows photographers who post their albums on its service to tap into revenue that is generated via advertising views. A unique Registered Publisher Service gives bloggers and others who use the images the same opportunity to earn revenue from the site.
"Fotoglif is a great source of free images that aren't available anywhere else. It's been an invaluable resource for my site!" commented the writer of the World of Royalty Blog, www.worldofroyaltyblog.com, who goes by the pen name 'Cinderella.'
Fotoglif also announced that it has secured an initial funding round from Hong Kong-based Sun Wah Hi-Tech Group, a division of Sun Wah Group, www.sunwahgroup.com. The company is a diversified conglomerate with businesses in six principal areas: real estate, financial services, infrastructure, technology, media, and seafood and food stuff.
"Fotoglif gives Web authors who want to add visual flair to their pieces an alternative to traditional photo stock houses and grass roots image sites, with the bonus of earning revenue from images they select," said Fotoglif founder Michael Betts. "As a former photography studio owner, I see a huge opportunity to help photographers broaden the use of their images through our new business model. We've built our service to allow revenue sharing among those who provide the images and those who use the images - a classic 'win-win' scenario."
Betts added, "The Fotoglif team is excited to be launching our company today. We've seen a gap in the marketplace we know we can fill, and we appreciate the backing of our financial partner Sun Wah Hi-Tech Group, the support of a seasoned board of directors, and the goodwill of our entrepreneurial colleagues within the Toronto technology community."
How Fotoglif Works
Bloggers and other Web authors simply have to register for the site to begin to benefit from its content. (Any image can be viewed without registering, but users must register to benefit from the revenue share.) Once an image is selected, the site guides the writer on how to post the image: simply select the preferred image size and alignment, copy the code, and paste it into a blog or Web site text editor, similar to a YouTube video.
In addition, the photo's location on Fotoglif can be easily shared right from the site to colleagues through Twitter, Facebook, Digg or e-mail. Registered publishers can simply track their daily image use on their statistics page. Payments to publishers are made through PayPal.
Image providers who want to host their collections on Fotoglif and participate in its revenue-sharing model can do so by contacting the Fotoglif team at partners@Fotoglif.com. A Web application and upload process is in the works and is expected to be available in mid-summer. Fotoglif already has partnerships with respected image providers including the European Pressphoto Agency, Getty Images, Newscom, Splash News, Thomson Reuters and ZUMA Press.
The company is also working on an application programming interface to give developers an opportunity to plug into the revenue stream. Anyone interested in participating in the closed beta for this service should send an e-mail to developers@Fotoglif.com.
About Fotoglif
Fotoglif, www.Fotoglif.com, is an online business that operates a professional image-sharing community and licensing platform. Photographs hosted in the Fotoglif site are offered royalty-free to bloggers, social media fans and other Web publishers to enliven the written word with high-quality images. The site features more than 3 million images, with thousands of new ones added daily from around the globe. The company's business model allows Web authors who use the images, photographers and news agencies who contribute content, and advertisers on the site to all share in revenue opportunities. Fotoglif is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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