Image library migrates to PixyBlog

Monday Nov 03, 2008

Today sees the launch of a new type of website powered by PixyBlog. Pictorial Press Ltd is an image library specializing in music, film and television stills. Over the past six months we've been working with the Pictorial Press team to migrate their existing website over to use the PixyBlog system.

An image library is a considerably different type of website to a photoblog. There are a number of features which we either needed to enhance or develop before we would be ready to run such a site using PixyBlog.

Search

Our photoblogs already have a basic search function, which makes us different from a lot of similar photoblogging services, but for an image library search is the priority. If picture researchers can't find the images they are looking for, then there will be no sales. We worked on improving the quality of our keyword searches and the work we've done here has already filtered down to all our photoblogs.

Bulk Upload

When dealing with hundreds of thousands of images, then a bulk upload feature becomes essential. We already had this feature but, like the search, it has been improved somewhat to cater for the needs of an image library. For example, you can now upload images up to 50MB in size.

Checkout

Pictorial Press is the first site to use our new checkout process. Shoppers can now add images to a basket, continue through the checkout providing their billing information & shipping details and complete the whole order process in just a few steps online.

The checkout process can be branded with the sites title or even a custom logo, and we're now working on making the design even more customizable to match the originating site.

The ability to sell prints, limited editions, high resolution downloads and even image licensing has been a feature which has been requested by a number of PixyBlogger's and we will start to roll-out a beta of this on a select few photoblogs soon.

Lightbox

Image library websites usually have a lightbox facility to allow researchers to put together a selection of images which are of interest to them (often for a specific project or client). PixyBlog now has such a feature. We support management for more than one lightbox, each lightbox can be emailed and client comments can be left on individual images. Similar to our checkout process, we can brand the lightbox management with the sites title or logo.

Order & User Management

To enable smooth transactions between supplier and customer we've developed a thorough order management system. Included are email alerts for new orders or a change in order status, a new management console for viewing, tracking and changing orders and a user management console for suppliers to manage and contact their customers.

These new features will start to come available on PixyBlog shortly, and we hope that you are as excited about these developments as we are.

Posted at 06:41PM Nov 03, 2008 by Richard Jones | Comments[3]

Comments:

Hi,
I am very exited about this news and improvements. I also think it's interesting to implement the "weblog" like Sven's web...

I am very happy with Pixyblog service!
100% recommended!

Thanks,
Joan

Posted by Joan on November 04, 2008 at 10:40 AM GMT #

How exciting, especially the ability to sell photographs through the website. One of my favorite things about Pixyblog is how seamless and polished everything is and I know when this feature does eventually roll out to members it will be the same.

Posted by laanba on November 04, 2008 at 11:49 AM GMT #

All these new features sound terrific!
Keep up the good work.
Thank you.

Posted by Jacques Bron on November 23, 2008 at 08:28 AM GMT #