News, Views + Info
Image keywording tips and more to help you make improvements to work practices, and get a better understanding of issues surrounding the management and profitability of image businesses.
Take Your Trends In New Directions
Celebrity brand images are the perfect ammunition for fashion editors and others to show what styles are in this season, which fashion-conscious celebs are leading the latest trends and what are the most popular fashion items - but why stop there? Just as there are...
Reclaim The Night (Sales)
The best time for promoting imagery, is all the time. So if you're not doing it yet, get ready to go 24/7. It is a rare thing for a photo agency to work around the clock, except for the largest players in the industry. That means those large companies not only have...
Get It Right With Quality Control
One of the major differences between high-quality stock keywording, and the rest, is the system of quality control. In many cases the level of QC is no level at all. This can be due to a lack of money, but also because the library/agency does not have the personnel to...
Does Your Brand Yield Measure Up?
If asked how many brands could be identified in their images, it is doubtful many photo/news agency managers would be able to give anything like an accurate answer. Such a total is based on two important figures - how many images contain any identifiable brands, and...
Old School Techniques for New Sales
When the CD came along, the vinyl LP was considered as relevant as the wax cylinder of Edison’s day. Yet in the year 2017, CDs are on their way out, and vinyl is having a resurgence. Could it be that photo agencies need to look at some old school ways of making sales?...
Avoiding Keywording Drift
It's not quite in the same league as continental drift, but for photo agencies, keywording drift is a lot more serious. Put simply, keywording drift is the slow (or sometimes not so slow) change in the way keywording terms are applied over time. The consequence is...
Brand Meets Bib
Sports bib keywording - identifying participants in marathons etc - provides new opportunities for monetising images by recording the brands appearing in them. Here are a few ways such information can be used: Advertising use Depending on the release that...
Get Your Pictures Out Of Hiding
Although no one intends to hide images from their customers, it's amazing what lengths people inadvertently go to achieving that outcome by mistake. Here are some classic errors, and how to avoid them. Hide your images in plain sight - It is incredible how often...
F, F, F Fashion – It Isn’t Enough
There are some fantastic image library web sites which focus on the latest pictures of fashion - fashion shows, street fashion, star style and more. That really is great, and fantastic for picture editors wanting to do a story about the latest fashion trends, what...
Losing Focus With Your Image Feeds?
Sending too many images to prospective buyers is a cardinal sin, but often one that is committed due to lack of staff and time. How do we know a Focused Feed of images - edited down to meet the target market, without overwhelming customers - is worthwhile? And what...
Rage Against The Machine
Search rage is best defined as the uncontrollable frustration and anger resulting from being unable to find what is being searched for on the internet. For businesses such as photo libraries, video libraries and on-line retailers that means lost sales. The key thing...
Brand Info – Find It to Protect It
Huge numbers of celebrity images contain brand information, even if the photographer and their agents don't realise. The question isn't so much if it can be found (it can) but who will benefit from those links. Those who have identified the links can profit from them...
FAQs: Picsell Media Keywording Services
What topics do you cover on News Plus?
We share practical tips on AI keywording, human review workflows, controlled vocabularies, metadata strategy, accessibility (alt-text), and case studies from real client work.
Who is this content for?
Image libraries, publishers, NGOs, marketing teams and anyone managing large image/video archives who wants better search results and sales.
What’s the difference between AI Mechanic and AI Professional?
AI Mechanic fixes obvious AI errors and inconsistencies at scale. AI Professional adds deeper human expertise for context, nuance and brand-specific vocab — ideal for high-value assets.
How often is content updated?
We publish as we complete tests and client projects, aiming for regular monthly updates plus timely posts when tools or standards change.
Can I request a topic or submit a question?
Yes — send ideas via the contact form. We prioritise questions we see across multiple clients.
Do you provide examples or before-and-after comparisons?
Where client permissions allow, we include anonymised examples to show how improved keywords lift findability and conversions.