Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Life is filled with funny little events.  Today I was informed by a friend that there was a rather sensationalized discussion on a few internet forums about me or at least my name “Dale Hogan”.  It all started a number of years ago when some of my royalty free stock images (Which, by the way, I sell exclusively through iStockphoto.com) included my name in their keywords.  My name keywords have since been removed.  However, during the time that they were there numerous people tried to reproduce my success by copying my images and or my keywords.  It’s my view that in their haste for good fortune they mistakenly (I hope) used my name in their tags or keywords.

  So today I find myself reading forums on a stock imagery site that I don’t belong to, that are about little ol’ me.  I like to see my name in lights as much as the next guy but some folks seem to be whipping themselves into a frenzy over the issue.  Some making rather far reaching suggestions about there being a “worm virus” involved.  Well, best as I can tell it’s more a matter of good old laziness at work.

  The moral of the story is… photographers, don’t blindly copy keywords and don’t believe everything you read.  I get the whole, “don’t recreate the wheel” thing, but for goodness sake, take the time to carefully read all your keywords and ensure they are accurate, before you submit an image.  In the end you’ll be doing your customers and yourself a big favour.  You want your images to appear in the correct searches and rank as they should.  That makes happy searchers and adds up to more sales for you.

  There you have it.  Mystery solved.  Take a deep breath and relax.   I am Dale Hogan and I approve this message.