In November 2011 I mentioned about a new upcoming social network for photographers. PixelPeers is now life and can be accessed at pixelpeers.com. The new website offers many features tailored to photographers (see the entire list at the bottom of this post). Prices range from $7.97 per month up to $9.97 per month. I had the chance to try it out for few days and here are some screenshots:
Here are some of the PixelPeers.com features:
1. Integrated social networking for photographers. Everything on the website is linked with your page.
2. SEO management for photographers. It is going to help people understand SEO and then go one step further and help them generate a lot of backlinks to help members push their page to the top in search results. To say the least photographers that want better page rank and search results will find it.
3. All members receive a 3% to 4% discount on Adorama purchases made through Pixel Peers. It doesn't sound like much but 3% on a $6000 camera is a nice savings especially when Pixel Peers is one of the few online that can even offer any sort of a deal directly to its members from a major camera retailer.
4. Marketplace. Similar to what other photography websites have. People will be able to buy and sell their own photography gear, software, computers and just about anything related to cameras. Photographers will also be capable of selling their own workshops to other photographers.
5. Photo Stream. Members can upload photos to their account. They can share these photos with other photographers and get reviews, critiques and even have ratings on the photos. Photographers can secure their photos to ensure nobody else can download them from the site. To be clear any photos uploaded to the site remain the property of the photographer who took the photograph. Unlike other social networks Pixel Peers is just a tool to allow them to showcase their work with other photographers. This is similar to flickr with the exception that Pixel Peers allows drastically larger files.
6. Second shooter marketplace. This has been well overdue for a long time. We've seen on other websites photographers looking to second shoot and others looking for second shooters. We want to facilitate this and make the process as easy as possible.
7. Studio directory. Each member can place their studio within the Pixel Peers directory in order to obtain new clients. The directory is similar to other websites with a few key exceptions. It allow smphotographers to rate other photographers. Clients can also rate photographers. The photographer can choose what they want and don't want displayed on their listing. It will be one of the best directories for photograpmhers online. It's important that new clients can see what pro's think of a photographer. After all what a professional thinks of another photographer says a lot and there isn't another place online where this is happening to our knowledge.
8. Forums. Pixel Peers is offering a huge forum space for members to communicate on. It is similar to other forums just with a broader range of topics and some things like the SEO lounge that nobody else offers.
9. Pixel Chat. Quite simply a real time chat module where photographers can sit back and talk in real time. It may not sound like much but I find photographers like to talk to each other and it's great to have a way to do this.
10. Affiliate program. Pixel Peers is giving a 100% affiliate bonus. Meaning members will earn $9.97 for each member they refer to us.
11. Storefront. Each member has their own store. They are free to upload and sell artwork, images, photographs, etc. The storefront is designed to allow members to sell items directly related to their services. They can buy and sell equipment within the community marketplace. Their store can be
integrated with their own 2checkout information so their clients can make immediate payments using that store. Google Checkout is currently in development for another payment method.
12. WordPress blogs (upcoming feature). This is something Pixel Peers is working on very hard. It'll give our members the opportunity to have their very own wordpress blog hosted off of our site. We are currently working on integrating the blog script and secondly providing enough themes for members so they can make a unique website. All members really need to do is add a logo, change the colors if they want and they have a fully working blog. At that point all that needs to be done is to purchase a .com and have it forward to their Pixel Peers blog.
