IPA’s “Not Another Photo Contest” Smashes All Records

For Immediate Release:

First month: 31,000+ vistors • 1.5 million jpg images downloaded •  330 contestants • 900 images • 2,800 inbound links…make this contest the winner

New York, November 5, 2010….The Not Another Photo Contest was first introduced by International Press Association in October, 2010 with one thing in mind, create a photo contest that would be inclusive and not exclusive. This unique contest has taken off like a rocket with first months qualified entries exceeding 900 images. The images came from over 330 photographers, 90% from Amateur contestants and the remainder from Professionals. IPA’s contest received over 31,000 visitors who we have been identified as photographers or those interested in photography and they will delivered over 95 GB of image downloads (over 1.7 million jpgs) to visitors to their contest pages in the contests first month alone.

They have projected that as the contest continues through their November 30th deadline and then the final judging in December, the numbers will jump to  600 entries, with over 2,000 images, the site will deliver over 3 million images and the total visitors for the contests run can be as high as 90,000 photographers and those interested in photography.

IPA believes they have created a viable and successful contest that will attract thousands of visitors to this and their future contests because of it’s unique voting system and elegant presentation of the images which can be viewed in a number of different ways on their website.

When one considers this is not a contest run by one of the major photo companies and one that began with a simple idea,  to be different the all the rest, it is a small wonder that it has been embraced as it has been by international photographers and the photo industry as a whole.

Unique TV Style Voting – Social Networking Promotions

Their TV talent show voting system is weighted so that  25% of the final votes come from the popular votes and the other 75% from their three panel jury of judges.

Len Rapoport, IPA president, explained that “This type of voting encourages our photographers to invite their friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking sites. IPA has created HTML code to insert into their websites, forums and blogs that will place a Vote For Me icon that links to their contest entry page, thus making it easy for people to vote for their images.

By getting photographers actively involved in generating traffic to the contest site, it gets their work seen and hopefully voted for, creates excitement, increases viewers and voters and in the end, will get all of the entrants more exposure and credibility then most other contests offer.  We didn’t have the resources or money to bring traffic to the site as other contests have, so we had to be creative and use some of the techniques used by other industries to make our contest so unique that people simply wanted to become part of the experience.   IPA has always stressed the importance of giving our members and now, our photographer contestants, exposure and credibility and this contest does that beautifully. If it wasn’t for the support of our sponsors, none of this would be possible”

Inbound Links Mean High Relevance

Click to Enlarge

Many of us know, that the more sites pointing to a website means that site is considered relevant to Google and other search sites. Those sites with thousands of inbound links like IPA’s is now considered more relevant then many others and now receives first page rankings on a search. With  2,800+ inbound links to the site and the continued growth as new entries come in it should not be a surprise to see IPA receive the same type of ranking as any major website.  The more contestants that enter the contest and the more they begin to promote their entries by posting links to the various galleries where their images appear the better the ranking.  The press has also helped in getting the message out and IPA with its 7,000 friends and members of their groups on Facebook, has made Facebook the number one inbound link to the site. “For IPA and its sponsors, it is not about selling product or for IPA gaining new independent staff members, but rather a way to introduce the many thousands of photographers who enter or visit the site, an opportunity to get to know IPA and the sponsors better.  IPA says today it is even more important to gain the consumers trust and loyalty.  Being out their helping photographers to become better through the use of the proper photographic education, equipment and software, is something they don’t forget and that in turn means brand loyalty and good business.” said Mr. Rapoport With the support of their sponsors and the new ones that are now coming on board for future contests, they expect the contest and its importance in our industry to only grow.

Those not familiar their unique contest methods should visit their Press Release section and read the contest rules,  which is the real reason their  Not Another Photo Contest, has lived up to its name.

They have also designed a sponsorship program that will not only enable them to offer valuable prizes to the winners, but will help to support the necessary costs in running the contest, while offering large and small sponsors an opportunity to get the tremendous and positive exposure this contest can give them and at a cost that would be much less then traditional promotion or advertising options.

At the recent PDN Photoplus show, Manfrotto and their entire team, supported the contest and distributed thousands of Super Cards promoting this contest.  As a result, IPA has already received sponsorship offers from some of the leaders in the photo and software industry and are now planning the next “Not Another Photo Contest” that will be open to HDR imaging, panoramic’s and those images that have been modified using some of the great creative software available today.

Sponsorship Opportunities

There are a number of sponsorship opportunities for both larger companies as well as smaller ones. Those interested in sponsoring the IPA Photo Contests should visit their Sponsorship Page for further information or may contact IPA directly.

For Further Information Please Contact:

Len Rapoport President

International Press AssociationEmail: lenrap@internationalpress.com

Include your contact information and if you prefer to be called or emailed.

About International Press Association

IPA is a 20 year old organization and completely web based for close to 15 years and has become a respected, credible and legitimate media outlet that receives millions of page views each year.  IPA independent staff members are primarily international photographers and journalists of all skill levels.

IPA publishes their members photographs and articles on their main site and this member content also appears on the members IPA professional portfolio on the site.  IPA has become known for not only its interesting and informative site content, but for supporting the thousands of members past and current who have achieved credibility and exposure by being part of IPA and publishing their articles and photos on the site.

IPA is a firm believer that one of the best methods of teaching professional skills is by actually having the members learn how to gain the access and then do the work and publish the articles and photos from those assignments on the site.   “Do The Work”,  has become the IPA mantra and their member support blog has informative articles that help the members do just that.

IPA maintains groups on many of the leading social networking sites including Facbook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and others and encourage all of their social networking fans and friends to enter their photos in this contest.

More information and benefits of membership can be found on the IPA website’s new blog.