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picappLet’s face it: even the best blogs usually have crappy pictures. In fairness, there are plenty valid reasons why:

1) Content creators often (mistakenly) treat images as an afterthought.
2) Bloggers don’t have time to track down corresponding pictures.
3) Tracking down free images is difficult.
4) Purchasing royalty-free images is expensive.

Startup PicApp is hoping to blow all of those reasons out of the water by giving bloggers a free and easy way to include high-quality images on their Websites. So what’s the catch? The embeddable Flash media photos have contextual advertising hidden behind them, with both PicApp and the stock photo providers getting a cut.When a photo is moused over, it will shrink, revealing a link to a paid advertiser.
I must say, this is done in a very unobtrusive way. So much so, that if I were an advertiser, I might be a little concerned about click-through rates.

For anyone who has ever visited a stock photography site, you know that purchasing images is WAY expensive. However, the recent glut of “micro stock” sites, offering “amateur” shots for a fraction of the price, have forced the old standbys to find new ways to generate revenue. In this case, resorting to pennies.

After testing out the service, I think the application might make some serious waves. Hijacking photos will still be the easiest route, but for bloggers with credibility (and a clean conscious), PicApp is a nice avenue to enhance your visitor’s experience.

Finding photos that match your content is a breeze. Just enter a search term, pick your photo, and grab the embed code. Photos are available in several different sizes (how many depends on the image).

PicApp started in late 2007 but soft launched in beta yesterday.

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