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The demo site for the new Symbiostock is now live!
More details about the features, release ETA, and the hosting service are all found in our blog post.
The demo is using the Symbiostock Express theme which is customized for the Symbiostock plugin and built on the GPL Virtue theme by Kadence.
Check it out and share your thoughts!
Just to make sure I understand this correctly, there is no “networking” among Symbiostock sites anymore, is there?
http://www.symbiostock.org/forums/topic/global-search-hubs/#post-22735
Additionally, when we launch, we will be featuring all registered networked Symbiostock sites on the front page of Symbiostock.org and also on our directory page.
this will make us stand alone sites and much harder to attract buyers. while i see the capacity to choose any theme a step forward, but the lack of cross searches is a major step backwards.
Dave: Standalone sites will have the exact same exposure and access as Symbiostock hosted sites, whether it be our network directory, or Symzio.
i disagree, when we can cross search we appear as a larger entity. Under this idea a buyer will have to go from site to site. They will just go to a site like istock because it will be easier.
But Network partners as we know them now are gone? Is that correct?
It sounds like for now the new sites will all be independent. At some undetermined point in the future your Symzio search site will search all the sites, much like the Symbiostock.info site does now but that is part of a later development phase.
What, if any, marketing and SEO benefits are there in the new plugin/theme combination that replicate or replace the network partners and network search feature found in the legacy version?
I’m just trying to understand what my motivation should be to change from what I have now. I need a better understanding of the differences, pros and cons, if I am going to invest time and possibly more money in converting.
no you very much incorrect. they are fully functional. i took my site down when Leo stopped progressing with Symbiostock, so I can’t show you a cross search from my site. But here is a quick cross search that I just did. I am not to bust your butt in anyway. I really want this to work and be successful for you. And personally I think giving all of your work away for free is not an good idea. People some times do not value something they get for free.
I know the cross networking is functional on the legacy sites. What I was trying to confirm is that the feature is no longer a part of Robins new version. It has been jettisonned in favor of a hub site search engine that hasn’t been developed yet (Symzio) as far as I can tell.
We are now splitting the previous networking system into two different modules. The first module is the Symbiostock Artist Network. This is going to be an opt-in list of artist sites running Symbiostock. As I mentioned, this will be available on Symbiostock.org on both the front page and a full directory list. You will also be able to include this list on your site.
Dave: You are correct – the cross search is very important, and will all be taken over by Symzio. Individual sites will be able to optionally tap into the central search engine to display results from all the other Symbiostock sites that have opted into Symzio. As you mentioned, the purpose of doing this is to make it in fact easier for people to search the collective of images.
As for not giving the plugin away for free, I feel digital services are a more effective way of sustaining growth, and hopefully the worry-free hosting solution will achieve that.
I can’t get into the full details of Symzio right now, but as I’ve mentioned, it is being developed to compete on the same scale as large agencies. This includes streamlining every aspect of it so customers are not pushed towards the larger agencies.
And as I’ve mentioned before, you are under no pressure to upgrade.
Thanks for the questions.
i am going to go with you, no matter what, i just want this project to be successful
Will joining Symzio search (and getting your images listed there) be free?
I actually think the existing networking feature with cross site search has never been effective because search results weren’t presented well. I don’t think we’ll lose a lot by dropping it. Maybe some SEO benefits.
We will have to see, having the capacity to use any wordpress theme, sounds good to me
I’ve written a blog post that should help legacy users determine what the best move is in regards to upgrading. It all depends on how successful your current site is, and if so, what brings it that success: To Switch or not to Switch
As I am focusing on releasing Symbiostock and preparing the beta testing, I can’t get into talking about Symzio too much because that’s a huge and very important aspect of the project. At least equal in scope to Symbiostock itself. An important thing for me is that Symzio’s operation be tweaked by the community, so as development progresses, I will be creating a thread where we will all discuss the ins and outs of how Symzio will operate to maximize our ability to step out of the shadow of the large agencies.
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