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There have been some very interesting comments posted today but they are in about 4 different threads. I want to propose a bit of a paridigm shift for those of us who are serious about symbiostock changing things for stock artists. Symbiostock should not be viewed as a place to sell photos and definitely should not be a stock agency. It should be a place where people can come to find interesting content, quality images, and great customer service. Change the way you think about your sites. Make them interesting and link them to other interesting sites. Dan Jpadavona (I hope I spelled this correctly) has postulated that just linking sites together is not enough. Google wants to see that your site and your linked sites offer something interesting to the viewer. Each one of us has an expertise or we wouldn’t be here. Start slowly highlighting your site with your particular expertise with interesting content, thoughts, tips, advise etc.
Lets make symbiostock more of a place to go to learn and be entertained as well a place to sell our images. In other words sell yourself and offer your images as a benefit. We can give people a reason to visit our sites which is different than what the microstock sites can offer. I just spent about 15 minutes on the phone with a customer showing her how easy I make my artwork to edit. I showed her some Illustrator tricks and she asked me if I had any Youtube videos. I don’t, but you can bet that I will have some blog posts in the next couple of month featuring some of these things. I learned multiple things from Jo Ann, Dan, and Michelle this morning. These types of things need to be highlighted on our sites instead of hidden in miscellaneous forum posts.
This will obviously be a lot of work but it can happen slowly, lets change the way we view our network. If we do I believe we will all benefit.
I am just guessing here but I would bet that this is more along the lines of what Leo was thinking the network would look like when he first started it.I’m not sure I have a lot of answers (yet) but I was thinking about the issue of interesting – and different from the agencies – content surrounding our work when I made this post a while ago.
This blog was a story – about the work being done that was the basis for the image series and also about the transitions as the kids grew too old for a playscape.
I also have some how-to blog posts from last year on HDR techniques used with images that are for sale on my site. I think connecting the work and the techniques might be an interesting avenue
It’d be interesting to hear people’s ideas about what sorts of things we might do or include – as well as how best to do it to catch Google’s eye
I agree that this needs to happen. However, the big microstock agencies *do* offer this. Shutterstock has a blog that offers helpful tips and current trends along with marketing. They and iStock offer lots of helpful stuff and post it on Facebook and twitter as well as on their sites. They also either require or encourage their employees to “like” posts. Check out any of the Fb posts from iS or SS and see who likes the posts. At least for iStock, it’s their employees.
Now that I’ve started blogging a bit, I plan to continue. I have a bunch of ideas in mind. I hope others will join us in this effort.
@shelma1 wrote:
I agree that this needs to happen. However, the big microstock agencies *do* offer this. Shutterstock has a blog that offers helpful tips and current trends along with marketing. They and iStock offer lots of helpful stuff and post it on Facebook and twitter as well as on their sites…..
We’ll I have to admit I don’t spend any time on the micro sites at all. My comments might have been phrased poorly, showing my own ignorance about the big guys. Maybe this is some of what everyone liked about IS in the years before I started contributing. Either way it does show what symbiostock could grow into being. I think too many people think that all you need to do is build a site and upload and it will be all roses and sales. When you go in with this expectation you are doomed to be disappointed. Most of us who have already built a site realize this isn’t the case. I think it is time we started changing the notion or conceptual idea people have about symbiostock because I think in general it is simply wrong.
I don’t spend time on their sites either, but I liked their Facebook pages when I started ours so I could get an idea of what they were doing. And I just started following them on twitter. It’s an eye-opener.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. And you’ve been very successful, so I’m definitely paying attention to your opinions!
Well, now I am just sharing opinions. They aren’t really based on anything other than what I think is common sense. Give them as much credit as they deserve. Just to be clear I am no different than anyone else and I have my own agenda. I think we need to break our dependence on the micros and a healthy community of linked personal sites seems like the best idea I have heard in about 4 years. Also I know that the more effective the other symbio sites are, the better mine will perform. It’s still about selling images and making a living. My site is linked to yours and everyone else’s whether directly or indirectly. The more respect other symbio sites have from the buyers the better mine looks. It’s that simple. I don’t want a bunch of unhappy site owners posting how it’s a waste of time and a con, or some other unhelpful information. I am invested in this and your site functioning for you is helping my site function well for me. I would rather there be 200 high functioning sites than 2000 build it and dump your photos sites.
This is very much appreciated. Thanks as always.
Along the lines of your statements, I’m working hard to put more work into the project in the areas most required.
Thanks Chromaco!
I agree with what you have said. No one wants hundreds of dead or abandoned sites on SymbioStock. I am with you on making it a little more personal. If you have more than one site or interest, link them all together! I am finding that Google likes lots of links linking back and forward that create a network.
I’m also finding that by linking my sites together, people who are interested in my photography (and that has been on the backburner for months now) may find an interest in my writing and books.
Sometimes the links can be as subtle as an extra button on the menu, but while it is not in your face, search engines pick up on the network and your branding.
I would add that you need some sort of branding, whether it is your real name, a nickname or even a company name. Brand yourself so you don’t have a generic 123mysite321 name. No one likes to talk to a number 🙂
Jo
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