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I did everything, because SEO was as fun for me as imaging. Just for fun, I’ll list some things:
1. I watched google news feeds, then produced images optimized for the present issues to show up in organic results. It worked a few times! I was on page one within sevebteen hours a few times.
2. I used some dark-side methods which I won’t expound on, but they were very useful for instant results and longterm ones as well 😀
3. I set up hundreds of images to publish on a timed basis, 1 per day.
4. I set up a HUGE ping list in wordpress. (research that). Every time I published an image, it alerted hundreds of sites and search engines.
5. I published occasional project blog articles, and gave away a few free large-scale images.
6. I spammed the hell out of facebook and twitter (regardless of what they say, twitter and facebook are glorified spammers)
7. I optimized onsite SEO to the max (Symbiostock’s big feature)
8. EDIT: My original system had a contextual keyword system ( http://wordnet.princeton.edu/ ) — it allowed me to use tons of useful keywords which although not searched by the customer, landed plenty of traffic due to contextual relevance and rare searches. Yes, the keyword tags worked in SEO.
So its really a product of much work. Also it helps that people think robots and orange men are cool. Another secret, verfied by an anonymous source – Illustrators tend to sell more for the simple reason that modern image search engines rank illustrations higher due to imperfect algorithms in image recognition.
But yes, I can say that my site was more than a tie-breaker in succeeding in this business during the years of decline (which started a few years ago in Microstock). Also custom work requests were something I did a lot of, though they tended to be an extraordinary headache 🙂 also the result of the site.
This is funny and cute, but I was also able to get traffic to my iStock page quite a bit, resulting in plenty of referral $$$. I gave this up though when Istock started to become more inhumane.
Thank you for your insights — this is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone go to this length show the true aspect of SEO/PAID.
Personally I’ve always stayed away from paid advertising simply because utilizing paid advertising successfully is a game that requires lots of experience!
I’d like to validate what you say concerning SEO in general – it is a time/focus relationship. Even with low traffic I tend to get quite a few sales per month on my site…but that took a lot of motivation in the beginning.
I assumed someone else would have seen it — I’m not saying screw up your images 😀
Thanks a lot for checking
It sounds like people would like to enjoy what they have for a while 😀
Generally I know what could be done better, but in the interest of stability it might be better to just stick with what we have and endeavor to fix those last things.
At the least, after stability is achieved I might make a Symbiostock branch like the above mentioned thing, a sort of sub-network for those who are less able to keep up with the system we’ve come to know.
Anyway, thanks as always for your honest opinions.
I keep trying that, but I can’t seem to get that effect. For me it only deletes the keyword for that image (but it remains on others)
Please confirm other people are having the issue Cascoly mentions
I’ve tried several times to give a good answer to you in the last 15 minutes. There’s no way to do it without making a post larger than my opening one!
Let me ask you – why do you think its so hard for people to profit in Microstock? Even the exceptionally skilled people?
Symbiostock, to succeed, must leave the little vacuum it was formed in. To do that is a multi-part solution.
I’m quiet on this subject, but did you ever realize how evil and exploitive microstock culture is? Don’t you ever feel like your on the low-end of a gang culture? As its even shown in respect? I feel like that all the time, especially in MSG. Its not Leaf’s fault – its just what this industry breeds. I’m one of the most independent there is in my own portfolio, and even I find this business very bitter.
This is not just about code – this is about breaking free of hypnosis! Sometimes, the only way to break free of your roots, if you were born in bad circumstances, is to reinvent yourself and move to a different area and become a new person. I believe Symbiostock must do that. Specializing in general downloads, for instance, is a huge step out of the Microstock vacuum (a vacuum that really sucks).
Thanks for telling me about that. I thought I had removed that capability in the bulk edit area, leaving it only to the premium version, so now I see where your trouble was coming from.
If you delete only the files its possible the database will not get updated, so as much as possible you should do the batch editor. There is a delete-all for the promo pics, so you can do that if you need to reset.
Sorry if I was unclear on anything.
First and foremost: I didn’t change any code.
To clarify, we’re talking about the two options:
Delete selected promo images
OR
Delete ALL promo images (caution)For me to generate the 45 you saw, I did “#Delete selected promo images”, then simply “#Generate promo images ” and waited for a while during the processing, and it gave me an update every few images until 45 were met.
Why don’t you start with 300 or so, and see how that integrates with PE, before you take the time for all of your images.
I sent you the protected link – you should see the 48 images I just processed to promo.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the process ran longer than 30 seconds! Apparently batches of 48 process fine on your server without stopping.
I recall that this issue stemmed from a while ago. I had, a few months ago, overhauled this part of the system to give the sort of results PE was suggesting. I’ll spare you quite a few details, but this made it necessary to regenerate things.
So simply go through them, delete “un promote” them, and redo the promoted images. You’ll end up with results like I showed you in the email.
Also regarding other issues, like the batch operator, I’m making the corrections we had spoken about.
Set me up with an admin account — I’ll see whats going on with that.
I’m not seeing a problem. Latest is 1.3.7 – but in case I did something wrong I re-updated it to see if it might trigger a proper download.
Thanks for the explanation. I had to look deep into this one! But I found what is causing it. Its going to take more than a small amendment, so tomorrow I’ll give a good amount of time to this issue.
@joannsnover wrote:
So just UI changes?
Have you fixed the bug that changed file sizes (for blog, small & medium) when you applied licenses to existing images? If not, I’ll wait to test until a future version when that’s fixed – it’s too big a risk to mangle existing files otherwise.
Forgive me, but can you tell me what exactly is mangling sizes? I can’t find it. I’m trying to fix it tonight.
I’ve asked around to some of the more established illustrators — they get weekly sales. I begged them to share with the rest of the community. Some of them feel they will get flamed (MSG) and have other reasons for not saying so.
Its annoying, but the stronger sellers end up being strong *silent* types, and you don’t hear much from them 🙁
Its your “Page Layout Builder” plugin. When it was deactivated the problem was removed.
You will have to go through and reactivate the plugins you wish.
