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Definitely slow. It took at least a minute on my phone and office computer which is a T-1 line it took about 30 to 45 seconds. I searched my site for Horse too and it took about 10 second a or less. You are one of my network partners and your images came up as quick as the others.
Wendy, that’s wonderful news to hear all is working smoothly for you now! It’s surprising to see the effect a host can have on the function of the site. I think of the host as just a system to park on but clearly whatever they do in the background can have a lot of impact on our programs.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing your site when you’ve got it ready to share.
@redneck wrote:
@joannsnover wrote:
I have priced a few images for licensing at FAA (just to try it out) but I set the prices so that the buyer price was roughly equivalent to my Symbiostock site price.
Not quite following. You can offer stock image licensing at fineartamerica.com?
It seems likre it is something they are exploring but perhaps not too well thought out. There is a thread on MSG about it here. http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/new-stock-agency-faa-pixels-com/msg371955/?topicseen
I hope that solves the problems you’ve been having. I suspect that it was more host issues rather than WP or Symbiostock causing the problems since it seemed unique to your situation. Good luck on the journey going forward.
Bumping this one too, measuring earnings instead of images sold. Please vote and spread the word to other symbiostock members that may not frequent the forums.
I’ve had a few people tell me they could not find the polls (they are under the “General” forum) so I’m bumping this thread so it’s noticed. If you haven’t voted or updated your vote lately please do so.
Return customer is great! The polls are under the General forum here
viewforum.php?f=2Yay Shelma! Please be sure to update our polls. Were you able to determine if you promotion played a role in the sales or getting them to your site and upselling?
I think you’re right. I notice that one of the page analysis site is telling me that four images on my home page are missing alt tags. It’s probably the for images in my slider so I probably should manually add them to that too.
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Jose, are you using the batch editor in the premium plug in or just trying to change all the images via the Author Options in the Symbiostock settings page?
@natalia wrote:
A nicely designed page with a clear scope: make people leave their contacts. If a visitor does not leave a contact, it’s a lost visitor, especially if (s)he is paid for.
A list of contacts is a precious asset in any business, especially in a small one. That’s why I also asked an integration with e-mail service in the topic I have started recently.
Look at this: http://www.barackobama.com/last-call-splash/? If I am American, I become happy that, finally, somebody (personally President of US) takes care of my very specific problem, health insurance.
On a side note, I personally think there is a lot wrong with the page you show here for health insurance.
1) They want you to enter your e-mail and zip code but there is NOTHING on the page that tells you who is collecting the information. No footer, no identity, no privacy policy or information about who is collecting the info and what they will do with it. Just because the URL says -barackobama.com- doesn’t mean you can trust it. the Whitehouse-dot-com site is a pornography site. Whitehouse-dot-gov is the official whitehouse site so beware of seemingly official sounding website names. Like you say, e-mail lists are precious and they want mine while offering nothing in return.
2) It says LAST CALL but does not give any dated deadline.
3) The hyperlink at the bottom makes you think you can go to the site to sign up for health care. In actuality it takes you to the website for Organizing for Action, a biased political action committee operating as a non-profit to support the president’s agenda. In the upper right is a big red button that says DONATE. At this point I feel duped. This is not the government’s website to help me sign up for health care. In fact, I could not easily find any link to take me to the site to sign up for health care. If I’ve filled out the link on the previous page, they now have my e-mail address and possibly some idea of my general demographic info that may be revealed by my zip code. They want me to give them money. They don’t tell me where I need to go to actually get health insurance – at least not easily. If it’s there, it’s buried under other links and they want me to hunt for it.
My take-away from this site is that you’ll anger your potential customers if you hide your identity, are deceptive about your purposes and try to sell something (your cause, charity, etc.) rather than the product or goods that the customer is searching for.
By contrast, I looked at some of the top stock sites. A common theme is to have front and center search, something touting the number of available images – for all your creative needs, stuff you can’t get from the other guys, real people, real places, amazing experiences, award-winning artists, authentic imagery, royalty free. Some have info on credit packs and low prices, a frequent option is category search, either by picture blocks or category lists. And logos, contacts and information easily found.
As I said in my previous post – lots of good food for thought here in what to do and what not to do to improve my site.
@natalia wrote:
I am really excited by the opportunity to share with you my best photographic work. My love of photography has primarily been in the areas of landscape and nature photos, but I am branching out into architectural scenes. There is a wealth of mining communities in Arizona that have wonderful older buildings to photograph. My wife and I also love to travel to Hawaii where there is an amazing array of natural beauty to take advantage of.
Why do buyers need to know this? What problems can they resolve with this statement?
An interesting, thought provoking (and confusing) conversation between Natalia and Andre. I say confusing because it took me a few minutes to figure out how that Natalia quoted something from David (Quailrunphotos) site but Andre was responding.
Most of us are more skilled at illustration or photography and less skilled at self promotion. We talk about what’s important to us but it would serve us well to focus more on what is important to the customer.
David’s quote does provide a wealth of information for the customer but perhaps it’s lost in it’s story-telling narrative. A more effective way of conveying similar information might be to bullet point the key information:
> Specializing in Nature and Landscape Photography
> Extensive collection of Southwest US images
> Tropical Hawaiian Floral and Jungle images
> Check out our new Architectural Series including Arizona mining townsI like the warmth and personal touch his narrative conveys but I wonder if most of the buyers care much about the person behind the camera or pen. I think the list format would satisfy search engines and conveys the message of what David likes to photograph. The bullet list is easier to read quickly and get the point through to the customer. I agree with the point Natalia seemed to be making that customers don’t care if someone is branching out or likes to travel with their wife. Keep that information to the Biography / About Us page – they will navigate there if they want to learn more about you. By using a list you share the key points with the customer, solving the need, in this case, quickly telling them what they will find on your site.
In looking at Andre’s page I think he does offer a lot to solve the customer’s need. The paragraph on the right effectively gives a quick read on the type of photos found there (highlighted in a different color and hyper-links). The paragraph on the right bullet points several solutions – no credits, no subscriptions, constant stream of new images, instant download, collections and a feel-good ending, support the artist. All the information probably helps to draw in the search engines and the hyperlinks count positively towards internal linking and make things easy for the customer. Andre has been very effective in selling so something about his SEO is working and his site is clearly satisfying the customer needs.
I’m not fond of “buying” customers as Natalia suggested by offering the New Customer discount, limited time discount, etc. I think it gets customers used to waiting for the “sale” price. Collections, on the other hand, are a worthwhile investment in that they up-sell the customer by offering incentive to purchase a higher priced item in return for the benefit.
This has all been very thought provoking. I know I need to do more work on my page and the conversation has really given me a lot to consider. My take-away from the discussion is that we individually need to consider how our site will fulfill the need of our target customer, and convey that information to them instantly on our landing pages, including Call to Action points to encourage them to purchase.
Hmmm… I have a whole big section below what you’re listing that is titled Symbiostock Profile and Extended Network Info with a lot of info to fill in before I get to the update button.
I’m purchased Leo’s professional plug-in. I wonder if that is the difference. But there should be an area somewhere for you to upload a picture or logo to be used on your author page. I think that is what you need to find in your settings so it over-rides the logo.
I think this is how to change that…
On your WordPress dashboard go to the Users section (in the long list of WP options, it’s not under the Symbiostock settings). Go you “Your Profile” and you’ll see a section at the bottom for some Symbiostock specific settings. You can upload your photo or your own logo there and it will replace the Symbiostock logo. Otherwise, if it’s blank, the default is the logo. I think it needs to be square with the dimensions of 150 x 150 pixels.
