Author Topic: Got sick of agents - out on my own :) (Read 16587 times)

Adeptris · « **Reply #25 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:27 »

Lets do a bit of viral promotion, via Twitter & Facebook.

I have tweeted this link to my 100+ followers, maybe a few more tweets and RT's may connect with a buyer or two, we can but hope.

http://bit.ly/4BmVcF

David

cardmaverick · « **Reply #26 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:29 »

I've actually thought about doing this later on when my collection size hits some kind of critical mass. I think the real trick to success with a photo site is:

Searching Options

If you look at all the top agencies, you'll notice that as you go from number 1 on down, the search engines become less and less sophisticated in control. For starters, you might wanna try emulating shutterstocks take on it with a keyword elimination box, that alone is very powerful in narrowing results accurately. I'd also look into search or categorizing by "feeling" and "concepts" rather than just subjects, that seems to be one of Getty Images techniques, and they have some very interesting ways of searching their collection.

How did you setup that site? Was it a template or something?

Good luck with it!

hqimages · « **Reply #27 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:32 »

Quote from: Adeptris on August 24, 2009, 14:27

Lets do a bit of viral promotion, via Twitter & Facebook.

I have tweeted this link to my 100+ followers, maybe a few more tweets and RT's may connect with a buyer or two, we can but hope.

http://bit.ly/4BmVcF

David

* blush

omg, why am I so embarrased, lol!! Thanks David, that's dead nice of you, I'm mortified but grinning!!

Thank you!! lol!

Adeptris · « **Reply #28 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:36 »

Quote from: hqimages on August 24, 2009, 14:32

* blush

omg, why am I so embarrased, lol!! Thanks David, that's dead nice of you, I'm mortified but grinning!! Thank you!! lol!

It should appear at the top of the home page shortly, as a DMAA_Group tweet.

hqimages · « **Reply #29 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:38 »

Quote from: cardmaverick on August 24, 2009, 14:29

I've actually thought about doing this later on when my collection size hits some kind of critical mass. I think the real trick to success with a photo site is:

Searching Options

If you look at all the top agencies, you'll notice that as you go from number 1 on down, the search engines become less and less sophisticated in control. For starters, you might wanna try emulating shutterstocks take on it with a keyword elimination box, that alone is very powerful in narrowing results accurately. I'd also look into search or categorizing by "feeling" and "concepts" rather than just subjects, that seems to be one of Getty Images techniques, and they have some very interesting ways of searching their collection.

How did you setup that site? Was it a template or something?

Good luck with it!

It's based on Drupal, with a lot of custom coding, I wouldn't try it at home unless you are a web developer to be honest! It took I'd say a few months to build, lots of local testing, and then even more testing when it went live, I actually think the testing took as long as the building of it.. but it's done well, it's lightweight for the functionality.. I'm using the Flickr api to pull my thumbs and previews for my stock images.. there's a LOT going on there actually, but if the bones of it hold up, which they seem to be doing quite elegantly, it's something I can use to develop a second 'communal' site from a long distant way in the future

I must develop the search too, it's such a big project getting that right alone, I have no deadline, I'll just have to keep working on it as much as possible over the next year!

Ps. Jonathan I emailed that site to see if I am suitable for membership, what a resource, it's really brilliant, thanks for the recommendation!

hqimages · « **Reply #30 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:39 »

Quote from: Adeptris on August 24, 2009, 14:36

Quote from: hqimages on August 24, 2009, 14:32

* blush

omg, why am I so embarrased, lol!! Thanks David, that's dead nice of you, I'm mortified but grinning!! Thank you!! lol!

It should appear at the top of the home page shortly, as a DMAA_Group tweet.

Ok now I'm properly red!! THANK you

hqimages · « **Reply #31 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:42 »

Here's the twitter page guys, I literally only just set it up like, JUST! (Great minds etc..) http://twitter.com/photos4designs

Gonna follow you guys

Adeptris · « **Reply #32 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:50 »

When talking about moving to a contributors agency, it is better from a software perspective to keep it small and quality so the database can deal with keyword searches.

I have done loads of research on how searches work for bigger collections of images 1 million+, the keywords are in one database server with the image info, sitting between that is one or more servers with the search engine which is an Indexer and each may have 10 million image keywords in memory, then the third transation server is the front end that sends the request back and forward, I have found a few options and will try to blog in a couple of weeks on just what is required and what is out there for a start up.

So keeping it small is the best way to go!

David

hqimages · « **Reply #33 on:** August 24, 2009, 14:53 »

Quote

So keeping it small is the best way to go!

Sounds good to me anyway!

lisafx · « **Reply #34 on:** August 24, 2009, 17:40 »

Quote from: hqimages on August 24, 2009, 13:10

Hi Lisa, thanks for the message, I have an excellent solicitor on hand who is a personal friend, and I also have an expert legal contact that specialises in copyright law to ask questions to free of charge..

This is great. Sounds like you have all your legal bases covered, and without spending a fortune!

Jonathan, really great info to have about PACA, too. Nice to know there are resources available for people who want to strike out on their own

hqimages · « **Reply #35 on:** August 25, 2009, 04:06 »

Thanks Lisa, hopefully it all works out, if I come across any unusual legal situation from the way I'm selling I'll let you know! For someone like you, I think you're putting too much faith in the microstock web sites legal teams, I wouldn't let it stop me going out on my own, at least if I were you and had your gallery, I would seriously consider it!!!! I think it would be great for you.. but I'll let you know how it goes for me first anyway

gostwyck · « **Reply #36 on:** August 25, 2009, 06:44 »

Someone I met socially about 18 months ago told me about a friend of his who sells his own images here;

http://www.buyimage.co.uk/photonet/homepage/company.html

Apparently the guy in question works in London, in an engineering-related field, during the week and then spends every weekend travelling the to take photographs and uploading them to his site. He reckoned the guy was earning more from the images than he did from his day-job.

I find it slightly strange that he absolutely refuses to accept submissions from other photographers though. Once you've gone to the trouble of setting up the site then more images could only improve the choice for customers and you get to earn a chunk of their commissions.

Anyway, a bit OT, but evidence that it can be done successfully. I'd assume if it wasn't working for him then he'd put his stuff on Alamy or elsewhere.

hqimages · « **Reply #37 on:** August 25, 2009, 06:51 »

Wow that's a nice success story, thanks for the link

I can understand not taking other photographers work onto the site alright, why make 20% on someone else's work, if you are making 100% on your own work.. I can understand that, but I think for me I do also agree that it's a lot of work to create a fully functioning buyers site, with checkout etc, so if I decide to invite contributors, I'll keep the original site just for me, so I can give the address to local buyers, and then build a site elsewhere on the same framework for others to join together as a worldwide community..

The thing is too there are so many legalities involved dealing internationally, ie. Contributors are from all over the world that I want to see the microstock sites evolve further as regards tax registration etc and see how that whole thing plays out, then decide if it's really worth it, or maybe even to accept European contributors only.. anyway it's years off, lol!!!

gostwyck · « **Reply #38 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:04 »

I think taking just 20% commission would be very generous __ 30-40% would be more likely. He's only got 18k images too. If that grew to 180K and sales grew anything like proportionately then he could probably give up his day-job. Most business people who become wealthy do it by utilising the efforts of others.

Microbius · « **Reply #39 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:13 »

Quote from: gostwyck on August 25, 2009, 07:04

I think taking just 20% commission would be very generous __ 30-40% would be more likely. He's only got 18k images too. If that grew to 180K and sales grew anything like proportionately then he could probably give up his day-job. Most business people who become wealthy do it by utilising the efforts of others.

I really like his site, he's got a great niche there .Only having his own images means that his buyers will be getting search results that are accurate, only the sort of shots they need for tourist guides for the UK and of a consistent quality. I can understand him not wanting to open the site up to other photographers.

hqimages · « **Reply #40 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:17 »

I just don't think it makes good business sense, 18k is a LOT of images.. I presuming he's not in competition with international brands/sites with millions of pics, he probably sources his clients locally/nationally.. he makes 100% profit on his sales, and probably has absolutely tiny overheads.

The minute you open that up, you have less chance of making a sale on your own work, so immediately you have a pay cut, and then on other people's work you are selling, they have not only increased the amount of hours you have to work to support them, but they also increase your overheads as regards servers, space, programming, legal etc etc etc. So out of whatever, let's say the 50% you make off them, you are working HARDER to make less money.. now if you can get an investor and a team of minimum 5 people to launch an international site, that might work, but again, you probably won't turn a profit for years one and two, especially with the market being a saturated as it is.

It's a different way of thinking, if you sell locally from your own web site, you're making a massive return, with minimum work/output/overheads on your end..

Plenty of stock sites have gone under with 180k images in their database, so it's not just a question of more images=more money..

hqimages · « **Reply #41 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:18 »

Quote from: Microbius on August 25, 2009, 07:13

Quote from: gostwyck on August 25, 2009, 07:04
I think taking just 20% commission would be very generous __ 30-40% would be more likely. He's only got 18k images too. If that grew to 180K and sales grew anything like proportionately then he could probably give up his day-job. Most business people who become wealthy do it by utilising the efforts of others.
I really like his site, he's got a great niche there .Only having his own images means that his buyers will be getting search results that are accurate, only the sort of shots they need for tourist guides for the UK and of a consistent quality. I can understand him not wanting to open the site up to other photographers.

Yeah, and it means he can have a personal relationship with his buyers, that kind of thing goes a long way in today's climate!

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #42 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:28 »

Quote from: hqimages on August 25, 2009, 06:51

then build a site elsewhere on the same framework for others to join together as a worldwide community..

Well, then you're just making yet another microstock site, and what good does that do you? Not much and eventual closing if history is any indication.

Stick with your own work and making a niche that attracts buyers. There's plenty of people already out there doing it.

hqimages · « **Reply #43 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:31 »

Quote from: sjlocke on August 25, 2009, 07:28

Quote from: hqimages on August 25, 2009, 06:51
then build a site elsewhere on the same framework for others to join together as a worldwide community..

Well, then you're just making yet another microstock site, and what good does that do you? Not much and eventual closing if history is any indication.

Stick with your own work and making a niche that attracts buyers. There's plenty of people already out there doing it.

I'm not making anything Sean.. I'm having a nice chat, and sharing ideas, with some people that have very interesting things to say. I don't know why you feel the need to troll every thread on here, I'd prefer if you didn't do it to mine, thanks so much.

hqimages · « **Reply #44 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:33 »

That 'ignore' button is a Godsend, I love all your guys ideas and links.. thanks for a great chat

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #45 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:40 »

Well, you can "ignore" me all you want. I'm not trolling, I'm discussing your thoughts on selling other people's work. I will post in any thread I like, thank you.

On topic, opening a mini-micro collection site is an exercise in futility from what we've seen and discussed repeatedly here. It takes a level of contributor content and overhead investment that really makes it prohibitive for the individual to "start up". Evident from "Lucky Oliver" which was a really nice, creative site. This was brought up in the thread, and you said "if I decide to invite contributors ... then build a site elsewhere on the same framework for others to join together as a worldwide community..". Your words, not mine.

The advice given was to build a niche collection and you'll find success in running your own site. I've read this in many places online.

Of course, if you're too childish to join in any discussion which may contradict your thoughts or hurts your feelings, then your loss, I guess.

MicrostockExp · « **Reply #46 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:45 »

Good luck to you, I think it is worth it with the pictures you have !
It makes me wonder why Yuri did not go on its own yet

L

hqimages · « **Reply #47 on:** August 25, 2009, 08:02 »

Quote from: ldambies on August 25, 2009, 07:45

Good luck to you, I think it is worth it with the pictures you have !
It makes me wonder why Yuri did not go on its own yet
L

Thanks!!

I did wonder that too.. probably as long as he's making money he doesn't have to spend any on a system to sell his own.. but you never know, he might in the future.. it would take a lot of $$$ for him to build a site though, especially if he would be fussy about features, which he probably would be (rightly so) because his brand is so strong, the web site would have to reflect that. There's more pressure on him from his buyers than someone like me in that way, they might expect a lot, but hey, you never know what will happen and what way we will all adapt to keep selling!

iclick · « **Reply #48 on:** August 25, 2009, 08:18 »

Well done good for you

Lets not forget that at times the customer base gets as fed up with the big boys as much as us contributers, so who knows they may start to turn back to the small independent providers for value and the personal touch

Wishing you well

hqimages · « **Reply #49 on:** August 25, 2009, 08:22 »

Quote from: iclick on August 25, 2009, 08:18

Well done good for you

Lets not forget that at times the customer base gets as fed up with the big boys as much as us contributers, so who knows they may start to turn back to the small independent providers for value and the personal touch

Wishing you well

Yeah and from this end, it'll be absolutely GREAT to know exactly who is buying from me, and to be able to email them, maybe get to know them.. it is something you miss out on BIG time with an agency.. fingers crossed I get buyers anyway eh

Thanks!!

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Author Topic: Got sick of agents - out on my own :) (Read 16587 times)

Adeptris

cardmaverick

hqimages

Adeptris

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hqimages

hqimages

Adeptris

hqimages

lisafx

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gostwyck

hqimages

gostwyck

Microbius

hqimages

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Sean Locke Photography

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Sean Locke Photography

MicrostockExp

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iclick

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