Author Topic: What would YOU pay for your own subscription site? +what options would you need? (Read 12493 times)

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #25 on:** August 23, 2019, 05:21 »

Quote from: charged on August 23, 2019, 00:32

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 21:08
Quote from: charged on August 22, 2019, 20:28
Since it reads like you know how to code, here's some random thoughts of the top of my head...

Setup it up a bit like Squarespace.com have a bunch of different beautiful templates that people can choose from. Then do sales in 2 different methods.

1st method - allow sales via individual accounts, individuals keep all profits.

2nd method - build out a platform that shows all files from all individual sites. Have some pre-defined rules about how the search algorithm will work, and make that public. Ask all the files that are submitted here are exclusive. A large amount of exclusive files will draw traffic, for example like Stocksy.

Make this site a co-op, spell out how revenue would be shared from the platform sales. Give yourself a very nice unreasonably big payment in the future for doing work for nothing in the beginning. Spell this part out upfront. After that just pay yourself a reasonable salary moving forward from the sales.

Re: #2, was thinking of something like that... BUT... then it becomes

a) essentially a new agency
b) which, of course is a LOT more overhead than an individual sites. (An individual would be fully responsible for their content, whereas in an agency you need staff to review assets, staff for customer/sales assistance, staff for other items, etc, etc).

So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.

I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...

Virtually no stock buyer is going to go to an individual's own website unless it is amazing work and they can't find something similar on one of the big agencies' website. It is all about what would be the least amount of effort for the buyer. A big stock site is most often where the buyer finds what they want with the least amount of effort. Similar to shopping on Amazon.com, 50% of all US online shopping happens on that website because it is where people go to buy stuff with the least amount of effort. Anyway, the only way for you to launch something new is that you have to have contributors that commit to giving high quality exclusive files, otherwise buyers already have existing stock websites to go to.

Regarding staff, just find volunteers who will work for nothing, just like you will work for nothing. Then one day if and when the site actually becomes profitable, then pay all these people an unreasonably large amount of money out of the sales for all the free work they gave. Then figure out what the new pay will be moving forward.

Situation here though is - it's been my experience when looking for volunteers, in most cases you get what you pay for. In some cases, you might find a gem - but then they will have limited availability. Others - the quality of work varies widely, and then they may promise something will get done, but it doesn't. Unless you have a highly motivated volunteer - which if you have an insight as to how to find those, I'm open to hearing - it would be easier to hire someone. In which case - the 2nd option is like creating a brand new agency.

Might be a good idea though (creating a new agency), simply because the attitude of the larger ones is 'we are the king, do as we say, otherwise too bad'...

georgep7 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 23, 2019, 05:25 »

Quote

So I'm going to call a spade a spade.

Like the song?
Ace of spades, motorhead
"I see it in your eyes take one look and BUY!" (die)
hah!? It would fit perfect to a stock work showreel video!

@SuperPhoto, unfortunatelly good ideas don't flow through the web or public forums and of course every idea we might have requires us to pay the price checking it. Here is a short story. On a time i wws following used photo gear facebook groups. One day a guy asked: does anyone want to list him his gear for sale at no extra cost? Provided a link and many people followed. It was a custom forsales domain that still runs here is the link: dslr.gr

Hypothetical speaking don't always help. A build example and an invitation would be better (perhaps)...

Pauws99 · « **Reply #27 on:** August 23, 2019, 05:48 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 05:16

Quote from: cascoly on August 23, 2019, 02:29
Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 21:08
…..
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
always promised, never realized

Quote
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...

are you saying you HAVEN'T yet given 'some thought' to marketing!??! and you wonder why no one takes your proposal seriously .

The original question was with respect to setting up the site itself, nothing to do with marketing. As an aside though, something occurred to me that might work marketing wise as well.

Th e suceess of any venture in this arena is probably 95% marketing and 5% IT.

ShadySue · « **Reply #28 on:** August 23, 2019, 08:18 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 23, 2019, 05:48

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 05:16
Quote from: cascoly on August 23, 2019, 02:29
Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 21:08
…..
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
always promised, never realized

Quote
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...

are you saying you HAVEN'T yet given 'some thought' to marketing!??! and you wonder why no one takes your proposal seriously .

The original question was with respect to setting up the site itself, nothing to do with marketing. As an aside though, something occurred to me that might work marketing wise as well.
Th e suceess of any venture in this arena is probably 95% marketing and 5% IT.

and 10% 24/7 support

charged · « **Reply #29 on:** August 23, 2019, 10:43 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 05:21

Quote from: charged on August 23, 2019, 00:32
Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 21:08
Quote from: charged on August 22, 2019, 20:28
Since it reads like you know how to code, here's some random thoughts of the top of my head...

Setup it up a bit like Squarespace.com have a bunch of different beautiful templates that people can choose from. Then do sales in 2 different methods.

1st method - allow sales via individual accounts, individuals keep all profits.

2nd method - build out a platform that shows all files from all individual sites. Have some pre-defined rules about how the search algorithm will work, and make that public. Ask all the files that are submitted here are exclusive. A large amount of exclusive files will draw traffic, for example like Stocksy.

Make this site a co-op, spell out how revenue would be shared from the platform sales. Give yourself a very nice unreasonably big payment in the future for doing work for nothing in the beginning. Spell this part out upfront. After that just pay yourself a reasonable salary moving forward from the sales.

Re: #2, was thinking of something like that... BUT... then it becomes

a) essentially a new agency
b) which, of course is a LOT more overhead than an individual sites. (An individual would be fully responsible for their content, whereas in an agency you need staff to review assets, staff for customer/sales assistance, staff for other items, etc, etc).

So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.

I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...

Virtually no stock buyer is going to go to an individual's own website unless it is amazing work and they can't find something similar on one of the big agencies' website. It is all about what would be the least amount of effort for the buyer. A big stock site is most often where the buyer finds what they want with the least amount of effort. Similar to shopping on Amazon.com, 50% of all US online shopping happens on that website because it is where people go to buy stuff with the least amount of effort. Anyway, the only way for you to launch something new is that you have to have contributors that commit to giving high quality exclusive files, otherwise buyers already have existing stock websites to go to.

Regarding staff, just find volunteers who will work for nothing, just like you will work for nothing. Then one day if and when the site actually becomes profitable, then pay all these people an unreasonably large amount of money out of the sales for all the free work they gave. Then figure out what the new pay will be moving forward.

Situation here though is - it's been my experience when looking for volunteers, in most cases you get what you pay for. In some cases, you might find a gem - but then they will have limited availability. Others - the quality of work varies widely, and then they may promise something will get done, but it doesn't. Unless you have a highly motivated volunteer - which if you have an insight as to how to find those, I'm open to hearing - it would be easier to hire someone. In which case - the 2nd option is like creating a brand new agency.

Might be a good idea though (creating a new agency), simply because the attitude of the larger ones is 'we are the king, do as we say, otherwise too bad'...

A few more thoughts...
A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch?
B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort?
C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex.
D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success.
E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it.

I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #30 on:** August 23, 2019, 14:59 »

Quote

A few more thoughts...
A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch?
B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort?
C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex.
D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success.
E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it.

I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.

All good points. Part of the reason I thought I'd ask. If the majority of people here just complained/whined, then might not be worth the time/effort... (so far that seems to be the case).

Funny thing - not one person has yet asked any of my original questions, which were:

Quote

a) Images? Video?
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less?
c) Features you'd want?
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content?
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?)

Got a lot of poo-pooing...

The only really constructive comments so far have been by you & one other person...

charged · « **Reply #31 on:** August 23, 2019, 16:27 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 14:59

Quote
A few more thoughts...
A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch?
B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort?
C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex.
D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success.
E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it.

I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.

All good points. Part of the reason I thought I'd ask. If the majority of people here just complained/whined, then might not be worth the time/effort... (so far that seems to be the case).

Funny thing - not one person has yet asked any of my original questions, which were:

Quote
a) Images? Video?
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less?
c) Features you'd want?
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content?
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?)

Got a lot of poo-pooing...

The only really constructive comments so far have been by you & one other person...

I think no one directly answered your question because it has been done before. Obviously it worked out poorly. Having an individual site to sell is a flawed idea because it requires too much work for the customer. A platform is where the customer wants to go, it is the most efficient place to get what they want in the least amount of time. An individual site only works when it is superior to the platform in some other way, be it niche, breath of unique content, and superior(lower) pricing.

cascoly · « **Reply #32 on:** August 23, 2019, 17:21 »

… dupe post

cascoly · « **Reply #33 on:** August 23, 2019, 17:24 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 05:16

The original question was with respect to setting up the site itself, nothing to do with marketing. ...

that sums it up - no one is interested in a site that no one will ever find

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #34 on:** August 23, 2019, 21:23 »

I wouldn't run my own subscription site. Sorry if that's a non-answer.

I'd have a pay per download site, simple single use RF license, fair prices that are at current market for people who buy image packs. Instead of having to buy 4 or 10 packs or whatever else, any buyer could come and download any image, for a fair flat rate price. ELs would cost more.

What would I want for my own subscription site? Thousands of artists who would provide THEIR images for about 20% of the fee charged for a download. 10% profit after expenses. Which means 70% operating costs for advertising, management, IT and expenses. Roughly a million dollars in gross sales a year?

Pauws99 · « **Reply #35 on:** August 24, 2019, 02:19 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 14:59

Quote
A few more thoughts...
A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch?
B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort?
C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex.
D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success.
E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it.

I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.

All good points. Part of the reason I thought I'd ask. If the majority of people here just complained/whined, then might not be worth the time/effort... (so far that seems to be the case).

Funny thing - not one person has yet asked any of my original questions, which were:

Quote
a) Images? Video?
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less?
c) Features you'd want?
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content?
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?)

Got a lot of poo-pooing...

The only really constructive comments so far have been by you & one other person...

I don't think people giving their honest opinion is complaining/whining. Having asked a question and not liking the answer people give however might be.

georgep7 · « **Reply #36 on:** August 24, 2019, 02:39 »

Direct answers?
There you go. Personal perhaps wrong opinions.

What would you pay for your own subscription site? IF you had an easy to use/plug & play solution? 30% max of my total income from those files.

(Also - by 'plug & play' - I don't mean a wordpress plugin. I mean something where *literally* all you have to do is upload your assets, and enter your payment information, and then start marketing - unless you want that included too). All inclusive? 50% max of my total earnings from those files

a) Images? Video? Focused on Video, uploading some photos whenever I feel like it.
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less? Percentage of earnings.
c) Features you'd want? Highly customizable personal page
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content? wasn't that included in packages price? :/
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?) around 700 items

I'm thinking a good solution to the "content crisis" was if individual authors could manage their own content, and collect 100% of the fees for their work. 100% is not not achievable

Not only would it help stop the race to the bottom (simply because the "mega" agencies would receive significantly less new content), but it would help make authors feel more in control of their work, and not have to undermine their own efforts. It is not a race to the bottom it is competition and get harder

What are your thoughts?
Honestly? Stock is like every other business, it sucks unless you have another job and treat stock like a hobby

Quote

Got a lot of poo-pooing...

Not really.

Gathering opinions means taking notes of every idea and testing it

Here are some you might not like.

You will have to give away a percentage of your work for free. If you launch a personal site and set a big well structured "free" section people will come.
You will have to deal with google analytics and pay per click (or whatever is called) rather than maintaining and coding the site. That costs big.
You will have to follow trends and research or shoot yourself all subjects in a blink of the eye before competition.
You will have to stop thinking profits for the first or couple of years...

Edit: Here is another one, great news! if you succeed you will approach or get approached for special deals.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #37 on:** August 24, 2019, 03:11 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 23, 2019, 05:16

Quote from: cascoly on August 23, 2019, 02:29
Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 21:08
…..
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
always promised, never realized

Quote
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...

are you saying you HAVEN'T yet given 'some thought' to marketing!??! and you wonder why no one takes your proposal seriously .

The original question was with respect to setting up the site itself, nothing to do with marketing. As an aside though, something occurred to me that might work marketing wise as well.

The number one question here is, do you have buyers lined up? Because as others have pointed out, marketing the site is our number one concern. And as others have pointed out, someone shows up here every few weeks with the idea of starting independent sites, but not one has ever thought about marketing and each one gets miffed when asked about it and complains that we’re negative or whiny. Dozens of us have tried it and spent time and money on it and the end result was a loss of time and money because there was no coordinated marketing. The title of your post is how much would you pay for your own site? The answer is zippo. All the big sites charge us nothing and have marketing in place. Your goal is to make money for yourself by selling us sites. Our goal is to make money for ourselves, not for you.

charged · « **Reply #38 on:** August 24, 2019, 10:52 »

I could be wrong, and I'm often wrong.... it would seem to me that with how advance the big agencies are at this point, the only way a new method could work is if it is a superior product. Developing your own site is not a superior product to accessing 300 million images on Shutterstock. A superior product is having a very large amount of highly coveted exclusive images, think Stocksy. I still remember the days before Shutterstock and iStock got big, there were more traditional stock agencies all with a lot of their own exclusive images, and customers (me) would go search from site to site to find the images I needed for my work as a graphic designer. Now I assume there is not much difference between any of the large micro stock sites, iStock being an exception with how ever many exclusive images they have.

georgep7 · « **Reply #39 on:** August 24, 2019, 12:05 »

Apologies for making so many posts in this thread, but it is quite interesting.

Not trolling, not "grabs pop corn" kind of reaction, but guess someone have to ask.

Recently I have changed from Chrome to Bing. Hovering the mouse over built in "latest news", news' images reveal the source. Most common is Getty and some local resource companies, I dunno how they work, guess with a subecription to some agencies. What I thought was, nice, getting a membership and downloading one year's period images for headlines covers 90-95% of a news agency's needs.

So. Here is a fictional dialogue with self.

"How about packages of bulk items sold?"

"do you want to see your work in free or pirated sites or reuploaded and sold e.g. in SS?"

"If the future is selling video files for $1,76, then I would prefer to sell a bunch of them once for $xxx"

---

I understand that one of the keys making stock is being futureproof, but again, no one can predict the future.
Whatever idea an individual might have is already implement by agencies. Whatever deal could be done, guess is done.

Here is another hint. In Edge I still use Google as default search engine.
Thought it would be funny to add the "screw it, I am gonna be a stripper" meme.
What a surprise? There are 19 results of the meme and everything else is advertising cable strippers.
Not even actual dance strippers results. Just advertising. Everyone sells something and prices are low due to worldwide competition.
We sell something quite common nowadays.

Nice.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #40 on:** August 24, 2019, 14:06 »

Quote from: charged on August 24, 2019, 10:52

I could be wrong, and I'm often wrong.... it would seem to me that with how advance the big agencies are at this point, the only way a new method could work is if it is a superior product. Developing your own site is not a superior product to accessing 300 million images on Shutterstock. A superior product is having a very large amount of highly coveted exclusive images, think Stocksy. I still remember the days before Shutterstock and iStock got big, there were more traditional stock agencies all with a lot of their own exclusive images, and customers (me) would go search from site to site to find the images I needed for my work as a graphic designer. Now I assume there is not much difference between any of the large micro stock sites, iStock being an exception with how ever many exclusive images they have.

No I don't think you are wrong. I would only add that having an "exclusive" product is not the same as having something uniquely suited to the buyer.

cthoman · « **Reply #41 on:** August 24, 2019, 15:59 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on August 22, 2019, 15:49

What was “wrong” is that buyers don’t care about looking at an individual’s site. Those that have niche content that is very valuable already have a way to sell.

I had regular customers that wanted to buy directly from me.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #42 on:** August 24, 2019, 16:07 »

Quote from: cthoman on August 24, 2019, 15:59

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on August 22, 2019, 15:49
What was “wrong” is that buyers don’t care about looking at an individual’s site. Those that have niche content that is very valuable already have a way to sell.

I had regular customers that wanted to buy directly from me.

Sure, if you have regular customers. But buyers don’t go about looking to buy from an individual’s site if they don’t already have a connection.

cthoman · « **Reply #43 on:** August 24, 2019, 16:08 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on August 22, 2019, 15:23

Seeing as certain agencies are trying to "force" the bigger ones in a race to the bottom through a subscription model (and seem to forget what made them BIG was the contributors contributing content)...

What would you pay for your own subscription site? IF you had an easy to use/plug & play solution?

(Also - by 'plug & play' - I don't mean a wordpress plugin. I mean something where *literally* all you have to do is upload your assets, and enter your payment information, and then start marketing - unless you want that included too).

a) Images? Video?
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less?
c) Features you'd want?
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content?
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?)

I'm thinking a good solution to the "content crisis" was if individual authors could manage their own content, and collect 100% of the fees for their work.

Not only would it help stop the race to the bottom (simply because the "mega" agencies would receive significantly less new content), but it would help make authors feel more in control of their work, and not have to undermine their own efforts.

What are your thoughts?

$30 seems to be around where dedicated hosting prices are. You usually get charged a little bit more for extra space for a larger portfolio. Good features are probably just organized, professional price setting and a good search. All that said, it would be tough for me to jump into another one of these. Most of them just aren't stable enough to trust for an extended period. You put in a lot of effort to build it just to have the software get abandoned or other issues.

cthoman · « **Reply #44 on:** August 24, 2019, 16:11 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on August 24, 2019, 16:07

Quote from: cthoman on August 24, 2019, 15:59
Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on August 22, 2019, 15:49
What was “wrong” is that buyers don’t care about looking at an individual’s site. Those that have niche content that is very valuable already have a way to sell.

I had regular customers that wanted to buy directly from me.

Sure, if you have regular customers. But buyers don’t go about looking to buy from an individual’s site if they don’t already have a connection.

True. Most of it is still Google foot traffic. It seems like they squeezed a lot of the little players out of that though in the last several years.

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Author Topic: What would YOU pay for your own subscription site? +what options would you need? (Read 12493 times)

SuperPhoto

georgep7

Pauws99

ShadySue

charged

SuperPhoto

charged

cascoly

cascoly

Uncle Pete

Pauws99

georgep7

Shelma1

charged

georgep7

Pauws99

cthoman

Sean Locke Photography

cthoman

cthoman

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