Quote from: Tinny on April 07, 2013, 10:37
Someone mentioned about listing all members on our sites even if they are not part of our network - I think this is probably a good idea as search engines seem to like links.  If you did not like what someone does on their site you could just miss them off

I have used the information from Cascoly's table to create this page and just tucked it away with the information pages sort of out of sight but where search engines might go 
http://stockimages.kerioak.com/symbiostock-network-members/

Thoughts ?  (and any corrections of course)

I added a 'Friends of Symbiostock in the last update -- as the list gets longer I can split it up intio individual pages - vectors, nature, etc if that's thought useful

if you want to copy the list from my page, easiest is to do a view source and then copy the table(s) into excel -- you'll get all the columns separated and can choose which you want to list.   

also more backlinks to these pages should help - I have several places on my cascoly.com where I can include links, so no one page will have too many links
steve

Quote from: Tinny on April 07, 2013, 17:40

Quote from: cclapper on April 07, 2013, 16:04

I am finding that my watermark barely shows on some images, and others, it is way too prominent. I thought about changing it yesterday, but didn't want to break anything so didn't. I will wait for Leo's fix. It will be awesome to be able to control that on the fly.

Hi Carol, try using a drop shadow or stroke within your watermark, that might help.  Have a look at this file to see if it might help you
http://kerioak.com/TP/symbiostock-watermark-LEO.psd

That's a good suggestion. But I think I am stuck with my watermark for now. I thought I read that if I change it now that I have already started adding images, it will break something. Is that true or can I change the watermark image and re-upload any time?

QuoteI am also wondering how I am going to handle editorial images...... any suggestions anyone?

I'm going to make a prominent statement in my description, in the same way as I am saying "Model release available" or "No model release" if it is a part of a body like this one:
http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/image/caribbean-written-in-sand-girls-legs-sexy/

At the end of the day, editorial is the same as no model or property releases available and we need to clearly state Editorial use only: No model or property releases available at the start of our description.

Steve

Quote from: jeancliclac on April 07, 2013, 13:32
I have also joined and I'm impressed by what Leo has done!
My site is 
http://stockabily.com
I have now about 300 pictures there and target to have 7000 within the next 6/8 weeks.
I'm fighting to get things as I want them to be and I have got valuable info from this forum!
I do not know yet if I have to network with similar or with complementary....I'm thinking about it;

I have many practical questions, but try to figure out with the info given. There are points for which I have not been able to find answers:
1) How can we change the size of the text for the "image categories"? I like to have a smaller text for the categories as it will fill more than one sreen with the actual size
2) Is there a way to edit picture by category or by filtering with keywords. Otherwise once we will have many pictures there it will be a problem to edit them.
3) is there a way to make bulk change in categories once published or shall it done one by one.
Thanks in advance!
Jean

One solution is to nest the categories.  On the categories screen you can set parent categories and on the menu screen you can nest the child categories by dragging them slightly to the right underneath the parent.  If you had Animals as a parent, and nested Farm Animals and Sea Animals under it you'd get a pop-out side menu for more options when you hover over Animals.

Carol - you can change your watermark at any time but until Leo makes the update he mentioned it will only affect the images you upload from now on, not the previous ones.

Quote from: Tinny on April 07, 2013, 17:35

Quote from: jeancliclac on April 07, 2013, 13:32
I have also joined and I'm impressed by what Leo has done!
My site is 
http://stockabily.com
I have now about 300 pictures there and target to have 7000 within the next 6/8 weeks.
I'm fighting to get things as I want them to be and I have got valuable info from this forum!
I do not know yet if I have to network with similar or with complementary....I'm thinking about it;

I have many practical questions, but try to figure out with the info given. There are points for which I have not been able to find answers:
1) How can we change the size of the text for the "image categories"? I like to have a smaller text for the categories as it will fill more than one sreen with the actual size
2) Is there a way to edit picture by category or by filtering with keywords. Otherwise once we will have many pictures there it will be a problem to edit them.
3) is there a way to make bulk change in categories once published or shall it done one by one.
Thanks in advance!
Jean

Nice work Jean

1.  Yes there is, I asked this the other day and it was suggested I look in the CSS after I had already said I could not find it, however if you put this in your child theme css it might work - no guarantees, I work by trial and error
**********

a {
    color:
a {
    color: #7C05A3;
    text-decoration: none;
}
.hero-unit {
    color: inherit;
    font-size: 12px;
    font-weight: 200;
    line-height: 16px;
}
    text-decoration: none;
}
.hero-unit {
    color: inherit;
    font-size: 12px;
    font-weight: 200;
    line-height: 16px;
}
***********

2.  I use the "drafts" option in all images but am doing them one by one as none of mine have descriptions and I am doing the SEO as I go as well and reworking any keywords, spelling mistakes I find

3.  Yes you can bulk change prices and sizes in the Symbiostock area

Thanks a lot  you Tinny; I'll try what you suggest very soon and will report back
jean

Getting the site up an running was a little bit intimidating but with all the great tips, hints and sharing here I finally have enough up and running and ready to share. Next steps are to set up Paypal and my EULA and get some of the other pages populated. My sincere thanks go out to everyone here, especially Leo, for all the generous help.

Here's the link to my site: http://www.karensarragaphotography.com/

I have a small portfolio so I'll only have about 275 photos live once I upload my current stuff but it will be slowly growing throughout the year.  Anyone that would like to link to me is welcome to do so.  I've set up my test network with the following sites:

CathysLife Stock Photos
Stockabily
PhotominingStock.com/Food
Asean Photo Stock
HookStock Images

Quote from: klsbear on April 08, 2013, 01:12
Getting the site up an running was a little bit intimidating but with all the great tips, hints and sharing here I finally have enough up and running and ready to share. Next steps are to set up Paypal and my EULA and get some of the other pages populated. My sincere thanks go out to everyone here, especially Leo, for all the generous help.

Here's the link to my site: http://www.karensarragaphotography.com/

I have a small portfolio so I'll only have about 275 photos live once I upload my current stuff but it will be slowly growing throughout the year.  Anyone that would like to link to me is welcome to do so.  I've set up my test network with the following sites:

CathysLife Stock Photos
Stockabily
PhotominingStock.com/Food
Asean Photo Stock
HookStock Images

You have some fabulous pictures. I'm very jealous!

Just noticed that some have linked to my original site that I posted way back, which has since changed (with the whole Bluehost change), so if anyone is linking to me (which I REALLY appreciate!) can you please change it to my new site...

website: THP Stock Photos
url: www.thpstockphotos.com

Thanks.

I have been sick (again!) so haven't spent any time on it in over a week, but plan to get back into it this week.

cascoly - could you please update the link you have on your site of all the Symbio sites to reflect my new address? Thanks

ok done:)

I saw one link which was not working : http://thpstockphotos.com/image/brick-wall/

You know that some of your pictures do not have titles: http://thpstockphotos.com/image/grunge-background-2/

Cheers
L

Quote from: Tinny on April 07, 2013, 20:39
Carol - you can change your watermark at any time but until Leo makes the update he mentioned it will only affect the images you upload from now on, not the previous ones.

Cathy here    no worries i get called carol quite frequently.


Thanks for that tip. I did change my watermark yesterday and added a bevel, as suggested. That does help tremendously but im going to revise it yet one more time.

Sorry, not sure why I had the name Carol in my head

Quote from: Tinny on April 08, 2013, 12:40
Sorry, not sure why I had the name Carol in my head

  No problem

MSG name: daveh900
website: StompStock
url: http://www.stompstock.com
your photo topics: Vector Images (Vintage, Food, Travel, Sports, and more)
what  you're looking for: Complimentary Sites

I will try to move my site to new server, so tomorrow it may be down. If someone is linking to me, please remove link, until it will be up again

I have decided to join this adventure

MSG name: Lbarn
website:  LBarnStockImages
url: lbarnstockimages.com
your photo topics: cityscapes, food, nature, some illustrations, architecture, no people
what  you're looking for: ?

In the meantime I finalized my site in a way that I can release it to the public now:

MSG name: franky242
website: franky242 photography
url: http://franky242.net/shop
your photo topics: Large portfolio including travel/landscape, objects, people
what  you're looking for: Complimentary images around the world
portfolio: 2,700
online: 2,700

Since I have my complete portfolio available now (all keyworded, not all categorized however besides "all photos"), changes are high that I can provide search hits once you link to me.

Currently I linked to the following sites for testing purposes:
http://www.travelwitness.net/
http://photo.travelling-light.net/
http://stompstock.com/
http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/

Of course I would be happy if you include my site in your network. Please feel free to provide feedback as well - highly appreciated - thanks!

Hi

I came across some errors on the site. For example, look at Brands and Properties under Editorial and then go to page 2.

Or, go to Sights and Landmarks under Categories.

Thanks for including me in your partner network. I've now got 150 images online after my recent trip to the Washington DC cherry blossom festival!

Steve

Hi Steve,

thanks for your feedback, they are fixed now. Bloody German Umlauts in the keywords...
Glad to be able to link to your site - after all it was you who gave me basic support - remember the 1&1 issue? I am now with bluehost thanks to your recommendation! :-)

Cheers, Frank

Quote from: steheap on April 12, 2013, 15:00
Hi

I came across some errors on the site. For example, look at Brands and Properties under Editorial and then go to page 2.

Or, go to Sights and Landmarks under Categories.

Thanks for including me in your partner network. I've now got 150 images online after my recent trip to the Washington DC cherry blossom festival!

Steve

What we need is a site  ( symbiostock.com    ) where we can list our sites and have our listings be searchable by Category ( food, travel,.... ).  This way we can do our own updates and changes instead of asking and relying on others.

Glenn

Quote from: grsphoto on April 12, 2013, 17:23
What we need is a site  ( symbiostock.com    ) where we can list our sites and have our listings be searchable by Category ( food, travel,.... ).  This way we can do our own updates and changes instead of asking and relying on others.

Glenn

that's what I've recommended earlier -- it would require a small db that lists what each site hosts, and then have symbio choose randomly from the sites available ( to keep the search time wuithin limits)  if Leo can provide the option to customize the network list, I can do the coding the produces the list

Actually I had a similar thing in mind - but not a typical search.

Everyone (if they wish) will have a little apartment on Symbiostock.com - a sort of remote operations hub where they can manage their symbiostock main site presence, a nice write-up page, etc.

At this time I have in mind that everyone will submit up to 100 of their favorite images. The customer's first search result will give random related results. When user clicks on image, it becomes focus of next search initiated - with focus image large preview above -, and the new search is in cascading order of common tags shown below. Although first search is random, it should be easy to drill down to your desired image very quickly. Its not conventional search. Your image, with all of its data, acts as a giant contextual search tag.

Then customer gets to your symbiostock port page, which allows remote searching of your site. they can go there as soon as they wish, or back up to previous results.

Thats the nutshell version. And never expect testing will be free of bugs And don't expect it soon as long as I'm just one man.

Leo

How will you pay for the bandwidth and server space? 

Long term this might be cool, but short term, to get things going, a simple db might be the best answer.

Mid term, a cool feature would be a way for our sites to query this data base and download changes to our own site... that way we always have the latest list.

Quote from: grsphoto on April 13, 2013, 15:02
Leo

How will you pay for the bandwidth and server space? 

Long term this might be cool, but short term, to get things going, a simple db might be the best answer.

Mid term, a cool feature would be a way for our sites to query this data base and download changes to our own site... that way we always have the latest list.

at  the level of 20-100 users db usage would be negligible -- and it would allow any owner to keep their info up to date - could even let each owner select which suites they would like to network with -- this way everyone could see who's linking with whom

the search itself would just ask for 5 sites compatible with the current site - so just ne search and a table of urls returned, then the search performed as now

I've just realized, that networking may be very dangerous
Let's suppose, that in the future, hundreds (or thousands) of Symbiostockers decide to put the same site into their network. For that site it may quickly "eat" all server resources, resembling DoS attack