Can someone recommend a working plugin for integration of Google analytics?

Thank you, Tinny! The video clips helped me understand that I was actually trying to get rid of theme functionality. LOL

Great, both issues resolved. Thank you again, both of you.

• How can I change the favicon for my SS site? I couldn't find anything in the Wordpress/Symbiostock theme. Is a special Plugin required? If so which one do you use?
• How to change the "above header menu" (upper right corner)? Configuration under "Appearance > Menus" has some effect but two menu items that seem to come with the SS theme show up and aren't even listed under "Appearance > Menus". Any ideas?

admin edit: changed the subject to be more descriptive.  If every thread with a question was titled 'a couple questions' the forum would be a mess.

Oooh, now that I've switched hosts, can you change my portfolio size from 500 to about 2k? I have unlimited space now... (photominingstock.com). Anyone here doing industrial stuff? I want to network with you.

Yes, I have some industrial stuff in my port. Mostly energy, construction and agriculture. Nothing uploaded, yet. You're welcome to network. Let me know how it goes...

Finally I found time to set up my site and play a bit.

Here's my update:

MSG name: PiLens
website: Outdoor Photography by Stephan Pietzko
url: http://www.imagoborealis.com

My site is with Bluehost and set for networking. Feel free to try.

I've uploaded and processed 10 images so far. All had a full set of metadata but 3 of those 10 lost all metadata when processed. I tried same images again and processing went through without any loss of metadata.

One image file produced an error  "No matching image files found. You may have named them incorrectly. Fix problem and re-upload. This file has been removed.", which was weird because I knew it was there (in the upload folder). Turned out to be a naming problem: File name was xxx..jpg. Removing the extra dot solved the issue.

Then I played around with menus and pages. Everything worked great for a while. But then I found myself stuck with a problem similar to one described here: widgets wouldn't show and commenting was enabled (although everything was off in settings). Changing page templates didn't solve the issue. Updating to version 1.19 didn't help either. Renaming the page finally did! So it seemed to be some naming conflict. Still strange though, because the page title didn't match anything but the tag line for my site. Reading also all the reports about the search/keyword/category issues I get the impression that Wordpress really doesn't like any matching text at all.

Quote from: cthoman on March 28, 2013, 21:30

I tend to agree. Shutterstock has always been courteous to me in my dealings with them and one of my top overall earners, but they are still my lowest per sale earner. So, it is hard to escape the fact that all of that comes at a price. If a fraction of those sales came from other sites, I would earn somewhere between a little more money to a veritable @ss load. So... It's not all about warm fuzzies.

Yep, that's it. I have no hard feelings toward Shutterstock, I like the company and the people, etc. But there's no denying the fact that if some of my SS sales were shifted over to another company, I'd be making more money. Like you said, somewhere between a little more money and...

I'm sure someone could quote me as saying something in this forum in the past along the lines of "RPD is a sucker's statistic." In many regards, I still believe that. If I'm using RPD to decide who to do business with and that leads me to exclude a low RPD company like Shutterstock, then yes, I'm a sucker and I'm missing out on some good money. Like it or not, if you want to earn the most money possible in this business, you need to be working with Shutterstock.

But in this discussion, if we're talking about which companies can help us earn more money with the exact same portfolios we have today, RPD is what matters, and unfortunately SS doesn't have it.

Again, nothing against SS. I've had nothing but a positive experience with SS and I'm satisfied with how things are going. I've had SS employees in my home to talk shop, and I'd welcome them back any time. Great people, smart people, lots of folks are doing good things over there at SS HQ. Just in the context of this particular discussion, SS really can't be at the top of anyone's list.

Yes, I agree 100%. I just have to add that while RPD should be the major factor for deciding whom to campaign for, royalty rates, ease of submission, review process ... are also important pieces of the puzzle. My RPD at iStock, for example, isn't at all that bad BUT...

...
It's still weird to me that other opposite pool today has more votes than this...

Complaining still seems to be easier for some folks than actually trying to do something for the better.

I love your initiative and will be part of the campaign. Even the smallest bit might help.

MSG name: PiLens
website: Pietzko Outdoor Photography (or similar)
url: not set up, yet
portfolio size: app 2000 photos
your photo topics: outdoor, no people, travel, nature, wildlife, landscape, astrophotography, northern lights, industrial, transportation
what you're looking for: same general fields but complementing, not competing images, outdoor people, G-rated please. Actually: I am not too sure what I should look for. I can't imagine that networking with someone who has focus on e.g. business people would help either of us. Same goes for, say, most vectors. But I have never been in an image buyer's shoes. I am definitely open to Lizard's "someone who sees me as a decent pick", especially if I can understand why.

Voted "Interested in being a part of an open network". While I think that some sort of uniform licensing is important for a stock images sales network to fly, I find the open network concept of Symbiostock the one feature that sets it apart from places like Photoshelter or Zenfolio.

I am ready to test. Count me in as guinea pig.

I'm writing software, not licenses.

While I totally understand your remark, Leo, I still think even the best imaginable software won't help us much selling our stuff if we screw up on this license business. And as far as I can see this will somehow affect the actual software coding (at least a bit).

Can I just say here that I think it would be wise for everyone to use the same contract.

I think the same solid contract would be best. If anyone wants to add or subtract, they should think hard about why.

I am with you on this, travel-light, it would be best for the buyer's experience. However, can we really all agree on one solid license agreement? Mostly lurking on MSG discussions for almost 3 years now, I'd be hard pressed being hopeful here.
So, may be it is better we aim lower for one license agreement with the least necessary number of options every symbiote can decide to switch on or off. Is that would you have in mind, Leo, when saying

I'm hoping the licensing system (if I do provide any) reflects that "symbiosis" mindset.

?

I 100% agree that discounting for a credit/backlink requirement standard license might fly much better than an (overly) expensive sort of extended license that allows for not crediting/backlinking. Photocase, however, seems to disagree, probably for good reasons. It might as well just depend on the type of images/media you are selling. - In any case we should have a license that allows for two levels of standard licensing (with and without credit/backlink requirement) at least as an option.

Earlier in this thread offering RM license has been discussed. I definitely would like to have that on my site and generally on Symbiostock, again, at least as an option.

So I would like to remind everyone here about travel-light's (?) earlier post:

Leo, the license itself is not the complicated bit, it's the pricing. The Stock Artists Alliance have developed a simplified pricing system, which would be the logical way to go. See http://www.stockartistsalliance.org/pluspacks/index.htm for details.

The calculator code is open source, and could be packaged as an optional WordPress plugin.

PicturEngine have implemented this, and it's more straightforward to use than, say, the Alamy or Getty systems.

I think this could be an elegant solution.

I always thought that customers would pay higher prices if they were reminded of the license before download. Many customers download an image as subscription or single download when in reality they need and would easily pay for Extended license if they were asked / reminded of the terms right before the image download. And after they have purchased the image they don't bother or give much thought to the proper license. In a way it doesn't feel like cheating to customers to use an image past the maximum reproduction limits or display it full size on their website. When they have already payed for it they feel they can use the image as they please.

For example i suggest that when someone adds an image to his basket on the download page i think it would help to put a short disclaimer about the max. reproduction they are allowed under this license etc and they need to check and the according box. Also they could be given a link and encouragement of sorts to upgrade their download to Extended.

I think that's probably true and Symbiotes should be given at least an option to try this. Hopefully with some sort of shortform license in layman's terms (with link to the full thing talking about "Applicable Law" and such uncool stuff). We could emphasize the "fair trade" character of Symbiostock in the same place.

Here's another idea we should think about at least as an option. Look at www.terragalleria.com, which is the photo selling site of QT Luong who is (according to John Lund) the most successful self-hosting, self-selling photographer. He also sells a special subscription for using his images as computer wallpapers http://www.terragalleria.com/wallpaper-pictures.html.

BTW, look at the last item in his list of selling points:
"The satisfaction of supporting the arts, since all the proceeds are used to support the effort of the photographer, who has already brought to you valuable free contents in a 100% advertising-free format."

Does it work (for him)? I don't know but I'd like to have at least the option to try something like this.

Backlinks! Yes, its as good as currency...but there are plenty of ways to do this... maybe something like this will be a future symbiostock feature:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/clip-art-illustration-search-and-insert/

Made by a guy you already know

   

Are you already using this plugin on your web site, Leo? How does it work for you?

I've given up on Fotolia.  Anyone have a suggestion for a 5th site to add?  My port is mostly landscapes & nature

May I suggest CanStock? Easy to submit to, reviewers are easy on landscapes & nature (which I shoot a lot, too) and incomes ranges right behind SS, FT, IS, DT, 123 (for me, anyway).

One of the good (little known?) features of keywording in Lightroom is the "non-exporting" keyword.

Yeah, "little known" was right in my case. Thank you for pointing this out. I'll use it.

I never tried Ktools. But I have been at Photoshelter for 3 years. Yes, I, too, found it easy to set up as has been said. I have cancelled my account by end of the month. The amount of traffic that comes in through their channels is a mere trickle according to google analytics. Not worth their 9%.

Yes, I, too, thought being searchable through Picturengine would be a great plus of being at Photoshelter. However, Picturengine seems to be stuck in an eternal beta and I am getting tired waiting for them taking off.

So I go self hosting and will try KonaHawaii's open source word press theme: general-stock-discussion/selling-rf-images-is-really-not-that-hard-php-developers-wanted - His networking component being the major reason for me.

But then I must say that I am able and willing to tackle some degree of php and sql.