MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Selling Stock Direct => Topic started by: Miguel Calo on November 20, 2013, 01:47
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Hi!
Anybody tried it already?
It sounds as a great idea but I wonder about the pros and cons...
From what I recently understood, symbiostock seems not to be the way. It looks like they change the rules in the middle of the game...
Any oppinions? :-\
Thanks in advance.
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I have not tried k tools, am perfecfly happy with symbiostock. I do not understand you comment tabout changing rules -what rules do you feel have been changed?
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No rules were changed, there are no rules in Symbistock. The development is continuing as is. Its all sorted out.
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I had a ktools site for a year. Pros- if you have php experience, customizing is easy. I had none but managed to figure a lot of stuff out, plus others who had built the site were helpful. Cons - you are entirely on your own when it comes to marketing.
Symbiostock - pros - backlinks from being connected to others help with seo. Wordpress documentation and support is good. Tutorials for setting the site up is getting better. Growing network of people to help with issues. If you have a large portfolio, multiple sites and/or can add more backlinks, seo advantage might work for you. Cons - more difficult to build than ktools for me, despite having prior wordpress knowledge. Documentation - not good for the software. Lots of customization might be required, depending on your design taste, and sometimes its difficult to find answers for your particular problem.
Disclaimer...these observations are based on my experiences. Some people have done well with both ktools and SY. Size of portfolio, software knowledge, and ability to market all play in to the success of a site.
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Warm Picture (no longer in business) was built on Ktools and it was (IMO) a very mixed bag as a platform. I contributed to WarmPicture and it wasn't the easiest platform to work with. They have done an upgrade since so perhaps it's easier than it was.
LisaFX still has a Ktools site:
http://www.lisafxphotostock.com/ (http://www.lisafxphotostock.com/)
I chose Symbiostock over ktools when deciding to start my own site because I thought it had the best chance of offering an alternative to agencies. WarmPicture went away because of the problems of attracting attention to the site and its collection. The links among multiple sites - the network - at the heart of Symbiostock seems to me to be the item most likely engine of building a business for us all.
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JoAnn brings up a point I wanted to mention...at the time, SY wasn't even around for me, so Ktools was new kid on the block. If SY would have been, I likely would have chosen it over KTools, but then hindsight is always 20/20. :)