jfmphoto

Feature suggestion - search. Users add keywords for each image. Also field for 5 priority keywords. Keywords also picked up from metadata. Then users can opt in to being part of the search.

Then you create a landing page with its own url and identity which is the search engine for all images in all the opted-in portfolios you host. Users encouraged to promote the search via social media etc. Results of search from all the different portfolios.

All of the portfolios together are more useful and more likely to be found by buyers then any of the portfolios alone.

Alias,

Thanks for the suggestion. We do have powerful search already, but it is across a single site.

Can't tell much yet about how we will address "collectives" with multiple photographers, but we do have some cool plans...... stay tuned.

Pixart,
As far as I understand, they don't do the printing+shipping themselves. And apparently they don't sell digital files, is that's what one wants.

Great thread and congrats to all the people building a store for their own work. Here's mine using Ktools:

http://www.mystockvectors.com/

Hey nice site! I would love to hear that your site is doing well! Then maybe more artists can have their own and get away from the agencies ripping us off.

cthoman,
Real nice site, better looking than a lot of the big sites. Made me want to buy something

nice site, and your portfolio is big and strong enough to get buyers.

would you mind to share how much it may cost to set up the site like these? i saw the ktools photostore is US249, so it is a one time payment? the rest of basic cost is monthly server fee?

Great thread and congrats to all the people building a store for their own work. Here's mine using Ktools:

http://www.mystockvectors.com/

...And I now have my site up.  I decided to go with a theme of sorts.  There is some general stock there, but I wanted to concentrate on warm weather themes, food, etc.

http://warmpicture.com

I need to greatly expand the collection if I want to keep the eyes I attract.  I just don't think 200 images cuts the mustard. I'm pushing out new images this week, and will have 500 images by the end of summer.

It's a lot of work to put something like this together, even with KTools doing the heavy lifting.  But like others I feel a need to move in this direction, and away from the agencies.

FWIW my prices are more in line with Alamy than the micros.

Well, here is ours:
www.elenaphoto.com/store
Also on KTools. My computer genius husband had to fix some bugs in their software:-), but other than that seems to work fine.

Good for both of you, or make that everyone who's breaking out of the chains. I just looked and like them all.

As someone else has pointed out, the most difficult part of a sales site, any kind, isn't making it, but getting people to find it. Best wishes to all. I have a site that is supposed to sell a product. Now and then I dabble with it, every once in awhile I get an order. I don't know how anyone finds it?

Now what's the inside tip, what did Hubby have to fix?

Keep this up and I may finance the upstart CrapStock site!

Does the software do the resizing from original? Say I wanted to offer a Websize as the base price, and make it 640 x 480 (or 640 longest side) Does KTools do that? Then the software sets the other sizes by a selection in the code?

I enjoyed looking at the different price levels and size pricing. That's one of the most difficult parts for me to decide. I don't want to be a price cutter, and don't want to over charge and drive people away. Maybe I worry too much, but I don't wish to undercut the marketplace the way Subs have to Micro.

Does the software do the resizing from original? Say I wanted to offer a Websize as the base price, and make it 640 x 480 (or 640 longest side) Does KTools do that? Then the software sets the other sizes by a selection in the code?

The Ktools software does resizing. I would not go for Ktools now, though. The current version (3) is old, and a new version (4) is in the works (though it has been for four years). It is a total rewrite, so the transition will require a new setup.

...And I now have my site up.  I decided to go with a theme of sorts.  There is some general stock there, but I wanted to concentrate on warm weather themes, food, etc.

http://warmpicture.com

Like the sites - but djpadavona, you've still got some filler text on your "about us" page!

Good stuff though.  Keep us informed as to how you get on!

Nice work, everyone! Good to hear, pauliewalnuts, that the SEO is set up correctly on ktools.

Thanks for the heads-up on the rewrite of ktools in the future, fotonaut. But it could take months before that comes about and I think people are anxious now to get things going. ktools' website does say 1 year free upgrades and support, so hopefully if it comes out within a year, the upgrade will be free.

I decided to use Ktools to create my own microstock site just for curiosities sake. It was fairly easy to implement, but the mysql stuff did spook me a little. Anyway, I was just wondering what you all think of it. I have tested the payment system with Paypal Sandbox, and it seems that everything is working properly. Here is the link if you want to take a look: http://rfstocks.com/

Also, sometimes the site seems slow. Then again, maybe it's just me.

You Rock. Great work!

I am working on a similar idea.

jfmphoto

Feature suggestion - search. Users add keywords for each image. Also field for 5 priority keywords. Keywords also picked up from metadata. Then users can opt in to being part of the search.

Then you create a landing page with its own url and identity which is the search engine for all images in all the opted-in portfolios you host. Users encouraged to promote the search via social media etc. Results of search from all the different portfolios.

All of the portfolios together are more useful and more likely to be found by buyers then any of the portfolios alone.

We provide a global search on our system, if you go to http://avidimages.com and use the search - it searches all the client sites. We also offer a free plan up to 100 images

Interestingly we started with a ktools store about 6 years ago but quickly found it to be a massive pain to set up the way we wanted, so we wrote our own (we produce quite abit of photography in our design agency).
Soon after alot of buddying photographers wanted one but each time they were turned off by the cost attached to building and hosting such a system. A few of these sites down the line we decided to build a low cost system which requires no technical knowledge to run (photogs usually like doing photography, not html) and avidimages.com is the result.